Moles have an excellent sense of smell and will avoid traps if the smell of humans. Before setting the traps wash them with rain water and leave them out to 'weather' for a few days to remove any 'human' smell.

The Talpex mole trap is both powerful and sensitive. The trap is triggered by the mole pushing upwards against the trigger mechanism rather than pushing soil forward through the trap. This all adds up to a much greater success rate with the Talpex trap than with others on the market. There is a knack to setting Talpex traps which can be frustrating at first. The pin that sets the Talpex trap locates into a hole in the trigger plate. It is tempting to push the pin as far though this hole as possible, the result is that the pin just slides out and the trap fires. The trick is to set the pin just inside the trigger plate hole.

Moles create two types of tunnel shallow and deep. It is the deep tunnels that they tend to use on a regular basis and this is where the traps should be set. To locate the tunnels work around fresh molehills pushing a thin bamboo cane into the surrounding soil. You will be able to feel when you have located a tunnel. Cut carefully into the tunnel and set the traps with the scissor prongs at the edges of the tunnel and closing into its centre.

For most of the year moles are solitary animals and so once you have caught a mole there is unlikely to be another close by, so the traps can be removed.

Unless the traps are in mole runs do not leave them set. Set traps could easily cause harm to children, pets and other non-target animals.