As the snow melts away, homeowners in Park City might be noticing some problems in their yards—like lines of dead grass. That could very well mean they have a problem with voles.
Dan Sted is the owner of Nature’s Balance Pest Control, and he said the vole problem is as bad as he’s seen it in a decade.
Why, he said, is a difficult question to answer.
“Even the biologists struggle to know exactly why that happens. They tell us it’s due to a couple of factors: Their food supply, their natural predators, the climate, as well as stress. Depending on what kind of stress they’re under. They breed so quickly and so prolifically that from year to year their populations will spike about every three to five years.”
He gave us a description of the small rodents.
“The vole is a relative, a distant cousin of a mouse. It has a short tail instead of a long tail. It's much larger than a mouse. It’s typically brown or dark gray and they become much larger as the season progresses. So, generally in the spring after they've been feeding all winter long, they're quite plump. They don't hibernate. They breed year-round, that's one of the problems with voles is that they’re such voracious breeders, that two adults can have over 40 offspring in a single year. Adults can breed again when they're only 30 days old so a small population can become a large population in a hurry.”
The average person might confuse voles with gophers, but Sted said there is a difference.
“Voles typically are going to be burrowing animals. They’ll dig a small hole about the size of a golf ball. A pocket Gopher leaves a raised trail of soil on top of the surface, where voles are going to be burrowing below the surface and make a trail in the grass. So, there's a difference and they are treated completely different.”
If you see lines of dead grass through your yard you likely have voles. He said voles might show up in one yard, but not next door—maybe because the neighboring space has predators, like terriers or cats, or due to soil conditions.
Sted had several suggestions for responding to the animals. One is modifying the habitat.
“One of the things that we suggest that people do, in the Fall especially, is to try to keep their lawn and their perimeter cut back fairly short. Voles are looking for harborage in tall grass, so if they keep their lawn short around the perimeter it will help reduce the population coming towards their property. They don't like to be out in the open. The other things is they can create a barrier with rocker or with mulch. Voles like grass. They are only vegetarian; they only eat roots. So, if they've got to dig through mulch or through rock they don't like doing that.”
Other tactics include certain plants, or chemical repellants.
“Propellants can be helpful but they don't last very long. So that can become an expensive proposition and you have to continually re-apply. There are also some plants that you can plant. There's a few flowers, marigolds, salvia, daffodils, and a trout Lily are all plants that emit an odor that voles typically don't like.”
If the population gets out of control, that’s when a business is called in to exterminate. He said they will plant bait or bait boxes.
“We bait the boroughs with specific bait that is toxic to the voles, but it's under the ground so it doesn't present a threat to children or pets.”
In the coming summer months, he said the voles will try to hide in the tall grasses, where they can avoid predators like cats, foxes, owls and hawks.
On a related note, he also talked about the rabbit sightings reported around Park City.
“There are domestic rabbits that have escaped, but more than likely they’re wild. Rabbits are another animal that breeds very quickly, as we all know, and so we have to rely on natural predators or trapping to reduce that population. Cats not so much, but certain dogs will.”
