Voles are similar to large, brown-skinned mice only with shorter tails that are very common in your garden. They are herbivorous rodents that live mostly underground, although they sometimes move to the surface.
Voles often dig a network of tunnels and feed on roots, bulbs, rhizomes, grasses, grains, or seeds. They can tackle almost all plants in the garden, shrubs, vegetables (celery, squash, chard, potatoes, carrots), and ornamental flowers or even fruit trees.
The voles are much more voracious than mice and can swallow lots of amount of daily food representing up to twice their weight.
Types of Vole
The smallest and least destructive, Length between 8 and 12 cm,
The bigger and more destructive can reach up to 25 cm.
Before noting some damage to crops, the first thing to do and ensure that it is indeed voles.
Signs of The Presence of Voles
- Sometimes slightly sunken in the soil.
- Presence of holes and tunnels on the soil surface
- Small mounds of soil at the entrance of tunnels similar to small molehills
Difference Between Molehill And Vole hole
The Molehill Formed By The Mole
- The mound of the land of conical and regular shape
- Closed tunnels completely covered with earth
- Tunnel oriented vertically
- Entrance to the tunnel located in the center of the molehill
The Mound Formed By The Vole
- The mound of smaller diameter and more irregular
- Tunnel oriented obliquely
- Visible hole
Note: Don’t take any action without not sure it is a vole or mole. You can locate voles with the apple sign test.
How to Get Rid of Voles Naturally?
The best protection against voles is undoubted to favor the presence of their natural predators such as raptors, foxes, martens, dogs, and cats.
Your garden is growing spaces in which weeds are allowed to grow also more prone to attack. As well as dry grass mulches allow voles to move on the surface avoid the sight of birds and other predators.
The Means of Prevention Voles
- To destroy any kinds of soil tunnels regularly
- Avoid plant covers and thick mulches
- Plant repellent plants: Leafy Spurge(Euphorbia lathyris), Imperial Fritillary, Elderberry, Mint, Garlic
- Install perches for raptors
- Trim your garden grass regularly
- Weeding between the rows of plantations
7 Effective Ways to get rid of Voles Naturally
The open tunnels for traps, vole products, and other chemical repellents must be closed. Because we are going to discuss how to get rid of voles naturally.
Keep reading
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Dishwashing Liquid
The power of the dishwashing detergent cannot be underestimated. Generally, It is the cleaning liquid for the kitchen, but it is very effective to get rid of all types of voles. You can add other liquids such as castor oil, peppermint oil, etc with dishwashing liquid to get effective results. Like other vole repellents, You have spray into and around the tunnels after regular intervals to keep the vole away.
Recommended Dishwashing Liquid for getting rid of voles
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Cayenne Powder
Cayenne powder is the most effective home remedies to get rid of voles. It is a moderately red-colored hot chili powder used to flavor dishes.
You can spray directly into the vole runway tunnel or spray it mixes with water, garlic, castor oil, soap to make a natural insecticide.
Recommended cayenne powder-
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Recipes of Grandmothers
Specific products with strong odors like the remains of fish, the infusions of garlic cloves, onion or thuja twigs, rotten food (cheese and yogurt) help to get rid of voles damage.
You have to place one of them down into the vole’s tunnel. Then just wait, nothing else to do.
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Cat (Smart Vole Hunter)
Cats are good for mole and vole hunting.
How to catch voles with cats?
Never mind! Your cats already know it very well. Its the safest and effective method in most situations. Don’t allow to hunt your pet If any other rodenticide is used recently.
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Plants Installation
Have you planted Euphorbia lathyris in your garden?
It can be effective for getting rid of moles and voles. Euphorbia lathyris (Gopher or Mole plant) plant roots and seeds are poisonous.
You already know voles eat plant roots. So It obviously effective. You can also install chocolate lilies and garlic in your garden.
Keep your pets and kids away from those trees.
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Flooding The Burrow
The simple, cheap, and convenient method of kill voles is flooding. This method refers to flood their burrow with water. Multiple holes mean multiple escape routes. So if you find multiple holes, you should cover them all except one. Generally, place your small diameter garden hose into the uncovered hole and wait 20 or 30 minutes to kill the voles.
Remember: It is difficult to ensure that water reaches all the areas of holes.so it is not the recommended way to kill voles for the long-term.
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Repellents And Natural Poisons
The elderberry manure or the castor oil cake act as natural repellents. Handle with proper care, however, as these products may act as poisons for pets.
Castor cake and the elderberry with red berries are toxic. So you can kill voles with castor oil or elderberry with red berries manure. But the elderberry with blackberries that is edible for humans and animals.
How to Make Elderberry Manure?
- Cut out 1 kilo of elderberry leaves in a bucket
- Add in 10 liters of water, macerate for 15 days, and stirring occasionally
- Collect the liquid and pour it into the tunnels or watering around the plants
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Traps
Traps must be placed in a sufficient number of tunnels and renewed several times in a day. Gripper traps are cheaper but installation is more delicate.
It is also essential to identify recently created tunnels and handle traps with gloves to avoid leaving a human odor.
Recommended trap- The Vole and mole Trap. Scroll down to learn how to use topcat trap.
2 Fastest Ways to Get Rid of Voles With Poison
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Chemicals or Toxic Gases
They are used in case of the heavy infestation of moles or voles. Bromadiolone, a potent rat poison, is authorized to eradicate voles very fast under strict conditions.
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Granular Baits Chlorophacinone
Chlorophacinone is a first-generation powerful anticoagulant that causes the death of the vole 1 to 2 weeks after ingestion.
Fighting with The Ground Vole: How to Use The Topcat Trap?
The Topcat trap is a guillotine type trap that lands in the tunnel and trips in both directions.
It is safest for the environment, for pets, and the user who sets it up. It has the advantage of being reusable.
The “TomCat” traps operating on the same principle are also effective.
Must wear gloves to handle the trap without leaving a human odor.
Manual
- Locate a vole tunnel using the probe
- Dig a hole vertically through the tunnel with the auger
- Remove the fallen soil inside the tunnel
- Install the topcat trap in the closed position in the hole
- Position the openings of the trap in the direction of the tunnel
- Bridging spaces around the trap by tamping the earth
- Arm the trap and mark it with a wand to find it easily
The trap must be regularly monitored.
As soon as you notice that it has tripped (closed position), remove the dead animal, and reposition it at another location. Of course, the hole will be filled that you created to install topcat trap
Repeat the process until the trap is no longer triggered and there is no longer any sign of vole life.
Conclusion
Voles are destructive to the gardeners and they are not easy to die. If you want to get rid of them, you must know the effective and fastest way to kill the voles.
And here i covered all the methods to kill the voles that may help.
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