More Information About Moles

There are many different species of mole across the world, but it is the European Mole (Talpa europaea) that is found in the UK. Although there are no moles found in Ireland. They are widespread and often found in areas such as gardens, parks and golf courses. There are many misconceptions about moles, here are just some of them:

• They are not nocturnal animals, they tend to have a periods of 4 hours activity followed by 4 hours of rest throughout the day and night.
• They do not live exclusively underground – when young moles leave their mothers’ burrows they can often find new territories by travelling above ground.
• They are not blind. They are however extremely short sighted and have a heightened sense of smell, hearing and touch to make up for this.
• They are active all year round and do not hibernate.

Why do moles need to be controlled?

• The burrowing of moles and the resultant mole hills can be a great irritation to gardeners.
• Horses can be at risk from putting their hoof down a run.
• The soil and stones brought to the surface on mole hills can cause damage to grass cutting machinery and result in listeriosis in contaminated silage.

What can you do about moles?

There is very little that can be done in the long term to prevent moles from entering an area as they easily move from adjacent properties. Many methods such as creating smells or vibrations in their tunnels have little proof to show that they actually work.

The majority of mole control is done using a variety of traps, from barrel and scissor traps to the highly effective Talpex style trap. Alternatively, they can be fumigated with the gassing compound, aluminium phosphide.

If you would like to know more information about the services we offer regarding mole control, get in touch with Pest Solution’s friendly and knowledgeable staff by clicking here.