How to get rid of a mole on a property using electricity

Alarm clock repeller

To be effective, you need to have several alarm clocks that have different alarm times. Alarm clocks are placed in jars, which are closed with lids and installed in different places on the site. The best option is to bury containers with alarm clocks in the ground. As a result, after a certain time, all alarm clocks underground will start to go off stably. Sounds regularly made in the area will force moles to look for more comfortable places.

The second option consists of a pipe buried in the ground into which an alarm clock is placed on a string. Thanks to the rope, such an alarm clock can always be taken out of the pipe.

142 Alarm clocks against moles.

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Effective repeller schemes

Homemade repellers are mainly made from scrap materials, which are usually subject to recycling (cans, bottles, etc.). For the greatest efficiency, various sound mechanisms are used, which, however, are difficult to install.

In order to get rid of moles, the following are especially effective:

• regular sharp sounds in the area;
• vibrations in the ground.

Moles do not like to be disturbed and prefer to leave uncomfortable places. Sometimes, to get rid of the animal, it is enough to knock loudly on the ground in the areas of mole holes. However, if there are a lot of animals on the site, simple tapping may not be enough (Effective methods of combating moles and shrews in a summer cottage).

Plastic bottle on a pin

The first method is one of the simplest. To make a “noise maker” we will need a plastic bottle with a volume of 1-1.5 liters, a nail and a wooden pin, as well as a hammer, an awl and a stationery knife.

On the straight base of the bottle, use a permanent marker to mark 4-5 sections 15-20 cm long, depending on the volume. Using a utility knife, carefully cut out each section on three sides, leaving one of the long horizontal parts intact. Heat the awl over the fire and make two opposite holes at the base of the bottle. They should not have jagged edges.

Note! The required diameter of the holes is 1 mm larger than the diameter of the nail.

We insert a nail into the holes and nail it with a hammer to a wooden pin, which must be buried in the ground near the mole holes - the noise of the windmill will disturb the animals, and they will soon leave the unwanted areas.

On a note! The more homemade devices there are on the site, the more efficiently they will work.

Application of tin and metal

In addition to plastic bottles, tin and metal cans of beer and canned food have an excellent effect on moles. Any summer resident can make a mole repeller out of beer cans.

The manufacturing principle is similar to the previous one - we mark future “blades” on the metal and cut them using a special knife on three sides. We bend it. At the bottom of the can we cut a hole with a diameter 1-2 mm wider than the metal pin, onto which we put a can “rattle”.

Metal pins are more effective than wooden ones because, in addition to noise, they contribute to the transmission of vibration into the ground, which also repels underground mammals.

You can even put a can without blades on the pin or several cans, one after another (let's make a ratchet against moles) - the method will continue to work.

Using an alarm clock

An alarm clock is the most effective of the simple mole baiting methods. There are now two types of watches in stores - mechanical and electronic (battery-powered). It is better to give preference to the latter, since they do not have to be regularly removed from the ground to tighten them.

There are two methods for using alarms:

1. The device is turned on for a certain time and placed in a jar, which is lowered underground. The clock will irritate the mole with its constant ticking and frighten it with its loud ringing - due to the fact that the animal has practically no vision, the moles’ sense of smell and hearing are heightened. It is best to set several alarms set for different times.
2. A rope is tied to the alarm clock and it is placed in a long iron pipe, which must be buried not far from the mole’s home. Thanks to this, as in the case of a metal pin, the vibration from the alarm clock will be transmitted into the ground. And thanks to the size of the pipe, the vibration area will increase several times.

Underground animals will not like such a neighborhood, and they will soon leave the area.

Speakers and receiver

One of the most difficult methods of repelling moles is installing speakers underground. This is even more effective than alarm clocks, however, you will have to try to get the design to work.

A speaker is removed from a cheap receiver. Long wires are connected to it from the main device (they will need to be hidden in a hollow pipe). The speaker is placed in a jar with a hole for the wire in the lid and lowered underground along with the pipe. After the manipulations have been completed, all that remains is to turn on the receiver.

Airplane made from bottles

If you have children, you can involve them in the process of getting rid of moles. For example, making an airplane out of two plastic bottles - such a device, in addition to its functional component, will decorate the garden and bring joy to the child.

One bottle is cut in half lengthwise with a stationery knife. Only the main parts and the bottom will be useful (it must be cut along the pressed line on the bottle). The narrowed part is also removed.

Cut the main part into two halves. In the second bottle we make two perpendicular cuts equal to the length of the halves and place them there. We cut out a propeller from the bottom - this will be a decorative element of the wind plane - and glue it to the bottle cap.

According to the principle of the first instruction, we make two holes using a heated awl and nail the plane to the pin.

Homemade electronic device

Perhaps the most complex homemade mechanism for scaring away animals will be an electronic scarecrow.

According to the presented drawing, it will not be difficult for an experienced person to make a repeller with his own hands. It will produce vibration at a frequency of about 480 Hz.

Don't forget! A device assembled according to this scheme will still be inferior to the branded factory model.

Pinwheel

In order to make a mole spinner with your own hands, you will need:

• a bottle of one and a half liters (beer bottle is also suitable);
• awl;
• self-tapping screw;
• nuts;
• long nail;
• metal or wooden pole.

This device will actually act as a weather vane.

The bottom is cut off from the bottle. It should be marked as follows: from the core along the depression to the end of the bottom and in the middle of the convex part. The resulting triangle must be cut with scissors or a stationery knife and removed. This will be the propeller of the future repeller.

In the center of the bottom or in the cap of the bottle, you need to make a hole with an awl, into which you should screw a self-tapping screw from the inside until it stops. Then use it to connect the bottle and the propeller into a single structure. Using a heated awl, we make holes in the bottle at the neck in opposite places and, using a nail, nail it to a wooden pole, which must be buried in the ground.

Is mole control necessary in a summer cottage?

The fight against moles in a summer cottage is necessary and obligatory: if you don’t fight them, then you will have to abandon the garden and not plant anything, because every year their numbers will increase exponentially and the losses from them will be awesome.

What a pity it is when moles sneak into the greenhouse! The roots of tomatoes or cucumbers hang in the air, and since molehills are not always visible, you can wonder for several days what happened to the plants until you feel all the soil with your hands. Buried plants get sick, they need some time to recover, and time is already short during the gardening season: either spring is a whole month late, or in the summer there is hail and cold rains...

In autumn, moles are especially active, throughout the entire area, without dismantling the bed, path or lawn, because:

• the soil is moist everywhere and earthworms are in general accessibility: the beds are dug up, the soil on them is loose. Paths are also a good help, because in moist, compacted soil, worms like to hang out under discarded tops or weeded weeds. And the turf, in general, is a “storehouse of food”, because earthworms are very fond of wheatgrass roots.
• moles are looking for a place for their new burrows and in their search they dig up not only beds and even not so dug up beds, but untouched virgin soil located under the turf, such as lawns. It is under the turf surface that they make their burrows for the winter and, accordingly, dig long passages in different directions: entire labyrinths for their winter life. Nesting chambers and resting rooms for moles are located no deeper than 1 m from the ground in both summer and winter, and passages are at a depth of 10 cm. Under turf and snow (they choose places where a lot of snow accumulates and do not like places where the snow is blown away by the wind) They are warm enough in the passages and living rooms. In winter they do not sleep, but lead a slightly less active lifestyle than in summer, feeding on larvae overwintering in the ground, for example the May beetle, and therefore autumn is a hot time for them, when they can make numerous additional moves, getting out to the surface that is not yet covered thick layer of snow. They make large mounds as an aerator valve, through which air will flow into the passages even under a layer of snow.
• under the turf (lawns) there is a fairly comfortable microclimate for a variety of garden animals - insects and worms settling in for the winter, so moles on lawns make not just mounds, but long paths with mounds, thereby distorting the entire lawn. In their numerous moves, moles stock up on food (they bite off the front part of the worms so that they lie fresh, but cannot move) for their winter food.

Since our lawns are not only a pleasant-looking space, but also a lot of work put into them, it is understandable that there is a lot of frustration over moles digging them up.

I must say that the moles have occupied our site so much that there is no way to save us from them: such well-known methods as kerosene and rotten fish (for a short time until the smell disappears), the turntables that we have in every bed do not help in the summer, but when the wind no, the moles are simply going on a rampage, barging the beds up and down. This season, saving greenhouses from their invasions, it was necessary to lay nets on the beds in one of the greenhouses, and to install corrugated sheets vertically around the perimeter in others. I’ll probably write a separate article about this with photos. In the meantime, let's continue about the vibration method.

Repelling moles with homemade sound repellers

There are many options for homemade sound repellers, which in many cases really help get rid of moles.

Here are just some of the most popular designs:

1. Turntables (noise makers) made from plastic bottles or tin cans and mounted on metal poles or pipes dug into the ground. Rotating in the wind, they knock on the metal, through which the sound is transmitted into the soil, scaring the moles. The photo below shows examples of such turntables;
2. Weathervanes that work on the same principle, but are more complex to manufacture;

3. Stems of reeds humming in the wind;
4. Chinese alarm clocks powered by batteries. They are placed in glass jars, which, in turn, are buried in the ground. In this case, different alarms are set for different times;

5. Glass bottles that are buried in the ground at approximately a 45 degree angle at 2/3 of the height, leaving the neck open outside. Wind blowing into an empty bottle creates a hum, which can also scare away moles;
6. And even simple plastic bottles with a lid, which are placed in abundance in the summer cottage, sometimes laid out directly on the ground. Due to temperature changes at night and during the day, the air in the bottles either contracts or expands, as a result of which the bottles crack, scaring the moles.

Such means are installed in close proximity to the expected mole passages (they are often clearly visible between mole heaps, since they are located close to the surface of the earth and give themselves away as a slightly raised top layer of soil).

The more such repellers there are at the dacha (within reasonable limits), the higher the chance of getting rid of moles. It is preferable to simultaneously use means of different designs in a summer cottage so that the noises differ in frequency and duration, and the moles cannot quickly get used to them. However, you should not forget about aesthetics, so that when getting rid of moles, the area does not turn into a landfill.

It is also useful to read: How to get rid of moles in a summer cottage using folk remedies

This is interesting

To quickly get rid of moles, some summer residents recommend regularly playing loud music on the site. Moreover, if you believe the reviews, hard rock works best in this regard. There are also cases where moles left the area when a lawn mower or walk-behind tractor was frequently used on it, although such precedents are rare.

The most odious fighters against moles explode firecrackers in the underground passages of the animals, after covering the excavated passage with a bucket or pan. This method of fighting can hardly be considered humane, since there is a high probability of concussing the mole, after which it will die a painful death of starvation (due to the rapid metabolism without food, the animal dies within 24 hours).

You can tell that the repellers have worked by the long absence of new molehills in the area. It is the long-term absence of fresh earth emissions that is important, since the animal may not make them if the already created passages in the garden are enough for it to collect a sufficient amount of food.

Features of moles

Before you start fighting moles, you should study their habits. The knowledge gained will help you better understand them and find the most effective ways to counteract them. According to the observations of zoologists, moles have the following specific features:

• Moles live in families. If you find one of them on your property, you can be sure that several more have most likely taken up residence nearby;
• hibernation. In winter, worms and insects, the usual food for moles, disappear, so moles also go to winter. To do this, they build small mounds, which can be easily identified by piles of loose earth, clearly visible from afar;
• They make passages underground at shallow depths. This is where larvae, bugs and worms live. The tunnels themselves can reach a length of 100 cm;
• great strength and speed. People, as a rule, see these pests already in a neutralized state - in traps or in their hands. However, it is not recommended to catch them without protective gloves - they can easily wriggle out and bite a person’s fingers;
• poor vision and strong sense of smell. Their eyes are small, but moles are not deprived of vision. For balance, they were naturally given excellent hearing and sense of smell;
• mental capacity. These animals are able to remember their mistakes and not make them again; they also easily adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.

As you can see, fighting moles is much more difficult than fighting insects, so the home owner must take into account everything that can help him in this confrontation.

Description of the pest

Mole

Formally, the mole is not a rodent. This mammal belongs to the order of insectivores, however, for gardeners and gardeners this nuance is not so important. In terms of its negative impact on garden crops, the mole completely repeats the actions of rodents, namely:

• eat the roots of fruit trees and tubers of vegetables
• destroy the beneficial fauna of the garden (moles hunt any animals they can overpower - worms, frogs, ants, etc.)
• spoil the appearance of the site

Undoubtedly, the predatory nature of moles also has its positive effects. For example, this animal is the only natural enemy of mole crickets in the garden, however, due to a combination of factors, the presence of a mole on the site still has more negative aspects than positive ones.

And the point here is not only about some qualities of the mole or his individual activities. Very often, a mole, having “cleared” another area of ​​insects (and, perhaps, without even damaging the root system of a single tree), moves to another.

Molehills are exits of wormholes to the outside. A sign that a mole is moving towards the area

At the same time, naturally, its system of holes and underground chambers remains on the site and rodents - mice or hamsters - begin to “use” this system. They themselves would never have dug such communications, but now, thanks to the mole, they have safe access to all parts of the garden, where no predator can reach them: be it a cat, a crow or an owl.

Consequently, the mole is a “strategic” enemy of the gardener, since it can not only cause harm through its direct actions, but also provoke an invasion of any rodents on the site. That is why the fight against moles in gardens and summer cottages is very important.

There are only two ways to fight a mole:

• scare away an animal from your area
• destroy it

Let's consider each of the possible options in more detail.

Design and device

My friend, a big fan of growing vegetables on his own plot, Ivanov Gennady Vasilievich, came up with the design, manufactured and tested in practice the effectiveness of four devices for repelling moles. The design is very simple to manufacture and requires virtually no financial costs. Gennady Vasilyevich kindly provided me with one of the devices for repelling moles for the preparation of this article.

The body for the mole repeller device was a metal can of dry cat food, which contains all the parts. The jar is hermetically sealed with a plastic lid and prevents water from getting into it from rain and when watering the garden. To make a mole repeller, any metal hermetically sealed can of a suitable size, for example a coffee can, is suitable.

The TK-67-NT telephone capsule, which is widely used in landline telephone handsets, is used as a sound wave emitter in the repeller. This is a simple and reliable emitter and can be taken from any old phone. The capsule emits sound well in the frequency range from 300 to 3400 Hz, which is exactly what is needed, and has an electrical impedance module at a frequency of 1000 Hz, 260 ± 52 Ohms. And most importantly, the capsule made it possible to easily solve the problem of sealing the case and at the same time greatly increase the efficiency of the mole repeller due to its original installation in the case.

The cap is unscrewed from the primer, the metal membrane is removed (pictured on the left), and it is simply attached to the bottom of the can (pictured on the right). To prevent the capsule from moving along the bottom of the can, its body is fixed at one point with a drop of silicone. You can come up with another way of fastening. The fact is that a permanent magnet is built into the capsule, and the capsule, applied to the metal, becomes magnetized and holds well. You just need to limit its horizontal movement. With this type of mounting, the sound emitter is no longer the membrane, but the can itself. Due to the loose connection to the bottom of the can, the capsule vibrates during operation, and the sound produced is very unpleasant, hoarse with large nonlinear distortions. This sound turned out to be very suitable for a mole repeller.

In the jar, on the inside along the perimeter, at a height that provides placement of three batteries and a printed circuit board for the mole repeller, three corners are soldered with solder, and a round plate (second bottom) of any material with a hole in the center for wires is installed on them.

Metal paper clips were used as the material for the corners, but the corners can be made from any material that is soldered with tin-lead solder, for example, copper wire, steel strip, etc. The length of the corners is selected based on the size of the flat partition - the second bottom, and its size is determined by the diameter of the neck of the jar.

On the second bottom there is a mole repeller switch to turn off the batteries when transporting the device or in case of non-use. But you don’t have to install the switch, but connect the batteries using the connector.

Since the operating conditions of the mole repeller are harsh, the temperature can range from zero to 50˚C, and to simplify the design, the batteries are connected to the wires of the device and interconnected by soldering. To prevent short circuits from the metal walls of the case, the batteries are wrapped with insulating tape.

To prevent short circuits between the tracks and elements of the printed circuit board, it is placed in a plastic bag, which is tied with thread at the point where the wires exit.

The batteries and the printed circuit board are placed on the second bottom of the case, all that remains is to close the lid and the mole repeller is ready for its intended use. It is enough to bury it in the ground to a depth that prevents water flows from entering the ground during rains and watering from the side of the lid, since it is still not completely airtight. It is enough to bury to the level of half the jar. The indicator of the turned-on state of the repeller is not provided in the circuit to prevent unnecessary expenditure of energy, since when the repeller makes a sound, it can be heard even at a considerable distance from it.

Prevention on site

It often happens that somewhere not far from the site there are mounds dug up by moles. There are no such earthen piles on the site itself, but work is planned to improve the fertility of the land - a compost heap or manure pit is being prepared, mulching with a thick layer of freshly cut grass is being planned. In this case, you can be sure that blind diggers will come to hunt for worms, which will certainly appear under heaps of organic fertilizer.

There is only one way to protect yourself from their invasion, where there are no underground passages yet: to fence the perimeter of the site with a protective barrier that will either scare away or prevent them from digging a tunnel.

The most reliable barrier is considered to be one made of fine-mesh thick plastic or metal mesh, sheets of slate, roofing felt, or linoleum. All materials must be durable, able to withstand the powerful claws of the mole's front paws. You will have to dig the selected material to a depth of at least 50 cm. In this case, the upper edge of the fence should protrude 40 cm above the ground. Although it is believed that moles do not walk on the ground, it is known for sure that these animals can come to the surface and move over short distances.

What are moles afraid of?

When searching for food, these insectivores rely on information they receive through their sense of smell and hearing. They do not like strong odors, such as the stench of rotten fish, the smell of valerian, the stench of various chemicals such as white alcohol or carbide. Loud noise and vibration of the soil are also sources of anxiety for moles.

What plants can scare away

Plants whose roots emit a sharp, spicy odor—garlic, onions, daffodils, marigolds, castor beans—can scare off moles. Animals do not climb into a flower bed where hazel grouse grow along the edges, many sources on the Internet write about this. But it should be borne in mind that this barrier will be temporary, as long as plants with an odor difficult for moles are in the ground. At the same time, some individuals know how to deal with unpleasantly smelling plants: they simply push them out of the ground or go around a little deeper than the roots of the plant go down.

How to catch a mole

The mole is especially active in the early morning. Then you can catch it in a pre-dug jar or bucket. Just make sure that after installing the trap there is no draft. The Mole, like a true master, will seal this move. He is very smart and careful.

You can buy a trap that is shaped like a pipe with two lids. Cheap models have a small diameter and a smooth surface inside, from which the mole cannot push off with its paws, so it is reluctant to go into it. Therefore they are ineffective. Traps with a rough inner surface are more suitable for catching moles. But their price is higher.

A mole can be caught by picking it up with a shovel while it is moving near the surface. But catching is only half the battle. Moles have very strong paws and spiny claws. Therefore, it is very difficult to hold them with your hands, except for small ones, who sometimes, due to inexperience, go for a walk in the fresh air. An adult can scratch and even bite.

Sometimes moles are caught with traps or special mole traps. They are installed in pairs in each move, directing the wire in different directions.

Moles can be destroyed with special electric mole cutters. But animals do not deserve to be treated so cruelly. It is more humane to scare them away from your site or block the path to it.

Setting up a rodent repeller

If all radio components are in working order and installation is error-free, the mole repeller will work immediately. If desired, you can change the time parameters of the emitted sound signal. The frequency will increase as resistor R1 or capacitor C1 decreases. If there is a desire to change the frequency during operation of the mole repeller, then resistor R1 can be replaced with two series-connected, permanent and trimming resistors with a nominal value of 75 kOhm. When changing the frequency of the clock generator, it is necessary that it remains in the range from 300 to 900 Hz, since these are the sound frequencies that most effectively drive away rodents.

When changing the frequency of the generator, it is necessary to take into account that the repetition period of sound signals will also change proportionally. For example, if the frequency is set twice as low - 250 Hz, then the time between sound signals and the duration of the signal will also become twice as long, 64 seconds and 4 seconds, respectively. So there is an opportunity to experiment here. If desired, you can restore the previous timing parameters by transferring the diode anode from pin 3 of DD2 to pin 14.

The duration of the sound signal and the period of its repetition can be easily changed. If you remove the diode from pin 15 of DD2, then the duration of the sound signal will be 4 seconds without changing the repetition period of 32 seconds, and if you add an additional diode from pin 14 of DD2 to pin 12 of DD1.3, then the sound signal will last 1 second.

Comparison of homemade and industrial repellers

Of the industrial mole repellers, ultrasonic ones are the most popular. But according to reviews, not all of them are effective. They speak negatively about Russian-made ultrasonic mole repellers and praise Japanese ones.

According to homemade repellers, they note that moles have little fear of windmills and turntables, sometimes making a hole right next to the pin. Ringing alarm clocks or constantly playing modern music to the animals will effectively get rid of moles from the area.

Mole repellers

Repellers are currently recognized as the most effective means of helping to get rid of moles and mole rats. They do not take up much space, are not conspicuous, and therefore do not spoil the landscape of the garden plot. Many gardeners have experienced the usefulness of these devices.

Progress does not stand still in this area. New, more improved models of repellers are being put on the shelves. They differ not only in shape, size and color, but also in price. Therefore, any gardener can purchase such a device and forever forget about the damaged lawn, eaten carrots and dug up flower beds with broken, once beautiful flowers.

Metal mesh against moles

However, you don’t have to go to the store for such salvation. If you have a strong desire and a little free time, you can make a mole repeller with your own hands.

It will be useful to read:

Methods of combating the larvae of the May beetle Basic description of the pest May beetles, also known as May beetles, are insects of the order Coleoptera, family...

Types of mole repellers

The whole variety of repellers is combined into three main groups:

• Mechanical - in the center of such devices there is a round, flattened mechanism, which by its rotation creates vibrations that are unpleasant for the animals, scaring them away.
• Biological - substances, mainly aromatic oils, placed in capsules. Their strong smell causes discomfort to moles and mole rats, forcing them to run as far away from the area as possible. Some odorous plants also act as biological repellents.
• Ultrasonic – devices that create vibration due to a built-in emitter.

The mechanism of action of the first and last types of repellers is based on the influence of sound vibrations on the well-developed hearing of a mole or mole rat. They perceive these unfamiliar sounds as a signal of nearby danger and flee.

An ultrasonic mole repeller differs from a mechanical one in one important detail: its vibrations are completely inaudible to the human ear. Plus it's very easy to use. Among all types of repellers of this type, it is especially worth noting solar-powered mole repellers

They are a structure in the form of a pin with a cap that is stuck into the ground. On the cap there is a solar battery that powers the resonant device. Unlike conventional ultrasonic repellers, these do not require battery replacement. You can install it in a place where moles and mole rats are raiding and never think about it again. Thus, a very convenient and economical device is obtained.

Among all types of repellers of this type, solar-powered mole repellers are especially worth noting. They are a structure in the form of a pin with a cap that is stuck into the ground. On the cap there is a solar battery that powers the resonant device. Unlike conventional ultrasonic repellers, these do not require battery replacement. You can install it in a place where moles and mole rats are raiding and never think about it again. Thus, the result is a very convenient and economical device.

The biological type of repeller makes the life of moles in the area unbearable due to the strong and pungent odor for their sensitive nose. They also have no choice but to go away.

But if you don’t want to spend money on store-bought equipment, you can make a mole repeller with your own hands from improvised materials.

How to use alarm clocks against moles

Repelling moles from a summer cottage using a clock mechanism is already a proven and most importantly effective thing. To do this, you need to purchase an inexpensive battery-powered alarm clock, or better yet, more than one.

How to use alarm clocks against moles

The clock sets different ringing times. After which they are placed in glass jars with screw caps. This “gift,” previously tested for leaks, is buried in different places on the site. Moles are very annoyed by the endless ticking of the clock, and even more so by the ringing of the alarm clock. In this simple way, an alarm clock against moles helps a lot.

A slightly more complex version, again using a watch, is also considered very effective. To make such a homemade repeller with a clock mechanism, you will need a wide pipe (half a meter). Holes are drilled on its sides and in the lower part. The pipe is buried on one side in the ground, below the level of the mole’s underground corridors. An alarm clock is lowered into the pipe itself, to which a rope is tied for ease of further removal. The ticking mechanism creates an ultrasonic effect inside the pipe. And the mole is forced to leave the area.

Thus, using an alarm clock against moles, you can get rid of them one hundred percent. The main thing is to wait until the enemy’s nerves give in and he retreats from the battlefield.

As you can see, various types of noisemakers are excellent at scaring away moles. It is the annoying sound that complicates their life in a certain area. The most important thing is that the methods have been repeatedly tested and effective. Using them, it is quite possible to get rid of these creatures in your garden once and for all.

It is difficult to meet owners of summer cottages or household plots who would not encounter such a problem as the appearance of moles. Most owners do not want to deal with chemicals, which are already used in abundance. Therefore, they use quite simple but effective devices that repel these underground diggers. It should be noted that mole repellers can be bought in stores, as well as made with your own hands from improvised, and sometimes unnecessary, materials on the farm.

Pest lifestyle

Before you start fighting moles, it is important to familiarize yourself with the life characteristics of the pest. It is known that moles live in families

Therefore, if one individual was discovered in the garden of a private house, garden or dacha, then there is no need to have any illusions. In the best case, several relatives live with it, and in the worst case, 2-3 families.

Animals make extensive underground passages, which, according to their purpose, are divided into two types:

• Moves to search for prey. They are located in the fertile layers of the earth, since this is where the food of moles lives - earthworms and insect larvae. A voracious animal cannot exist for a long time without food, a maximum of 10-15 hours.
• Wintering passages for animals. They are located deep underground and protect animals from bad weather. Moles do not hibernate, so they need a place protected from the cold to survive the long winter.

Moles are predators; their food is only of animal origin. They do not eat root vegetables, as some gardeners believe. And if remains of plant fibers can be found in their stomachs, then they get there by accident.

Moles feed on invertebrates, mainly earthworms. In addition, they even bring certain benefits by eating woodlice, slugs, click beetle larvae, caterpillars and mole crickets. The soil in areas where moles live is usually loose, soft and moist. Although they damage the root system of plants, they do so unintentionally.

In search of food, animals dig new passages. In conditions of food shortage, moles are capable of attacking frogs, small vertebrates and even rats. Animals are in great need of water, so they settle near water bodies. Moles have developed intelligence and are able to adapt to different circumstances.

Animals are very dexterous and strong. Due to constant exposure to darkness, the organ of vision of moles has atrophied during evolution, since they practically do not need it and even get in the way. If the eyes were preserved in their usual form, then earth would always fall into them. Animals compensate for poor vision with acute hearing and sense of smell.

How to get rid of moles in the country: old ways

Folk method - mole hunting with a shovel

• Move gradually along the furrow of the mole path: you need to move in small steps, thoroughly crushing the growing grass and soil, leveling the ground. Although these animals have, to put it mildly, no vision, they have an excellent sense of smell and acute hearing, for this reason sudden movements and excess noise can frighten them - the moles will descend to the lower horizons of their home, and it will be problematic to extract them from there;

• It is necessary to position yourself with a hammer and shovels as close as possible to the place of work where the animals hunt (visible by fresh furrows). Periodically it is necessary to inspect the territory of your dacha, so you can discover the most recent “excavations”. These animals usually feed in the morning, at noon and in the evening;

• If you find that previously dug furrows begin to lengthen, or new ones have appeared, it means that there is a mole at the very edge of the move

Carefully creep up to this area and quickly and firmly stick a shovel into the ground behind the area where the animal is supposed to be working to prevent it from escaping. Another shovel must be stuck into the soil at the end of the move, directly in front of the mole

The mole will either fall under a shovel and die immediately, or you can kill it with a hammer;

• This “hunt” will need to be repeated more than once, since mole families are very large and each animal needs to be caught separately.

Repellent. There are many facts that moles are frightened by various sounds, afraid of various “noisemakers” (plastic bottles in the wind, rattles, etc.), but it has been proven that these animals sometimes do not react to this at all. They say that if you make a lot of noise, you can drive them out with loud and harsh sounds. But it’s hard to imagine a gardener running around the dacha for days on end, blowing a whistle, banging a pot lid on a bucket, etc.

It is believed that it is not difficult to get rid of moles in the countryside using odorous substances, for example, rotting food, rotten herring - weapons with a strong and unpleasant aroma. Are you ready to turn your favorite dacha into an ordinary landfill?

Traps. There are several designs of traps, these are small and cheap products in the form of a pipe with two self-closing doors, but most often the mole simply walks around, fearing a new and unknown object in its territory.

There are also more expensive traps for moles, they are designed specifically for the physiology and behavior of the mole - the diameter that is familiar to it, the internal rough surface, they are a little more effective.

Mole traps. A cruel, but very effective method if the “correct” trap is used. It is placed in the burrow shaft and lightly sprinkled with soil. The mole, passing in this place, touches the guard and the whole job is done. But such traps often do not work or may simply react to crumbling soil.

Use of mole-cutters. When patience runs out due to the activities of an independent “landscape designer” who has recently settled on your site, then use harsh means.

Many models of mole killers are made, but in most cases these are homemade products that kill moles as the mole passes through a certain area. Electrical devices are often used, and there are many positive reviews about them.

Planting crops that repel moles. Plants such as beans, hemp and black beans can rid a gardener of moles, but this method does not always work.

Useful links:

We catch moles and remove them from the site

You can catch moles using either homemade traps or commercially available devices.

A “pipe” type trap is most often used as a mole trap, which is installed during the animal’s move: the mole crawls into it, pushing the door forward (the door only opens inward), after which the animal can no longer get out.

The photo below shows an example of an industrially produced mole trap-pipe:

And here is a photo of a homemade mole trap-pipe:

You can also make such mole traps with your own hands from ordinary plastic bottles or sections of plastic water pipes. Although it will be easier for someone to buy a ready-made product - the price of such traps in stores is approximately 600-1200 rubles.

Another way to catch a mole is to dig a bucket, pan or plastic bottle into the ground under its passage, into which the animal will fall when it passes through its tunnel.

It is advisable to check such traps every 5-6 hours. After catching the animal, you need to take it 1-1.5 km from the site and release it in the grass or bushes - this way you can get rid of the mole forever, since it will not be able to overcome such a distance and will not come back.

Review

“I had garden moles on my property for three years. I was already tired of fighting with them; there was no way to get rid of them. And they constantly dig, and spoil the flowers, the garden is a mess. I installed repellers - it didn’t help, I filled the holes with water, but a week later there were new piles. I had to catch them with traps. I’m terribly afraid of them, I can’t take them in my hands, so I carried them out in a trap and released them into the cemetery. So I got rid of it. I caught two moles, and after that no one dug in the garden.”

Oksana, Ryazan

Here are some more popular and fairly simple ways to catch a mole in the country:

1. Just dig it out with a shovel while moving near the surface. At this time, the ground rises a little, the animal is visible, and if you quickly stick a shovel behind it and throw out the lump, the mole will appear on the surface of the earth. The method is complex, it requires strength, speed and, most importantly, time to wait for the animal;
2. Sometimes they get rid of moles using traps that kill the animal. These devices are as effective as live traps, but their use is inhumane. If the animal can be caught alive and taken out of the summer cottage without killing it, then it is better to prefer the humane option;

3. Installation of fishing lines with fishing hooks in mole passages. Some even recommend hooking earthworms. This is a rather brutal method of catching moles, and it can hardly be recommended for use.

In some cases, with proper use of traps, it is possible to get rid of moles in a summer cottage in just 1-2 weeks. However, we note once again that the use of traps does not cancel the use of repellents, since only in this case the risk of new moles coming to the site will be minimal (in general, using repellers to drive away a mole living in its “native” territory can be more difficult than repelling the animals , coming from outside and only looking closely at potential hunting grounds).

Repeller made from plastic bottles

If the owners decide to make a repellent device themselves, then it is advisable to use ready-made diagrams that describe such designs in detail. So how to make a grotto and rodent repeller with your own hands?

First you need to take empty plastic bottles, several sticks or hollow tubes about one and a half meters long. Then you need to take a sharp knife or blade and cut holes in the body of the plastic bottles so that after the cuts you can pull out the plastic blades. They are pulled out and bent in different directions to let more air into the bottle. Then you need to drill a hole in the bottom. A pin or hollow tube will be inserted into this hole. Thus, according to this scheme, we will get a pin with a bottle attached, which looks like a feeder. The lower part of the pin plunges 30 centimeters into the ground.

Visually, such a repeller is not very aesthetic, so it can be painted in bright colors. Of course, this will not improve efficiency. This mole repeller scheme is the simplest.

A more powerful analogue will not be a feeder, but a propeller. The propeller will rotate like a windmill under the influence of the wind. When placing 3-4 plastic bottles on it, it will make much more noise, and moles will not come into your area.

You need to make 2-3 holes in the walls of the bottle and insert light, wide plastic parts into them to make a primitive propeller. Then make a hole in the bottle cap with a nail and attach it to the pin. The mechanism of action is the same as in the first case.

Such repellers operate on the principle of a wind generator. In the design, air currents create a lot of noise, which will transmit vibration vibrations into the ground through a hollow tube or pin.