Tag Archives: vole problem

Voles

Tunnel Trouble

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I’m 99% positive there are voles in my lawn; that or aliens that look like voles are creating aimless crop circles into my grass (I wish it was the aliens).  Two weeks ago in between the winter storm breaks, the snow at my house started to melt and I noticed that there were long stretches of dead grass cutting through the green stuff.  It wouldn’t have made me worry except that it was all over the lawn.  In almost any patch I uncovered you could see dead grass, and that was only the beginning.

Within a couple of days of noticing the dry strips, my cat started bringing home dead mice.  Except they weren’t mice, their ears were smaller and tails were shorter, I was a little baffled because I didn’t know what my cat was bringing home!  I figured that the two had to be connected because they showed up around the same time, so I did my research.  It didn’t take that long to solve the mystery, five minutes on Google and I knew: there were voles in my lawn.  I learned a couple of things like voles are attracted to moisture, making them more common in winter and spring months; and that they can carry a deadly virus called the Hauntavirus.

Once I read that last part, I was freaked out.  Not only were these things killing my lawn and gardens, but my cat had already killed and eaten four of them and they could kill us back with some virus!  That’s when I started trying to get rid of them myself,  I bought some poison at an IFA in town and tried my best to apply it to my lawn, but after a week: no luck.  The tunnels were expanding and my cat killed two more, so now I’m looking for a professional.  I haven’t really been able to find anyone with a slogan that says “Got Voles in your Lawn, We Can Help!” (which would be useful), but I’ve called a couple of wildlife technicians and things are looking up; hopefully by the time spring hits for good, they’ll be gone.

Rodent, Voles

Dangerous Tunnels

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I have a severe vole problem in my yard.  Last week was warm and small holes started to melt in the snowing exposing the grass beneath.  I was surprised to see that the patches of grass were split into sections of green, healthy grass, and yellow, dead paths.  It wasn’t in just one spot either, it was in a few so I dug up some of the snow to investigate and they were everywhere!  Trails of dead grass snaking across my yard.  I had never heard of animals that did that until I Googled the things I was seeing and found out that it was a common sign of voles (a small, mouse-like creature).

I did some research on why they would have suddenly moved to my yard, and I guess they look for areas with a lot of water.  I’m guessing that the snow we got this winter is what brought them around.  But since I can’t control the weather, I need help controlling the voles. They burrow through the ground, consuming the roots of grass, flowers, even trees!  They kill off all the vegetation and not only that, but they can spread a dangerous disease called the Hantavirus through their feces.

A couple of days ago, the vole problem got worse.  It’s not just the trails, but things started to sink into the ground where the trails are dug.   I was walking across the stone pavers in my garden and a couple of them sunk into holes in the ground.  I’m worried that someone will fall into one of the tunnels when they’re walking across my yard and get seriously injured.  I need some help; I didn’t even know these animals existed until a week ago, I have no idea how to get rid of them.

Voles

Idaho Vole Problem

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vole4            We moved into a new construction early last fall, and now the spring is here, we are ready to do some landscaping.  We can’t start, though, until we take care of the vole problem here in Idaho.

I’m well aware that the neighborhood we moved into is brand new, and used to be farm land, so we probably moved right into an area where voles already lived.  I can’t imagine that an Idaho farmer would just let voles run rampant over the fields, so these fields must have just been sitting here, unfarmed, waiting to be sold, and the voles moved in.  All the construction activity disturbed whatever nests they had, and they’re probably just running around, trying to find new safe areas to live.  My yard will not be

one of those safe areas, because I refuse to have an Idaho vole problem.

We moved in early enough last fall that we had time to get the lawn seeded.  I wanted to make sure we got a lawn in, that the grass would have time to get some good root system down before the snow started.  Plus, I knew if we didn’t get the lawn in, we would be stuck with weeds when the spring came, and we wanted to make sure we could choke out most of the weeds before they became a real problem.  So, we got the grass in, even though we had to finance that in with our mortgage.

When the snows melted, I was really upset to see that we had a vole problem here in Idaho.  Our beautiful new lawn had long dead spots crossing all over it, and we found a couple of dead voles over by our basement windows.  They had chewed holes in the mesh covering the windows.  All that work that I’d put into getting a lawn in was nearly wasted.  Dead voles, or live Idaho voles, for that matter, will just attract other animals, like raccoons or skunks.  Plus, it is going to cost me a lot to get it fixed.  But I’m going to get it fixed and get rid of those voles.

I don’t want to drop a lot of money on young trees and bushes and flowers if we have an Idaho vole problem.  We need to get rid of the voles first, and repair the damage to the lawn before I’ll put in new landscaping.  They’d just destroy the young roots of any plants we put in.  It’s not like we have a lot of money to spare, but what we have, I’d rather use getting rid of the Idaho vole problem before we spend a penny on anything the voles would destroy.

Voles

Vole Problem

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Book club this morning was a huge disaster, thanks to the vole problem I have.  We started book club on the first of January, which seemed like a really great idea to all of us.  We chose the books we want to read for the year, and decided who will be hosting which months.  It all seemed to work perfectly, and I’m getting to know some of my neighbors and their friends better than I would have otherwise.  It’s March, and my turn to host.  I made sure to read the book early, I prepared discussion questions in case there was a lapse in conversation, I got my house all clean and made sure we had enough seating for everyone and things for the kids to do, and I even made refreshments that were mentioned in the book.

But, the snow has melted, and it looks like my yard is covered in ugly cracks, just small ditches criss-crossing all over the lawn.  I worked really hard getting the yard nice last year, so I was looking forward to spring and watching the grass and landscaping turn green and lush.  With the strawberry bushes I’d worked on for a couple of years, I literally was hoping to reap the fruits of my labors.

And, then, the snow melted enough to show me all the damage caused by the vole problem.  Just in time for book club.

As people arrived, I made the mistake of apologizing for the state of my lawn, which brought more attention to it.  Before too long, we were all just talking about different lawn care programs and pests, and I found out I wasn’t the only one in the area with a vole problem.  The voles were destroying the looks of lots of lawns, but killing grass roots along their little trails.  Bulbs weren’t growing into flowers, because something had eaten them during the winter.  And, my strawberry bushes were a mess.  Other people had planted young trees last year that were struggling now, because voles had chewed on tender roots.

It was all very helpful, especially to know I wasn’t the only one with a vole problem.  I even got the contact information for a great company that gets rid of voles.  So, I won’t have to waste the nice Spring days by battling voles instead of planting flowers and putting in new landscaping.  Even still, we barely got to talk about the book.  We didn’t even touch the discussion questions I’d worked so hard to prepare, and people ate the refreshments without even noticing how they related to the themes in the book.

I guess it wasn’t a “huge disaster,” really, if you think about it.  We got together, we had fun and laughed about things, and we helped each other out with the vole problem.  But, I don’t think I’m going to be hosting book club for a while, and I’m really okay with that.

Voles

Vole Problems

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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.