Are You Having A Hard Time Dealing With Voles In Southern Maine?

When you notice a mouse running along the exterior of your home, it can make your blood run cold, if you know even a little bit about house mice. But what if that isn't a mouse? What if it is a vole? While both are small rodents, a vole isn't going to invade your home and eat your pantry food. It won't damage your home, chew on the wires in your wall voids, or spread ticks to every level of your home. Those are the disturbing things house mice do. Voles are backyard rodents. But, while not inclined to enter your home and create the myriad of issues house mice create, they aren't exactly harmless critters. Join us today as we look at how to tell the difference between a vole and a house mouse, the unique problems voles create in your yard, and the best way to control voles in Southern Maine. If you already know the problems voles cause in your yard (because they're causing them) and you want a fast and effective solution, jump to our contact page for professional vole pest control in Southern Maine. While we aim to provide fun and informative pest control articles, you don't have to read an article about vole control to stop these mouse-like pests from wreaking havoc in your yard. 

How To Identify Voles

A vole looks like a fat mouse, but there are several visual differences between these two kinds of rodents that make voles distinctly un-mouselike. Mice are known for their large, perky, pale-colored ears. The ears of a vole are small, hairy, and blend in against the sides of its head. A house mouse has dirty brown-colored hair and a white underbelly. The hairy coat of a vole is a darker brown and much thicker. While its underbelly is slightly gray, it is hard to notice. Mice are sleek. Voles are chubby. At a distance, you may think a vole is a fat mouse because of its chubby body, round snout, and long tail.

Along with visual characteristics, you can distinguish voles by their behavior. Many vole species are active day and night. Mice are almost exclusively nightwalkers. If you see a mouse-like critter scampering around in your yard during the day, it is more likely a vole. You can also tell by the damage voles cause in your yard. That brings us to our next point.   

The Problems Voles Can Create On Your Property

There are many ways voles cause trouble. They commonly gird trees and strip the bark. When you start to see bald spots at the base of your trees, you won't have to wonder if you have house mice or voles. Your problem is definitely voles.

Voles eat a variety of plants. Their plant of choice is turfgrass. They can mow through a yard and create long runways that are about the width of a golf ball. If you stand on your balcony or deck, look down, and notice wiggly lines of dirt or dead grass in your yard, it is time to get vole control. House mice don't eat your grass.

Voles dine on vegetables. Unfortunately, they aren't the only woodland pests that enter South Portland yards and eat vegetables in our gardens. So, finding damage to your garden plants will provide you with only some evidence that you have a vole problem. But voles have a somewhat unique way they attack garden plants. They suck them right down into the ground. If you notice that one of your vegetable sprouts is gone and a hole has appeared, it is likely you have a vole problem. 

The most noticeable and recognizable damage voles cause are holes in your lawn. If your yard starts looking like swiss cheese, voles are to blame. The holes become more noticeable over time because the grass around them will start to become dry and brown, or you'll see areas of barren ground. Patches of dry earth occur over time as voles excavate dirt, spread it around, and smother the turfgrass around the holes.  

The longer you wait to get vole control for your property, the faster your problems will increase. Vole females typically have ten babies per month. It takes about 45 days for them to reach sexual maturity, and the babies start to create babies of their own. Do you see how quickly a vole population can explode in your yard? All they need to thrive is ground cover and many Southern Maine yards have ground cover in abundance.