Voles are a serious pest problem in Canada and the northern United States. Voles are different from other rodent pests because they can cause widespread damage to residential lawns, orchards, and other plowable land. Tunneling can be catastrophic to root systems, leading to plant mortality or reduced fruiting.
In addition, their underground movement renders them extremely difficult to control, typically requiring the services of certified pest control professionals. Visit now to learn more about voles and regulation.
Ways to identify and eliminate voles
Although both moles and voles dig through your garden land, there are a few key differences between them:
-
Appearance
Voles are little rodents with short tails, short legs, and round bodies. Their eyes are small, their ears are mainly covered, and their snouts are blunt and rounded. Moles, on the other hand, dig with big, spade-like front feet on their long, cylindrical bodies. They lack external ears, have small eyes, and an extended head and snout. In addition, moles have long, hairless tails that reach past their bodies.
-
Diet
Moles mostly eat insects, earthworms, and grubs, but voles mostly consume plants and roots.
-
Burrowing habits
Moles dig deep, underground passageways that are hidden from the surface, whereas voles dig shallow, visible tunnels with golf ball-sized outlet holes on the ground.
-
Damage
While moles ruin lawns by making unattractive ridges and mounds in the ground, they can also ruin gardens, lawns, and crops by eating crops and roots.
What do Voles eat?
Voles, as herbivores, mostly consume a variety of plant foods such as stems, roots, bulbs, vegetables, bark, and seeds. They consume insects and other tiny organisms occasionally. The feeding patterns of the animals may have little variations depending on their geographical and environmental surroundings.
They only bite if they are in a state of self-defense or fear while being touched. In order to prevent the slightest possibility of harm to you and to the animal, it is best not to handle voles or other wild animals.
How to identify Vole damage?
There are various signs of vole damage, such as:
-
Runways
Voles use grass and other groundcovers to make surface runways, often known as trails. By going both ways along the same route, these runways are created, smoothing out the area where there is no grass or plant.
-
Gnaw marks
They leave behind tooth traces after chewing on plants and tree bark. Usually, the gnaw marks appear close to the base of the stem on the lowest portion of the plant.
-
Burrow systems
They produce tunnels and burrow systems below the earth, which can be identified by tiny holes or apertures in the ground.
-
Damage to roots
They consume roots, which may damage or even kill plants. A plant might show signs of withering or yellowing leaves if its roots have been chewed.
-
Presence of feces
They surround their runways and burrow networks with tiny, pellet-shaped droppings.
How Can Voles Be Eliminated?
There are a number of ways to get rid of voles, such as:
-
Trapping
Voles can be caught and eliminated with snap traps or live traps. Set up the trap along tunnels or runways used by voles.
-
Fencing
Put up barriers along the perimeter of your garden, such as mesh or hardware cloth, to keep voles out.
-
Tree protection
Use wire mesh with holes that are no larger than ¼ inch to form a barrier around their trunks. To keep pests from digging underneath it, the cylinder should be about 24 inches (60 cm) tall and protrude several inches into the ground. To effectively keep pests away, it is necessary to make sure it fits tightly.
-
Bulb protection
You can either plant bulbs in baskets made of rooster netting or cover the soil with coarse gravel to keep rodents away. If you want to hide desirable bulbs from rodents, you might choose to plant your appealing tulips with deadly daffodils.
