Changing Our Plan of Attack

Last weekend, I witnessed a vole get stuck on a sticky board in our yard. It was one of the most disturbing sights I have ever seen. I am choosing not to go into detail, since I don't think that words could accurately describe the horror of the sight. At any rate, seeing what I saw was enough to change my mind about using the sticky boards to eradicate the voles. No creature deserves to die like that. The whole incident has given me nightmares.

So I did some research, and found traps for voles that are humane. They allow us to catch the little guys alive, so that we can release them elsewhere. We bought two of them, along with special bait to entice them into the trap. I feel confident that the voles will go into these traps. Voles tend to run on 'autopilot' when they are scurrying around, and they use well-defined paths that they do not stray from. That's how we caught the first vole on the sticky trap. So we simply place the trap in a covered area along one of the runways, and voila! We've caught a vole!

In addition to the traps, we've also decided to rodent-proof our fence along the areas where voles tend to enter. Basically, this requires taking hardware cloth (with 1/2" holes) and attaching it to the fence at the bottom. We have to bury the cloth about 8 inches into the ground, and leave at least 12 inches above the ground. Voles aren't climbers, so they won't climb up over the barrier. Voles also don't dig very deep into the ground (only an inch or so), so this should effectively block them from tunneling under and into the yard.

The source of all the voles is the property that is adjacent to ours. It's a wooded vacant lot that has not been cleaned up in... well, forever! There is a large amount of dead branches, weeds, and dead trees, which provides plenty of cover and habitat for the voles. They come into our yard when we water the plants or run irrigation. So we're also contacting the county's code enforcement to have them come out and issue an abatement notice to clean up the lot. Hopefully if they clean up their area, the voles will move elsewhere!