Tomcat Mole Trap, Innovative and Effective Mole Remover Trap Kills Without Drawing Blood, Reusable and Hands-Free, 1 Trap

We have a few acres and fertile soil, perfect habitat for moles. They'd completely destroyed several areas of my lawn before I finally started taking action.I started many do.. actively watching for digging, armed with a pitchfork, shovel, or even a rifle. While I was successful one out of four times (pitchfork), it became abundantly clear that the time spent and success rate was just not feasible to sustain.After reading around, I started with the poison worms. We had limited success, some moles took the bait, others passed. The only way of knowing, or assuming, they worked is seeing tunnels stop. I'm one that likes seeing indisputable proof of success, which the worms don't provide.Enter this trap.I purchased four of them and, while I initially thought I went a bit overkill, I'm ultimately glad I did as I've had all four set at once a couple different times now.I've owned for two months and have dispatched six moles, which is every mole I've seen tunneling so far.I've waged war on these little pests, and I finally feel like I'm beginning to win.. lolFor those of you 'new warriors' out there, I'd like to provide some tips that I've picked up on over these last couple months, as I would've liked to know them myself early off.1. As others have said, do not set traps on mounds. These are feeding areas and the moles dig upwards, which will trigger the trap but will not catch the mole.Set Traps on Tunnels, perpendicular to the tunnel, as prescribed in the instructions.2. You want the claws of the trap centered vertically around the actual tunnel, which means for deeper tunnels you'll need to dig a recess into the ground, around the tunnel, for the trap to rest. To test actual tunnel depth, just poke a stick straight down on the center of the tunnel and feel for when the stick breaks through the dirt ceiling.If the tunnel is 4 or more inches deep, I suggest trying to find a more shallow part of the tunnel to set the trap, as it's easier to set and (at least for me) has a higher success rate of capturing the mole.3. The instructions say to stomp an indent on the center of the tunnel where you set the trap. This is to allow the trigger mechanism, a yellow plunger that engages downward, space to engage. This can be a pain, especially on deeper tunnels. I've found that using a spade to dig out the center of the tunnel between the claws makes it much easier to engage the trigger without it bottoming out, preventing engagement.4. The trap can be difficult to plunge into hard earth. The plastic claws, while quality molded, have round tips and the trap itself doesn't have any great leverage points to fully use your body weight to press down. You will want to use a bit of water to soften the ground, not the tunnel, where you're jamming the claws down into the ground when the dirt is hard.5. Adversely, if after setting the trap you get a heavy rain, you should reset the trap after the soil dries up a bit. What I've found is that setting the trap digs a track for the claws to pinch when it's triggered. After heavy rain, that track gets filled with mud which prevents the claws from pinching, effectively neutralizing the trap.Overall, this is a very effective trap once you get the nuances figured out. My success rate after figuring out what I've explained above has been 100%.The only Con, as alluded to in tip 4, is in the process of plunging the claws into the ground. The claws have rounded tips. This makes them less likely to bend or break during setting while also making the trap engagement smoother, but makes pressing into the ground more difficult. There are no great positions for hands or feet to get maximum leverage to press straight down for this task. I've had several sets where I put all my weight on my hands to get the trap down as far as possible, then got up and braced myself against a nearby tree to get my feet on the very edges of the trap to get it the rest of the way down, as there's no great way to balance on it.All in all, I finally feel like I've taken my yard back from these pesky little suckers and it's all thanks to this trap. I hope this helps you all do the same. Good luck!

This trap may work in certain niche applications, but will not work as described for most. The instructions say to make a depression in an active run, put the trap in the ground perpendicular to the run and step on the pedal to set. This is impossible because of how the trap works.Stepping on the trap opens the jaws. The jaws have to move through the soil to open so you'll have to do some digging. I used an edger to make some channels so the jaws would open. Digging disturbs the ground as much or more than the moles do. Not only that, you'll have to get the trap positioned accurately. My experience suggests the moles just tunnel around it, just like the old spear traps.Additionally, it takes a good bit of force to set the trap. Do you have poor balance, a weak back or bad hips / knees? You're likely to hit the ground trying to set this thing and injure yourself.I left this trap in place for a week and it eventually sprung but there was no mole in it. I moved it to a new run and within a few minutes it sprung on its own. I threw it out. The only good part is it comes out of the ground easily, and it should since you have to dig to set it. Not recommended.The best method I've found for moles, other than poison, is to mash down a run and go out in the afternoon. If you see the earth moving, jam a shovel in the run. It's time consuming but foolproof.

I tried a few other brands and tricks. Nothing worked. I had a few moles in my backyard that wreaked havoc on my lawn but what worried me most was that a few went into my little raised garden and started messing with my tomatoes. No one messes with my tomatoes!Went to a local garden store here and found two TomCat traps sitting lonely up on a shelf, in a corner. I was a little skeptical but bought them both because I was desperate at that point. Went home, got them out of the box, read the instructions quickly and went for the freshest feeding tunnel I could find. I had done some research online (YouTube) on mole behavior, etc. I had a male mole that was creating the most damage in one area (judging by the gigantic mating hole/mound with a nice fresh main feeding tunnel running away from it). This guy was hungry and every time I'd collapse his feeling tunnel, he's come right out of his hole and pissed off, he'd tunnel up right through, making that tunnel whole again. That is what you need to look for and set your trap (any trap) into -- fresh and active tunnels with emphasis on "ACTIVE". I followed the instructions, made a small indentation using the heel of my sneaker into the middle of that active feeding tunnel, and using the depth gauge which is part of the trap, made sure it was at the right depth, then set the trap and walked away. I attempted to do the same with the second trap, using a different area, another tunnel some 20 feet away. I don't think I took ten steps when the trap I had just setup, sprang up. I thought it was a mistake, that somehow it snapped and disengaged. Walked over and pulled it out and to my astonishment, a very fat, well fed male mole was hanging dead, out of one of the claws. Its death was swift and humane (for those mole lovers out there). It did not suffer.I was sold right there. This thing is built to last (not sure why other users had trouble with these things). The plastic material is well molded, strong and well built. It all looks beefy and well put together. Springs are strong and so are the bolts. I didn't see any weak points in terms of built and strength. The top part is bright yellow which is really a nicely thought out feature ( you can see it from afar if trap is still set or if trapping had occurred) I left the traps out in the rain for days and not a single spec of rust on anything metal, has ever been noticed. I hose them down to remove debris and it all comes off within seconds.IMPORTANT -- setting the trap (getting the latching mechanism to engage) can sometime be tricky. At first, I thought there was something wrong with the product. You'll notice that sometime the trap sets right-way and sometimes it doesn't latch easily. The problem lies with the initial indentation made in the active tunnel before setting the trap and the amount of grass or debris underneath the trap, when you set it. It works best on a short mowed grass. Make sure you trigger (what's hanging over the little indentation made with your heel, in the middle of the tunnel) hangs right over it and nothing pushes up against it. The trap has depth gauge which you can use to make sure that the indentation made is at a proper depth. These things can make setting this trap a bit tricky (at times). Don't give up, play with it (keeping your fingers/limbs away from its claws) and learn how to set it properly. The more you use them, the easier it all gets and it's all worth it.Very happy with this trap. Caught a few extra moles since the first catch. It works really well. Take the time to set them properly and you will not have mole issues again (and if you do, these things are real killers).

They work ounce I learned to set them a lil deeper they are not , in my opinion, as good as the victor jaw traps but they will work . So far in same part of lawn it’s victor traps 4 caught vs two with these …