Lawn Diseases
Best Mole Killer: Why Most Mole Poisons Cannot Work
Moles are not rodents, so the grain baits sold for them cannot poison them — and grub control will not remove them either. What extension services do recommend.
Bromethalin Mole Bait (artificial earthworm form)
Bell Laboratories Talpirid Mole Bait Worms (20 count) Review
★★★★☆ 4/5
our editor rating how we score3.8/5 from 2,717 shoppers at Amazon — their number, not ours.
$48–$58
Typical price · 20 worm baits; one placed into each active tunnel
Affiliate links — see our disclosure. Commissions never influence verdicts.
The product the trade treats as the category standard — and, by its own EPA registration number, the same registered bait sold for a third less under a consumer brand.
Our Verdict
The original worm-form mole bait and the one every professional supplier stocks, which is why it turns up first when you search by brand. It works on the principle that matters: Purdue Extension states moles are not rodents and cannot be baited with rodent foods, so a moulded, scented artificial earthworm is the form that matches what a mole actually hunts. Now the part nobody tells you. Talpirid is EPA Reg. No. 12455-101 and carries bromethalin at 0.025%. Tomcat Mole Killer is EPA Reg. No. 12455-101-3240 — the same base registration under a supplemental distributor, at the same 0.025% — and works out around $1.58 per worm against roughly $2.65 here. If you want 20 baits in one box from the name the trade uses, this is it. If you want the identical registered bait cheaper, buy the consumer label. Four stars rather than more only because of that price gap. Same pet caution applies: NPIC states rodenticides affect any mammal the same way, and bromethalin has no antidote.
✅ Pros
- The worm form that matches a mole's actual diet, which grain baits cannot
- 20 baits per box — enough for a substantial network in one purchase
- The registration the professional trade standardised on
- Single feeding can deliver a lethal dose
- Bromethalin stays effective in cold soil, unlike some alternatives
⚠️ Cons
- Roughly 1.7× the cost per worm of the same registered bait under a consumer brand
- Bromethalin has no antidote; NPIC states rodenticides affect any mammal the same way
- Pet ingestion signs can be delayed 8–12 hours or several days
- Placed on an abandoned run it does nothing — confirm the tunnel is active first
- Does not stop a new mole recolonising the same tunnels
Product type
Bromethalin Mole Bait (artificial earthworm form)
Active ingredient
Bromethalin 0.025% — EPA Reg. No. 12455-101
Price range
$48–$58
Coverage
20 worm baits; one placed into each active tunnel
Best for
Larger tunnel networks where 20 baits in one box is worth the premium
our editor rating
4 out of 5
Where our facts come from
Label read on EPA's label database
EPA Reg. No. 12455-101
We opened this product's accepted label on EPA's own Pesticide Product Label System — the strongest source available for what a product is registered to do.
What we found when we read it
EPA PPLS registry read 2026-08-02: registered product name 'TALPIRID', EPA Reg. 12455-101, bromethalin 0.025%, and no alternate brand names — this is the base registration under its own name, which is unusual on this shelf and makes it the cleanest identification of the three bromethalin worm baits we review. WSU FIELD TEST recorded 2026-08-20. WSU Extension Snohomish County (Dave Pehling, Mole-Hill Gazette 04/07) ran a limited field test of the Talpirid worm-bait format, staking baits in daily-use runs to recover them: "In every instance I could find no sign of feeding, though the baits were consistently walked over, buried, pressed into the tunnel walls or just pushed out of the run." Smearing earthworms on two baits did not change it, and the mole continued to occupy the runs. He also records the manufacturer stating the bait "had been thoroughly tested on our western moles and was proven effective", so the refusal was on the species the claim named. LIMITS, which matter: his own word is limited — one site, one mole, not a trial — the animal is a WESTERN mole (Scapanus), where most of the country has the eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus), and it dates from 2007. Kept in the catalogue with the rating unchanged, because one limited test on a different species is not grounds to overturn a format extension publications otherwise recommend. But the honest expectation is an attempt to verify by probing the run afterwards, not a certainty.
Where this page and the container disagree, the container wins — the label is the legal authority on rates and restrictions. How to read one yourself.
Where This Product Matters
Matched against each state's actual disease, weed and pest pressure.
Arizona
Arizona hub →⚖️ Do not buy this for an Arizona yard. University of Arizona Cooperative Extension states it plainly: “We do not have moles in Arizona.” Soil being pushed up here is almost certainly a pocket gopher — a rodent that does eat plant material and therefore CAN be baited, which is the opposite of a mole. Identify by mound shape: a gopher approaches the surface at an angle so its mound is a fan or tear drop with the plug off to one side; a mole pushes soil straight up, so its mound is round and conical.
Colorado
Colorado hub →⚖️ Almost certainly the wrong animal here. CSU Extension fact sheet 6.521 records moles as “rarely found in Colorado, and only on the eastern plains” — the Lower South Platte counties (Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Morgan, Washington, Yuma) plus Baca in the south-east. Denver, the Front Range and the Western Slope are all outside mole range, where CSU points instead at voles, pocket gophers, prairie dogs or Wyoming ground squirrels.
Iowa
Iowa hub →Moles along field edges
Oregon
Oregon hub →Moles (heavy in soft, damp valley soil)
Common questions
Common Questions
How much does Bell Laboratories Talpirid Mole Bait Worms (20 count) cost?
Bell Laboratories Talpirid Mole Bait Worms (20 count) typically runs $48–$58, covering 20 worm baits; one placed into each active tunnel.
What does Bell Laboratories Talpirid Mole Bait Worms (20 count) treat?
Bell Laboratories Talpirid Mole Bait Worms (20 count) targets Moles.
What is the active ingredient in Bell Laboratories Talpirid Mole Bait Worms (20 count)?
Bromethalin 0.025% — EPA Reg. No. 12455-101, registered under EPA Reg. No. 12455-101.
What is the biggest downside of Bell Laboratories Talpirid Mole Bait Worms (20 count)?
Roughly 1.7× the cost per worm of the same registered bait under a consumer brand
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