How to Get Rid of Voles

• Why We Want to Keep Voles Around
  The only true benefit to voles, is their role in the food chain. Animals like owls, snakes, coyotes, and others regularly feast on vole stew. In comparison to the environment, voles can actually be very damaging to nature. They will eat the roots and bark off trees, dig through and kill grass, and consume plants and flowers in gardens. They also populate quickly and never move in small numbers, one morning you could have 3 or 4 voles and in a month find out that there are 20 more!

• When to Get Rid of Voles
  When thinking voles, remember the V like in Vegetarian since they eat greens and not grubs and bugs like moles. Voles are drought driven, they move in mass numbers to places with lush vegetation and an abundance of moisture. Once they find an area suitable to them, they will dig holes in dirt, chew through the bark and roots on trees, and consume plants and flowers. As follows with their importance to the food chain, where they go predators are sure to follow such as owls, snakes, foxes, weasels, and more. Voles are very much like mice in their looks and in their behavior, except that voles will dig straight into the earth to find roots and bulbs to eat unlike their mice cousins. Like other rodents (and many animals), voles carry a variety of diseases that can be deadly to people like Babesiosis, Hantavirus, Salmonella, and Lyme disease. The spread of these diseases should not be taken lightly and should be given all precaution. **REMEMBER: more than 50% of Hantavirus victims die**

• How to Prevent Vole Infestations
  The best way to prevent voles from coming to your yard is to have a dry or desert landscape, the more lush and viable your yard is, the more likely you are to have a vole problem. A naturally high population of predators is also helpful. There is no sure way to keep voles away from your lawn, but there are ways to get rid of voles.

• How to Prevent Vole Infestations
  When voles die, it is rare that you will have to worry about rot or cleaning up the dead body since voles are food to many animals. The predators that follow voles (owls, snakes, foxes, etc.) will often sneak in and eat the carcass. Not only that, but voles (like mice) are cannibalistic and are more than willing to consume their dead friend without hesitation. If you do have to clean up a dead vole, use gloves and place the body in a plastic bag; the corpse should be taken to a burn plant to be incinerated.

• Vole removal on City, County, or State Property
  If voles on city/county/state properties are affecting your residential or commercial property, you can contact the city/county/state to hire one of the professionals on our site. If a vole is dead on city property like a road or other, you can clean it up if you’d like or it would be better to call your local humane society or Best Friends of Animals Society. We do not remove dead voles off of city and/or county properties unless hired by city/county.

• PROBLEMS
  

  1. Voles carry diseases that can kill humans and can be spread through urine and feces that may be kicked up by a lawnmowers, brooms, leaf blowers, etc. Once these diseases are airborne they can be breathed into the lungs, infecting them.

  How to Get Rid of Voles All Seasons . -Video

  2. Voles can destroy the root system of trees and plants by eating the roots and bulbs
  3. Voles will kill or damage grass very quickly especially during the winter time
  4. Predatory animals like owls, snakes, foxes, and other animals follow voles

• KILL OR KEEP ALIVE?
  When dealing with voles, it is not often that you will trap and actually relocate them. Most often, poisons will be used to kill the animals to best prevent their increasing population. Voles will ravage a lawn until there is nothing left and they have to move on. They are much like mice in their destructive behavior and quick reproduction. It is best to kill voles when you have a problem with them, relocation will only transfer the problem to someone else, or even back to you.

Steps to getting rid of Voles:

1. Why We Want to Keep Voles Out
   To prevent the spread of deadly diseases and the destruction of trees, gardens, and lawns. Voles, especially during winter months, will devastate landscaping.

2. When to Get Rid of Voles
   As soon as you discover a vole infestation, it is vital that you get rid of the voles or call a professional from our site to help you.

3. Why We Want to Keep Voles Out
   To prevent the spread of deadly diseases and the destruction of trees, gardens, and lawns. Voles, especially during winter months, will devastate landscaping.

4. Places to Check for Voles Entrances
   Common places to find vole holes are underneath bushes, in small holes around the lawn, under rocks and concrete, and especially near tree roots. If you start to notice roadmap-like lines in your yard or suddenly one of your trees dies, it’s more than likely that you have a vole problem since they will completely eat away the roots of these plants.

5. Why We Want to Keep Voles Out
   To prevent the spread of deadly diseases and the destruction of trees, gardens, and lawns. Voles, especially during winter months, will devastate landscaping.

6. Getting Rid of Voles
   We us a special three part mixture of poison that is strong enough to kill them, however this requires special licensing to use.

7. How to Identify Voles Droppings
   Vole droppings are long and cylindrical, like a pellet, and are usually around 8-12 mm in size and rounded at both ends. They look similar to large, black rice.

   -Information about Voles Droppings

   Vole droppings can contain many diseases that are very capable of killing the average person. When mowing the lawn, it is common to run over vole feces (and even voles themselves), this disturbance of the feces can release the Hantavirus into the air and infect your lungs.

8. Cleaning up Voles Feces
   Since vole droppings do have the potential to carry life threatening diseases, it is best to be safe when cleaning them up. Protective gloves, masks, respirators, and full body suits should be worn when decontaminating and removing vole feces. This process is best handled by one of the professionals on our site since we have proper licensing to use the type of poison that will be needed.

HOW TO

How to Get Rid of Voles in the House

It isn't often that a vole will come into your home, but if you leave a door or window open they will accept the invitation. Voles will also get into your home via holes in the sides of the homes. If a vole gets into your house it is likely that it will get lost or stuck and not be able to get back out. If this happens (which is rare), your best option is a multiple trap to catch all the animals that have entered your home.

How to Get Rid of Voles in Walls

If a vole is in your wall it’s because they fell into it and got lost. You will most likely have to cut into a wall and remove them physically from the area. In this situation, it is best if you call one of the professionals on our site.

How to Get Rid of Voles under your Porch

Voles will crawl underneath concrete pads, a wooden porch, or any other foundation above the ground; they will go here to protect themselves from predators. Poison is the best solution to get rid of voles here unless you are worried about pets or children coming in contact with the poison; then multiple traps are the next best option.

How to Get Rid of Voles on your Property (lawns)

The number one problem area you will encounter with voles is on your lawn, in gardens, and near tree roots. Voles are attracted to an abundance of water and moisture and will desolate landscaping by chewing through roots and digging through grass. Voles can also spread deadly diseases so their removal is vital. Poison is the best option but is for special use only and must be applied properly by a licensed professional. Traps like snap traps, glue board traps, water traps, and multiple catch traps can be used by the average person to remove voles. Setting the traps near a vole hole under shrubbery, on lawns, and near the base of a tree is very effective.

How to Get Rid of Voles in crawl spaces

Voles will fall into crawl spaces from outside holes. The best option is to use traps like snap traps, glue board traps, etc. Poison is never recommended in crawl spaces as it can be dangerous and smell up the home if voles die in inaccessible areas.

How to Get Voles out of Window Wells

If a vole is in a window well, they can chew through a screen and get into the house, this can be dangerous to your family since they can carry deadly diseases. If a vole gets into your window well, removal is not a good idea. It is best to kill the vole in a safe manner and remove the carcass in a plastic bag and take it to a burn plant.

NEED HELP GETTING RID OF VOLES?

If you are having problems, or don’t want to deal with the voles yourself after reading this article, please give us a call at 1-888-488-7720, you can also contact us through email. You can also call one of the technicians from your area (see map) and they can help you figure out a solution. REMEMBER: Vole’s contaminants can be extremely dangerous and working with them can be very complicated; it’s best to hire a professional. Check out our YouTube channel and our website, AllstateAnimalControl.com, or use other Google resources to help you solve your problem. We do offer coaching solutions. Please send digital photos of your problem and we can coach you over the phone and ship you products for a fee.