City of Bowie
Animal Control

             Voles

Identification

Voles, also called meadow mice or field mice, are compact rodents with stocky bodies, short legs, and short tails. Their eyes are small and their ears partially hidden. Their underfur is generally dense and are brown or gray, though many color variations exist.

Voles prefer areas with heavy ground cover of grasses, grasslike plants, or yard litter.

Voles are active day and night, year-round. They do not hibernate. Voles may breed throughout the year, but most commonly in spring and summer. In the field, they have 1 to 5 litters per year. Litter sizes average 3 to 6. Life spans are short, probably ranging from 2 to 16 months.

Voles are prey for many predators (for example, snakes, hawks, and owls); however, predators do not normally control vole populations.

Voles may cause extensive damage to orchards, ornamentals, and tree plantings due to their girdling of seedlings and mature trees. Girdling damage usually occurs in fall and winter. Voles eat plants in the garden and also damage them when they build extensive runway and tunnel systems.

Girdling and gnaw marks alone are not necessarily indicative of the presence of voles, since other animals, such as rabbits, may cause similar damage. Vole girdling can be differentiated from girdling by other animals by the non-uniform gnaw marks. They occur at various angles and in irregular patches. Marks are about 1/8 inch wide, 3/8 inch long, and 1/16 inch or more deep. Rabbit gnaw marks are larger and not distinct. Rabbits neatly clip branches with oblique clean cuts.

The most easily identifiable sign of voles is an extensive surface runway system with, numerous burrow openings. Vegetation near well-traveled runways may be clipped : close to the ground.

Voles eat a wide variety of plants. In late summer and fall, they store seeds, tubers, bulbs, and rhizomes. They eat bark at times, primarily in fall and winter. Occasional food items include snails, insects, and animal remains.

Hardware cloth cylinders exclude voles from seedlings and young trees. The mesh should be 1/4 inch or less in size. Bury the wire 6 inches to keep voles from burrowing under the cylinder.

For small areas, such as seed beds, install a 24-inch roll sheet metal or hardware cloth fence. Place the fence at the ground surface and bury it to a depth of at least 12 inches, bent out at a 90-degree angle.

Cultural and habitat modification practices can reduce the likelihood and severity of vole damage. Eliminate weeds, ground cover, and litter in and around crops, lawns, and cultivated areas to reduce the capacity of these areas to support voles. Lawn and turf should be mowed regularly. Mulch should be cleared 3 feet or more from the bases of trees.

Repellents utilizing thiram (also a fungicide) or capsaicin as an active ingredient are registered for voles. These products may afford short-term protection.

Hart, Rhonda Massingham. Bugs, Slugs & Other Thugs Controlling Garden Pests Organically. Pownal, Vt.: Storey Communications, Inc., 1995.

The Humane Society of the United States. Wild Neighbors, The Humane Approach to Living with Wildlife.

University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension, United States Department of Agriculture, and Great Plains Agriculture Council. Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage. 1994.