voles or moles?

[G. Svanholm]

At 19:23 2004-06-09 -0700, you wrote:
>One simple non poisonous method that has worked for many years for me is to
>find the tunnel entrances/exits that are used by the voles.  Typically a
>round hole, 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 to about 4 cm) in diameter usually with
>little to no soil piled up around it, is where I can trap the voles.  Use
>unbatied or baited (chunky peanut butter that has been allowed to dry on the
>treadle works fine) standard mouse traps available in many grocery stores or
>nurseries.  Place two traps, cocked and ready to snap,  one on each side of
>the hole( two work better than just one) and then cover the traps and hole
>with two large pots turned so the bottom/side holes do not line up or a
>light proof bucket or even a box weighted down.  Point is to exclude light.
>The vole or mouse pokes its nose up, feels safe since it is "dark" out and
>trips the traps.  From a single hole I caught 2 voles and a mouse in single
>day, and over a three or four day period trapped out 3 voles and 4 mice out
>of the same hole.

There are more than one kind of vole. In addition to the small ones, I am
sometimes plagued by Arvicola terrestis which is 12 - 20cm long (plus tail).
It is capable of killing a small fruit tree by eating all the roots and it
can harvest all bulbs or potatoes and put up a winter cache somewhere in the
soil.

However, the tunnels are obviously larger and they do have "mole hills". An
inhabitated tunnel is never open. Wasps sometimes inhabit abandoned tunnels
and these utterly dislike anybody threading on it and do what they can
(which is plenty) to discourage the disturbance. Badgers may find the nests
and eat the larvae which turns a 4cm hole into a 50cm bomb crater.

I hunt it in a similar way. The voles dislike drafts so if I open the tunnel
under the hill, they will block it within a couple of hours. If they do not
block it, this tunnel is abandoned and they have moved to better pastures.
If it is blocked, I dig it open again. I try to avoid "human scent" by using
bare hands as little as possible. It must be done without delay since
otherwise they will within a few hours fill the tunnel from within until it
can no longer be found without much disturbance of what greenery that is
left. I push the trap into the trench that has formed. The tunnel is usually
a side branch of a main "trunk road" and the best result is if the front end
of the trap goes into this. I agree that it is very important to cover the
trap with a tight and dark bucket or other receptacle. I have attributed
this to absence of draft rather than light. I usually bait with potato or
carrot.

What is surprising is that I rarely take more than one vole in the same hole
and that the hole remains unblocked once the vole is trapped. This means
that they are eremites living singly most of the time. The surprising thing
is the enormous damage just one vole can cause. Tey are really "eager beavers".

Garden lore in my part of the world is full of "remedies" like putting
smelly herrings in the tunels or digging down bottles so that wind may
wistle in the opening. That these remedies "work" is the result of that most
people become aware of the voles when it already is too late. All lilies and
tulips are gone and the voles are gone with them having moved to better
places with more and tastier bulbs.

Good hunting
Gote Svanholm
Middle Sweden.