Re: Voles!!

**camprn** 4/14/2014, 4:08 pm

Use the search feature to find previous threads about voles.

quiltbea 4/14/2014, 5:34 pm

Yes, I found tunnels in the lawn when the snow melted. I see them every year but then they disappear. I don't seem to have trouble with them.

Yardslave 4/14/2014, 6:51 pm

Mouse traps-the kind with a yellow cheese shaped trigger platform are pretty good. You have to spike a 16 penny nail through it, because the trap jumps enough to allow those voles to dodge out of the way. I rig 2 traps, back-to-back on the trail they use. Bait the traps with peanut butter and put a few drops of vanilla to entice them. Apple slices also attract them, but the slices need to be attached to the trigger mechanism so they stay put. Covering the traps helps keeps voles on target and keeps birds from being accidentally trapped. Once a vole is caught, reset the trap and get ready, I've caught 8 voles from the same location!

cj32769 4/14/2014, 7:29 pm

I once made a trap with some cut off gutter pipe and rat traps spiked to the ground it worked ok but they are after the grubs get rid of the grubs and they move on.

Cherbear 4/16/2014, 9:43 am

Thanks everyone for the replies. It has been a hard, snowy winter this year. I guess I will see what happens if no one seems to have trouble with them. I have noticed that there are holes in some of my beds. I don't know if those are tunnels for the little things or not. I guess I will see what comes up this year. Only my crocuses are up now, and some leaves. I am waiting for my siberian squill but I don't see any yet. I am afraid they will eat my bulbs in my conventional border. Sad

Yardslave 4/16/2014, 5:13 pm

Voles tunneled through my beds, but didn't take up residence in the beds/boxes. Their dirty work looks just like gophers have invaded. In my boxes, they burrowed around until they discovered the carrot patch then decimated it. If you are growing under row covers, keep a close eye out for their pathways and start trapping at once, other voles are sure to follow! Twisted Evil

The voles invasions seem to have a 7 year pattern- last year's perfect spring weather conditions caused a massive increase in the vole population. They were so bad last year that my friends cat gave up from exhaustion from trying to chase them down.

**sanderson** 4/16/2014, 11:48 pm

Voles in Carmel! I can't imagine fighting any more or type of pest!

tagyourit 4/21/2014, 11:00 am

I discovered ours this year too! I am getting traps and going to get those guys before they eat anymore of my garden. All my peas and greens were taken out very quickly! Evil or Very Mad

**donnainzone5** 4/21/2014, 11:35 am

Yardslave,

Now, THAT'S a true invasion!

One of my cats, Timmy the 12-year-old Toothless Tabby Tomcat, caught one last summer.

With three felines on the premises, plus an occasional visit from other cats in the neighborhood, I hope my garden will be safe.

audrey.jeanne.roberts 4/21/2014, 12:29 pm

Voles do not like to travel more than 4 feet across open territory. One way to help in your garden is to have adequate spacing between your beds. It can get harder once trailing veggies get growing, but using trellises to lift them off the ground can help a lot as well.

Pick up any yard debris or piles that they can hide in or around. I discovered a hole in my potato bed and realized I had stacked a bunch of used plastic bags for storing my compost in right near there. That's literally enough cover to give them the confidence to run over to the potato bed.

My cats are useless and my dog is worse - all he does is dig deep holes that accomplish absolutely nothing, LOL! Rolling Eyes

**camprn** 3/28/2015, 8:39 am

Battling voles and mice.
http://awaytogarden.com/battling-mice-voles-never-mothballs/

**sanderson** 3/28/2015, 1:16 pm

And, you haven't even started gardening!

**camprn** 3/28/2015, 1:27 pm

sanderson wrote:And, you haven't even started gardening!

LOL!
I don't have voles either. Wink

but I absolutely detest the idea of folks using toxic mothballs off-label.

**sanderson** 3/28/2015, 1:42 pm

I was in too much of a hurry! No, to mothballs. Evil or Very Mad

Yardslave 3/28/2015, 6:01 pm

I'll pass on the mothball idea. I know it's toxic, but I don't want my garden smelling like my Granny's old tweed winter coat.

FRED58 3/28/2015, 6:46 pm

I put my trust when it comes to invaders like that in my beagles Mac & Watson for anything larger than a chipmunk, and my trusty felis catus, Ash for everything else. (Named not because he is an ash-gray tabby, but rather for the Bruce Campbell character from Evil Dead, y'know, the guy with the chainsaw hand and the boom-stick?). A farmer told me he feeds his barn cats well, because a well fed cat seems, paradoxically more likely to hunt. Ash is proof of that. Fortunately he is also the clumsiest cat in the almost ten thousand year history of domesticated felines, so he doesn't climb after birds.

A Mr. Data put it:

Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.

It goes on, at length...

All you need to do is get used to the little presents.

**AtlantaMarie** 3/29/2015, 9:41 am

One of my favorite series! Thankfully we've got most of them on dvd.

**sanderson** 3/29/2015, 8:53 pm

Mr. Data?? source

PS Never mind. I looked him up now that I am home again on the PC. I'll try to find that little ditty tomorrow. Priceless for a cat lover.

**AtlantaMarie** 3/30/2015, 1:58 pm

Star Trek - The New Generation

Mr. Data was an android who loved his cat. Well.... he didn't have feelings, but you know what I mean!

FRED58 3/30/2015, 8:28 pm

Google "memory alpha" and search for "Ode to Spot" (I cant post a link until I've been a member for seven days).

**sanderson** 3/31/2015, 1:20 am

Found it later last night. Thank you, though.

audrey.jeanne.roberts 4/6/2015, 7:30 pm

Yesterday I heard my useless, lovable Labrador barking like crazy. So I headed towards him and saw him playing with a mole. He wouldn't kill it just play and play and play with it. I kept threatening to take it away from him when he dropped it so he hung on to it long enough to kill it. This morning I found a gopher on the front lawn dead.

So my "useless dogs" might actually do something to earn their feed, LOL!

I now know for certain we have voles, moles an gophers - what a terrible trio tongue

**sanderson** 4/7/2015, 1:52 am

Good dog! Good dog!

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