Voles are small rodents primarily found outdoors. While they rarely enter houses, their presence indoors is accidental. Understanding their natural behaviors and habitats clarifies why they are not common indoor pests.
What Exactly Are Voles?
Voles are small, stout-bodied rodents, often mistaken for mice or moles, but possess distinct features. They have a stockier build, shorter tails, small eyes, and partially hidden ears compared to mice, which have longer tails and more prominent ears. Voles are generally reddish-brown to gray, with dense fur. Unlike moles, which are insectivores with large front paws for digging, voles are primarily herbivores.
Voles prefer outdoor habitats, thriving in areas with dense vegetation such as grassy fields, meadows, and gardens. They are known for creating intricate networks of shallow tunnels and runways just beneath the surface of the soil or through grass. These runways provide them with shelter from predators and easy access to their food sources.
When Voles Enter Homes
Voles are not indoor pests. Their preference for ground-level living and limited climbing abilities mean they are unlikely to access elevated areas within a home, such as attics or upper floors.
Specific circumstances can lead a vole indoors. Severe cold weather, heavy rains, or flooding can make their outdoor habitats inhospitable, prompting them to seek warmer, drier shelter. They might also accidentally burrow into a foundation or find their way in through an open garage door or a small gap. Pets, particularly cats, occasionally bring voles into homes as “gifts,” further contributing to accidental indoor encounters. If a vole is found inside, it should be treated like any other trapped rodent; using mouse-sized snap traps baited with peanut butter can be effective for removal.
Preventing Vole Problems Outdoors
Voles primarily cause damage outdoors, affecting lawns, gardens, and young trees. They create visible surface runways through grass, gnaw on plant roots, bulbs, and the bark of trees and shrubs, especially during colder months. This gnawing can girdle trees and shrubs, leading to significant harm or even plant death. Dead patches in lawns and wilted plants are common indicators of vole activity.
Preventing vole problems involves modifying their outdoor habitat to make it less appealing. Keeping lawns mowed short, removing dense ground covers, and clearing away weeds, brush piles, and debris can reduce their protective cover. Physical barriers are also effective; installing wire mesh or hardware cloth fencing around garden beds, buried 6 to 10 inches deep and extending 12 inches above ground, can deter them. Tree guards made of metal or wire mesh, buried 6 inches into the soil and extending above the potential snow line, can protect young trees from bark damage.
Sealing potential entry points around the house perimeter is an important step to prevent accidental indoor access. Cracks in foundations, gaps around utility lines, and openings around doors and windows should be sealed with materials like caulk, steel wool, or expanding foam. Ensuring tight seals on garage doors and covering vents with rodent-proof mesh can further deter their entry. Maintaining a clean outdoor environment, free of spilled birdseed or fallen fruit, also reduces food sources that might attract voles near the home.