Voles.....tell me your secrets!

shelby27604

shelby27604

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Location
Efland NC
Finally getting the yard to look decent, pushed the voles out of the front and side yard with a mixture of pelletized castor oil and inground noise makers. I have poured the bait/poison into new tunnels, tried the smoke bomb poison, but I can't seem to get them out of the back yard. It seems like they must have a place I am not treating / can't get to (like under the big oaks) that they retreat to and procreate to begin their second, third, fourth wave.
 
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I thought this was a thread about Tennessee. "Voles" is the proper spelling ;)
 
fixed....no problems with people from Tenn. burrowing tunnels under my lawn (yet!).

Under lawn care recently, someone mentioned digging it all up, pouring concrete, and painting it green.....I am only a couple of days away from this option....how many yards of concrete does it take to cover 1/2 acre?
 
shelby27604 said:
fixed...
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voles.JPG


I'm so confused o_O
 
shelby27604 said:
Finally getting the yard to look decent, pushed the vols out of the front and side yard with a mixture of pelletized castor oil and inground noise makers. I have poured the bait/poison into new tunnels, tried the smoke bomb poison, but I can't seem to get them out of the back yard. It seems like they must have a place I am not treating / can't get to (like under the big oaks) that they retreat to and procreate to begin their second, third, fourth wave.
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Are they voles (mouse size) or moles (rat size)?

I've been trying to kill moles with traps for a couple of weeks. No luck yet. The dogs kill one every once in a while, but it's not enough to make a difference.
 
I've always heard that you have to eliminate their food source by putting down Grub-Ex and so forth on the lawn.

Maybe @R Q has some advice
 
I am told moles eat grubs, voles are vegetarians. Voles eat everything from blueberry bushes to tree roots.

As for the gas, their tunnels aren't structurally sound enough for that to work, the tunnel 1" below the topsoil, and with the lawn looming decent, I would prefer not to set it on fire just yet.
 
drkelly said:
I've always heard that you have to eliminate their food source by putting down Grub-Ex and so forth on the lawn.

Maybe @R Q has some advice
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They eat grubs, earth worms, and pretty much anything else that lives underground.
 
They area a PITA! Moles are carnivores and eat worms, grubs, etc., voles are Herbivores and eat plants, above and under ground. Sounds like you have moles. Sounds like you are doing ok with them. The best thing is to find their home and kill them. Some times you can crush their tunnels and watch for them to move and get them then. There are some commercial products but it sounds like you have used those.
I wish I had a better answer for you.
 
We had small little moles. They messed our yard up pretty bad but the biggest thing is our animals free range and I didn’t want one to step in a soft spot and turn an ankle or worse. Because of the animals free ranging I also didn’t want to use chemicals that may get ingested during grazing. The only thing I got to work was trial and error of smashing their tunnels to watch which would be “popped back up” the fastest. I learned from the interweb they have different types of tunnels. You need to find the main one which means it’s the 4 lane highway to and from their home. Once you get into the less frequent traveled paths it’s hit or miss. The ones that never get pushed back open are usually once used exploration routes. Supposedly they are territorial and only allow offspring to occupy their stomping grounds. I used the guillotine spikes that are spring activated. Caught 4 and had no more issues for 2 years. Moved and don’t care anymore. These are what I used:

https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/victor-plunger-style-mole-trap/0000000005910
 
Moles (rat size, backward front feet) eat grubs and earthworms. They are what tunnel all over your yard.

Voles are mouse size and eat the roots of your ornamentals and shrubs and the tender bits above ground. They don’t really burrow much themselves but use mole tunnels and natural underground spaces. Random plant just dies and you grab it and pull it easily out of the ground and it has no roots? Voles.

Shrews are mouse sized with very pointy snouts and a very short tale. They eat all kinds of insects and are little stone cold killers. Fun fact, they have a bacterium in their mouth that makes their bite to pets and people painful and infectious.

Voles, you need a bucket and some mouse traps...

 
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