Voles are troublesome yard pests that can destroy your gardens and wreck your lawn. You can learn about these pests, and here are quick tips that you can do to prevent voles.

Though they are often referred to as meadow mice, voles are not mice despite their similarities. These are small furry rodents fond of digging tunnels and devouring their body weight in plant matter daily. They are prolific breeders capable of increasing in number faster than predators can eat them.

The damage they can cause to yards and gardens is often mistaken for the work of moles, mice, or rabbits. As voles are adept burrowers, then direct contact with humans is rare.

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1: Appearance

Voles are short and stout and have a dense gray color, partially hidden ears, and short tails. Unlike moles and shrews, voles are round and sharp; they have chisel-like teeth and use chewy grasses and other herbaceous plants. Their paws are well-suited for digging, which allows them to create large burrows and tunnel systems. The average size for adult voles falls between 5 and 8 inches.

2: Habitat

The 23 species of voles in the US mostly like to live among heavy plant cover and use it as a shelter from natural enemies. As mentioned, their predators include coyotes and felines.

Preferred habitats include grassland prairies, sagebrush prairies, marshes, meadows, forests, and stream banks. Burrows often contain nests lined with grass clippings and other soft plant materials.

3: Entry

Since many human structures lack ground cover and sufficient plant matter, voles won’t typically enter homes. They will, however, enter yards.

They’re easy to spot because their tunnels stretch from their burrow entrance to areas of high grass and other ground covers. If you have ornamental gardens, tall grass, or a lot of ground cover, voles likely live around here.

4: Damage

Voles are furry creature that does not pose a danger to humans. They can, however, hurt plant life by digging burrows and feeding on them.

Animals have been known to cut the bark and gnaw on saplings, with voles no exception. They can carry diseases but aren’t a significant cause of illnesses. So, it’s better to choose a vole removal service and get magnificent results.

5: Control and Safety

Saplings and young trees can be protected by covering their roots with cloth, plastic, or wire mesh. Keeping lawns trimmed and weeds at bay also helps scare off voles.

Fences at least a foot high and buried at least half a foot underground are often effective at keeping rodents out of gardens.

6: Trapping and Removal

Generally, voles are classified as non-game animals that can only be trapped, removed, or destroyed if causing a health or property risk.

Landowners should call a professional wildlife management company because vole control is difficult. They have the training and experience to do the job and use humane methods that won’t harm the ecosystem or other animals.

What Causes Voles?

Voles are more likely than mice or rats to visit your yard or garden in winter. Like mice & rats, they come out of hiding to find food sources and shelter from the snow. However, voles don’t usually seek shelter inside buildings like most other small mammals.

You’re most likely to see this during population highs, which can occur cyclically every 3–5 years. A single vole female can produce 15–50 offspring per year.

These animals usually live for around 12 months. Voles generally nest in clumps of grass near the ground or hills extending several inches below the ground.

How To Treat Voles?

This can depend on the type of opportunity being discussed, but voles and moles will often take different approaches. Carbon dioxide is a great treatment for moles, and no poisons or bait are involved. Treatments for voles are slightly different but not very different from those for moles.

If possible, you want to try and treat the voles’ nests in the caves. This is a source to kill a lot of them. Treating their nesting places is the most effective form of vole control, and you can get professional vole removal services to treat your pest problems.

One can humanely clean out a burrow by filling it with carbon dioxide smoke. The all-natural bait will lure any rodents, and the secured stations will allow them to come & go.

The customers enjoy our 2-week follow-up and 3-month warranty. Between these two, you will have enough time to deal with your problems.

Quick Tips You Can Do To Prevent Voles

If you have had voles in your yard before, you may want to try these quick tips to prevent them from coming back. We’ve listed a few things you can do below — implementing these will help keep voles out of your yard.

You can keep voles off your property by maintaining and trimming under bushes to keep hiding spots limited. This article has some practical tips on getting rid of voles, whether they are rodents or not.

1: Eliminate any wood piles or store them in a way that will avoid attracting voles to build nests in a bank.

2: When using weed prevention mulch, don’t cover the weeds. Instead, lay a mesh or cover over them to prevent plants from growing and remove the mulch when weeds break through.

3: Keeping the mulch at thinner intervals throughout your garden will keep voles away. They won’t be as secure walking through the mulch and won’t be attracted to that area of your yard.

4: To make sure your trees & bushes are safe this winter, use a protective guard around the base. This will deter voles from chewing them, and you’ll be able to keep your plants safe.

5: Do not keep bird feeders, or make sure your bird feeder is not accessible to voles and squirrels.

6: To avoid voles from eating your garden, plant some gravel around any bulbs in your garden.

7: To prevent voles from eating your flowers, you can dust their bulbs with a fungicide. This might deter them from wanting to get too close and will make the bulbs less delicious for them.

8: The best way to deal with voles is to use raised garden beds or an electric mesh fence. These solutions are effective at preventing voles from entering your garden.

9: If the options seem too time-consuming, get a cat or dog that is allowed outside! These animals can hunt and eliminate pests for you. Don’t use poison or bait near their territory, as they could get into it and become poisoned.

How to Prevent Vole Damage

Here is how to protect your lawn to stop voles!

Voles like dense, heavy vegetative cover at a certain level. Cut back brush, mow the lawn, weed, and create a clean space to ensure they have what they need.

1: The best way to keep voles out of your garden is to eliminate any hiding places and remove wood piles.

2: Mowing your lawn and trimming pruning branches low to the ground should be done no less than two times per year to maintain a beautiful yard.

3: Mulch should be applied far away from the trees and shrubs’ trunks, branches, and roots.

4: To avoid damaging young trees, ensure snow is cleared and ‘wrapped’ from the base of the plant. Young trees not wrapped in a protective material can be at risk of being torn or eaten by animals.

5: Eliminating or reducing the use of bird feeders will help keep vole populations down.

Fortunately, voles are a prime food source for many predators, including snakes, hawks, and owls. Foxes and badgers will also eat them.