voles

[TinaK]

How do you get rid of them?

[KimmSr]

A large rat trap.

[TinaK]

A neighbor gave me a 5 gallon bucket with holes in it & told me to put peanut butter in it with poison. I'll try that & mouse traps with peanut butter. I'll let you all know how it works. I have voles all over the front yard; they ate my husbands wires under his '88 firebird over the winter. Ihave to get rid of these PESTS soon.
Any other suggestions would be appericated.

Western New York on Lake Erie

[IntrepidMeredith]

We live/garden out in the country in a 150-year old farm house. We have 4 outdoor cats and have never had a problem with rodents of any sort in the garden, and only 2 mice in the house in the last 5 years (2 bats in the last couple of weeks, but, alas, cats do not have wings...).

Cats can stay outdoors all year round. They just need someplace dry & out of the wind to go to during the winter and access to water (a heated water dish from the pet store works great). They'll still need some supplemental feeding (dry food is fine, but about twice as much in the winter as in the summer). A monthly treatment for ticks/mosquitoes/fleas and twice-a-year worming can be done by the owner with medications from the grocery/pet store, but they'll also need to be taken to the vet annually for vaccinations (rabies, feline leukemia and something else I forget the name of), and, of course, the spaying or neutering up front!

...OK. A rat trap will be much cheaper in the long run, but it won't be nearly as entertaining, cuddly and affectionate, nor can it double as a garbage disposal for meaty table scraps (thus keeping the garbage from getting stinky). You also don't have to worry about kids (yours or the neighbors') getting into the poisoned peanut butter...

Good luck!

[KimmSr]

Unfortunately there are a large number of people that are allergic to cat dander and as much as they would like to have cats around they cause breathing problems. Also cats will kill, often just for the sport, song birds when left to themselves outside.

[Garden2Luv]

Chewing gum with the foil wrapper only (Juicy Fruit). Put the gum with foil wrapper in the ground around where they are tunneling. It has worked for my mother-in-law. Hope you have some success! :>)

[Erin]

Are we talking about voles or moles? I've had great success with using just plain mouse traps with a little peanut butter for voles. About 5 years ago I had a real problem with them. I set mouse traps (4 of them) and checked them every 1-3 days for most of the summer. I disposed of 13 voles by the time I was done and haven't had a problem since. Yes cats work great (as long as it's a hunting one)I am also alergic to cats but have an outdoor one and do fine.
I gotten rid of 2 moles by shear luck. We have them at our extention office in the garden that I'm in and twice I just happened to see the ground moving. I jumped up and stomped down on the spot that was moving. Well needless to say they stopped moving... forever. We haven't had much luck with them other than that.

[KimmSr]

The gum idea is a myth that does not work. Same as putting out some rice, baking soda, or other stuff that would tend to swell in the presence of water. That will not expand inside the vole and cause it to explode. Voles are field mice and normally live out in the fields, but when we move into their territory they have no place to go except our gardens. Traps work.

[Guest]

Voles do. Moles do burrow and make unsightly dirt mounds in turf, but they will not damage plants by feeding. Moles feed on insects, earthworms and other soil invertebrates. Pesky voles are likely responsible for most vertebrate feeding damage in your garden and landscape plants, not moles.