Voles are small rodents, sometimes called meadow mice, that can cause significant damage to lawns and gardens. These common pests are herbivores, meaning their activity directly impacts vegetation and root systems. Identifying their presence relies on recognizing a few distinct visual cues. This guide provides clear indicators to help determine if voles are the source of trouble in your landscaping.
Identifying Vole Runways and Tunnels
The most telling sign of vole activity is an extensive network of surface runways that crisscross the grass or mulch. These paths are narrow, typically one to two inches wide, appearing well-worn or like flattened trenches. Voles keep these routes clear by clipping the vegetation close to the soil, leaving behind a dirt-bare path of exposed earth.
These paths are often easiest to spot in the spring after the snow melts, as snow cover provides protection during the winter months. The runways connect feeding areas with the entrances to their underground burrows. A vole hole is small, usually dime-sized, and is characterized by its open nature without surrounding dirt mounds.
This lack of mounding is a key differentiator from other pests. While voles create shallow tunnels just beneath the surface, the visible runways are the most reliable evidence of their travel patterns. You may find fresh clippings of grass or small, dark-colored droppings within these active pathways.
Signs of Vole Feeding Damage on Plants
As herbivores, voles focus their feeding on plant material, resulting in two primary types of damage: subterranean root destruction and above-ground girdling. Subterranean damage is difficult to detect until voles consume the roots and fleshy bulbs of plants like tulips, lilies, and hostas. A plant that suddenly wilts or tips over may indicate that its entire root system has been gnawed away just below the soil line.
Damage to trees and shrubs is characterized by girdling, which involves removing bark around the circumference of the trunk near the base. This activity is most common during the fall and winter when other food sources are scarce. Vole gnaw marks are small, irregular, and non-uniform, leaving a ragged pattern on the exposed wood.
These small chisel-like grooves are a distinct feature of vole feeding, typically measuring about one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch wide. Upon close inspection, you can see parallel grooves left by the vole’s incisor teeth on the plant’s roots or the exposed wood. This concentrated chewing at the base of a young tree or shrub disrupts the flow of nutrients and water, often proving fatal.
Distinguishing Vole Damage from Other Pests
Correctly identifying the pest requires differentiating vole signs from those of moles, gophers, and rabbits. Moles are insectivores, not herbivores, so they typically do not cause extensive damage to plant roots or bark. Mole activity is identified by raised, spongy ridges or tunnels across the lawn and by distinct volcano-shaped mounds of soil, which voles do not create.
Gophers also create mounds, but theirs are large, crescent-shaped piles of dirt that are plugged with soil. In contrast, vole burrow openings are much smaller, open, and lack surrounding earth pushed onto the surface. This difference in burrow appearance is one of the clearest ways to distinguish between the two pests.
Voles are often confused with rabbits due to similar bark damage on woody plants, but the gnaw marks differ significantly. Vole girdling occurs at or just below the soil line and features small, irregular marks. Rabbit damage is usually higher up on the stem or trunk, characterized by larger, rougher cuts, often with a clean, oblique angle where stems have been clipped.