Voles are small, stocky rodents with coarse fur and short furry tails. They are about 5 to 8 inches in length and their fur can be a wide range of colors, including tan, reddish-brown, or dark brown. Voles are often mistaken for mice due to their small size and similar appearance, however, their short tails are a good way to tell them apart from mice. Voles live outdoors where they can burrow into the ground and make tunnels to hide, breed, store food, and raise their young.
During winter, other rodents may try to seek shelter in homes, but not voles. Voles don’t hibernate. They remain active outdoors year-round. Fallen snow hides their underground activity, although, in winter, you might spot vole “runways” between two burrows where the grass is wilted or snow has been walked on.
Problems Voles Cause
Voles are considered lawn pests because the majority of the damage they cause takes place underground. In most cases, you don’t run the risk of being bitten by a vole, however, they will occasionally bite when threatened or provoked. If voles have infested your Southern Maine property, the best way to identify them is by looking for their tunnels or for wilted, dying plants resulting from damaged roots. Voles burrow small tunnels or shallow runways just beneath the surface of a lawn while searching for plants, bulbs, and roots they can eat. Prolonged vole infestations can lead to dying plants and damaged gardens. Like other rodents, voles are capable of spreading disease-causing bacteria through their urine and feces.
Vole Prevention Tips
There aren’t many effective ways to prevent voles from invading your property due to the fact that they burrow. However, there are a few ways you can make your Southern Maine property less attractive to voles.
- Remove possible hiding places and woodpiles from around your garden, trees, and shrubs
- Keep your grass and your shrubs trimmed
- Cut back tree branches, brush, and vegetation
- Avoid planting bulbs and other roots that may attract voles to your property
- Contact professional pest control
The quickest and most effective way to remove a vole problem is with the help of a trusted pest control provider like Big Blue Bug Solutions. We provide a wide variety of pest control services for Southern Maine properties. No matter what pest problem you’re dealing with, we have a reliable pest control program for you. Avoid the stress, damage, and disease that voles cause by reaching out to the licensed pest technicians here at Big Blue Bug Solutions today.