Voles

Any input on how to handle them? A new target for me. Customer called yesterday and says her elderly parents yard/landscaping is overrun with them. I have not yet seen the property but her description of extensive surface tunnels seems appropriate. Customer is very concerned that if immediate action isn't taken, there will irreparable damage to the property. She already called the local big name company and their one time treatment was to place a few talpirid worms and hand her a bill.

Any advice would be appreciated. My license does not let me use any kind of pesticide, so for my purposes that option is out, but if that is the best option then I will relay the info on to her.

Thanks,
Toby

I am doing a vole job as we speak. Do talpirid worms even work on voles? My best luck is with the Sherman type live traps with peanut

butter and squirrel paste for bait but I imagine that you could knock them dead with snap traps and a cardboard tunnel over the trails.

I am assuming the talpirid didn't work as she called me soon after they were used.

Covered snap traps is the direction I was leaning toward, but I am willing to employ additional methods.

Paul, what is your success rate with the live traps and are you trying to eliminate the population or just reduce numbers?

Voles don't eat worms. Covered snaps and no mol traps work.

I am trying for elimination but the two "eat everything" golden retrievers prevent me from using poison. Bait boxes are certainly the

best bet but you use what you can. Our house was a hay field and solid voles when we built. We still get a few but with the bait

boxes it is no longer a constant struggle. So far on that vole job I have caught 13 voles and 5 chipmunks and haven't caught anything

the last two days.

Watch the video on my website...have caught over 400 voles this year doing it this way

http://www.callthetrapper.com/voles-1.html

Josh, hope you take your own advice in your video and set more traps! In that situation, at least 4-5 times as many traps as you have. This is a very well-established colony with plenty to eat; severe and fast population reduction is the only solution.

Catch numbers or even catch rate is not the answer. Solving the problem should be your only goal.

What kind of traps are those in the video? Are they mouse traps?

Yeah run, and those are pretty good mouse traps too. Not the cheap ones I use. The difference is that when I get a vole job, I have

to take out a family. When some of you guys get a vole job, you have to take out an entire nation. But I'm perfectly happy with my

smaller jobs and making the customer happy quicker. But I still want a vest or jacket made out of vole skin.

Dave....i solved the problem...ended up with 48 voles caught in that lawn

Most lawns are a family group

I've used the tunnel set-up for years. Seems like the plastic traps (Kness, etc) will jam up in a short time of usage due to dirt in the mechanisms. I used to use the black Kness traps, as they were the strongest ones I could find. Now using the yellow-pan Victors. Good kills, and no worries on dirt preventing proper firing.

Lately I've been using a variation of the stake-down method with fantastic results. I use my garden knife (mole trapping knife) and at the holes with heaviest sign will cut a small angled cut-out (or ramp) at the hole. Cut about a 45 degree angle, same size as the trap base. Make sure to cut a small relief at the top edge for the striker bar clearance. Pin the trap with the 16p nail as usual, right in tight in the hole. A slight bit faster than using the tunnels, even though the possibility exists of catching small birds... which doesn't happen with tunnel covers.

Added another step this summer which has really been successful. Use my landscape sealant and plug all the holes without traps. They don't chew through it, as they go right to the open holes and into the trap. A couple pics:


Clump of dirt at left shows angled section carved out with garden knife. Trap secured with nail through hole drilled in trap.


Holes with best-worn entries have traps, others visible with black landscape sealant.


Results are almost always perfect neck catches on exit.

I think my catch total so far this season is close to 400 voles....about the same number as moles caught

Thanks for all the input. Keep posting.

Hi, Ron Scheller, what is landscape sealant? Pardon the stupid question.

Glad you caught that...let me be the second to ask that stupid question...whatbis landscaping sealant

Maybe a generic term for silicone.

Similar to the Todol foam used for bat-proofing in certain situations. A black foam-type product used for constructing water features (garden ponds, waterfalls). Designed to "glue" rocks together, UV-stable, waterproof. Applied with standard foam applicator guns. I get mine through eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Touch-n-Seal-Bla...HUAAOSwgQ9ViyNJ

Thanks, Ron

I k ow the peanut butter or squirrel paste was already mentioned, but in your set up Ron do you use bait or just let them naturally come out of the hole and get snapped. I'm also heading to my first Vole job next Monday I went and looked at the home already and there are several holes on edges of beds and in yard but not the extensive surface tunneling as usually seen. This post has been a wealth of information so any other input is great!

No bait needed if u can guide em into trap

I only blind trail set for voles, meaning no baiting is necessary. You can however add some bait if you feel it is necessary and makes you feel more confident about that method. If you are hole/burrow setting or setting along their grass cut runs you will connect if there is traffic and you are set up properly.

With baiting you can run the risk of attracting birds and other mammals that could interfere with firing your traps or actually removing them due to the added odor. Depending upon the odor of the bait being used you can minimize that broad attraction by limiting your selection of certain baits.

Voles are primarily vegetarians by nature so keep that in mind if considering baiting as an option. Preferring grasses, roots and bulbs of many varieties. Covering traps on trails particularly add to the effectiveness of your setups. Covering den set traps in my experience isn't as critical as trail set ups with traps set back to back.

I never use bait for vole trapping. Blind sets work fine. In these "hole sets", they can't miss the trap pan as they exit!

Typical catch when setting holes. Perfect neck catches almost every time.


Blind trail sets. Traps facing opposite (pans out) to catch vole from either direction. Staked with 16p nails. No bait. Just like trapping muskrats or beavers, they stay in the runways.


Larger rat-sized trap. Always make sure to cut the top of the hole fro striker bar clearance.


Tiny bit of blocking at top edge of hole to guide onto pan.