Voles can cause extensive damage to lawns, gardens, flower bulbs, ornamentals, and tree plantings. Field crops like alfalfa, clover and grain may be damaged and potatoes and sugar beet crops can be completely destroyed.
What is a Vole
Voles, sometimes called field mice or meadow mice, are compact rodents with stocky bodies, short legs and short tails. Their eyes are small, ears partially hidden, dense fur and coloring is usually gray, brown or some species are black. The teeth of a vole grow constantly, causing a need to gnaw to keep their teeth ground to a short length.
Voles feed on berries, seeds, nuts, fungi, fruit, roots and bulbs. They can also eat bark from trees chewing a ring around the base of smaller trees much like a ring around the finger. In areas of scarce food sources, snails, insects and animal remains are eaten.
Control of Voles
- For vole control around trees, install hardware cylinders around young trees and seedlings. The mesh should be one quarter inch or less in size. Bury the wire six (6) inches to keep voles from burrowing under the cylinder.
- Soil tillage can be effective in reducing vole damage as it removes cover, destroys existing runway-burrow systems and kills some voles outright.
- Repellents using thiram (a fungicide) or capsaicin (the “hot” in chilis) are sometimes used as a deterrent for voles. Applications offer a short-term protection. A repellent containing fox and bobcat urine is offered for protection from voles entering an area. The product is easy to use, safe around children and pets and has a money back guarantee. Shake-Away can be purchased at the local Ace Hardware store. A 20 ounce can costs about $15.00.
- Zinc phosphide is the most common toxicant for vole control. It is used in a single dose toxicant available in pellets and grain bait. Baits are generally broadcast or placed by hand in runways and burrow openings. Zinc phosphide baits are potentially hazardous to ground-feeding birds, especially waterfowl. Placing bait into openings may reduce this hazard.
- Anticoagulants are slow-acting toxicants requiring from 5 to 15 days to take effect. Multiple feedings are needed for most anticoagulants to be effective. Some anticoagulants come in water repellent paper tubes with a bait glued to the inside surface. Containers protect bait from moisture and reduce the likelihood of non-target animals and small children consuming bait.
- Trapping (wire spring mouse traps) are not effective in controlling voles in large spaces. In eliminating voles from homes or businesses, trapping is effective.
- Shooting is not practical or effective in controlling voles.
- Common predators include coyotes, snakes, hawks, owls, weasels and cats, but predators do not normally control vole populations because of the high production rate. Females may breed as early as two weeks of age. These factors enable voles to increase at a faster rate than predators.
Voles can invade homes or businesses. Dens can be in wall cavities, attics or food facilities and they can dig under a porch or a crawl space to bare young and cause structural damage.
In depth information on vole identification and vole control methods can be obtained at the Internet Center For Wildlife Damage Management.
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