All around the country, every area seems to have its own particular Al-Qaeda of the underground. These varmints seem committed to ruining the landscape even while just doing their job—and what comes natural to them. When it is our lawns though—-homeowners get upset. In Connecticut, growing up on the farm it was Woodchucks—people had hobbies eliminating them from the landscape—at last reckoning however the lowly Woodchuck was still winning.
Here in the NW we have moles. No one has ever seen one of these critters. (Just kidding of course—but if you have, you many have wished that you hadn’t—even if it was in books. They are not known for being cute.) All night long they raise havoc with the lawns of homes and golf courses and farmers fields. They do a great deal to oxygenate the soil through their activities. They leave little mounds of dirt everywhere as they excavate miles of tunnels under your lawn—or pasture. While one might suspect that the mounds in this field are related to the fine bovine long-horn way off in the distance, they are all mole hills—and they apparently are not afraid of any mean old long-horn—or are oblivious to it.
The only recognized method of getting rid of these little creatures is trapping—and it is considered quite difficult. Flooding the tunnels, and fumigation of the tunnels have not proven to be effective.
If you decide you want to “try” and get rid of these nuisance pests you should call a licensed pest control company—-I certainly have no idea how to do it.
It is interesting because these critters will often fill up utility access boxes that are embedded in the ground as a way to get rid of the dirt they excavate. For example a homes water meter or back-flow valve compartment such as the one in the following picture, will often be packed full with dirt.
These access boxes should obviously be kept clean of debris so that they can be maintained etc.
This next picture is of a water meter box that has been completely stuffed with dirt—making reading the meter or shutting the main water valve off very difficult.
In order to truly deal with this critter however it is best to take the advice of Bill Murray, alias Carl Spackler in Caddy Shack. In the words of Carl: “I have to laugh, because I’ve outsmarted even myself. My enemy, my foe, is an animal. In order to conquer the animal, I have to learn to think like an animal. And, whenever possible, to look like one. I’ve gotta get inside this guy’s pelt and crawl around for a few days.”
If you enjoyed this post, and would like to get notices of new posts to my blog, please subscribe via email in the little box to the right. I promise NO spamming of your email
Leave a Reply