It's an exasperating experience. You go to the nursery, pick out a flowering plant, shrub, or tree and bring it home only to have some critter damage or destroy it within the first week. Pests cause damage and waste time and money. The most common pests in the home landscape and garden are voles, moles, and gophers. By knowing what you're dealing with, it will be easier to eradicate the problem.
Voles are active both day and night and do not hibernate. They are shy creatures and build complex tunnels under dense ground cover such as lawns, grasses, and meadows. They live in colonies, spending most of their lives underground. Voles have an extremely short life cycle, living just three to six months, but females can become pregnant at three weeks old. The gestation period for female voles is sixteen to twenty-four days. A typical litter is five to eight baby voles. Young voles become self-sufficient after several days, at which time the mother vole moves on to find another partner to mate with. Because of their rapid reproductive rate, one mating vole pair can be responsible for producing one hundred voles (offspring, offspring of offspring, you get the picture) in a year. Even a single pair of voles can rapidly become a vole kingdom.
Modifying the habitat can be effective in controlling vole populations. Keeping the yard cleared of dense vegetation, any lawn mown, and shrub branches trimmed up off the ground can deter voles. Circling tree trunks with guard mesh is also helpful. Voles often thrive underneath weed cloth put down to prevent weeds from growing around ornamentals, and beneath mulch used to keep plant roots cool in the summer. Removing both is a deterrent tactic. It is also helpful to remove bird feeders, or control birdseed spillage. Keeping birdseed off the ground reduces food for voles.
Exclusion, repellants, and traps are more effective means of controlling voles. Hardware cloth (with one-quarter inch or smaller mesh) can be a useful barrier. The cloth can be fashioned into a fence at least twelve inches high and buried three inches in the ground to surround flower beds. Baskets can be made or purchased to protect trees and shrubs. Because coyote and fox urines are stressful to voles, application encourages them to move on. Coyote urine and fox urine can be purchased online. Repellants containing capsaicin (and active component of chili peppers) and thiram (a fungicide) have also proved to be effective on ornamental plants, but remember that repellants often wash away with rain and need to be reapplied. Although bait is not required, peanut butter mixed with oatmeal can be smeared on trap triggers when using mouse traps to eradicate voles. Two to three traps need to be set by each hole or runway. Baited traps need to be covered with a box or PVC pipe to deter other critters such as birds and squirrels. Make sure the box has a one-inch hole cut out in order to allow the vole to reach the trap.
Gophers. Like voles, pocket gophers are rodents and herbivores. They prefer the fleshy underside of plants and roots. Called pocket gophers because of their furry cheek pouches that carry food and nesting materials, these critters are larger than either moles or voles, ranging from six to ten inches long. Gophers have long, yellow-orange front teeth, small eyes and ears, and short tails.
Gophers can wreak havoc on a row of plants by pulling entire plants down into their tunnels. They use their sense of smell to locate a source of food, preferring herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees. Gophers will also gnaw on drip irrigation tubes and hoses.
Gophers reach sexual maturity at one year. Females produce up to three litters a year, with an average of five to six offspring per litter. Gophers live alone in their burrows except when females are caring for their young or during mating system. Since gophers can live up to three years, a gopher colony can become quite large over time.
Voles, moles, and gophers can wreak havoc in the garden but they can be managed using various methods to control, deter, or eradicate. Consider your natural environment, whether children and pets can be harmed by deterrents, the expense of the deterrent method, and your commitment to the program of eradication when choosing a plan to deal with these pests.
For further information, see Kim Pokomy, Moles, voles and gophers dig the garden | OSU Extension Service (oregonstate.edu).
For in-person help in dealing with these critters (including a demonstration on exactly how to set a gopher trap), attend our free workshop on gophers, moles, and voles October 9th, part of the Master Gardeners' Fall 2024 Workshop Series. For details, and to register, visit our website.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.
- Author: Help Desk Team
You really do not want voles (also called meadow mice) moving into your garden. They are larger than a house mouse or deer mouse but do not quite reach the size of an adult gopher or rat. Although it is said that they can mature to 5–8 inches long including the tail, they are most commonly on the smaller side of the range. With their charming pudgy shape, beady black eyes, small ears, soft gray/brown fur, and rather short and oddly furry tail, their appearance could be thought of as somewhat cute or endearing. That is, until you experience how quickly they can lay waste to your beloved garden.
When they are not ravaging your garden plants, these rodents spend much of their time hiding in their burrows. They are most likely to be seen during the cooler parts of the day such as dawn and dusk, when they dash from one burrow to another, or scurry from dining on your favorite plant into the safety of their burrows. The burrows have openings that are 1 ½ to 2 inches wide. There are often obvious runways from the burrows where soil is trampled down by their repeated scampering back and forth. Voles will happily burrow into both mulch and soil, and where there are dense weeds or long grasses (a favored habitat), voles will create distinctive tunnels through the vegetation.
Vole populations regularly go through cycles of low to high numbers. Their numbers generally peak each 3 to 6 years or so, but don't count on being able to guess when the next vole invasion will occur. These cycles are not predictable. Their numbers can increase to staggering amounts during a population explosion, soaring to as many as several thousand per acre.
If you have voles in your garden, you already know they eat a very wide variety of plants. Unlike rats and mice that are out and about wreaking havoc at night, voles are active both day and night, and year-round. Also, unlike rats and mice who have favorite foods and tend to go after sweet, ripe fruits and the most succulent vegetables, voles are not terribly picky. They will eat a wide variety of plants including zucchini, cucumber, green bean, tomato, and artichoke. Basil, dill and parsley are some herb plants that may be there one day and gone the next. Flowers such as marigolds, cosmos, yarrow, and sunflower are also part of their menu plan.
Voles do take an occasional break from their feeding frenzy to breed and can have 5 to 10 litters of offspring each year. They can have 3–6 young at a time. One redeeming quality is their short lifespan of just a few months to a year, and the fact that after a season of super high numbers, the population tends to go back to normal.
There are several effective control methods such as habitat modification (make the area less hospitable to them), trapping (setting many, many mouse traps), and exclusion (creating impassable barriers around your garden, your garden beds, or even individual plants).
Vole management
Habitat modification is an effective way to reduce vole damage in the landscape. Remove weeds, heavy mulch, and dense vegetative cover to reduce their food sources and expose them to predators. Voles prefer not to feed in the open so 4-foot buffer strips of open ground can help protect trees or other plants.
Because of the large numbers of voles that can be present during a population explosion, exclusion is often the most important option. Wire hardware cloth with ¼ inch or smaller mesh makes a good barrier if it is at least 12 inches tall. Make sure it surrounds the plants completely and bury it into ground 6 to 10 inches deep. Metal roof flashing, sold in hardware stores, makes a very effective barrier. It comes in rolls with varying widths. Unlike gophers, who dig deep burrows, voles usually dig down only a few inches. They are not very athletic and don't climb or jump very well like rats can, so barriers don't have to be terribly tall to be effective.
Trapping can be effective if vole numbers are low or they are in a small area, but difficult when the population is high. The key is to use many mouse traps at the same time. For detailed directions on how to place traps, see the link below.
Voles are an important part of the natural food chain. They are prey for a variety of predators including hawks, crows, owls, snakes, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, opossums, and domestic cats. They may not keep vole populations adequately controlled near homes because of their reluctance to hunt close to homes.
There are toxic baits available, but care must be taken to ensure the safety of children, pets, and nontarget animals such as the predators listed above. See the link below for more information.
This UC IPM (integrated pest management) link is an excellent source for information on identifying and managing voles:
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/home-and-landscape/voles/pest-notes/#gsc.tab=0
This link will help you determine whether damage to your yard is due to voles, gophers or moles:
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=49119
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (SMH)
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- Author: Lauren Fordyce
- Contributor: Roger A Baldwin
In this blog article we answer some frequently asked questions about moles, voles, and gophers and their management.
How can I tell if I have moles, voles, gophers, or something else?
Moles: look for circular or volcano-shaped mounds with the plug in the middle, or a plug may not be apparent. The soil of mole mounds tends to be clumpier than gophers. Moles sometimes leave a raised ridge just beneath the soil surface while hunting for food.
Voles: look for aboveground runways that connect burrow openings. Grass usually covers the burrows. Voles can girdle trees aboveground while gophers girdle trees belowground.
Gophers: look for crescent or horse-shoe shaped mounds with a plug off to one side. Tunnels are 6-12 inches below ground.
Can gophers climb fences or into raised garden beds?
To some extent, yes. It is important to have an above-ground exclusionary device in place to keep them out of desired areas. Usually 12 inches of fencing is sufficient since they are not great climbers.
Should I use gopher baskets or underground fencing?
Gopher baskets can be used to protect individual plants. Underground fencing might be justified for valuable ornamental shrubs, landscape trees, or garden beds. Keep in mind metal wire will rust and disintegrate after several years to prevent plant roots from being strangled. Galvanized wire, and especially stainless-steel wire, will last much longer. Read more on gopher exclusion. For voles, wire fences or aluminum flashing around gardens can be effective. Learn more about vole exclusion. Installing a vertical underground barrier may provide temporary relief for moles. Read more about mole exclusion.
Should I treat the soil to remove insects or grubs to prevent moles, voles, and gophers from feeding?
Treating the soil with an insecticide would have no impact on gophers or voles because they feed on plant material, not insects. Doing so might reduce mole activity, but the effectiveness of this approach has not been proven.
What plants deter these pests?
Plants, including Euphorbia lathyrus, castor bean, Ricinus communis, and garlic have not proven through conducted research trials to be effective at protecting plantings from moles, voles, or gophers.
Are there any natural repellents that work?
Repellents containing castor oil have shown some repellency for moles in the eastern U.S., but their effectiveness against moles in CA is unknown. No other repellents have proven effective at protecting gardens or other plantings from moles, voles, or gophers. They are also not practical as you must apply them before damage occurs and some products may not be labeled for use on edible plants.
What traps are most effective?
The most effective trap is going to depend on which animal is present.
For gophers, 2-pronged pincer traps, such as the Macabee, Cinch, or Gophinator, can be used. Another popular type is the choker-style trap, such as the Gopherhawk. Learn more about gopher traps. For voles, a standard mouse trap can be effective. Learn how to place traps correctly. Harpoon, scissor-jaw, and pincer-style traps can be used for moles. Learn more about trapping moles.
Can I flood their burrow to kill them?
Flooding mole and vole burrows is ineffective at controlling them. For gophers, flooding can force them out of their burrows but you must kill them when they exit the burrow, otherwise they will return once it dries out. Since their burrows can be extensive and deep, flooding is usually just a waste of water.
What fumigants can I use?
Burrow fumigants with smoke or gas are not effective for moles, voles, or gophers.
The general public cannot use aluminum phosphide. This is a restricted use pesticide and often cannot be used in residential areas. You must have a pesticide applicator license to use it.
Pressurized exhaust machines and carbon dioxide injection devices are expensive and only practical for large infestations.
Are poison baits dangerous for nontarget wildlife and predators? How can they be used safely?
Toxic baits can harm nontarget wildlife, but since baits are placed inside burrows and the pest usually dies inside the burrow, predators and other wildlife are less likely to encounter the toxic bait and poisoned animals. Certain baits, known as first-generation anticoagulants (e.g., warfarin and chlorophacinone) generally require consumption over the course of several days to be effective–making them a potentially safer option. Always be sure to read the product label and make sure it will work against your specific pest, and be sure to understand the potential risks when using these toxicants. Note that not all products are legal for all 3 pests.
Will predatory birds, dogs, or cats control them?
Many predators including coyotes, foxes, badgers, weasels, cats, gulls, and especially hawks and owls eat voles and gophers. However, in most cases predators can't keep their populations below damaging levels. Installing barn owl boxes will likely not be enough to control these burrowing animals in urban settings either.
Do ultrasonic, sound-emitting, or vibrating devices work?
Electromagnetic or ultrasonic devices settings are ineffective against voles. Gophers and moles are not frightened by these devices.
How can you tell if a burrow or mound is active?
For moles and gophers, always look for the freshest activity as indicated by moist soil on the mound. The fresher the mound, the more likely the animal is still using the tunnel. For voles, look for fresh grass clippings and fecal pellets around burrow entrances and along runways.
How do I prevent moles, voles, and gophers from establishing?
Limit dense vegetation including weeds and heavy mulch that provide them protection. They are less common in non-vegetated areas.
How can you dispose of dead moles, voles, or gophers?
Bury them or place in a plastic bag in the trash. Never touch them with your bare hands as they can carry infectious pathogens and parasites.
To learn more about management of these pests, visit the Pest Notes fact sheets below:
Questions for this FAQ collected from the Moles, Voles, and Gophers webinar on May 16th, 2024.
- Author: Ben Faber
by UC ANR Staff Writer
Publication helps growers identify the rodent species on their properties, their life cycles and tools available to control them
Burrowing rodents can cause extensive and expensive damage to orchards and crop fields. To manage the pests without chemicals used on conventional farms, organic growers can consult a new publication from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources scientists.
“Burrowing Rodents: Developing a Management Plan for Organic Agriculture in California” outlines management within organically acceptable methods using an integrated pest management approach.
California ground squirrels, pocket gophers and meadow voles are the three most common species that cause damage. Squirrels chew on seedlings, fruit and nuts, killing young trees and reducing crop yields. In addition to plants, ground squirrels, pocket gophers and voles can chew on irrigation lines, and their burrow systems can channel water away from plants and erode the soil. The holes and mounds created by burrowing rodents pose hazards to farmworkers and farm machinery.
This publication helps growers identify the rodent species on their properties, their life cycles and tools available to control them.
“Growers can read about how to effectively select and set a range of traps for burrowing rodents,” said co-author Margaret Lloyd, UC Cooperative Extension small farms advisor for the Capitol Corridor. “Traps are an important tool for organic management, but maximizing control comes from integrating knowledge. Here we present information about rodent biology, trap efficacy, biocontrol, habitat management, plant protection and other approaches to collectively manage the pest problem.”
In the publication, Lloyd and Roger Baldwin, UC Cooperative Extension wildlife specialist in the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, review the effectiveness of commercially available traps – where to place the traps, whether to use attractants, and methods of euthanizing the animals.
They also offer cultural techniques for deterring rodents such as flooding fields and deep ripping soil to destroy burrow systems. Crops for orchard floors or cover cropping can be selected and managed to minimize habitat that protects and encourages gophers and voles.
For biological control, they suggest barn owls, raptors and snakes might be able to assist, but warn growers that predators alone will not be able to eat enough of the rodents to reduce the high populations to tolerable levels for many growers.
“Effective management will rely on a suite of tools,” said Baldwin.
The 15-page publication is available for free download at https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/Details.aspx?itemNo=8688.
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Voles are small, mouselike rodents that can be pests in gardens and landscapes. They damage many types of plants with their gnawing, from vegetables to turf to trees. Voles can gnaw completely around the trunk or roots of trees, causing girdling, which can kill trees.
Voles spend most of their time below ground in their burrows, but you can spot their presence by the well-traveled runways connecting the burrow openings. They prefer not to feed in the open to keep away from predators.
Voles are normally found in areas with dense vegetation, so clearing brush is one way to discourage them. Find out more about managing these rodents in the newly updated Pest Notes: Voles. UC Davis Wildlife Specialist Roger Baldwin has added information such as range maps, distinguishing vole damage from gopher damage, and improving trapping success.
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