Voles, how do we get rid of 'em?

Get a cat.

Seriously, I didn't know a lot about them, so I "Googled" them.

They are kinda cute but guess they're real pests.

Look them up; there are many ways suggested. Products on the market...DIY products...etc.

You can hire pest people like termites specialists.

That's all I can offer.
 
Or three or four...

I'd go to a hardware store. There's all kinds of pest deterrents out there.
 

My sister is dealing with these and I recommended rat traps baited with peanut butter and sunflower seeds. I have to use them for chipmunks which are destructive and a big nuisance.
 
What harm to voles do? Honest question -- I don't know.

Get a couple of cats to keep voles, shrews, chipmunks, etc., down. Only problem is, they also keep down lizards and lizards are good. And make sure your neighbors are putting out poison for the "pests" so the cats won't get killed too.

I don't believe in trapping animals unless they come into the house or they're feral kitties needing to be vaccinated and neutered/spayed and returned.
 
Yes, they are so cute, like a really, really cute mouse. They burrow just underground (can actually see the ground moving) when they move around. They eat bulbs, not particular, bulbs in general. Been on the hardware, Google, Amazon route, to not avail. I read somewhere that they hate moth balls. Had some in the garage for some reason so each hole I could find now has a moth ball (lavendar scented, but still smells like a moth ball) in it. Don't know if it'll work, but can sure smell 'em.
Yes, a big 'ol scarred up, mean, muscular, hungry alley cat would probably do the trick, but once we got rid of all our kids pets they couldn't take with them when they moved out, my husband laid down the law about no more pets. One way to get rid of these Voles is when you see the ground moving have a shovel in hand and slice 'em in two. Yea right, easier said than done.
 
I could send over Levon. If you don't mind tossing the bodies he will dispatch every one...don't yell about the birds though...or the small dogs...he prides himself as the mighty hunter. Maybe only six pounds of tabby cat but he's a tiger.
dog bath 001.jpg
 
debbie in seattle said:
We've got voles everywhere and no matter what I try, can't get rid of them. Help!!!!!
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We get an infestation of these rodents every 2 or 3 years. Whenever I see their tunnels starting to form in the yard I go to the store and get some chewing gum, and put small chunks of the gum in their tunnel entrances. They seem to like spearmint gum best, and when they eat it, it plugs up their intestines. I've heard that mothballs in their tunnels are also effective, as the odor of the mothballs asphyxiates them...but so far, the gum as worked for me. Once in awhile, I see one actively digging, and when I do, I put the garden hose in the tunnel, and turn it on full blast. They come to the surface in a couple of minutes, and I stomp them.
 
See I don't like to torture things. Any experienced feline will give one bite to the back of the neck and the creature dies almost instantly.
 
fureverywhere said:
See I don't like to torture things. Any experienced feline will give one bite to the back of the neck and the creature dies almost instantly.
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This pretty much does the same thing without the feeding and litterbox. :) Very effective. Bait with peanut butter. Easy to set and easy to dispose of the remains. Less than $5 at the hardware store.
Tomcat.jpg
 
A humane deterrent is a device you put in the ground and it makes the sound of a rodent in distress. Not something audible to human ears, but they say it makes any ground dwellers move out of the yard.
 
We've had a lot of voles coming into our yard for the past few years. Tried two differnt kinds of those solar powered repellers that you stick in the ground. After using them a couple of years, it almost seemed that they were attracting them. There would be new vole holes and mounds of soil all around the solar devices. Last year I just pulled them out of the ground and gave up.

I don't really want to kill them or use any poisons in my yard around my own pets. A couple of days ago, our pup who never killed anything including all the birds, squirrels and rabbits that come into our yard, was outside barking...and he's not a barker. Went to check on what he was up to and he ran from me with a vole squirming in his mouth. The area he ran from had a small freshly dug hole.

When I tried to make him drop it or go near him, he kept running away. He was dropping it and picking it up again like a cat plays with a mouse. Asked my husband to come out and help me with him, he got him to drop it, and put it out of it's misery. We have a big open field behind us, wish the voles would just stay there.
 
debbie in seattle said:
We've got voles everywhere and no matter what I try, can't get rid of them. Help!!!!!
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I see this was three years ago. I had them in my yard and the trouble was I have a tiny yard and it was more and more full of vole holes. So Orkin company (am I allowed to say a company?) worked for months sprinkling something on the grass that they said makes the grass roots taste bitter to the critters in question. Lo and behold, it did work. The voles all moved down the hill and out of my yard.
 

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