A cat who goes out each night (like Jack the Demon Cat, top), and a lot of mousetraps.
First order of importance: Make sure you know what you’re fighting, since seeing mounded soil or tunnel-like activity in lawns and beds doesn’t always mean moles. Know thy enemy. An interesting interview with a wildlife expert in the Seattle paper awhile back offered a test to determine whether it’s moles or voles you’ve got.
“Gardens that border wild areas probably have both moles and voles,” the piece reported. “To find out what is bugging you, (hang) a piece of apple from a stick laid across rocks to keep it above the ground. If after 24 hours, you find the apple has been fed on, you’ll know what you’ve got…Rodent teeth leave clear parallel marks. Moles would shred it; their teeth don’t make the same line.”
MOLES ARE A GOOD THING
Moles are actually a welcome part of the community: They’re insectivores, not interested in chewing on your bulbs or plant roots, but tunneling around blindly looking for protein-rich worms and grubs, sometimes disturbing plants in the process. Since they are blind they are neither nocturnal or diurnal, meaning they can be a 24/7 nuisance, with some individual or other always on the job.
Moles are relatively solitary compared to, say, mice, so if you eliminate a few in your garden
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