What time of day are voles most active?
Voles are active day and night, year-round. You’ll normally find them in areas with dense vegetation. Voles dig many short, shallow burrows and make underground nests of grass, stems, and leaves. In areas with winter snow, voles will burrow in and through the snow to the surface.
Do voles hibernate?
Some favorite foods include: Activity: Voles are active at all times of the year, day and night, and they do not hibernate. Reproduction: As some of the most prolific breeders in the rodent family, voles can produce 5-10 litters per year with 3-6 young per litter.
Can you see voles in the snow?
Don’t be fooled, voles are still alive and active during this time even if we can’t see them. The only sign you might see is a “runway” between two burrows that will be about two inches wide where the snow has been trodden or grass that has been wilted by urine and feces.
Are voles still alive in the winter?
Don’t be fooled, voles are still alive and active during this time even if we can’t see them. The only sign you might see is a “runway” between two burrows that will be about two inches wide where the snow has been trodden or grass that has been wilted by urine and feces. There are not many tips to avoid voles due to their burrowing nature.
What time of day are voles most active?
dawn and duskVoles do not hibernate and are active throughout the year. During severe winters and snow cover, when green vegetation is scarce, voles often girdle tree trunks and roots killing or damaging trees and shrubs. Voles may be active day or night, but most activity occurs at dawn and dusk.
What is the fastest way to get rid of voles?
Vole traps kill voles instantly and can be an effective way to eliminate large vole populations in your yard. These traps work best when they're positioned in front of vole holes and baited with peanut butter or oatmeal.
What do voles hate?
You can repel voles by using scents they dislike such as rosin and peppermint. Voles also hate certain plants like pachysandra, daffodil, and boxwood and are repelled by cleared areas such as crushed gravel, pavement, and clear yards.
What attracts voles to your yard?
Untrimmed bushes and not mowed lawn is an attractive site for voles, as it can serve as a good hiding place. >>> Bird feeders such as seeds, berries left in your yard and lawn attract voles in their numbers.
What do vole holes look like in a yard?
The runways they create look like thin, dirt-colored trails that snake across the yard. Holes are another visible sign of vole activity. The animals dig dime-sized entrances to their burrows around the roots of plants. Following surface runways often leads to a vole hole.
Do coffee grounds repel voles?
Gardeners are aware of a number of substances that repel moles, and coffee grounds is one of them. If you spread the grounds around an active hole, chances are the mole won't come back to it until the grounds dissipate into the soil.
Will human pee deter voles?
Human urine is amongst those smells. Human urine may not repel moles all the time, but occasionally the concentration of ammonia in the urine increases, making it give off a pungent odor. Normal urine is usually odorless – it only starts to smell bad when the ammonia concentration increases.
What is the best vole killer?
Best Vole PoisonOverall. Motomco Tomcat All-Weather Bait Chunx.Runner Up. JT Eaton Bait Block.Small Volume. Sweeney's Mole and Gopher Poison Peanuts.
Can voles climb walls?
They eat bark and roots of trees, usually in fall or winter. Voles store seeds and other plant matter in underground chambers. Voles are poor climbers and usually don't enter homes or other buildings.
How do I know if I have voles?
Voles look like field mice with short tails, compact heavy bodies, small eyes, and partially hidden ears. Voles are 5 to 8 inches long and have prominent orange teeth for gnawing plant roots and stems. These opportunists will dig characteristic golf ball-sized exit holes in previously established mole tunnels.
How deep do voles dig?
Some voles burrow and create many shallow tunnels, while other types dig down to a depth of 12 inches. The tunnels give soil a spongy feel when you walk on it. Voles also happily inhabit mole and chipmunk tunnels.
How do you prevent voles?
Preventing and managing vole damageRemove woodpiles and other debris from the ground that may be hiding places for voles.Keep grass trimmed short and bushes trimmed up from the ground.Bird feeders are another attraction for voles. Remove them or keep the ground very clean.
How to control voles?
Habitat modification practices can reduce the likelihood and severity of vole damage. The roots and stems of grasses and other ground cover are the major food sources for voles. As a result, eliminating weeds, ground cover, and litter is an excellent method of achieving long-term control of voles. Repeated mowings that maintain ground cover at a height of 3 to 6 inches reduce both food and cover and expose voles to predators. Therefore, lawn and turf should be mowed regularly.
What do voles eat?
In late summer and fall, they store seeds, tubers, bulbs, and rhizomes. They eat bark at times, primari ly in fall and winter, and will also eat grain crops, especially when their populations are high.
How to get rid of voles in my garden?
Fall and late winter are periods when voles are easiest to trap. Set mouse-sized snap traps at burrow openings or in runways near ornamental shrubbery, flower beds, gardens, or rock walls. Bait the traps with a peanut butter-oatmeal mixture or apple slices. Set the trap perpendicular to the runway, and cover the trap with an inverted cardboard box or pan. Be sure to allow space for the trap to operate freely under the covering. Check the traps twice daily, in the morning and evening, and reset the traps until no more voles are captured. See the Trapline Products website for more information on trapping and a video describing trap placement. Although voles rarely invade houses, in the event that they do, they can be controlled by setting snap traps or live traps (Sherman or box-type) as you would for house mice.
How to keep meadow voles from girdling trees?
Wire guards made of ¼-inch hardware cloth will help prevent meadow vole damage to small trees and shrubs. Wire cylinders 18 to 24 inches high set into the ground around the trunk will prevent meadow voles from girdling the tree. Tree guards should be large enough to allow for 5 years of growth.
What are the four species of voles in Pennsylvania?
Left to right: Mole, vole, and shrew. Four species of voles occur in Pennsylvania: the meadow vole ( Microtus pennsylvanicus ), the woodland (or pine) vole ( Microtus pinetorum ), the red-backed vole ( Clethrionomys gapperi ), and the rock vole ( Microtus chrotorrhinus ).
How many litters do voles have?
Voles may breed throughout the year, but most commonly in spring and summer. Generally, they have 1 to 5 litters per year. Litter sizes range from 1 to 11 young, but usually average 3 to 6 young.
What is the difference between a shrew and a vole?
Shrews are smaller than voles, and have long, pointed snouts and pointed front teeth, with their eyes and ears nearly hidden in their fur. Voles have rounded, blunt snouts, and their front teeth are chisel-shaped. Their eyes and ears are readily apparent. The distinction between voles and mice is less obvious.
What do voles eat?
Voles, similar to other rodents, have a mainly vegetarian diet. Voles mainly eat stems and blades of lawn grass —so it’s usually vole tunnels that you’ll see near the surface of the yard. Moles have a mainly carnivorous diet. (Moles are beneficial in many ways. They help plow the soil and eat grubs and insects!)
How to tell if you have a vole problem?
If you have partially eaten carrots, potatoes, or other root vegetables, you probably have a vole problem. According to one reader, “The y dig under my carrots, pulling them down, and eating them.
What are the two types of voles in North America?
Two common species of voles in North America are the prairie vole and the meadow vole. Meadow voles are more widely distributed, but prairie voles are more common in prairie areas. They are very similar, and methods for controlling them are mostly the same.
What is the difference between a mole and a vole?
In fact, a vole might look like a mouse at first glance. In contrast, moles are NOT rodents. Moles are all nose and mouth.
How do you know if a vole is manic?
You’ll know voles by the shallow snake-like tunnels that you’ll see all over your lawn. The tunnels are about two inches wide and very near the surface so they can eat their favorite food, grass stems and blades. Voles are especially manic in the early springtime.
How to keep voles away from trees?
Avoid putting dense mulch too close to trees and shrubs. Keep snow cleared from the base of trees and shrubs. Protect young trees by wrapping the lower trunk with a guard. Bird feeders are another attraction for voles and should either be removed or the ground kept very clean to keep vole numbers down.
Why do voles like dense, heavy vegetative cover, weeds, and meadows?
Voles like dense, heavy vegetative cover, weeds, and meadows because it provides them with protection from predators and provides nesting material. Cut back brush, mow, weed, and create a clean space. Remove woodpiles and hiding places for voles from near your garden, shrubs, and trees.
What are some interesting facts about voles?
Interesting Facts About the Vole. These prolific little mammals are widespread and an important part of the food chain, albeit, at the bottom. They may look like mice, but these creatures have behavior all their own. Plant Power – When food is plentiful, voles are quite fond of eating plants.
Where do voles live?
There are few habitats that voles cannot survive in. They have adapted well to a human-centric world, and can even live in cities and urban areas, as well as farms and pastures. Some of their primary habitats include meadows, and other open areas.
Why is it important to reduce vole population?
A healthy population of voles maintains the predators without damaging the ecosystem. If the predators die off, the vole population shoots through the roof, and they kill much of the vegetation in an area.
What predators eat voles?
Wide Variety – Many different types predators will feed on voles, particularly birds of prey. Hawks, falcons, barn owls, pygmy owls, short-eared owls, gray owls, and many other owl species all hunt these little rodents. In addition to birds, voles also fall prey to coyotes, lynxes, bobcats, snakes, raccoons, and foxes.
Why do humans kill voles?
Humans and voles interact frequently, though humans do not realize it as much as the voles do. Because they are so small, these rodents go unnoticed most of the time. Humans kill or trap them for destroying crops, or getting into animal feed. Humans also threaten some species through habitat destruction.
What are the closest relatives of a vole?
Their closest relatives are lemmings and muskrats, with which they share the Arvicolinae subfamily. In some places, voles are also known as “field mice,” or “meadow mice.”. There are about 155 different species of voles, and many are important prey sources to a number of different predators. Read on to learn about the vole.
How many babies do voles have?
Most species of voles can produce anywhere between 5 and 10 litters in a single year. The gestation period is just 3 weeks long, and the average litter produces up to 10 young.
When do voles mate?
Mate from March to November, during which time females have been known to become more aggressive, although not notably toward humans.
How long do voles live?
Both male and female voles will stay with their mother and father for only a short period of time. Voles only live for about a year.
How to keep voles away from my house?
You can either mix several minced garlic cloves into water to create a spray solution, or drop crushed cloves near your vegetation and vole runways.
How big do voles get?
Voles are small mammals that are active both above and underneath the ground. Although mature voles only reach five to seven inches long, they can still upend a yard by feeding on vegetation and kicking up dirt, roots and grass.
Why are voles so hard to identify?
Voles can also be difficult to identify because of how closely they resemble mice. They are even known as meadow mice or field mice. But if they are creating a problem on your property, it is important to distinguish voles from real mice.
How far away should you release voles?
By rule of thumb, you should release the voles at least five miles from residential property .
How deep should a vole fence be?
The fence will also need to be at least a foot deep so that voles can’t easily dig underneath and pop out on the other side.
What do voles eat?
As they are herbivores, A vole’s diet consists mainly of plants. Some of their favorite foods include, but are not limited to: 1 Grasses 2 Herbaceous plants 3 Roots 4 Seeds 5 Seedlings 6 Bulbs 7 Alfalfa 8 bark
What is a vole?
Voles, small rodents, also known as meadow mice, are small and cute. Unfortunately, they can be quite damaging to your garden and yard. Here at Environmental Pest Management, we employ a capture and release method to take care of household pests. Contact us today if you are having vole issues.
How many feet can a vole swim?
Several species of voles are excellent swimmers. The European Water Vole is capable of swimming up to 50 feet underwater. Voles share the same taxonomic family, Cricetidae, as hamsters. A few of the North American species of voles actually live in trees. The Red Tree Vole are excellent climbers.
What is the difference between a mouse and a vole?
Voles are small mammals. They are part of the rodent family. While they look very similar to field mice or common house mice, there is one main difference between mice and voles. Voles rarely, if ever venture indoors. They live their whole lives outside, much of it underground.
How to tell if a vole is destroying my tree?
A few of the common signs of the damage voles can cause are: Look for irregular paths, about one to two inches wide, of trampled grass or soil. Holes with a diameter of 1.5 inches close to surface runways. Teeth marks on the bark or stems around the bottom of your trees- they will be about ⅛ in wide and ⅜ in long.
How many voles are there in the US?
Of the 143 species of voles, only 23 of them can be found in the United States. Typically, a vole lives its entire life inside of a quarter-mile radius. Depending on the species, a vole can live and thrive in a wide variety of habitats. One thing they need, though, is a dense ground cover.
Do voles live underground?
As previously stated, voles spend most of their time underground. They live in colonies, and they create complex tunnels and burrow systems. In these tunnels, the nest, protect themselves and each other, store and eat food, and live out their lives. These tunnels are extensive and are usually connected by runways.
How often do voles breed?
In some areas their numbers are cyclical, reaching peak numbers every 3 to 6 years before dropping back to low levels. Voles can breed any time of year, but the peak breeding period is spring.
Where do voles live?
Voles are active day and night, year-round. You’ll normally find them in areas with dense vegetation. Voles dig many short, shallow burrows and make underground nests of grass, stems, and leaves. In areas with winter snow, voles will burrow in and through the snow to the surface.
How to deter voles from destroying habitat?
Habitat Modification. One way to effectively deter vole populations is to make the habitat less suitable to them. Weeds, heavy mulch, and dense vegetative cover encourage voles by providing food and protection from predators and environmental stresses. If you remove this protection, their numbers will decline.
How long do you have to wait to use bait on a vole?
Because the pest must feed on anticoagulant baits during a period of 5 days, the bait must be available until the vole population is under control.
What is a vole?
Voles are mouselike rodents somewhat similar in appearance to pocket gophers. They have a compact, heavy body, short legs, a short-furred tail, small eyes, and partially hidden ears. Their long, coarse fur is blackish brown to grayish brown. When fully grown they can measure 5 to 8 inches long, including the tail.
What do voles eat?
Voles are mostly herbivorous, feeding on a variety of grasses, herbaceous plants, bulbs, and tubers. They eat bark and roots of trees, usually in fall or winter. Voles store seeds and other plant matter in underground chambers. Voles are poor climbers and usually don’t enter homes or other buildings.
How wide should a tree be for voles?
A minimum width of 15 feet is recommended, but even that can be ineffective when vole numbers are high. A 4-foot-diameter circle around the base of young trees or vines that is free of vegetation or a buffer strip 4 feet or more along a row of trees can reduce problems, because voles prefer not to feed in the open.
Why Do Voles Go Into Houses And How Do They Get Inside?
Typically, voles are not indoor pests and are not interested in getting into your home. They spend most of their time outdoors, even when they end up in your home. Their greatest interest is the plants in your yard as they feed on them.
Can Voles Damage Houses And What Damage Can They Do To Your Property?
When voles get into your outdoor property, most of which they will do as they seek watered lawns during the dry season, they can damage your lawn and trees in your yard.
General Biology
- The meadow vole is most often found in extensive grassy or weedy areas such as old fields and moist hillsides with heavy ground cover. However, stream and pond banks, orchards, pastures, hay fields, and fence rows also provide suitable habitat for meadow and woodland voles. Meadow voles occasionally invade lawns, gardens, and nurseries. Woodland vo...
Description of Damage
- Voles may cause extensive damage to orchards, ornamentals, and tree plantings by gnawing on the bark of seedlings and mature trees (girdling). They eat crops outright and also cause damage by building extensive runway and tunnel systems through crop fields. Underground, woodland voles may consume small roots, girdle large roots, and eat bark from the base of trees. After th…
Legal Status
- Voles are classified as nongame mammals and are protected. However, they can be controlled when causing damage.
Damage Control
- The preferred vole damage control techniques vary with the size of the population. When populations are low and damage is not extreme, exclusion or trapping may be the most economical means of avoiding damage. Large populations causing extensive damage may warrant the use of repellents and toxicants. If the property owner does not feel he or she can pro…
Acknowledgments
- Portions of this fact sheet were adapted from Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage, a two-volume manual edited by Scott E. Hyngstrom, Robert M. Timm, and Gary E. Larson and published by the University of Nebraska's Cooperative Extension Division, USDA APHIS-ADC, and the Great Plains Agricultural Council's Wildlife Committee. Partial funding for the development of this fact …
Description of The Vole
Interesting Facts About The Vole
Habitat of The Vole
Distribution of The Vole
Diet of The Vole
Vole and Human Interaction
Vole Care
Behavior of The Vole
- With 155 different species, behavior varies dramatically. Some species are diurnal and active during the day, and others are nocturnal and only active at night. Many species are social, and live in groups, while others are solitary or even territorial. Many vole colonies can grow to be very large, as vole families can produce many offspring per yea...
Reproduction of The Vole