You lay a new lawn, water it for a month, and one morning there's a row of fresh sand heaps across it. In Dana Bay, with fynbos and empty stands all around, that's a familiar story.
Molerats in a Dana Bay garden come down to one thing: finding the run a molerat is using right now and putting the treatment down inside it, then watching the boundary for the next arrival. Hosepipes, smoke bombs, mothballs and solar-powered buzzers all fail for the same reason: the animal blocks off the stretch it doesn't like and carries on. A garden here has neighbours on all sides that can supply more molerats, so keeping an eye on the edges matters as much as the first treatment.
We treat molerats in home gardens, complexes, retirement villages and holiday homes in Dana Bay and around Mossel Bay.
Why new gardens are a target
A Dana Bay garden often starts as a cleared stand of sand and fynbos. Then it gets a load of topsoil, a lawn, some shrubs and an irrigation system. To a molerat living on the stand next door or in the veld, that's a sudden feast: soft, watered soil full of fresh roots, bulbs and young plants, with no competition. The newest gardens on a street are often the first to show mounds.
If you're about to lay a lawn or plant a new garden and you've seen mounds on or near the stand, get the molerat treated first. Laying instant lawn over an active tunnel is an expensive way to feed it.
Where they come from
Dana Bay still has empty stands between houses, wide verges, and fynbos along its edges. Molerats live in all of it, and young animals move out to find new territory. A garden can be cleared and stay quiet for months, then a new animal tunnels in from the open ground next door. In a complex, the shared gardens and boundary strips are where most of them enter.
Molerat or something else?
The Cape dune molerat pushes up heaps of loose sand, often in a line following its tunnel, and eats roots, bulbs and tubers. Plants wilt and topple because they've been eaten from below. A golden mole, by contrast, leaves a raised, crumbly ridge as it hunts for grubs and leaves the plants alone; see the moles and molerats profile for more on both.
How we treat
- Find the active tunnel Fresh, damp heaps tell us roughly where it's working. We open the run nearby and wait to see if it's plugged again, the sign that the animal is home.
- Treat underground The product goes into the active tunnel and the opening is closed, so nothing is left on the surface.
- Note the entry point Where the run comes in from a stand, verge or neighbour, we mark it as the first place to check next time.
- Return visit If the same run starts throwing up sand again, we come back to it.
Protecting a new garden
- Raised vegetable beds: line the bottom with galvanised wire mesh before filling with soil. It keeps molerats out permanently
- Bulbs and young trees: plant them in wire mesh baskets
- Lawns: keep an eye on the boundary edges, where new mounds usually appear first, and call early when they do
- Irrigation: water deeply and less often rather than a little every day; constantly soft, wet soil makes digging easy
Don't kill the mole snake
If you come across a long, plain brown or blackish snake in the garden, there's a fair chance it's a mole snake, and it's on your side. Mole snakes hunt molerats in their tunnels, they're not venomous, and they leave people alone if left alone. Owls, mongooses and the odd jackal buzzard take molerats too. None of them will clear a garden on their own, but they're worth having around, so let them be and call a snake handler if one needs moving.
Call at the first mound
The best time to phone is when the first fresh heap appears on the boundary, not when half the lawn is covered. One animal in one fresh run is a quick job. By the time a molerat has criss-crossed a garden for a month, there's more damage to repair and more tunnel to trace.
In a complex or retirement village
Molerats ignore boundaries between gardens, so if several units are affected, treating them together, along with the common gardens and boundary strips, gives everyone a longer break. A regular check of the boundaries through the wetter months works well for larger complexes.
What it costs
One molerat in one garden doesn't take long. For complexes, big gardens and plots that back onto the fynbos, where newcomers keep arriving, a programme of boundary checks through the wetter months may be the better buy, and we'll suggest whichever costs you less.
More on our method is on the mole control page, and other sandy-coast gardens are covered on mole control in Sedgefield. If something else is bothering you in the suburb, pest control in Dana Bay has the rest. A photo of the mounds through our contact page helps us plan, or ring 044 012 5011.
Frequently asked questions
Why are molerats attacking our new lawn?
A freshly watered lawn on a cleared stand is soft, root-rich soil next to the veld where molerats live. New gardens are often the first ones they find.
Should I treat for molerats before laying instant lawn?
Yes. If there are mounds on or near the stand, have the molerat treated first so it doesn't feed on the new lawn.
Will flooding the tunnels with the hose get rid of them?
No. Sandy soil drains fast, and the molerat simply walls off the wet section and digs around it.
How do I protect my vegetable beds?
Line the bottom of raised beds with galvanised wire mesh before you fill them. It keeps molerats out for good.
Can you treat our complex's gardens together?
Yes, and it works better. Treating several gardens and the boundary strips together gives everyone a longer break.
Does watering affect molerats?
It can. Soil that's always soft and wet is easier to dig, so water deeply and less often.