Moles?

[rollinrock]

Years past I would get 4 to 5 moles a week but this year the new neighbor moved in wiht two dam cats aand I havent seen the moles since. I hate cats crapping and peeing in yard so I would rather have the moles.

[traceyb]

my friend with an above ground pool has invested once in castor bean seeds. Once you have one plant succeed, you'll never have to "buy" any more seeds....you get next yrs on this years plant when the pods dry. Plant them here and there around your pool.......they are super nice foilaged plants that moles don't like the roots.....they produce an oil that deter moles. I have them all over my yard and have seen an incredible decrease. I have 1 acre so it's hard to plant them everywhere.......but put them where you an around your pool and deck area and you will find out it works as well.
WARNING: after handling them,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,wash your hands well and keep the seeds away from animals and children for safety.

[matt4x4]

There is a device called a mole chaser, it is a plastic rod that you shove in the ground, it accepts 4 d cells and emits a sound every few seconds that moles don't really like, one stake is supposed to cover 1/2 acre, when i put a couple into my hillside next to my creek, my dog had a hayday catching moles for about a week while they were confused and trying to relocate their habitat.
They moved back last winter since the batteries died and i thought I wouldn't need them over the winter, unfortunately, it was mild and i should have kept them running, so in the spring after i reloaded them with fresh batteries, my dog had a hayday again.
They seem to work pretty well, maybe stick on right beside the pool.

[Davenj]

Our Jack Russell keeps the yard pretty much clear of everthing. Spends the day on patrol. A little OCD.

[karrde97]

I haven't seen any sure-fire way to get rid of moles. I had mole damage at my last house that cost me $75 to have the dips repaired. What I started to do was dig a 2' trench around the pool and install 1/2" opening galvanized hardware cloth. This way they couldn't dig through. With 2" rock and edging blocks, I don't think they had achance of getting in. 2 things: 1) I started this after the deck was up. I had to around the deck too. Over 100'. 2)We moved before I finished.
I hope I don't have to do it again at the new house. The ground is hard as a rock.

[Watermom]

I have deleted a few posts to prevent any verbal altercations and am locking this thread.

[PoolDoc]

Thanks, Watermom.

Cappy, Matt4x4, I'd remind you that this is a *pool* forum, that works, in large part, because we avoid provocative discussions, unless they relate to pools.

I'm not sure what either of you know about folks on the other side of the pet wall think, but I'll give you both the benefit of the doubt, and assume you acted as you did, because you didn't know better.

Matt4x4, there are quite a few people in this country who view their own pets as virtual children, and other pets as virtual humans. For such people, hurting a pet, much less killing one, is a moral crime. Some of those people have pools, and use the forum. You may not agree with them, but this is not the place to provoke them, much less settle the difference.

Cappy, there are also many people -- like myself -- who grew up in the country, where misbehaved pets lived short lives. This was just a fact of life. Farmers who made their living raising cattle would carry a .22 in the cap of their pickups, specifically for the purpose of dealing with dogs who were 'running cattle'. I cried when one of my dogs was shot that way, but I wasn't angry at the farmer: I was angry at my dog, and disappointed that I'd been unable to train him better. Cappy, you may feel that pets have 'right to life'. Many people in the US today do. But, most people don't believe any such thing. If you want to convince them otherwise, again, THIS is NOT the place for it.

I'm not telling either one of you these things, in order to convince you. Such positions tend to have more emotion than thought behind them. For that reason, arguments about them tend to become fights rather than discussions.

While there may be a place on the Internet for such fights (or discussions), this is not that place.

I'll simply ask you both to learn from this, and avoid making provocative statements that have nothing to do with pools.

Thanks.

Ben
"PoolDoc"