Mice have long tails. We have two kinds, the gray mouse and the brown with white belly. Brown ones, Deer mice come in pairs, if you kill two, they are gone. Grays, House mice are non-pairing, come in quantities. I hate seeing the gray ones, you never know if you got them all. Voles here are mice sized, with very short tails, like Hamsters. Also come in quantities, but I have never had them come into the house. Barn cat catches a bunch of them. Look very like mice, just no tails. Shrews are tiny, often dark, about half the size of a mouse. Maybe as large as a lady's thumb. Terrible fighters, will kill mice and eat them. I look at the funny noses to see if they are shrews. Some are star shaped noses, or other wise different than mice. Usually the eyes are also very small, compared to mice with big eyes. A full sized Mole is about hand sized with the front feet looking like he wears baseball mitts!! Way oversized front feet to allow lots of dirt moving very quickly. You might mix him up with a small rat, but not a mouse. Much bigger than mice. They also might have a funny shaped nose to help them locate earthworms in the dirt and aid in moving dirt as they tunnel along. I don't think they kill mice like the shrews. My dog is more likely to dig up a Mole and flip it around to kill it. One small dog with big ears will track the digging mole, while the other large dog does the digging to find Mole. I get the corpse as my present or find it later in the yard. The cat doesn't work that hard, she only chases things above the ground.

PLEASE HELP ME!!!! I moved in my home three years ago and the first winter I had these exact critters and their screech is loud and creepy as well as their living IN MY HOME!! I was able to rid of them with poison(not my first choice or my normal humane way of ridding rodents) and they were gone with in a week. Yet they are back two yrs later and are not at all afraid to come out at any time of day right there in frount of you, sit with you and be an anoyance. I do not want to put poison out (not only because it is inhumane, but because I have a small Chihuahua and cat that I worry about.) PLEASE HELP!! I am desperate for any advice with getting them out of my home! My cat, THE MOUSER, will not go near it and that just makes me wonder what kind of diseses they have, Im literally grossed right out here. Please help!!!!!!!!!!! ANYONE?????

The question should be what goes after Roach Bait, enjoys it, comes back for more and does not die from it?

I just came across this thread and had to chime in. I've tried traps, castor oil concoctions, and I have a great hunting cat...however, none of them were anywhere near as effective as this simple solution I discovered a year and a half ago. First, in the fall, stay ahead of the leaf litter. DO NOT LET LEAVES LAY ON YOUR BEDS! The voles shelter under the leaves away from the eyes of hawks and owls. Besides, with the leaves gone, you will be able to spot the tunnel entrances with ease. Now go to your local hardware store (not big box) or Amazon.com and buy "just one bite" bar rat and mice poison. It is a seedy-poison-waxy bar that will not disintegrate when wet. I wear disposable gloves and break the bar into green pea size pieces and poke one piece into the opening of each tunnel entrance. I do it in the early fall and again in late winter when they are hungriest. No PVC tubes, no repeat baiting...I promise you that even this halfhearted strategy has reduced my vole population easily by 85%. I have at least a hundred hostas and at least as many perennials and shrubs on a wooded two acre lot and I lost one hosta and had damage to one hosta this year...no shrub damage...this year was by far my best year as far as barely no vole damage! I'm rejoicing! For what it's worth, I read that the small amount the voles eat, combined with the fact they metabolize it makes it no risk to larger animals like cats and hawks that may possibly eat a poisoned vole or mouse...besides I have not seen a single dead vole on the ground. I'm thrilled with my success and hope you have the same experience.Here is the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002SAQ7ZM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1444518819&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=just+one+bite&dpPl=1&dpID=410DNMpGGUL&ref=plSrch