Is your lawn filled with more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese? Is your grass crisscrossed by a series or trails? Have you noticed your plants looking as if they were eaten? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you are battling the ferocious, the most terrifying: voles.
What Are Voles?
Voles are mouse-like rodents that are commonly called meadow or field mice. They are distinguishable from actual mice because of their short tails, stocky body, and beady, little eyes. They might look small and cute, but these yard-slayers can cause many problems, especially with damaging your lawn, trees, and other plants. You can find voles all over the place, in many different environments. Many voles inhabit pastures, roadsides, grassy fields, and low, moist areas.
How Do I Know I Have Voles In My Yard?
The type of damage voles do to your yard is easy to distinguish from mole and gopher damage. Voles create a crisscross system of tunnels that help them travel through your yard in search of food. Their burrows will look like a lot like cracks on the surface of your lawn. You will also notice holes throughout your yard. Voles create golf ball-sized holes, and this is where they enter and exit the tunnels.
What Do Voles Eat?
The average vole diet consists of feeding on your favorite plants as well as leaves, roots, flower bulbs, and vegetables. No matter what you grow, voles will be snacking on it. If you have a significant vole problem, it can lead to your entire lawn and garden being eaten and dying off.
Will a Vole Enter My House?
Voles very rarely enter home and buildings. They can accidentally end up inside a building if they have nested under a patio, but they do not seek indoor dwellings.
Are There Any Health Risks For Having Voles?
Many voles host pests on their furs such as fleas, ticks, and lice and can transmit diseases. The voles themselves can transmit tularemia and rabies, so do not attempt to capture a vole by hand.
Will The Voles Attack Me?
Voles are not vicious creatures, they will not attack you unless you give them a reason to. For instance, if you pick a vole up, it will bite, which could lead to disease.
What Is The Best Time To Get Rid Of Voles?
You will need to get rid of the voles as soon as possible. Not only do they continue to damage your lawn, but they also reproduce and multiply fast. A single female vole can produce anywhere between 5-10 litters per year, with 3-6 young per litter.
How Do I Prevent Voles?
The most effective way to help stop a vole infestation is to set up vole traps. Place the vole trap where you see the most activity. Because of their typically large numbers, placing more than ten vole traps for a few weeks is the only way to cease your vole invasion. Make sure you can monitor all of the traps and check them frequently.
How Can Tee Time Lawn Care Help?
At Tee Time Lawn Care, we can quickly, safely, and effectively control voles on your property and offer pest control services to help prevent a re-infestation. Once the infestation is gone, our landscaping technicians can repair your lawn back to its pre-vole state by digging and leveling your lawn’s soil from the vole tunnels. Our technicians will then add seeds to your yard or install sod (depending on your lawn). To have us take care of your lawn after a vole infestation, visit our Tee Time Lawn Care landscaping page for a free estimate. We also offer different lawn care services that keep your lawn looking it’s best all year long.
