Victor0645 Plunger Style Mole Trap and Killer

This thing is a God-send for me. I am mechanically minded and I read the reviews of folks having some problems with this. When I got it I could see how the instructions may be a little short. Below I will explain how to set it in detail (from my perspective). THE PROBLEM: I probably had 60 mole tunnels crisscrossing my yard, tearing it up and it was driving me crazy! I tried poisonous gas and over the counter solid poisons for moles and my professional pest control people gave me something stronger to put in the tunnels....nothing worked. I spent about 40 minutes driving over and flattening all the tunnels and then the next day watched about a 30-yard tunnel appear! I tried spearing the bugger but didn't have any luck with that. My neighbor told me about this type of trap so I ordered it. It arrived after dark and I went out with a flashlight to set it for the first time. HOW IT WORKS AND HOW TO SET: 1st flatten all your tunnels and then look the next day for a new active tunnel. You can flatten them by stepping on them with the back of a hoe or do like I did and drive over them the wheel of a car or a riding lawn mower. 2nd – once you identify the active tunnel find a narrow part of the tunnel and flatten the roof slightly with with shoe or the fist of your hand (thumb depression in instructions is too narrow, I think the depression needs to be as wide as the firing plate). This is where the firing plate will sit and when the mole tries to repair his slightly flattened tunnel he will push up on the firing plate and fire the mechanism. 3rd.Take the two WIDEST spikes of the contraption and straddle the tunnel where you made the depression. Push the entire mechanism down with the wide spikes going into solid earth on either side of the tunnel until the firing plate sets on top of the depression in the tunnel. These wide spikes will hold the trap down when it fires. 4th – hold the trap down while pulling up and down a couple of times on the top handle that has a spring. This will pull the kill spikes up and down through the tunnel clearing a travel path. 5th – Now it’s time to set: (some of the reviewers had trouble setting it and I am convinced that it is because the firing plate was too tight against the top of the tunnel…I almost always had to pull up about an eighth of an inch on the entire trap to loosen the pressure on the firing plate when setting it…..but not so much that the kill spikes would not reach their depth and target) hold the trap down and pull up on the top handle until the notch in the holding lever holds the plate with the spikes up in the air…adjust the depth of the whole trap as described above until it stays.MY GREAT RESULTS: My trap arrived after dark and I went out with a flashlight an set it as described above. I went to dinner and when I came back and it had sprung. I set it again and went to bed. The next day it had NOT sprung again but after several days I had NO NEW TUNNELS. I had a similar experience in the back yard with a tunnel. It sprung within a few hours but after setting it again it never sprung again. The tunnels stopped. I am so happy to find something that actually worked!!!!! Buy it and enjoy!

The first time I set this, it was pretty easy. I literally took it out of the box and went straight to their tunnel and set the trap per the instructions (very crude instructions, I might add). After 2 days, nothing.It rained heavily, and they seemed to move to the other end of the yard, so I pulled up the trap and attempted to set it on the other end of the yard. Wow, could not get the little lever to stay on the outside while I set the trap. Took forever and when I was finally able to set it, it was in the wrong place. Third time I couldn't set it at all and it almost took my finger off. You literally have to hold that lever while you're setting it and that's very dangerous. My daughter asked me why I got such a dangerous trap and I thought, why did I? Well, I thought it was safe. It's really not.Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this. All of our neighbors have the scissors' type traps that look like bear traps. Those are scary. I thought this would be safer, but you could lose a finger setting this thing and it didn't work. To those who claim you have to be patient and wait weeks--that's not true at all. ALL of my neighbors had a mole within hours of setting the scissor's type traps. But they also dug up the hole, laid the trap, put a bucket over the top so it was dark, and waited. I don't have the patience for that so I guess I'll try the sonic ones next.I've uploaded three photos so you can see the trap, the box, the instructions, and the lever I'm talking about. The instructions really aren't clear at all. I had to watch several videos on YouTube.

Literally, not for the weak. I have been struggling with bad carpel tunnel the last couple of weeks and pulling this thing was dang-near impossible. They really need to out some braces on the sides to step on when you pull (even the plastic ones have those) because trying to push down in the whole thing while pulling as hard you can with the other hand...!? Good lord man! I just set it so, no reviews on how well it works, but as long as it triggers, ain't nothing surviving the strength of that spring!

I couldn't get this style to work 4 me at all. I bought another brand and it did much better for me. It could have been my fault and not the product but with my type of soil it creates a challenge.

They are the only thing I’ve found that really works on getting shrew after 35 years of trying to eliminate them. I have tried poisons, smoke bombs, worms, vibrating stakes, nothing works as good as these traps. Yes you have to learn how to set them correctly, find the right tunnel , and they are not for the weak. Setting them after a rain when the soil is moist works the best. Screw are not a nice critters , they will uproot grass and plants causing them to die, their tunnels are dangerous for footing with animals. I have great success with these.