New mole traps

Do you boil your new mole trap to get the smell off them? If so, how do you season yours? I always put on gloves and rub my hands in dirt before setting the traps.

I have always just piled a bunch of dirty / muddy traps into a bucket at the house and filled it with hot tap water. Let them soak a bit then switch them around. Drain off the dirty water then rinse and soak again until the water drains off clear. They air dry quickly on a dry breezy day if you spread them out a bit.

For brand new traps I have many times set them in runs out of the box new. I would think if you soaked them in some hot water and baking soda, swashed them around then rinse them you would be good after drying. I sometimes keep a couple handfuls of dried grass clippings in a bucket at times mixed with traps if I feel I may have an odor issue.

Thanks Bob, I always put used traps in in water right out of the ground. Makes them a lot nicer to work with. I have some new trap I want to get in the ground. Thanks again!

Nope. I just put them right in the ground and catch moles with them. I’m not a believer that scent makes a difference when it comes to moles. I only wear gloves to keep my hands clean.

I have seen some avoidance with some snap traps stored in our lure facility that had picked up odor from the shop. I was doing a big vole job and I knew something wasn't right. So I pulled all the traps switched them out with new ones. The old traps that I pulled I soaked in a rodent tincture that I made in the shop. Let them air dry in the outdoor sunlight and set them the next day. Then we were all good again.

I’ll tune them to work better, but nothing more than that. I can pull a rotting mole and trap out of the ground and then reinsert the same trap in a different tunnel and pick up a family member. I never understood why they hit the trap. They must smell it!

You're not suggesting that moles are afraid of human scent, are you ?

Or do you mean after you've caught a mole and it has been in the trap decomposing ?