Voles in the Raspberries

[Peter Person]

Voles took out our strawberries last year so we did a major makeover of the bed last fall. Well, the voles moved into the raspberries, and not just any raspberries. 2 of the 5 rows are an heirloom variety brought over from Switzerland in 1875.
My bride saw an article describing a CO setup to flood the tunnels. She asked if I had any way of generating sufficient CO to be effective.
Oh yeah…..

[Bob McCarty]

If voles are like prairie dogs, they have a second entrance that is sometimes harder to find. I'd suggest smoking the hole, then covering the hole with dirt. Mark it so you'll know if it reopens and need to be retreated.

[wrz]

I have a neighbor that uses his lawn mower to do the same thing for gophers. All it takes is a length of the metal flex line that is used from manifold to the air cleaner (on a car) and a cup of gasoline. Find a fresh hole insert flex line that is connected to muffler on the mower and start the mower,then let it run until it burns up the fuel.
Wm

[ScottyD'sdad]

I use a mixture of bleach and amonia to make a poison gas for woodchucks. Block ther rear exit, then put aboiit 5 feet of garden hose down the primary hole, leaving afoot or so out. Block the hole with tirt, , add a frnnel to the hose, and add some bleach and ammonia. Pull the hose and step on the small hole to seal it. If the danged rodent is home, it will kill him.
Ed

[StaffordCub]

We are overrun by voles. They tunnel under everything and eat out our root crops and the roots of lettuce and everything! I have baits, snap traps and tarps (to get them to surface and feel safe before setting the traps). I am careful with the baits so that I do not have a fox eat any. My wife is at the end of her rope! I trapped 9 in a week from a small fenced garden on our farm. I used peanut butter with a Victor snap trap. I have successfully used apple- they love apple.

[Don McCombs]

Cats.

[StaffordCub]

I hate cats! Not sorry. Maybe I can train up a dog as a vole catcher.

[outdoors4evr]

My dog hunts moles and voles. He violently digs up the yard and roots after them with his nose. My yard looks worse than before!

[Peter Person]

Gave the voles a 2nd dose of CO yesterday. Hopefully it does the trick, ‘cuz mama ain’t happy!

[Don McCombs]

I hate cats! Not sorry. Maybe I can train up a dog as a vole catcher.

You don’t have to love them to benefit from their skills.

[StaffordCub]

Every creature including cats has a function. But, I would bet that as soon as I turned the cat loose, it would eat everything other than voles and then just disappear to someplace unknown and reappear when it got hungry for food. Lost our Australian shepherd a couple years ago. He would have taken care of the voles. Mama aint happy here either. She has given me the ultimatum on the voles- and we just sold our dogloo -so things could get rough.

Anyway, I found what I believe is the main hangout for the voles, a virtual interstate highway system, and am concentrating my efforts there. When I find a hole, it is a day or more old and they just won't come out and hit the trap(s).

[Don McCombs]

Since it sounds like you no longer have any pets, you may want to try the poison pellets that are deposited directly into the holes. The ones I’ve used come in a conical plastic container.