Re: help, voles!

**l*@juno.com**

Hi All,

The Humane Society of the US' book "Wild Neighbors" is a good resource
for those of us who wish to take a less violent approach to wildlife
problems in the garden. The Society notes that voles, like chipmunks go
through population cycles of three to six years in which their numbers
fluctuate dramatically. While some voles are subterranean, and others may
use mole tunnels, many species do not burrow under ground, but on top of
it, in thick layers of thatch, leaf litter, or mulch. Quick and easy
habitat modification tactics are soil cultivation, close mowing, clearing
vegetation from beneath fruit trees, removing thatch, and reducing mulch
layers to one to two inches.

Longer-term, more labor intensive solutions are using a bittering agent
on bulbs prior to planting, protecting flower beds with hardware cloth
buried six to eight inches, and using gravel paths to discourage voles
from moving around the garden. 

Natural predators are foxes, bobcats, snakes, and raptors, such as hawks.
Those who live in rural areas can encourage these predators by furnishing
nesting boxes for barn owls or kestrels. Large "T"-shaped perches will
also attract hawks and owls.

Regards,
Lois J. de Vries
Visit: http://loisdevries.blogspot.com

On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:16:32 -0700 Margaret Lauterbach
<melauter@earthlink.net> writes:
> Terriers are great "vole-ers."  Cats merely wait for them to surface, 
> 
> but a terrier digs them out then consumes them.  If they're really 
> large, nearly rat-sized, my terrier leaves them in our beaten paths 
> 
> so we can see and dispose of them.  Margaret L
> 
> 
> >Rich:
> >
> >First make sure you really have voles.  Most voles simply scurry in 
>  leaf
> >litter and on the surface though they may use mole and 
> >chipmunk  tunnels.  Best
> >way to know what you've got is to trap one and get a  positive 
> >id.  Use an old
> >fashioned mouse trap baited with small pieces of  apple.  As I 
> recall voles
> >are the most reproductive mammal in North America  so early control 
> is really
> >important.  I also agree, nothing like a good  mouser.  Critical to 
> 
> >control them
> >before winter as that's when they can be  extremely destructive to 
> shrubs and
> >trees at ground level and perennial crowns  and roots.
> >
> >
> >Andrew Messinger
> >The Hampton Gardener is a registered  trade mark and is published 
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> >Thursday in The Southampton Press, The Press  and the Easthampton 
> Press
> >
> >
> >
> >
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