John Brown
Sapling
Are you sure they weren't shrews?
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There's a moose loose aboot this hoose
- Thread starter 9fingers
- Start date
Mike
Sapling
They could have been shrews. They definitely were not mice.
Lons
Old Oak
Maybe German moles are more adventurous Mike.
The ones I have to regularly catch in our field are difficult enough to catch in proper traps. I know the young ones disperse above ground to establish new territory so most likely it's those that found a way in.
Lons
Old Oak
Looking for a mole wrench ?
Mike mentions something key there, gloves. Mice are acutely sensitive to human smells and I noticed that of the 6 traps I put out, the two I deliberately handled with bare hands went investigated but untouched. Those I handled with gloved hands caught the culprits.
You might need to be careful how much more you handle the trap with bare hands otherwise it will take longer to capture your nemesis's.
You might need to be careful how much more you handle the trap with bare hands otherwise it will take longer to capture your nemesis's.
Blackswanwood
Old Oak
Bob, can you not find the point of entry to the house?
At the moment (warm weather) it’s likely that the mice are coming in from nests outside every night rather than living in the house full time. If so, an approach of dealing with them indoors when they arrive to hunt for food will not solve the problem as they will constantly be replaced by more mice. A mouse is pretty much fully grown at 21 days and a female produces a new litter of up to twelve about six times per year.
Cheers
Robert
At the moment (warm weather) it’s likely that the mice are coming in from nests outside every night rather than living in the house full time. If so, an approach of dealing with them indoors when they arrive to hunt for food will not solve the problem as they will constantly be replaced by more mice. A mouse is pretty much fully grown at 21 days and a female produces a new litter of up to twelve about six times per year.
Cheers
Robert
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I’ve closed all the ones found so far but it is an old house with suspended floors.
Sod’s law! Now I have the camera set up and trap primed, the mouse has not been detected.
Sod’s law! Now I have the camera set up and trap primed, the mouse has not been detected.
John Brown
Sapling
I believe moles are too. I borrowed a couple from a Cornish friend of mine, who gave me explicit instructions about how to use them.
I couldn't understand a word he was saying, so I looked it up on Google. I think the most important advice was to "wash" your hands in the earth from a fresh molehill before handling the trap.
John Brown
Sapling
I borrowed a couple of traps, not a couple of moles...
Lons
Old Oak
I catch them usually within a couple of days of molehills appearing and always wear old gloves when handling the traps and earth. . Another tip is if you have new traps chuck them in a bucket for a little while and let them rust a little and don't wash off the old muck after you've caught a mole. I use 3 types of trap and the most successful are double scissor traps, (Talpex type). I fill the hole with loose hill soil and drop an upturned bucket over as the are very sensitive to light.
Attachments
Do you mean the tunnel ? Next time you're over , I'd like a Masterclass please !
John Brown
Sapling
I have a couple of 3 foot long screwdrivers, by poking them into the ground between molehills, you can feel where the tunnels are. I've set traps 4 times, and caught the mole 3 times.(Different mole, obviously. The trap does kill them). Put the dead mole back in the tunnel, as apparently it deters others from taking over the patch.
I've done similar, John. Set my trap only to come back and find it filled up with earth.
Cabinetman
Sequoia
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- Ian
I well remember a grassy field we used to pass on the way to a country pub about 40 years ago, it was literally covered in mole hills, next time the barbed wire fence was covered with hundreds? of moles hung up. Quite macabre really, we all talked about it and the theories were that it was either to deter more moles moving in, the trapper was paid by the nr caught, or just he was so chuffed at his success that he was advertising it to other farmers.
Unfortunately the important fact of how he caught them we never discovered.
Unfortunately the important fact of how he caught them we never discovered.
John Brown
Sapling
I guess the moles are more stupid round these parts.
Lons
Old Oak
Yes definitely in the tunnels Roger. The reason I use different trap types is that the older moles which come in from the fields either side of us get wised up very quickly and if they've sprung say a tunnel trap they block them off and avoid them next time. The way the Talpex traps work is after setting them you gently fill around them with soft molehill earth and drop an overturned bucket on top to exclude any light, Mr mole comes along pushes through the soft earth "cave in" which happens regularly anyway and doesn't know until it's too late - poor bu**er.
I use a long bit of 10mm steel dowel as a probe and have tried the leave a dead mole in the tunnel which doesn't work, they just block it off and dig a new bypass.
Lons
Old Oak
An old molecatcher used to live in the village Ian and he told me they hung them on the fence to prove to the farmers and in his case also the local golf course owners that they were earning their fee, he also told me that an experienced molecatcher never catches them all as that isn't great for repeat business.
SamQ aka Ah! Q!
Old Oak
Somebody asked "are moles and shrews related?". Yes. Two separate families within the order that used to be called Insectivora. Now Eulipotyphla....
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Lons
Old Oak
They work in both directions Roger and are very sensitive and very successful in my experience. I have other types but these out perform them. Definitely find and use the tunnels, not the molehills.
Have a look on youtube for setting Talpex type traps, it's easier than me explaining.