Tag Archives: vole control

Utah County Exterminator

get rid of voles

“Hon, call the Utah County Exterminator, I think we have voles.”

“What?  We have what?”

“Voles, honey, we have voles.”

“I’ve never heard of that.  Do you mean moles?”

“No, haven’t you heard of voles?”

I felt kind of stupid, but I’d never heard of that before in my life.  Growing up, my Dad always did all the yard work.  With four girls, two of whom were fighting at any one time, he somehow always had yard work to do.  As an adult, I suspect it was an excuse to get out of the house for a little bit for some peace and quiet.  We’d never had any vole problems before, that I know of, and when I grew up and lived in apartments, I had zero yard work to do.  So, who could blame me for never hearing about voles?

My husband and I bought our first house almost three years ago, and boy was that a wake-up call.  It was a brand new home, so we put in the yard ourselves.  I’d never dug ditches, raked dirt or laid pipes for a sprinkler system before, but I sure did learn fast.  I’m not the kind of woman who makes her husband do all the outdoor chores, so I learned as I went.  I got to the point where I was proud of my calluses and got so excited when the first grass seeds sprouted.  I actually watched grass grow sometimes, and couldn’t get over how successful I felt making bare land look beautiful.  It cost more money than we really had at the time, and I lost count of the hours we worked out there, but it was worth it.  We ended up with one of the most beautiful lawns in our new subdivision.

So, now, after three years, we had to have the Utah County exterminator come over and get rid of voles, a creature I’d never heard of before.

Winter was coming to an end, and I had been looking forward to watching our lawn green up again for the spring, but I’d noticed trails of dead grass in the yard.  I thought maybe it was a result of letting the thatch build up in some places, but my husband taught me it was these little mouse-like creatures that tunnel under the lawn, chewing up grass roots and flower bulbs and sometimes even chewing the bark off of some trees.  I worried about our trees, since they were still pretty young, but fortunately the damage was mostly limited to the yard and apparently the tulip and daffodil bulbs I planted last fall.  All our work was being damaged by tiny little rodents?!  I just couldn’t bear the thought of spending my spring fighting off rodents instead of planting a garden and putting in some ornamental bushes I had my eyes on.  I agreed with my husband that we had to get the Utah County exterminator in as quickly as possible to get rid of the voles for us.

Get Rid of Voles

I started my day off wondering if I would remember everything we wanted to bring to the park for my daughter’s birthday party, and got sidetracked wondering how to get rid of voles.

My daughter is turning six, and since she has a June birthday, it is a perfect time of the year to host a birthday party outside at a park.  I’m bringing water balloons, several bikes for the kids to ride, water guns, her presents, a soccer ball, a basketball, a kite and a couple of Frisbees for all of her friends and cousins to play with while the adults supervise and talk.  Of course, I can’t forget the cake, the lemonade, the tablecloth, the paper plates and plastic spoons . . . the list goes on and on.

So, I spent the night before writing up a list of all the things I need to remember to bring, and then checking them off as I gathered them together.  The morning of the party, I lugged two huge bags, one of the bikes and a couple of balls out to the car, struggled with the keys, and popped open the trunk to commence packing the car with birthday swag, games and food.  I stopped cold, though, when I looked at my trunk, which was supposed to be empty.

Instead of an empty trunk, I faced a mountain of shredded fabric.  It had once been the felt cover separating the spare tire from everything else, but no more.  Scattered throughout the trunk, all around this pile of destroyed felt, were seeds and small animal droppings.

As I stood there in shock, wondering what on earth this could mean, and trying to keep the birthday items from crashing to the ground, a little creature darted out from within the mound of insulation, ran across the inside of my trunk, across the spare tire, and hid behind the emergency supply of water I keep in there.  I’m proud to say that I kept my cool, and slowly walked back to the front door, where I safely deposited all the items that threatened to fall at any moment.  Birthday party games intact, I walked back to the open trunk and peered again inside, wondering how I was going to get rid of this vole.

Unfortunately, that is when I noticed the hole-like entrance into the vole’s “burrow.”  Taking a breath, I got a little closer, and noticed several tiny little vole babies fast asleep, believing they were completely secure in their home.   Now, it wasn’t just a question of getting rid of one vole, but several voles.

But, I was a mom, and I had a daughter who counted on me to give her a fun birthday party, and I knew I could figure out a way.  I wonder how quickly a vole removal service could get out here . . .

Vole Control

As a vole, I am terrified at any efforts at vole control.  I’ve learned, through watching vole neighbors, brothers and sisters, that most vole control means a swift and sure death for us.  I’m not an adventurous sort.  I have kept a mental list of all the vole extermination methods used, vole traps, vole poison, and everything else, just so I can avoid them.

Some of my cousins, and even some of the local rats and gophers, make fun of me.  They call me a worry-wart, and tell me I’m more likely to die of a heart attack when I hear a loud noise than I will of any vole control method.  That may be true, and they can make fun all they like.  I intend on staying alive.

Some of the more unwise rodents dig tunnels through people’s yards, which is a sure-fire way to attract attention to us.  They end up destroying the grass, creating tunnels that look like brown dead trails on the surface.  Or, they eat flower bulbs that people have planted so carefully, or garden vegetables.  I’m told that people’s yards are beautiful, lush places where the ground is soft from constant watering, roots, flowers and garden plants are tender and juicy, and the people actually keep our natural predators away, as much as they can.  So, there’s not as big a threat from snakes, raccoons or other creatures that prefer a meal of voles rather than a nice juicy mouthful of plant roots.  I’ve noted, however, in my intense observations, that these predators will come anyway, when there is a high population of voles.  Lots of voles equals more determined predators, whether or not people want them there.

So, while I may not enjoy the juicier eatings, dig in the easier dirt, and while I may live a more solitary life, I have stayed alive much longer than most of my compatriots.  In fact, I just located a perfect place to live.  It is in someone’s yard, but it’s far, far away from the home, so I doubt even the household cat will become aware of my presence.  There is a wonderful compost pile right up against a sturdy fence.  A black tarp covers it, so I’m afforded warmth during the winter and protection from rain or snow.  Occasionally, the people will troop back to my pile, pull back the tarp, and dump delicious fresh plants on the top.

It’s hard not to feel superior at times.  I am wise enough to avoid vole control methods employed by the same people who bring me offerings of food and provide me a safe place to live.  If I can make sure they never learn of my existence, I could live a very long and healthy, fat life.

Rodent Control

I began my career in rodent control as a 12-year old kid trying to make a few bucks to fix up my bike just the way I wanted.  Mom and Dad believed if I wanted something really badly, I had to find a way to pay for it, and today I’m happy they taught me the importance of self-reliance.  I’m not sure how happy Mom was that I chose to make that money through rodent control, though.  She was more than concerned over my safety and health, but after Mom’s long lectures, Dad’s lessons in trapping rodents and exterminating rodents, and many promises and reassurances from me, I was finally able to start my business.

Mom had hoped that I would’ve earned money through babysitting and lawn mowing, but my friends and I saw a real need for rodent control that summer.  For some reason, as the snows melted that spring, voles, mice, rats, gophers and moles were out in force.  It seemed like the whole neighborhood was fighting off rodents.  I’d heard Dad complaining about it loudly enough when he discovered trails of dead grass snaking through the yard.  Our lawn looked like a roadmap of seemingly random vole trails.  Mom and some of her friends were chatting over coffee one spring morning, alternating between horror stories of mice in the pantry or rats in the walls, and sharing ideas on how to get rid of mice and the best ways to exterminate rats.  We lived in a nice enough neighborhood, so no one understood why we were under attack that year.

So, my friends and I walked around a few neighborhoods, offering rodent control.  Our nose for business steered us right to easy money.  Fifteen cents for each mouse or rat we caught, twenty cents for each vole, and a whopping thirty cents for catching gophers or moles.  We experimented with all different kinds of bait, traps, techniques, and yes, rat poison.  Mom put a stop to us using the poisons, though, until the following year when I could prove I was wise and mature enough to use it safely.

We went inside people’s homes, crawling around on the floor to find mouse holes or rat droppings.  We’d set the traps, come back later to get rid of dead mice or dead rats, set more traps.  When we stopped catching rodents from that hole, we’d block it up as best we could.  If rodents came back, so would we.

The best part of the job, though, was rodent control out in the yards.  My friends and I would scout through the lawn looking for vole holes or vole damage.  Gopher holes and mole mounds were easy to spot.  We got to spend our summer afternoons together outside, under the warm sun, joking and laughing and catching voles, trapping gophers or getting rid of moles.  We’d earn a few cents each time and go home tired, happy and a little bit richer.  By the end of the summer, I got my bike fixed up just the way I liked, and my friends and I were talking about how we could expand our business.  We took care of my neighborhood’s rodent control for years after that, and I got a real sense on how to run a business and have fun at the same time.

Vole Problems

It’s been a long winter for us raccoons, and now that the snow is just starting to melt, I’m out strolling along the cover of the low woods next to human neighborhoods, watching for any signs of vole problems.

Yeah, as a raccoon, I eat just about anything.  Garbage and pet food pretty much got me through the winter, and sweet corn crops haven’t come up yet.  Right now, it’s the perfect season for spotting voles, and they are deeelicious!!  They’re all fattened up from eating grass roots and tree bark.  Over the winter, especially, they move through yards, golf courses or orchards virtually undetected by the humans, since they usually keep just below the snow line.  Most of their predators are eating somewhere else or are in hibernation, so they get all fat and juicy.  Perfect as an early spring feast for me!

The trick is, I wait until the weather finally warms up enough for the snow to start melting.  Sometimes I can actually see one of the tasty snacks running above ground, but more often I see the tell-tale signs as the snow melts:  trails of dead grass running through the lawn, trees with exposed rings around the bases, flowers and shrubs eaten away, the traces of last year’s vegetable garden completely consumed.  It’s pretty obvious when a home or business has a vole problem.

I wait until nighttime, when I get the hungriest and go out to forage for food.  I might roll over the garbage can for an appetizer, move onto the second course of pet food left out on the porch, take a brief nap and then move onto the final course.  I saunter out, sniffing, listening, and I find a hole with a little tiny scrabbling or rustling noise that I can barely hear.  Suddenly, I’ll start digging with my amazing paws, shoving my snout down into the hole that’s getting wider and wider by the second.  Then, quickly, SNAP!  My wonderfully sharp teeth close around the juicy little critter.

The great thing is, voles breed pretty quickly, so where there’s one, there’s more.  And other little yummies like to follow or use the vole’s burrows and trails – mice, rats, chipmunks.  It’s literally an all-you-can-eat buffet for me!  And now that I’m here, I might as well take up residence.  That building is pretty easy to get into, with a little bit of chewing and clawing, I should be able to get on in.  I bet I could make a pretty great den inside that chimney or up in the attic.  It’d be warm, there might even be a little insulation I can use for nesting materials, and there’s obviously plenty to eat here.  These humans have no idea, yet.  Their vole problem just became a raccoon problem.

How To Get Rid Of Voles

I just love these do-it-yourselfers who come in every year, right when the snow’s melted, and ask me “how do I get rid of voles from my yard?”  With all the new housing developments going up, I’m doing great business as the owner of the only yard supply store in the area.  I sell sprinkler systems, mulch, grass seed, and all kinds of traps for the local critters like voles, moles, mice and gophers that tear up the lawns around here.

As soon as the snows melt, people look out their windows and see a roadmap of dead grass in their yards.  If they look closer, they can see little holes spotting the lawn, or they might even catch a glimpse of a vole scampering through the grass.  I’ll admit, they’re cute little suckers, but anyone who spends time and money caring for their lawn doesn’t want all their work ruined by some little mouse-like wild animal making crooked little lines of dead grass all over their property.

Personally, I have to shake my head when someone comes in to ask me how to get rid of voles.  But, they’re happy to pay for the traps I sell them, and I’m a good businessman – won’t ever turn down a sale.  It’s just that voles can have four to six young per litter, and they have been known to have up to 17 litters per year.  So, yeah, I’ll sell a homeowner or landscaper a handful of vole traps, but it’ll only catch a handful of voles.  I’m happy to instruct them how to use them, which bait to use, and I’ll let them know that voles are active day and night, throughout the year.  They’re better off, though, if they call a professional who knows how to get rid of voles and does it all the time.  That’s really the best way to get all of them.

Until then, selling vole traps helps me to pay the lease for my store.

One guy came in with a story the other day about his cat catching a vole in his backyard.  As cats like to do, it brought the vole inside as a special “gift” for his owner.  His six-year-old little girl saw it first and actually picked it up before anyone stopped her.  Turns out the little rodent had a bloated tick on it, and was probably infested with all kinds of other parasites like mites.  It was still alive when his daughter brought it to him, even though the cat had chewed on it a bit.  I have to admit, the image made me gag, but I know it happens.  I actually suggested to him, the best way to get rid of voles is to call in a professional wildlife removal service.  Oh, and tell his daughter not to pick up any wild animals, but I’m sure he’d already told her that.