RCO International Inc., developer and manufacture of the control agent for moles presents a bait that is specifically designed to compete with the moles instinctual feeding sources: worms and soft bodied insects. The mole is an omnivore but prefers insects and worms for the majority of its caloric needs. This methodical pest can be controlled easily and safely by utilizing the RCO Mole Patrol Bait. See MSU study for research.

RCO Mole Patrol is a composite formula of attractive feed mediums mixed with an anticoagulant, chlorophacinone, to create a highly effective tool for the control of moles that infest our turf and ornamental areas. The pellet is packaged in convenient containers with CRC closures. Labeling is simplified and clear. Single feed mortality has been documented, but typical results take approximately 5-9 days after initial ingestion. Vitamin K is the effective antidote in the event of an accidental consumption.

About Moles: Varying quantities of information are available about the mole that inhabit the US and Europe. Some are quite interesting and some are subject to conjecture. We at RCO have several valid sources of base information that have assisted us in the development of workable bait. Our company has created over six different baits since the 1940's for field and urban rodent control utilizing many different bait mediums, types of bait forms, and toxicants. Concepts and experiences we have encountered over the years have enabled us to construct baits that allow the applicator to be successful over the broadest range of conditions. A thorough understanding of the pest is always a great key to its control and management of an infested area. Most professionals should have a working knowledge of the pest to overcome routine obstacles encountered as they set control strategies.

Moles are a fossorial pest that have many characteristics that enable them to perform successfully in a below ground environment.  An environment that provides them with fresh food, a nesting and mating arena and safety. They will consume insects and preferably worms to fulfill their endothermic demands. The mole needs nourishment to maintain energy levels specific to their high physical output, plus their diet allows them to maintain satisfactory body temperatures. Some their characteristics are: methodical approach to tunnel system development, circadian response to it's dietary and work needs, and highly refined sensory mechanisms on its nose, tail, and belly.

The female and male work diligently to mate (once a year), will build a 'true composting' nest environment (heat generation) and wean (Avg. 40-42 days) the rapidly growing young population, prior to dispersal. The female will instinctively move the juveniles from nest to nest during this weaning process and push them into their own systems when she is ready to see them leave. Juveniles will travel below or above ground during this migration to new feeding locations. Territories will vary in size and overlap like a stack of woven string. Systems typically are not open to each other unless during the breeding period in the spring. Common thoroughfares have been located in undisturbed areas with historic populations. The mole will avoid contact with other travelers at all costs, unless, again, it's during their mating period. Life cycles can last over 3 years.

Controlling the Pest is accomplished by a variety of means. Our product, RCO Mole Patrol has been shown to reduce and eliminate resident populations of moles conveniently, safely, and economically. Product performance is documented in research work by Michigan State. Click here to view research. Directions for baiting are available on the product label. Click here for product label.

Anticoagulants used in the RCO Mole Patrol Bait require that an available amount of bait be accepted by the pest consistently over a period of days. The bait must be re-supplied to same tunnel within 48 hours of initial placement. Effective baiting for this pest will include assistance from neighbors if the infestation area adjoins other sites moles inhabit. Many scientific articles speak to the recovery period by reinvading pests into the preexisting tunnel systems. Nature loves a void and will fill it, sometimes within weeks. Always dust old systems, when possible, with insecticides registered for fleas or ticks if you have question about ecotoparasitic populations in your local. (Fleas, ticks, mites, etc.) This is a practice we follow when removing squirrel populations from public areas and could be observed in areas where Lyme's Disease is prevalent. Other means as effective as RCO Mole Patrol are professional trappers. The techniques in effective trapping are experience and sometimes good luck. Baiting with RCO Mole Patrol offers a tool to the individual for direct population control of moles through a less traumatic method, typically painless. Gasses are available but require a license for the most effective material and adequate ground moisture. Acute poison baits typically create a bait aversion due the taste and overall acceptance of the bait medium. RCO Mole Patrol is an anticoagulant that has no toxic aftertaste and illness reaction from ingestion associated with the bait, hence no bait shyness. Plants. An article by Bob Stewart on "When Mole Hills Become Mountains" http://tomclothier.hort.net/page39.html has a number of non-tools used on moles that is worth review.

Surface of the soil so that their course can be readily followed. In wet weather they are very shallow; during a dry period they range somewhere deeper following the course of earthworms.

Habitat: The mole makes his home burrows in high, dry spots, but hunts preferably in soil that is shaded, cool, and moist and populated by worms and grubs. This accounts for the mole's attractions to lawns and parks. In neglected orchards and natural woodlands, moles work undisturbed. The ground is infiltrated with runways. The mole commonly makes his headquarters under portions of buildings and sidewalks.

The Mole's Guests. The mole finds itself compelled to act as host to a large number of guests. The maze of passages that thread the soil everywhere provides protective cover and lines of traffic for several species of small mammals.

Mainly voles (meadow mice), white-footed mice and the common house mouse readily live in and move through mole runways, helping themselves to grains,seeds, and tubers. Yet the mole gets blamed for damaging these plants.

Food Habits

A study of the teeth of the mole (see Figure i) indicates the character of its food and general behavior. In several respects moles are much more closely related to the carnivorous or flesh-eating mammals than to the rodents.

The diet of moles consists mainly of the insects, grubs, and worms it finds in the soil. Moles are thought to damage roots and tubers by eating into them, but rodents usually are to blame.

Figure 3. Moles "swim" through soil, often near the ground surface, in their search for worms, insects, and other foods. In doing so, they may damage plants by exposing their roots to drying.

Examination of Stomach Contents. Direct evidence of what an animal eats may usually be obtained by the examination of stomach contents. The accompanying table gives the results of the careful examination of the stomach contents of 100 moles:

The mole thrives in a loose, moist soil abounding in grubs and earthworms. It is more commonly found in fields and woods shaded by vegetation, and is not able to maintain existence in hard, compact, semiarid soil.

The mole is not a social animal, coming out of its underground burrows only occasionally.

The mole does not hibernate but is more or less active at all seasons of the year. It is busiest finding and storing foods during rainy periods of summer.

The gestation period of moles is approximately 42 days, with from three to five young born mainly in March and early April.

Because of its secluded life underground, the mole has only a few natural enemies. Coyotes, dogs, badgers, and skunks dig out a few of them, and occasionally a cat, hawk, or owl surprises one above ground. The flooding of lowlands during spring floods is probably the greatest danger that menaces the adult mole and its progeny.

Considered from the standpoint of food habits alone, moles do not negatively affect the interests of farmers and gardeners. Rather, they remove many damaging insects and grubs. However, their burrowing habits disfigure lawns and parks, destroy flowerbeds, tear up the roots of grasses, and create havoc in small garden plots.

Legal Status

Moles are not protected in any of the Great Plains states. Types of traps and other methods of damage control may be limited by state and local laws, however.

Damage Prevention and Control Methods

The mole seems to possess a natural shrewdness and ability to sense danger and can be somewhat challenging to trap.

Cultural Methods and Habitat Modification

In practice, packing the soil with a roller or reducing soil moisture may tend to reduce the desirability of the habitat to moles. Because moles feed largely on insects and worms, the use of certain insecticides to control these organisms may reduce the food supply of moles, causing them to leave the area. However, before leaving the area the moles may increase their digging in search of food, thereby possibly increasing damage to turf or garden areas.

If you wish to try discouraging moles by beginning a control program for white grubs, contact your local Extension agent for a recommended procedure.

Repellents

The repellent Thiram is federally registered for protecting bulbs from mole damage. For further information on Thiram products, see the sections Pesticides and Supplies and Materials.

Mothballs or moth flakes occasionally are suggested as a mole repellent. When placed into the mole's runways, they are reputed to cause the mole to leave. There is little information to substantiate their effectiveness.

Toxicants

There are a number of difficulties in poisoning moles. Since moles normally do not consume grain, poison grain baits are seldom effective. Two poisons are federally registered for use against moles. They are strychnine and zinc phosphide. Ready-to-use grain baits containing one or the other of these ingredients are often sold at nurseries or garden supply stores.

Fumigants

Fumigants are also federally registered for use against moles. 'They are aluminum phosphide, calcium cyanide, and gas cartridges (see Supplies and Materials). Most of these are Restricted Use Pesticides. These fumigants would have the greatest effectiveness if the material were placed in the deep burrows of the mole, not the surface runways. However, golf course owners report moles can be repelled from surface tunnels by placing aluminum phosphide pellets in mole surface tunnels. Since state pesticide registrations vary, check with your local Extension Service office for information on toxicants and repellents legal in your area. Care should be taken when using chemicals and the label instructions should be read, understood, and followed.

Traps

Trapping is the most successful and practical method of getting rid of moles.

There are three excellent mole traps on the market. Any, if properly handled, will give good results. These traps depend upon the same sort of mechanism for releasing the spring. A broad trigger-pan triggers the trap as the mole upheaves the depressed portion of his surface burrow over which the trap is set. The brand names of these traps are: "Out O' Sight", "Victor" mole trap and "Nash" (choker loop) mole trap (figure 4). The Victor trap has sharp spikes which impale the mole.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE

It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.

USE RESTRICTIONS

This product may be used only in lawns, golf courses, and other turf areas to control eastern moles (Scalopus aguafious), star-nosed moles (Condylura cristata), or (Scapanus spp.) moles that occur in the Western U.S. This ball must be applied under ground a moles' deep tunnels or subsurface runways. This bait may not be used above ground and must be applied manually. This product contains a slow-acting poison Several treatments may be necessary to control mole infestations.

APPLICATION DIRECTIONS

SUBSURFACE RUNWAYS: Subsurface runways are detected as raised ridges of vegetation and soil caused by moles foraging just below the soil surface. These ridges are especially noticeable when the grass on top of them yellows.

As many subsurface runways are used only once, you must determine which runways are habitually used by moles and apply bait only to these runways. To check subsurface runways for continued activity gently flatten short sections of runways, marking locations where runways have bean flattened so that you will know where to look for reconstruction of the ridge. Flagging on short stakes or dowels works well for this purpose, but make sure mat these are located beside (rather than in) the runways marked. Runways that are reconstructed within 72 hours of flattening may be sufficiently active to use for baiting. Apply bait to each active runway identified. Using a 1/2-inch diameter dowel a metal rod (or other suitable implement),make a small opening in the top of the runway. Deposit a teaspoon quantity (about 4 grams) of bail through the hole, taking care not to collapse the ridge of the runway (move to a new location if ridge collapses). Carefully reclose the hole so that extra light is excluded. but no soil falls on bait and ridge is not collapsed. A small piece of sod or wadded paper towel may be used to reclose holes. Bait each active subsurface runway at 10-15 foot intervals. Check treated area often for signs of continued activity by moles. Retreat areas where fresh activity is seen.

CONICAL MOUNDS end DEEP TUNNELS: Moles may also, construct deeper tunnel systems. 4-6 inches below the ground surface. Such deeper tunnel systems are betrayed by me presence of conical mounds, sometimes 4-12 inches high, which are formed when moles push excavated soil up to me surface. Adjacent conical mounds often are only a few feet apart. The tunnel running between adjacent mounds may be found by probing the soil between mounds. Resistance to the probe decreases abruptly once the tunnel is entered. To bait deeper tunnels, probe until a tunnel is located. Enlarge the probe hole as needed to accommodate the passage of bait. Apply a teaspoon amount (about 4 grams) of bait into the tunnel. Cover the probe hole with sod, a small rock, or wadded paper to exclude light. Take care not to allow soil to cover bait. Treat each apparent length of deep tunnels. Several days after treatment, check deep tunnels for continued presence of moles by probing openings into tunnels and marking them with flagged stakes inserted into the soil beside the opening. Retreat all deep tunnels whose openings are reclosed from within during the next 72 hours.

MSDS | Mole-ology