When walking in your yard, have you ever stepped on a piece of grass and felt your feet sink down a little? This is not because it was wet or muddy, but because the ground isn’t as solid as it should be. You might also see little hills or mounds dotted around your yard, tunnels openings to the underground. Before you get paranoid and think that this is the work of some elaborate plan to destroy your yard, stop and breathe. Whatever is happening, it needs to be dealt with, because with the mounds there may be spots of browning grass appearing all over the place that like the grass is dying. While we know, it looks just horrible, know too that this might be the work of gophers or moles.

These annoying little vermin can totally demolish your yard. It has nothing to do with the care that you give your lawn; moles and gophers don’t just move in on people who let their yards go. It can happen with any yard, anywhere; and while that may sound somewhat overwhelming realize that you’re not in this alone. There are millions of yards around the world that are affected by these rodents every day. They can do damage in excess of what most people think is rational, and at other times, you barely know that they’re there. Believe it or not, there’s no rhyme or reason to why they move in or not and that knowledge might be extremely distressing.

Disgruntled homeowners have gone to extreme lengths to get rid of these little beasts with mixed results. In fact, most of these so called “solutions” just end up costing you more money and wasting your time. They don’t get results and the yard looks like it did before.

There are many methods being advertised to get rid of gophers and moles, including poisoned peanuts, granules that can be sprinkled about the yard and all kinds of sprays. With the poisoned peanuts, it’s a self-contained system; however, sometimes gophers and moles won’t eat the peanuts thereby rendering their effectiveness nil. Granules might be good, but you need to keep your domestic animals out of the yard so they don’t get sick if you choose that method. There is also another method that has grown in popularity. It involves the use of a device that emanates a pulsation that is high pitched and designed to drive out gophers and moles. It does work, however, when the batteries die, the vermin returns. So, as a result, it’s an endless cycle, and you have to keep digging up the device to replace the batteries.

Some really angry homeowners have even taken to more drastic measures like pumping car exhaust into the holes. This might work and it might not. However, it is very dangerous anytime you’re dealing with toxic fumes. Some other angry yard owners have even resorted to flooding the holes with a garden hose. It might get rid of the creatures temporarily, but this is not a permanent fix. Does it get rid of the pests when it rains a lot? Of course not. So why would pumping water in the holes be any different?

The truth is, there is really only one way to effectively rid yourself of these pests, and that is through the use of mole traps. The problem with traps is that there are so many on the market, most of which take an exacting knowledge for proper use. The best advice is to get help from a professional so you will be able to get rid of the underground pests that have been wreaking havoc on your yard. You can be back to that plush grass in no time.