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How To Rid Voles From Lawn

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What Good Are Voles

Lawn Care Tips: Voles

In addition to acting as a food source for larger animals, voles may benefit your lawn and garden. Like moles, their digging improves soil quality and disperses nutrients. They also encourage the growth of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi, symbiotic species that perform a critical function in the root systems of trees.

H& b Luxuries Vole Trap

H& B Luxuries provides a live, humane vole trap for those of you dealing with a minor vole problem. This trap is a weather and rust resistant vole trap that also works to catch other small rodents like mice and moles. When used correctly, it can be set and reset as often as needed to control your vole issue.

Best of all, you can bait this trap with whatever you like including peanut butter, which tends to work well for baiting voles. It is also kid and pet safe and does not require the use of poisons or chemicals.

Rid Your Yard Of Voles In Four Easy Steps:

1. When ridding your yard of voles, it is important to first be sure that your yard is, in fact, inhabited by the creatures. According to All State Animal Control, the signs of vole infestation are as follows:

Trails running throughout a yard. An abundance of green vole droppings that later turn gray if they are left to dry. Flowers, plants, and trees that appear as if they are being eaten by a small animal. A number of small holes throughout a yard. These holes are entrances to underground tunnels used by the voles.

These signs, which can also be viewed at www.AllStateAnimalControl.com, are indicative of a vole infestation. In addition, it is important to be sure that moles are not the problem. Moles do not eat plants. Therefore, if plants and gardens are being eaten, then voles are the problem. While moles also burrow and dig tunnels, they do not eat plants or destroy gardens, which is why many people choose to simply leave them alone.

4. Once the voles have been removed, the yard should then be vole-proofed. This can be done by simply getting a cat to patrol the area. However, if the homeowner is not in need of an additional pet, other measures can be taken. Place wire wages around the case of trees to limit a voles food source. In addition, homeowners that frequently suffer from vole infestations may want to enlist the help of a gardener. By cleaning up a yard, voles will be less likely to find the area a suitable place to infest.

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Tips On Preventing A Future Vole Problem In Your Yard

Prevent voles by making your yard less habitable to them.

As we mentioned briefly above, prevention is key to any kind of successful pest control, especially when it comes to how to get rid of voles. Once voles have vacated your property, the next step you should take should be to ensure they dont return.

Here are a few tips and tricks you can use for how to get rid of voles and keep them from returning.

  • Fill Old Vole Burrows

Once the voles have gotten out of dodge, its important to go around and fill empty vole holes. Filling the burrows will not only help to repair your lawn but it will also help keep voles and other pests from returning.

  • Invite Vole Predators

Cats, dogs, and large birds of prey like owls and hawks are natural vole predators. You can help keep voles from returning to your property by allowing these animals to stick around. In fact, you can even invite owls to nest on your property by installing an owl nesting box.

  • Plant Vole-Repellent Plants

Experts have found that voles are repelled by several types of plants including daffodils, grape hyacinths, and italian arum. Plant some of these plants throughout your garden to help keep voles from wanting to dine there.

  • Remove Bird Feeders

Voles are herbivores that eat plants, roots, bulbs, and tubers. They also munch on tree bark and seeds, so bird feeders full of seeds can attract voles to your yard. Remove bird feeders to help keep voles from returning.

  • Keep Your Yard Tidy

How To Kill Voles

How To Get Rid Of Voles In The Yard

The next step in getting rid of voles is to decide what method you will use when deciding how to kill voles in your yard.

If your yard is small, vole traps can be used. Vole traps are simply mouse traps that have been placed in the yard, particularly near where known burrows are or were.

Rodent poison can also be an effective way of killing voles. When using poison though, be aware of the other animals in your yard. Rodent poison will not only kill voles, but can kill pets, beneficial animals, and even make children ill if they unintentionally handle or eat the poison laid out for voles.

Making your garden a haven for predators of voles is also recommended. Attracting snakes and owls and keeping a pet cat can help reduce the vole population in your garden.

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How To Prevent Voles From Getting Into The Garden

Besides getting rid of existing voles, the vole repellants listed above will prevent voles from taking up residence in the first place. Physical barriers are effective, too, since voles arent climbers. Troyano recommends steel mesh. It doesnt need to be more than a foot high.

Natural predators such as owls, dogs or cats will prevent voles from getting in the garden. You can attract owls by installing a nesting box. You can also buy coyote urine to spray around your yards perimeter.

Quick Facts What You Should Know About Voles

Voles are related to hamsters and are sometimes kept as pets.

Voles are certainly a nuisance, but they also play an important role in our environment and offer a vital food source to a number of predators. Furthemore, voles live interesting little lives and are quite clever.

Here are a few facts you may not have known about voles.

Meadow Voles Are Mostly Solitary Creatures, But Do Enjoy Companionship

During the spring and summer, meadow voles prefer to do their own thing separate from one another. However, during the winter, meadow voles tend to congregate in groups. Female voles especially have been found to seek out same-sex partnerships when denning in the winter, but male voles also exhibit affiliate behaoir with their same gender during colder months.

Unlike Meadow Voles, Prairie Voles Are Highly Social All Year Round

Adorably, male and female prairie voles den together and raise their young. They have also been studied affectionately grooming each other and even forming life-long relationships.

Voles Are Serious About Breeding

Voles reproduce and they reproduce quickly, which is why its important to know how to get rid of voles once you see you have them in your yard. In fact, voles are some of the most fertile breeders in the rodent family, capable of producing up to ten litters a year, with between three to six young in each litter.

Voles Are Related To Hamsters

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Fighting With The Ground Vole: How To Use The Topcat Trap

The Topcat trap is a guillotine type trap that lands in the tunnel and trips in both directions.

It is safest for the environment, for pets, and the user who sets it up. It has the advantage of being reusable.

The TomCat traps operating on the same principle are also effective.

Must wear gloves to handle the trap without leaving a human odor.

Manual

  • Locate a vole tunnel using the probe
  • Dig a hole vertically through the tunnel with the auger
  • Remove the fallen soil inside the tunnel
  • Install the topcat trap in the closed position in the hole
  • Position the openings of the trap in the direction of the tunnel
  • Bridging spaces around the trap by tamping the earth
  • Arm the trap and mark it with a wand to find it easily
  • The trap must be regularly monitored.

    As soon as you notice that it has tripped , remove the dead animal, and reposition it at another location. Of course, the hole will be filled that you created to install topcat trap

    Repeat the process until the trap is no longer triggered and there is no longer any sign of vole life.

    How To Get Rid Of Moles

    How to get rid of Voles in your yard. And repair the damage.

    There are traps that will capture and kill moles a surefire way to eliminate them, but they’re illegal in some states. Besides, many gardeners want to use more humane methods to banish these unwanted visitors. Getting rid of moles without harming them can be a challenge, so be prepared to repeat your efforts or try different ways to get rid of them if something isn’t working.

    Apply castor oil. This multi-purpose vegetable oil is often effective in eliminating moles because it makes the soil smell bad to them . Castor oil doesn’t kill these animals, but it does upset their digestive systems. Look for repellants in liquid or granular form and apply as directed on the product label be sure the one you choose is safe to use around any pets or children you may have. If you prefer, use a quart of castor oil and a sprayer attached to your garden hose to treat up to 5000 square feet of lawn.

    Tidy up. Moles like to hide, so keep your grass mowed and your beds manicured. Don’t use thick layers of mulch, which you should never pile up against tree trunks or plant stems anyway, as it can attract insect pests and cause decay. Also, remove stacks of wood and piles of leaves and other debris.

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    Trapping Tips And Secrets

    Lawn moles and voles are difficult to get rid of. Commonly, when one animal leaves or is caught, another arrives to take its place. Others are more fortunate. After catching one or two, the problem seems to go away. Complete lawn mole extermination may not be possible, especially if other people around you are also experiencing a mole problem. But, it always pays to try.

    Importance of Finding the Active Tunnels

    The first thing you must do is to find a primary tunnel the animals are actively using. Look for the longer, raised tunnels that may possibly be used to travel from the nest to the feeding grounds, etc. Do not worry too much about the short, windy tunnels. They are most like feeding tunnels and are not used often.

    Methods of Locating the Active Tunnels

    First method: Use your heel to crush a small section of raised tunnel. It shouldnt be more than a few inches wide. Mark the spot with a landscape flag or by placing a rock in the grass next to the spot you crushed. Do this on different tunnels that look promising spaced no closer than ten feet apart. Do not crush the whole tunnel or it may dig a new one. If it is an active tunnel, the area will be repaired within 12 to 48 hours.

    Second method: Carefully make a small hole in the top of the raised tunnel the size of a quarter or slightly larger. Mark the area beside it with a landscape flag. Lawn moles do not like any light coming in and will seal the hole. If it is an inactive tunnel, it will be left alone.

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    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.

    Like moles, shrews and mice, voles pose their own unique pest issues. But moles mostly stay underground, and shrews and mice dont create nearly the same amount of tunneling, burrows or runways. 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.

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    Trapping Voles With Mouse Traps

    Mouse snap traps can be used to kill voles. Place the trap perpendicular to a vole runway, aligning the trap’s trigger with the path the vole must take in using the runway. Peanut butter is an excellent bait for trapping voles. The best time to trap is either autumn or late winter.

    The key to success in trapping is determining where on your landscape the voles are most likely to use as a thoroughfare that’s where you want to locate the trap. The widest vole runways are indicative of heavy traffic. Another good indicator is a runway that is heavily soiled with vole urine and feces.

    Vole Damage To Lawn Varies

    How to Get Rid of Voles ~ Bees and Roses

    1. Lawn Damage: Often, voles will burrow underneath the snow during the winter, foraging for sustenance or traveling. Since there is a significant amount of time for them to travel under the snow through the thatch layer, they can create large amounts of damage with the grass dormant and unable to recover. But you wont notice it until all of the snow has melted.

    2. Tree Damage: Voles can also cause damage to trees by gnawing the bark along the root collar. Plants and shrubs are also targeted.

    3. Surface Damage: Though vole damage is more significant in spring, it can still be noticed and occur throughout the growing season. People often confuse this above surface trail creating with mole tunneling, however, all species of moles tunnel under the surface and not above it.

    If you do notice vole damage, you shouldnt wait to do something about it.

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    What Good Are Moles

    It may be hard to envision anything good about moles, especially if you’ve twisted your ankle in a mole tunnel. However, moles do provide a valuable service when it comes to soil management. Their tunneling loosens soil and provides aeration. It also causes soils to shift, blending surface soil with deeper sub-soil and improving overall soil quality. Additionally, moles consume numerous invertebrate pests. They are hearty eaters, consuming up to 100% of their body weight daily. So, while you may need to move moles out of your lawn, take consolation that they may have eaten a good share of Japanese beetle grubs.

    I Must Garden Repellent

    I Must Garden Vole Repellent is one of our favorite vole and mole repellents because it is safe to use on gardens and around children and pets. It uses all natural ingredients and can be ordered in different varieties based on your needs.

    This product also works throughout different seasons, including winter. Voles are very active during winter and often go unnoticed until spring as they are moving around beneath the snow. We like that this product above helps protect your lawn and property even during the snowy season.

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    Wire Tek 1001 Easyset Vole Trap

    The Wire Tek Easy Set trap is expert-recommended and catches voles using a spring loaded trigger. This is a lethal trap that kills voles quickly and can be reused as often as needed.

    It also does not need to be dug into the lawn and can be simply placed near a runway. This trap isnt only good for those looking for how to get rid of voles but it can also help eradicate a mole and gopher issue as well.

    Repellents And Natural Poisons

    How to get rid of Moles and Voles in your lawn

    The elderberry manure or the castor oil cake act as natural repellents. Handle with proper care, however, as these products may act as poisons for pets.

    Castor cake and the elderberry with red berries are toxic. So you can kill voles with castor oil or elderberry with red berries manure. But the elderberry with blackberries that is edible for humans and animals.

    How to Make Elderberry Manure?

  • Cut out 1 kilo of elderberry leaves in a bucket
  • Add in 10 liters of water, macerate for 15 days, and stirring occasionally
  • Collect the liquid and pour it into the tunnels or watering around the plants
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    % Castor Oil Vole Repellent

    Since castor oil is an active ingredient in many of the granular repellents for how to get rid of voles and other pests, it comes as no surprise we would include pure castor oil on this list. Pure castor oil not only works to get rid of voles in your yard and garden but, when used often enough, will help keep them from returning.

    Castor oil also works to rid your lawn of moles, gophers, skunks, and more. Simply pour it along the runways, around your garden, along the perimeter of your yard, and anywhere else you notice vole activity.

    How To Prevent A Vole Invasion In Advance

  • Isolate your garden. Fencing and sealing may not look natural and beautiful, but they are useful!
  • Trim your vegetation. Voles favor dense and heavy vegetation as that will provides sufficient resources and shelters them from their natural enemies.
  • Seal your compost. Nowhere other them a warm and rich compost post can be more ideal for the vole! If you have to keep one, make sure to seal it well.
  • Delay your mulch. Do not mulch over your lawn until the ground is well frozen, otherwise voles will hitchhike your warm house!
  • Guard your wood. You can surround the base of your tree and shrubs especially young ones with tree guard to avoid barking and gnawing.
  • Lease your pet. Actually, dogs or cats often frightens and expels voles, and cats may even bring you a captured vole sometimes as a surprising gift!
  • Important: Get Rid of Voles Now!

    CAUTION: It is not recommended to use poison or pesticide to eliminate voles for domestic purpose as they may be dangerous to human and other lives. Consult professionals if really in need.

    Because chemical treatment is not safe for home and garden scenario, physical treatment will be our choice. Thus we will provide two solutions for voles: fight or flight !

    • Trap:

    Tips:

    • Place the trap at the busy runaways
    • Baiting with fruit and peanut butter
    • Keep children and pets away
    • Check the trap regularly

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