How to get rid of Voles

Voles belong to the rodent category of mammals and have a striking resemblance to mice. However, they are smaller in size and have a hairy tail. Another name given to them is that of field or meadow mice. They along with other small animals such as moles, gophers and rats have almost the same behavioral characteristics. Voles tend to live in burrows that have various exit holes. They generally eat small plants such as shrew as well as fruits and nuts. They have this distinguished habit of targeting plants for food thus making their presence in lawns prominent. They tend to girdle like porcupines which is harmful for young plants, trees and shrubs.

Ways to Get Rid of Voles

The presence of voles can adversely affect the beauty of any lawns; parks etc and therefore certain measure should be taken in order to get rid of them. Such measures include making any lawn or yards that might attract voles to be as unsuitable for them as possible. Another term for this measure is habitat modification where any sort of weeds, mulch and vegetative patches are removed so that they don’t act as shelters for any voles. This is a great way to prevent and following this will teach how to get rid of voles Habitat modification also includes regular mowing, spraying of herbicides, creating at least 15 foot weed free strips along the green area as well as diameters at the base of trees in order to protect them.

Another measure known as exclusion involve setting up of fences that are at least twelve inches above the ground along with a mesh which will basically act as barriers thus excluding the presence of any voles near the gardens or any other green belts. In the case where voles are only present in specific areas, another technique can be used in order to get of voles known as trapping. In this technique traps are used to control the number of voles present. Regular mouse traps can be used in which peanut butter, oatmeal and apple slices can be used as bait to attract these voles. Another important element that should be kept in mind while adopting this technique is the placement of these traps which should be near burrows, runways in grass and near any mulch. However this technique is not always suited as its success depends on certain factors such as fewer numbers of voles and their being specific to one location only.

Commercial Vole Control

In another scenario where the population of voles is huge, a technique called baiting can be used to curb such numbers in the most effective way. In this method toxic bait such as anticoagulants act as blood clotting mechanisms in the vole’s body leading to its death. It is a slow acting method but has great results. Other techniques include the use of commercial repellents as well as controlling vole problem in a natural way with the help of predators such as foxes, badgers, cats and weasels. However, the cons of controlling the vole population is natural way are that these predators are not usually found near homes and other populated location. Also this method will not result in the extinction of the entire vole population as well.

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