I'll start off with the "feeding stations" you see on the YouTube videos are an absolute joke. I built several of these and the voles won't even touch the bait. Yet, they still seem to be building their colonies right around them, that's how well they work... I've walked around dropping Ramik pellets directly down their holes for MONTHS during times with no rain, although they say their weather resistant, and all that has done is fed them and produce more. How do you guys get rid of these things? I attached a picture of one of the "bait stations" and it's right in the middle of an active colony with no interest given to the bait inside. Is there a bait or trap that works better? I'm out of ideas. Thanks in advance
It's my understanding that voles are herbivores. They'll eat roots. They use moles tunnels. Moles are carnivores. Moles tunnel looking for grubs Remove the grubs. That removes the moles. No tunnels for the voles. I've caught voles in snap traps.
I use rat traps, and screw the trap to a piece of 1x4 so if something gets in there that I wasn’t necessarily targeting such as a chipmunk the trap is less likely to disappear. That happened a couple times. I only put the traps in my garage and barn. I don’t mind if critters are running around outside, but when they get inside a building and want to start destroying stuff all bets are off. Bucket traps work good for mice and I’ve gotten a few voles in them too.
We had a (high ? ) population of voles one or two year that took out some favorite hostas and all my carrots. (I usually harvest carrots all Winter long from their growing spots) We had a lot of foxes one Summer and the vole problem went away. I have no way of knowing whether there was a direct causitive/correlation between the two, but it sure is interesting observation.
Got a cat that gets them and leaves them on the step to the house. Haven't decided on rental price yet! Gary
I have a beagle that has eliminated every underground critter we have. She doesn't even need to dig anymore...just sniffs around and pops them out.
We had a golden/chow that used to dig them out for one of the cats. They were quite a team and fun to watch.
I've lost many bulb flowers (crocus, tulips, and stargazer lillies) this year and hostas. Grrr.... I need to get ~dozen snap traps and have at it.
The snow went away and holy cow were there path marks for the voles. No wonder the dogs were bonkers all winter
I bought some solar powered ultra sonic things from Amazon that worked better than any bait I tried. These are not the ones I bought but similar. Amazon.com : Pack of 4 Solar Mole Repellent Sonic Gopher Repellent Vole Chaser Mole Deterrent Sonic Spikes Rodent Repellent Ultrasonic Pest Control Outdoor Keep Moles Out of Yard Lawn : Patio, Lawn & Garden This was after years of thinking moles were my problem.
