Voles are small, stocky rodents often confused with mice or moles, but they are distinct lawn and garden pests. Sometimes called meadow mice, these animals have compact bodies, short legs, and tails much shorter than common house mice. As herbivores, their presence can quickly lead to damage on lawns, flower bulbs, and woody plants. Identifying their activity is the first step in protecting your landscape and implementing effective control measures.
Identifying Vole Damage and Activity
Confirming a vole infestation requires looking for specific signs. The most recognizable evidence is the presence of narrow, surface-level runways, paths about one to two inches wide pressed down through the grass or mulch. These trenches connect feeding areas with burrow entrances and are often littered with small droppings and clipped grass. Unlike moles, which create raised soil mounds from deep tunneling, voles typically create small, open burrow holes without soil piles.
Voles feed on plant material, particularly during late fall and winter when other food sources are scarce. They often chew on the bark of young trees and shrubs near the ground level, a process called girdling, which can kill the plant by interrupting nutrient flow. These gnaw marks are irregular in shape and size, measuring about one-eighth of an inch wide. If you lift mulch or ground cover and find these shallow pathways and gnaw marks, you can be certain the damage is from voles.
Immediate Control Methods
Active removal of voles is best accomplished through mechanical traps, which are generally safer and more direct than chemical methods. Mouse-sized snap traps are highly effective for vole control. Traps should be placed directly into the active surface runways, positioned perpendicularly to the path of travel.
To maximize success, bait the trigger pan with peanut butter mixed with oats or a small slice of apple. Voles are neophobic, so covering the set trap with an inverted bucket or wood encourages use by making the trap part of their protected travel route. Use a sufficient number of traps, often ten or more for a small area, and check them twice daily to maintain constant pressure.
Chemical control options, such as rodenticides, require extreme caution to protect non-target animals. These baits, which may contain anticoagulants or zinc phosphide, should be placed only in tamper-resistant bait stations or inserted directly into underground burrows. This placement minimizes the risk of pets, children, or other wildlife accidentally consuming the poison. Active trapping remains the preferred method for most homeowners because it eliminates the risk of secondary poisoning to predators.
Long-Term Habitat Modification and Exclusion
Reducing the attractiveness of your landscape to voles is essential for long-term prevention. Voles require protective cover to move and feed safely, so removing dense ground cover, weedy areas, and leaf litter eliminates their primary habitat. Maintaining a short lawn height also makes the area less hospitable by exposing runways to predators.
Modify mulching practices around vulnerable plants and trees, as heavy layers of mulch provide ideal cover and insulation for voles. Remove mulch so that it does not touch the base of tree trunks, keeping a clear ring of ground around the bark. Crushed stone or gravel can be placed around the base of trees instead of organic mulch to create a barrier voles find difficult to navigate.
Physical exclusion provides the most reliable defense for individual, high-value plants. Protect young trees and shrubs from gnawing damage by installing protective cylinders made of hardware cloth or wire mesh. The mesh size must be one-quarter inch or smaller to prevent voles from passing through. For proper protection, the cylinder should be tall enough to reach above the anticipated snow line and must be buried six inches deep to prevent voles from burrowing underneath.