Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Information and discussion regarding garden diseases, insects and other unwelcome critters.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old April 13, 2019   #1
bower
Tomatovillian™
 
bower's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,793
Default vole rampage

Just wanted to share a few pics of the habitat taken up by voles this winter, and revealed when the snow receded! At first I thought there had been some kind of animal drama involving a fox and hare on a very soggy muddy slippery day which afterwards froze! Maybe that did happen too. But on closer inspection you could tell these were the burrowings of some small army of voles . I believe they must have fled into my garden when they lost their snow cover in the middle of winter. Anyway the best part is they didn't venture into the raised beds and instead ate away some of that grass in the pathways, that I didn't want there anyway.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg animal-drama.JPG (277.8 KB, 104 views)
File Type: jpg vole-rampage.JPG (463.6 KB, 105 views)
File Type: jpg vole-bunker.JPG (498.1 KB, 106 views)
File Type: jpg vole-manor.JPG (305.9 KB, 106 views)
bower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 13, 2019   #2
KarenO
Tomatovillian™
 
KarenO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,918
Default

Hopefully you have done foxes and raptors to thin those out for you and keep them out of your garden!
Karen
KarenO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 15, 2019   #3
b54red
Tomatovillian™
 
b54red's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
Default

If you want to thin them out really good get a few miniature dachshunds. I had them for years before my son gave me a couple. Nearly every day for months I they would leave one or two on the back doorstep until they were all gone.

Bill
b54red is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 16, 2019   #4
MissS
Tomatovillian™
 
MissS's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Posts: 3,145
Default

The moles and voles are usually there to feed on the grubs in the area. You can treat the area organically for grubs with Milky Spore. One application lasts for several years. Once the grubs are gone the rodents will be too since they will have nothing to feed on. Of course there are several products with chemicals that will work too.
__________________
~ Patti ~
MissS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 16, 2019   #5
Marcus1
Tomatovillian™
 
Marcus1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Colorado
Posts: 124
Default

I had a severe outbreak of voles several years ago. They ate probably a quarter of my cantaloupe crop and I had a 150' double row of beets that when I went to pull , the voles had been in between the two rows and eaten the majority of them. The worst part came towards the end of the season the voles had chewed so many holes in my drip tape that I had to abandon several rows. If you look at there life cycle its amazing how many can be produced in a season, the young are reproducing 30 days after birth. Anymore I am proactive, if I see signs of them I put out the wax bars of rat poison I think its called Radamix. I generally don't like poison things but I make an exception for voles.

Good luck, Marcus
Marcus1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 16, 2019   #6
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

I found a shrew once in the yard the cat had caught it.
Though it looks like a mouse it is not a rodent.
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 16, 2019   #7
bower
Tomatovillian™
 
bower's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,793
Default

I've never seen any vole damage in my garden except once or twice the same burrowing in winter got into a patch of hollyhocks I was sad to lose... never on this scale though. I sort of doubt they will hang about here in the summer because there isn't that much grass in my garden. Overall there seems to be a rodent thing happening everywhere here, mice, rats, too many! Everyone is plagued. I feel lucky there was no sign of rats this winter, and no rodents getting into my house or greenhouse...phew!



I've seen shrews here too Worth. I thought they were rodents, though? They are really small and boy do they move fast. No one complains about them, if anything they probably eat a few insect pests!
bower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 16, 2019   #8
GrowingCoastal
Tomatovillian™
 
GrowingCoastal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC
Posts: 1,253
Default

Count yourself lucky.

The Killer Shrews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwbf-WJZWWs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwbf-WJZWWs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwbf-WJZWWs
GrowingCoastal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 17, 2019   #9
Worth1
Tomatovillian™
 
Worth1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
Default

Nope shrews not rodents but some sort of carnivore / insectivore.
I found out when I looked them up in the dictionary when I saw the thing the cats brought in.
Way back before we had the internet and had to use books.
Worth1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 17, 2019   #10
bower
Tomatovillian™
 
bower's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,793
Default

Wow... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrew.


Closer to hedgehogs than rodents.... and I never knew that some of them have venemous bites!

They really are pretty common around here, but the normal thing to do is... nothing! Just don't mess with em. Although personally I doubt you would easily catch one. They are fast and furtive, and small enough to disappear in a hurry.
bower is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:24 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★