Holey Moley!

The mystery of the large piles of dirt that have been popping up all over our yard has been resolved!  It's the Vole, or Maulwurf/Wühlmäuser or stupid little pesky rodent Mole as we call them.

This would be a small portion of the holes in our yard.

I asked my nice German neighbor (who lives just the other side of these above mention piles) what they were and he told me it was the Maulwurf and acted out a little skit of how the Mole digs his litte tunnels and creates these piles all over our yards and gardens.  He doesn't speak much English and went in the house to get his Frau and between the three of us had a nice little English/Deutsch conversation that resulted in the fact that they are a problem and there isn't much I can do except spread the dirt out.  Although he did bring over this tube-like contraption with a point at one end and "Maulwurf Chaser" labeled on the other end.  I'm assuming it goes down the holes?  These little things can burrow about 100 meters per night, they are busy and they are really tearing up our yard!

Now from my research I've learned that there are numerous ways to get rid of them:

• 1.  Get a cat - I have 2 neighborhood cats that spend most days in my yard and there still seems to be a problem.
• 2.  Get a Terrier or Dachshund - well it's just not really an option.
• 3.  Get an owl - really? Um, no.
• 4.  Sprinkle curry powder on the lawn - possibly
• 5.  Piss on the lawn - Apparently they are turned away by human scents and clearly this would be an easier solution for Dave but I'm not sure what the legal repercussions would be to this.  Peeing in the open or along the road seems to be a "no biggie" around here but still, I don't think I can get Dave to agree.
• 6.  Shove carrots, potatoes, turnips down the holes - I don't want to feed them to attract them, I want them gone!
• 7.  Install a mole deterrent - A battery operated thing that sends out signals that the moles don't like.  Seems logical but I'm not investing in it.
• 8.  Doing something with a hammer and anvil - Sounds cruel.
• 9.  Moth balls, juicy fruit gum, caster beans, Pine Sol - I despise the smell of moth balls but if it works, hey? Does the gum have to be chewed or does the Mole chew it? What are caster beans?  For the amount of holes the Pine Sol solution could get expensive but the yard would be really clean and smell great.
• 10. Hire a mole catcher - I wouldn't even know how to go about doing this.

I'm going to have to talk to our Landlords about this, I'm sure they've encounted this before since these piles of dirt are just about everywhere you can possibly imagine.  I don't really want to see the Mole, they're ugly. In the meantime I'm looking into this:

...no not really but it looks fun!  I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill here I just need to figure out how to get rid of them effectively and safely.  Besides I think it might be illegal in Germany to kill them.  If the cats kill them I guess there isn't anything I can do but I don't want to be picking up dead Moles - actually I won't pick up dead Moles.

"Three little moles ran down three little holes, and all you could see was molasses."