Holy Moley (or in this case Voley!),
Sooo sorry. I have never seen such heavy activity; frankly I would take action immediately to hopefully convince these critters that they would prefer to live in the relative safety the cover of your field grasses offer to the tasty new roots of your garden plants.
I doubt your compost pile has much to do with their choice to move into your garden, my guess is after their habitat was temporarily altered they decided to hang out in your garden because it offers attractive food sources.
My own experience with vole damage has been limited to shrubs and I have found if they do not eat clear through removing the trunk from all of its roots the shrub can sometimes recover. I would guess that you are going to see a wide range of damage and keep in mind some plants will take longer to reveal the true extent of its damage than others.
Again I wouldnÂt wait I would pull out every thing available in your arsenal, Molex, blood, traps, and plan on planting some cat nip. Good luck and let us know what you discover in the spring, I would be interested to know if they move back into the field.

The solution to my vole/mouse/chipmunk problem was to hire an exterminator with experience in wildlife and not just indoor pests. He used mouse and rat traps with different kinds of bait. He came several times a week at first, then less often. It made a huge difference in the population of these critters.

I have him come now twice a year. Each treatment includes maybe four or five separate visits to check and empty traps. It wasn't cheap but it's not a fortune either.

I found him in the Yellow Pages. Just look for someone who mentions wildlife in their ad or description. A lot of exterminators don't know anything about this kind of problem. They just throw poison around and leave.

I also use Mole-Tox when I see a hole, tho they tend just to dig another hole. In my opinion, trapping and killing are the only way to deal with this. I am sorry to see the extent of your problem. Good luck.

Katy -- Does "blood" mean dried blood from the garden center (or from me?? :)

And is the catnip to discourage voles or to encourage neighborhood cats (actually, mine's the only one around)... or is it a natural deterrent, the way rosemary and boxwood deter (somewhat) deer?

I'd read about MoleMax (is that the same as Molex?) and another GWer has suggested Liquid Fence which I never would have thought of for voles, just for deer (but it does say on their website that it's effective against voles and moles). But I am really curious as to why we have these all of a sudden -- we've lived in this house (and cut the meadow) for four years, although it IS the case that the cutting "schedule" changed last year, because the guy never showed up the previous fall, so we had to have the meadow cut last SPRING, instead (not usually done around here because it can impact "nesting" activities, presumably of "good" critters -- some of the guys around here will refuse to cut a meadow in springtime).

So we may have thrown the voles off schedule somehow, plus given them an extra winter season to go forth and multiply ... but aside from an overabundance of earthworms (which would be attractive to the underground forager voles, but these "trails" are from the above-ground foragers, who are vegetarians, right?), I'm not sure why we've become so attractive all of a sudden. There has been more snow on the ground up here in Litchfield County -- nearly constantly since Christmas -- and I know that encourages vole activity. Maybe just a vole "Perfect Storm"?

I am hoping they will retreat to the cover of the tall grasses once the meadow begins to grow ... but I don't know whether to expect they will do that on their own or not. And now that they've "discovered" my yard, even if they retreat when the weather warms, I'm guessing they'll be back next winter...?

Sounds as if the general advice is NOT to wait around to find out? :)

All of this DOES explain why my golden retriever has spent the better part of the winter staring intently at the snow, occasionally pouncing energetically on a spot. And here I thought she had a tennis ball under there somewhere...

(I read that the curving, meandering nature of meadow vole paths reflects their need to navigate around rocks and roots. My visitors must be positively dizzy from all the "tacking" they had to do through the sea of gravel-laden soil around my barn. Ha! There IS some justice!)

By blood I did indeed mean dried cows blood, I recently took a blueberry pruning workshop where the benefits of blood were discussed and more than one person seemed to feel it acted as a deterrent to voles as well.
I agree entirely with ginny that you should get some professionals on the job, after my rat experience this past summer I realized I would have never gotten it under control without their help. If you are having difficulty finding a professional in the private sector you might contact your county rodent control guy for some advise, or do as I did and hire them both.
My catnip advise was just an added incentive for your kitty to spend as much time in your garden as possible.
All of this DOES explain why my golden retriever has spent the better part of the winter staring intently at the snow, occasionally pouncing energetically on a spot. And here I thought she had a tennis ball under there somewhere...
My husband and I were sitting outside one late afternoon and we watched a Lab with one even flow bend his head down, pick something in the lawn up, jerk his head back toss a vole into the air, open his mouth and swallow it hole, all without skipping a beat. Your pup might have been hoping for a snack.

I'd be careful with that poison with a cat and dog having free access to the property.

If you must use it, I'd get one of the old first generation rodenticides with warfarin as the active ingredient. A pet must eat a whole lot of voles over time to get a lethal dose of warfarin, whereas the newer poisons can kill with a single rodent/dose.

As much as I love my gardens, pets' welfare is higher on my priority scale than the welfare of plants and shrubs.

I've got to say, that is one impressive vole metropolis you have going there!

Spedigrees -- I agree completely about the poison (actually, I'm worried about the barred owl we had this winter, too, since I actually saw him dispose of two voles in single gulps during the two days he was "in town" and I would hate to impact the owls (actually considered putting up a screech owl box since I saw that recommended somewhere ... although sitting as we do on the edge of several acres of natural woodlands, I gotta think the owls can find their own housing?) Still, it seemed a good, all-natural solution and maybe worth a try?

Here's my buddy ... wish he'd come back!!! (Not sure how else to entice him since a lifetime supply of voles apparently wasn't sufficient to keep him around, though in his defense, they are not his/her favored "red-back voles" -- just plain vanilla meadow voles. So to speak. :)

[Is that a WINK??! Or just embarrassment from having to wear the silly fur boa that Aunt Mary sent for Christmas. Stripes don't even go the right way for the rest of the outfit! :) ]

{{gwi:1060477}}

Oh what a magnificent bird! Great photo. I love owls. It is possible he's there more than you realize as owls are nocturnal hunters for the most part. It's rare to see them in the day time.

But oh dear, I think you need an army of owls to tackle this vole infestation! :-(

A battalion at the very least. Will check into the Owl National Guard... I think I could declare this area a natural disaster, don't you? ;)

I was a bit surprised to see this owl in daytime as well, but I read that in the winter months, they will sometimes hunt in daytime. The first day, he spent a good 6-7 hours essentially motionless on a branch, just the head swiveling from time to time. He did make two fruitless dives into the snow -- came up empty both times and looked a bit (I swear) sheepish. Definitely surprised, I'd say. I concluded maybe it was a young owl? Then he had a bit of a roll and nabbed two voles within about 30 minutes -- I watched right out the kitchen window. Very cool! But after two days, he disappeared and hasn't been seen since.

We also have plenty of red-tailed hawks and I'd have thought they, too, would help keep the vole population in check? And we have snakes galore (spotted Northern milk snakes in particular) come warmer weather ... so plenty of natural predators (though the milk snakes would be significantly more effective if they would quit hanging out on my kitchen floor and stick to the aging spider/mouse/toad infested barn ;) (My retriever would be happier, too -- she gets VERY upset when she finds a snake in the kitchen! I sure hope any burglar who tries our house comes disguised as a milk snake and not a UPS driver. The former prompts a barrage of agitated barks; the latter, well... take a guess. Hint: no noise is involved.)

"Is a puzzlement."

Wow! Beautiful bird! I kinda think he looks good in stripes, lol!

:)
Dee

I am sitting here in agony for you! I have been compating voles for about three years now. Your photos made me start to perspire. I would try MoleMax. I have been having pretty good luck with it. I am the one with the feral cats so I am hoping that will help. The only advice I have is not to go crazy pulling things out of the ground when you find damage. I did that the first year and regret it. It is amazing what can rebound even with most of its roots eaten away. Let us know how it goes.

WG

I also too saw an owl (not the one you have pictured Ctlady) in my yard, early evening one night. My husband saw him the previous night. We have a winding driveway and he was right next to the driveway sitting on a snowbank. I think he was waiting for his 'meal' to come down the driveway. It was the coolest thing to see an owl. Great photo you got!

I agree with whitegarden about not pulling anything out until you are sure that it won't make it. I had a similar problem last year and thought I would have all sorts of losses. Surprisingly, most plants and shrubs survived. I'm still waiting for the snow to melt up here to see what kind of damage there is this year. It's very disheartening to have the snow finally melt and see that kind of damage, but hopefully many of your plants will survive. The picture of the owl is just beautiful.

WOW! My cat would be really impressed!

voletropolis
voltoprolis?

Ctlady

Wow that is a lot of tunneling!
Run don't walk to the nearest farm supply or garden center and get the Mole Go or other similar castor oil based spray.
They are meant for attching to a hose (but since they would be frozen) just dilute in watering cans and start spreading it around. I would add a few spoonfuls of garlic to the water too.

newhamsha ... I still have several inches of snow on the ground. Do I need to wait for the snow to go away or are you suggesting pouring this stuff on top of the snow? (Not even sure where are the tunnels are, since we never got a full snowmelt ... just the area by the barn, where these were.

Also, do you know whether Mole Go safe for pets? (I have a cat and a golden retriever, both with full access to these areas)... I always thought castor-based products were dangerous for pets?

Thanks for all the suggestions -- you guys are a great resource! (Think I'll give the CT Ag Station a call as well... or maybe UConn Extension.) I still wonder why on earth so many voles all of a sudden -- never had them before (that we saw) in the four years we've been here. I know the deer are exceptionally active (= hungry) this year; do voles respond to colder than normal weather and/or more snowpack than usual? Would a milder winter have increased or decreased their tunneling mania? (I'd have guessed the former but I did read somewhere that snowcover encourages activity...?)

ctlady,

Yes, pour it right over the snow where you took those pictures and all around there. It will be watered down liquid, nothing for your pets to eat. It will perculate down through the snow to the soil. If you have any tuberous plants like Hosta spread some there too. If there are bird feeders around - move or remove them, and spread the mole go there too.

They multiply constantly (faster than the rabbit) and when there is a lot of snow they are safe from predetors, very actively multipying and digging.

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Search: Castor oil safe for pets

If you do decide to poison the voles I'd recommend this old type rodenticide made with warfarin. It takes longer to work because it is a cumulative poison that must build up over weeks and does not kill with a single dose like the newer poisons.

However it is much much safer. A cat would have to eat a great many poisoned voles to sustain injury. The newer poisons can kill a cat who ingests a single poisoned rodent.

warfarin-based rodenticide

Just another thought. Are you sure these tunnels were made by voles, and not moles? Moles will not eat poisoned grain-based bait, as they dine only on worms.

Pretty sure they are voles... we do have grubs in the lawn down by the barn (so they COULD be moles and with my luck, we probably have both), but everything I saw online for voles look exactly like our winding maze. Kind of like someone took an itsy-bitsy lawn mower and just went amuck with it. About 1.5-2 inches wide, piles of grass cuttings (chewings?) along the side of the runs. There's an occasional tunnel opening (as in my second picture) but no "volcano-shaped mounds" of dirt, just the surface runs. Quite impressive bit of engineering, actually. I can only imagine how many voles it took... :(

(I only posted photos from one area... there are others, all down near my barn, I think, though the snow hasn't cleared yet this season from some other areas of the lawn, so who knows what we'll find when it does.)

I wonder if we should try actually baiting a snap-trap near one of the visible tunnel entrances (with apple I read?) and see what we catch. I don't pretend to think we can deal with this problem by trapping, even if we bought a hundred of those traps and set them out every night (could we??), but at least we'd be sure of what we were dealing with. I am virtually positive that it was a vole (not a mole) that I saw my barred owl catch, but of course that doesn't mean we don't have both...

It does sound like voles. I guess the only way to determine if snap traps could make a dent would be to try and see. One hundred traps would turn the area into a mini mine field! LOL Don't go walking across in bare feet!

Looking at the pictures again those 2 chicken wire fencing gaurds with pine needles... Voles could tunnel under that wire and it looks like it would make a nice home for them. I would tear into that and have a shovel ready for the vole whackin dance.

It is supposed to get warm for a few days. Warm enough to haul out the hose and spray the entire yard with that mole repellent - (repellent not poison) They will skidaddle to the neighbors yard

My sympathies, CTlady! Those little voles can be really discouraging. Hopefully, they enjoyed the grass so much that they left the garden plants alone.

I'd love to have you report back on what you tried and your results, since we also ajoin a large field, and have voles tunneling under the snow into the lawn and garden most years. I hadn't tried castor oil since I only had heard that it worked on moles, but maybe I'll give it a try. I'm encouraged to hear that it is supposed to work on voles as well. I already use dried blood in the gardens, and the damage to the lawn, where I don't use it, is always worse, but I'd assumed that was due to the edging that I use to keep grass out. If you use snap traps, keep the pets away in some fashion. (ouch!)

A couple of answers to natural history questions that came up in this discussion. The nesters in the field are birds like bobolinks that use tall grass and nest on the ground. We've also had a turkey nest along the edge of the field. There are probably others, but I don't remember who. My memory is that bobolinks are done nesting by late June or early July, but it might be better to check that before mowing. Also, I've read that it's typical for birds of prey like that lovely barred owl to miss more than they are successful, somewhere in the range of 5-10 missed for every successful catch. (Can't remember a source for that, though.) The barred and great horned owls are nesting now, so if you go out at night, listen for them. The barred owl's pattern is "who cooks for you, who cooks for you all." I don't know a memory device for the great horned owl, though he also has a pattern of several hoots.

Yikes! The pictures are scary because it hits too close to home. I was battling voles all fall to no avail. Then the snow fell before the ground was really frozen. A quick thaw and I already saw signs of trouble in December. Thank you to whoever suggested professional help. I honestly had not thought of it and think is a great idea...I wish you luck this spring and may all your plants be intact.

CTLady, please don't set out chemicals or poison. Instead consider adopting a few barn cats to keep down the population. Shelters are overflowing with cats that need homes. They are not all lapcats. Check it out. /Abi

I hate them! We have some spring loaded traps in some tunnels, but it doesn't seem to make a dent. I can't bring myself to use poisons. We also tried ultrasonic devices (not sure if they're for moles or voles) but I can't see any improvement. I want to talk my husband into milky spore, but we have a large lawn, and it's expensive.I have seen moles too, but I think the voles are more widespread and damaging!

Milky spore does nothing for voles, pndlily, since they eat plants. It may reduce the grub population and so can help with moles. The timing of application needs to be done carefully, or it doesn't work - it needs to come into contact with the grubs so is applied when they are near the surface. Right now I think they're deep underground.

Warfarin is really deadly for birds who eat the poisoned rodents.

If you're thinking of using vole repellent, you'd want to concentrate your efforts in the garden beds, not in the lawn - no sense driving them into the gardens. Once the snow is gone, any voles in open areas will not stand a chance against their natural predators. I realize I'm just stating the obvious but figured I'd mention it.

newhamsha -- yes, those are pine needles in chicken wire "baskets" which we made, following to the letter the instructions that came with our new blueberry bushes. I can hardly wait to lift out those pine needles (VERY carefully!). I think next year we'll go with Jersey barriers. :)

Abi -- can't do barn cats. I have one (mildly psychotic) cat already, and when he's not happy, ain't no one happy. Last time his nose got out of joint over something, it cost us thousands in Oriental carpet cleaning. No way I'm goin' there again! (We have a dog, too. So unless the barn cats stayed IN the barn, we'd all be in trouble... but I'd take them in a heartbeat if I didn't have the other animals.)

Still weighing options (as the clock ticks and the voles tunnel...) Walked my yard now that ALMOST all the snow is gone, and was relieved to find the trails ONLY down by the barn, close to the open meadow, the new blueberry bushes (yum!) and the veggie garden (planted with garlic at the moment, so probably not too inviting...) So I hope that means their little army has not advanced UP the slope to my gardens. Yet.

Heard a talk today by a UConn guy about sustainable landscapes. Asked about voles. He rolled his eyes, and said that the ONLY thing he's found that works is copper sulfate impregnated with apple (huh???) which he claims you can get at a place like Agway. He puts it in PVC tubes. Hmmmm.

Also talked to someone from CT DEP, and jokingly passed along another GWebber's tongue-in-cheek suggestion that I find myself a weasel or two. There was a discernible pause on the other end of the line, then he said "you know, that's actually not a bad idea..." then went on to say that I might "have some trouble keeping them around" since we also have coyotes. Who LOVE weasels. And the natural food chain marches on... (I think there must be the lyrics of a great song in all this somewhere...)

He also said two things: (1) voles, like other wildlife, often experience population spikes followed by crashes. He thought I should not assume if I am overrun this year that I will be similarly overrun next year. Though I might. And (2) he thought it almost certain that as soon as we start mowing, trimming, etc., that they will retreat to the meadow again. Which would be nice.

Someone has also suggested Liquid Fence, which my vet agrees is completely safe for pets (though he also volunteered his opinion that NOTHING was going to work!). So I may give that a try.

Bottom line: still trying to decide on the best course of action but feeling SLIGHTLY less urgency since the area seems fairly confined so far ... but believe me, I am making DAILY inspections now!

Oh, and I did find this helpful hint on another state's extension service site:

"Shooting is not effective in controlling voles."

Drat. There goes that idea...

Here is a link that might be useful: Awwww.....

Last week the snow finally melted and revealed a mass of vole trails and mole hills! It looked as impressive a mole/vole-tropolis as yours, ct lady!

So I'm wondering about the population spike thing. Perhaps conditions all over New England have been conducive to a baby boom in the burrowing rodent population this year. That may spell hope for you. Perhaps next year will see a decline.

I'm not worried about the little scurrying burrowers, as their trails and hills are out in the pasture away from ornamentals (of which I don't have many to begin with) and they will likely become food for the foxes. But it gave me a start to see so many trails. I don't ever recall seeing evidence of such a population explosion here before.

> "Shooting is not effective in controlling voles."

On the other hand, I'll bet it's extremely satisfying!

By accident, I discovered a variation on a snap-trap to kill voles.

I buy birdseed in 40 lb bags, usually two bags at a time, and often leave one bag in the car for a few days. Several days ago I went to pull out the bag in the car and I noticed the bag had a hole in it, as if something in the car had taken a bite.

That afternoon I opened the door on the passenger's side and a very flat vole dropped out. I must have caught it the last time I opened and closed that door.

Not the most efficient way to kill voles, but it did work.

Claire

Ctlady, there may be hope yet. My lawn and garden looked like the picture in your OP for the past couple of years. I didn't do much to control the voles because I found that although the lawn was trashed and the garden literally had a circle around every plant and shrub, surprisingly almost everything suvived, including the lawn which made an amazing comeback. With the exception of a large japanese maple that they stripped the bark at the base off (which led to many tears).

However, this year the snow is finally melting and we have yet to see any vole activity at all. No tracks on the lawn, no tunnels in the garden, nothing. I find it interesting that the person from CT DEP mentioned a spike followed by a crash. That seems to definitely be what has happened in my yard.

Alas, I'm sure my deer and woodchucks will more than make up for the lack of vole activity. Always a battle with the critters, isn't it??!! LOL!

Ah, thyme2dig ... that's because they've all moved down here to MY house! ;)

I've been monitoring the yard diligently and see no further "advances" toward the gardens, but then the snow is all gone so I hope that means my friends have high-tailed it out, too.

Claire... that car-door trick sounds like a winner! I even have a bag of oiled sunflower seed in the back of my car as we speak. Now I just need to park the car down by the barn ...

My daughter, who owns a Dutch Stabyhoun (considered "a fine polecat and mole catcher" so surely he could handle voles, too?) sent me this video from YouTube, and asked would I like to borrow him for a weekend. I don't know ... what do you guys think? ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Another vole solution?

When that dog gets through you sure as heck wouldn't have
to worry about mowing your "former" lawn. . .and just what
would a dog with permanent "vole breath" be like to live
with?

Aw, I replied to this earlier but the internet ate my post. I agree with Carl, that breed is a real digging machine. I watched several of the clips on the youtube link, and if anyone hasn't seen them, they're well worth looking at, if only for a laugh.

For one thing, I feel MUCH better about my retriever. He does occasionally dig (mostly with his nose, which is quite a mess) but he's nothing like a Stabyhoun.

I guess I'd rather have voles than one of those.

ctlady, I just had to jump in. A few years back our land looked like your except for additional dirt piles too. Truly like land mines had exploded. We are also NW CT. That year we had barred owls move in. Be prepared after a certain point the parents bring the young to various branches and leave them to begin hunting. The babies cry!! It sort of sounds like a cat in distress, but they cleaned up the easy population of whatever we had tunneling. The next year and following years we didn't have the population of voles, chipmonks, moles or whatever we had.

Good lord. 8-o That's like the vole Grand Central or something!

A few years ago I actually caught a vole *in* my compost bin (nearly stabbed him while I was turning the compost, actually). He was the only one I ever saw in that yard, though, so I don't think the compost itself was the culprit.

I always wondered what those "runways" were. Arrk! that means I have em too! I'll be encouraging my kitty to spend as much time out there as possible.

Thinking I might have found the bright side of the garlic grass that's invaded most of my gardens, I went googling for "plants that repel voles" and found a promising article on Elsevier (they publish research journal articles).

The goal of the study was to find plants that kept voles out of orchards. The method was to see what deterred them from eating their favorite food, applesauce, when it was mixed with different concentrations of the various plants under consideration. I'm not positive that these results actually imply a repellent, but for what it's worth, here are the results:

Pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis Sieb. and Zucc.), boxwood (Buxus sempervirens L.), daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus L.), and crownvetch (Coronilla varia L.) were the most effective.

The abstract is at the link below. I can probably get a PDF of the full text from the WHOI library system if anyone wants to see it, but I'm hoping to find something more apropos (I really don't *want* pachysandra everywhere - or anywhere.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Crop Protection abstract

what a fascinating study!!! I just ripped out 3 wheelbarrow fulls of pachasandra to make room for a shrub. I planned on ripping out the rest of it but now I may have to reconsider.

Now that I think of it, the area with the pachy has not had voles in it. However, 15' away has had major hits. so yes, a garden of pachysandra would be needed and who needs that! (That 15' away area I think is their home central. Its got a huge 4' boulder that I think they have a city underneath.)

too bad one can't put just "a little" pachysandra somewhere.

I've always had some voles, but this winter was especially bad here. As I stomped tunnels in one of my beds yesterday I was thinking of this thread. They are eating my Siberian iris, a problem I've never had before. I guess I'll be planting lots of Daffodils in that bed in the the hopes of discouraging them, and maybe try pouring diluted castor oil in the bed. It's supposed to discourage moles, and I'm hoping that it will discourage voles as well.

Ah, thanks for the reminder on the castor oil... I bought some last year to try. I had trouble finding it. (childrens laxative section in CVS). I think it was more expensive than I expected. I used some. But I forget where or if it made a difference. darn... gotta take better notes.

What is your dilution rate?

in a comparative study (forgot where) blood was a major effective repellent. i have tried replanting in flashing connectors and/or gutter filters (from home depot)....planted with vole rocks,dried blood, and oyster shell underneath and same in topdressing and thn sprinkled with plantskydd (take a look at testimonials of plantskydd....available stonehedge,newington.....plants protected....20-25 hosta have not suffered subsequent damage....obviously could not do my WHOLE hosta garden due to labor intensive approach...but have sprinled plantskydd everywhere....so far only a few rabbit munchings of leaves...so much for monoculture (i adore hosta).....plantskydd comes spray-able or granular....blood works better than castor oil or capsaicin.....can also get dried blood meal in garden shop....loved the plantswap,kendra