Is this a mole or gopher and how do i get rid of it?

Question

About a month ago I noticed what looked like gopher holes in the side yard of the mobile home i live in. At around the same time usually at night i would hear what sounded like banging coming from underneath of my mobile home. I looked underneath the mobile home one night after hearing the noises and could see a long line of piled dirt but no hole visible. After investigating this about an hour later there was a cat in the front yard with his eyes fixated on the front of the mobile home panels that go underneath (the oposite end of where I heard the noises and had investigated). Does this sound like a mole, gopher, rodent....? If so how do i get rid of it. Is there some kind of a fogger that can be put underneath that will exterminate or?

Answer 1

I live in the country and have had the same problem. My husband bought some traps, and we started catching moles left and right. So, I bet you have a mole problem.

Below are some directions we went by, hope it helps:

- Detecting which mole tunnels are most active is your first step to get rid of moles.

Find a tunnel and stomp in with your foot. If the mole is active in that area they will repair the tunnel in no less than a day. The second way to find an active mole tunnel is to take a stick and poke around the area where there are a large number of molehills. Once you’ve found a spot where the earth gives way, you’ve found an active tunnel.

- Once you’ve found an active tunnel you can get rid of the mole with a pit trap.

Dig your way into the mole tunnel, being careful not to cause too much damage. Then, dig enough dirt out to fit either a large jar or coffee can into the tunnel in such a way that the can is level with the bottom of the tunnel. Cover the tunnel with whatever will best keep light out, and check the trap once or twice a day. If you catch the mole, you can release it somewhere far away and live happily knowing you didn’t kill the cute littler feller.

- So you have an active mole tunnel in your sights, but catch and release isn’t the way you want to get rid of moles.

Well, luckily for you there are a number of very effective mole killing traps on the market today. You have a choice between whether you want to chop the mole in half, choke the mole to death, or impale the mole like a little mole-kebab. Victor® and Nash® are perhaps two of the most popular brands of mole traps on the market. There is quite the selection of mole traps online these days.

- If you’re not into the whole trapping thing as a way to get rid of moles, you might want to try flooding the moles out.

There are a lot of people who say that flooding moles out of their tunnels doesn’t work, and they might be right about a particularly persistent mole. The key to the flooding method is to find a straight active tunnel amidst a cluster of molehills. Simply insert the hose into the tunnel, wait until there is a sufficient amount of flooding, and see if you can’t catch the little bugger when he tries to escape. Killing moles isn't hard. Their skulls are so fragile that even a slap on the ground with a shovel will kill a mole, or at least stun it.

Answer 2

My family had chipmunks on some property and they bought some metal spring traps.  A more humane option would be animal control.

Answer 3

I cant get rid of gophers/moles in my veg. garden? I have tried gum, smoke bombs, tunnel traps(which they dug around), water, and a solar gadget(might have been broke) then I bought an adapter for my exhaust pipe but I was told since my vehicle is Diesel that it won't work. I Put dog p**p in the holes since it is supposed to deter digging dogs.  I posted this question on another site and got this response.............Now gophers I know about as we used to have A LOT of them. I tried all the stuff you mentioned and none of it worked very well and some not at all. I finally found the "black hole" traps and they were easy to use and effective. I now have to deal with a gopher occasionally. Two years ago I was catching two to five every day,

for months on end. Finally got the population under control.

Here is a second response,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,my girlfriend actually planted something called "Gopher's Spurge" to get rid of them on her property and she had success with that.

I have had voles and moles and I have taken an eye dropper and put in a few drops of caster oil in each hole I came across.  It is my understanding that this won't actually kill the varmints, but the order is so pungent that they don't return to the hole.  I personally have had success with this and once I made sure I got every hole, they did not return.  I don't know how many holes you have, but you could try it.

Also, today on "You Bet Your Garden" on NPR I heard something about a squirrel deterrant that you might want to try.  Mike McGrath suggested using those chili peppers you shake on pizza, around bird feeders, etc. to keep away squirrels.  I wonder if it might work for other critters as well?  Birds love them, and they are not harmful to birds, but I guess it creates an irritating burn sensation on the paws, eyes, noses, etc. of squirrels.  It didn't sound like it actually hurt the critters, but deterred them.  It might work the same way for voles, moles and gophers.  Just sprinkle some in the holes.  Just be careful yourself to be wearing gloves and not scratching your eyes without washing your hands, because it these peppers are hot and would induce the same irritation for you.

VERY IMPORTANT:  Do not use this option if you have children who crawl or dig around these areas, as we certainly would not want to cause discomfort in any of our little ones.

Good luck!

I havent found a solution yet but now i have more suggestions to try.