The Home Machinist!

A while back I asked for advice on getting rid of moles. I decided to buy a scissor trap, but I have not been able to use it. The directions say to put it over an active mole run, but it's very hard to tell where the runs are. Maybe it's the sandy dirt here. I don't know.

Someone advised using carbon monoxide, which sounded wonderful, but I was intimidated by the difficulty of plumbing it into the tunnels. I could not figure out how to connect a hot pipe to a rubber or vinyl hose. I didn't bother checking it out, because I was pinning my hopes on the scissor trap.

I was thinking I might shoot MAPP gas into a tunnel and light it up, but I have concerns about blowing up the backyard. I also considered letting the gas sink down and suffocate the mole in its den. I thought about using argon, but it's expensive.

In case someone else is in the same boat, let me say that I found a solution. You can buy a premade pipe-to-hose adaptor. I found one on Amazon for $18. I have not received it yet, but the idea is simple. Slip it onto your exhaust pipe and screw a garden hose to the free end. I suppose people who have already gassed moles already know about this, but it came as a revelation to me.

I'm going to get a short hose just for moles, and when the adaptor arrives, I'll see how well it works.

I used a piece of 1" aluminum tubing, leftover from some wind chimes I made, to slip in the exhaust pipe of the tractor. It doesn't fit tight, but it doesn't have to. As a matter of fact, I don't think you want it to, to prevent from constipating the engine.
The hose I used is just a piece of 1" nylon braid air hose. Leftover from a project on a piece of mining equipment. Yup...it gets hot, but not to the point of damaging it.
I use a garden hose to get the hole open. Turn on the water, and 'drill' into the mound, and figure out which way the tunnel is heading. Eay to tell when it's open....the water heads into the tunnel, instead of out around the hose.
Once open, I slide in the hose 12" to 18", and slip it in the exhaust pipe. I leave the engine idling, it's gassier idling, and watch for ground to move in other places in the tunnel. Sometimes I have to plug other spots. I let it run 30 minutes. 18 horsepower of well worn vintage Briggs 'clean burning' exhaust does it. I had one gopher last summer I had to go back in and gas again, and I killed a bunch of 'em.
Bill

Oh, and one more note....have the tractor & hose into position. I cleared out a tunnel, went to the garage to get the tractor, and when I came back, the beastie was there trying to plug the thing back up.
Full throttle, and I flattened that one. He shoulda headed underground.....


Bill

I really, really need a .22 pistol. Actually, I have one, but it's made of aluminum. Inherited it. Lots of sentimental value, but I really wanted the Colt Woodsman.

My neighbor in Oregon, used to sit out on a lawn chair, with a cooler of beer, and a 12 gage shotgun after he mowed. He'd wait for 'em to pop their littler heads up, and BLAM!
Left a few divots....but it worked. Divots were a lot less damage than the moles did.

Bill

I have a .17 HMR with a scope. Do they really stick their heads up? I'm ready to party.

SteveHGraham wrote:I have a .17 HMR with a scope. Do they really stick their heads up? I'm ready to party.

Gophers sure do. They roam around a bit on the surface. See the little beasts running across the road all the time. We have some barn cats that will sit and wait for 'em to peek out.
FYI, the guy that wrote that little ditty about greasy grimy gopher guts, must have had cats.

Moles....only briefly, to push dirt out of their tunnels. A bit tougher to pick them off.

I think I'd pay money to be there when the mapp or acetylene and maybe a bit of O2 in those tunnels gets lit :>)

I've considered it.

Makes me wonder how they would like diesel fumes. Set the (re)programmer on "kill", power brake, and let 'er rip. I can just see black billowing geysers of soot popping up around the yard. I'm laughing at the thought of seeing the little bastages poking their black sooty heads up all around looking like they are wearing "black face" from the 30s, beady little eyes blinking rapidly in confusion. Yeah, I know... but the image in my mind is compelling...

It never occurred to me to use the Cummins. That could be fun. I don't think the adaptor will fit around the pipe, though. My diesel tractors don't seem to want to blow soot.

RE exploding moles, there is a guy who created a video in which the moles explode in time to the background music. I'll post it.

juiceclone wrote:I think I'd pay money to be there when the mapp or acetylene and maybe a bit of O2 in those tunnels gets lit :>)

But not too close. I saw a guy accidently detonate a balloon (about a cubic foot) of oxyacetylene about 18" from his chest. Knocked him down, took out his eardrums, gave him 2nd degree burns over his entire chest and arms (he had a shirt on), embedded bits of rubber in his skin. Fortunately he was wearing eye protection.

Oxyacetylene is a high explosive in the technical sense.

yeah ... military has FAE = fuel/air explosive bombs .... very effective in enclosed spaces..tunnels !