Meadow voles are excellent diggers and swimmers. These animals are known to make long runways through vegetation, where they store waste products. In order to defend themselves, meadow voles may use vocalizations.

The meadow vole is an herbivore that feeds on the leaves, stems, roots and seeds of wetland grasses, sedges and rushes. In winter, it switches to eating tree bark and roots. It has been known to be cannibalistic, especially on young voles. Meadow voles eat 60 percent of their body weight each day.

Habitat. Voles can be found throughout North America in dense grassy fields, gardens, meadows, woodlands, along lakes and rivers and in agricultural areas. Voles make their nests in underground burrows around tree roots, ground cover and beneath fruit trees.

4.6 in.Adult

During the winter, voles move about under the protection of snow cover and create unique surface runway systems with numerous burrow openings. Runways are 1 to 2 inches in width, and vegetation near well-traveled runways is often clipped near the ground.

The meadow vole (M. pennsylvanicus), also known as the meadow mouse, is one of the most common mammals in North America. Its geographic range is vast, extending through almost all of Alaska and Canada southward through most of the continental United States. Isolated populations are also found in Mexico.

grass

Scientists have found that voles dislike some bulb varieties such as daffodils, Italian arum and grape hyacinths.

Voles are attracted to landscaping with long grass, lots of ground cover and heavily mulched planting beds. Grass or crops that are left long in the fall and then covered by snow can also attract voles.

Place snap-type traps at a tunnel entrances. Bait snap-type mouse traps with apple slices or peanut butter mixed with oatmeal. Set them perpendicular, or at a right angle, to the tunnel entrances; use 1 trap per 100 sq ft (9.3 m2) of land. Check your traps daily, and remove any dead and captured voles.

Signs of voles in your garden may include runways on the surface of the ground on in your lawn. The runways may be about one to two inches wide. A vole’s burrow can be identified by holes found in lawns or around the base of trees. The grass immediately surrounding the hole will be very short.

Bonide MoleMax 10-lb Mole and Vole Repellent

1. Naturally repels moles, voles, gophers, rabbits, armadillos and skunks.
2. Clean, dustless, biodegradable granules are safe for use around children, plants and animals.
3. 1 lb treats 500 square feet.