Voles

I was watching the birds around the feeders the other day and out of his hole popped a vole. Well I am a kind of live and let live gal, so I did not worry too much. However today I was outside and my camelia bush was looking a little short. When I checked it out it was leaning almost all the way over. So I gave it a tug and immediately decided the voles must die. They ate the roots and chewed all around the trunk until it was chewed in two right under the soil line. It was amazing that these little bitty animals could cause that much damage in a few days. It is apparent they could destroy a garden in no time, this was a good sized shrub. Here is my problem, how can I get rid of these despicable beasts without hurting my birds, squirrels, and the little bunnies.

Everything I have read said trapping them will not bring them under control and shooting them won't work either. Could you see a fool out there with a 12 gauge shotgun blasting holes in the ground shooting at voles? lol

Will pouring the pelleted rat poison down their holes work? If so, should I pour it down any holes that I can find? Heck I always thought those holes were either snake or frog holes. I can clean up the bird seed and move the bird feeders well away from where I want to bait. The birds and squirrels should follow the feeders.
Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Loretta

Hey Loretta, I used a Mole Chaser http://www.carolwrightgifts.com/cwg_v2/cwg_layout_base2.cfm?mid_sec_page=cwg_prod_detail&seq_no=3&min_seq_no=705&SingleItem=19863 it was apparently as irritating to them as it was to me, but it worked, lol!

Thanks I might have to try one of those. We saw them at Lowe's but did'nt know if it would work. Could you here and feel them? I'm gonna get a couple and use those. I don't like to eliminate the little critters and there is plenty of room for all of us here.

I've been battling voles for years. Nothing commercial has worked yet. This year I'm trying castor bean plants and kitty litter. They don't eat daffodills and allium. I hear they not only don't eat castor beans, they repel them. And since they are rodents, I've gone so far as to bury some used kitty litter in what looks like the main tunnel holes. They are very distructive animals. They are active all year, but most active in the spring and fall. The Master Gardeners recommend mouse traps with peanut butter, but you just can't catch them all and obviously the sight of a dead vole in a trap doesn't bother the rest of the pack! lol I'm most intrested in hearing how other gardeners have delt with these critters.

Carol

Get a cat, go to the shelter and get a female, get her spayed. Don't get a little kitten, get at least half grown, and one that's used to being outside.

We have cats in our neighborhood that we all feed. One in particular used to spend its nights sleeping in my hasta - that is until the voles devoured it's roots.

We have dozens of vole burrows and holes around here, but it is very rural area with heavy woods. The problem turned ut to be the bird feederes. As long as the feeders are placed well away from the house they seem to prefer the woods. So we have an agreement I will not obliterate them if they keep out of the garden. It seems to work at least when there is plenty of food in the woods during summertime. .

I am trying to remember the details here.....

We have a nursery here that is owned by Alan Summers and he has a radio show and also an e-mail Newsletter. See Carrollgardens.com and sign up for it. it is FREE! He is our local Gardening Guru!!! People here swear by what he says!

Anyway, he says that you should put "Remick" (sp?) under a saucer and weigh it down with a brick near the mole holes. The moles will go under there and eat the bait. Having it in the open, or down the holes does not work that good.

To my dismay (!!) I saw 2- 5' long black snakes in my Garden this year for the first time. I watched them for over an hour! Then, when they were done with their "hanky panky" in my old Juniper bush, they came down and started moving on to----------------YIKES!!! Under my front concrete porch!!!! Scary? Yes! But--I have not seen them since! Also, my chipmunk population is way down!

They DO earn their keep! Still not sure I am happy about knowing I could go outside one night and step on one of them and get bit.....
I know they are not venomous---BUT...........they ARE snakes.......

Gitagal

How does this grab you??? He/she was just looking at me!

Here is the full length of the snake heading for her "rendevous" up my old bush. At this point, I had NO clue there were two off them! BUT--the other one was already in the bush waiting for her....

When they were done with their amorous escapades, they came down from the bush together--still all intertwined. See their heads together on the bottom left?

Maybe they just come out to mate? I have not seen them since. Wonder when there will be all the babies running around my yard?
I really srtuggled with what to do, but finally decided to "let be--and let live".

Last one...........

Here are the tails as they are going "home" under my porch!

I know they come and go--I put some crumpled newspaper in the entry-hole and it was moved. Oh, well! If they eat all the mice and chipmunks and voles--they can live here rent-free!

snakes what a great idea. we used to have lots until we gotr rid of our rr ties. i never had the darn varmits back then. my sons love snakes. i will have to have them go on a hunt and bring some home!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a 30x40' garden plot in the community gardens at Fenway in Boston. There are voles EVERYWHERE. They dig up all my tulips, and munch down my patches of campanulas and clematis...They run right in front of me and go straight for the plants unashamed of being watched by me... I thought of trapping them, too. However, I'd need over 1,000 traps and that wouldn't do either. I found a nest with baby voles in them. I just can't kill animals...so poison isn't going to work for me. I've asked other gardeners and was told they all tried every kind of deterent from urine to all the sonic stuff and nothing works except ONE thing: HUMAN HAIR!!!!! So i've placed hair all around my plants...not sure if it was effective. Another thing I have done is mix cayenne pepper and wasabi powder and sprinkling it all over the ground around plants that seem to be their favorite food. THAT seems to do the trick. I've done this about every two weeks and i think I may have found the solution.