Voles and other critters

[hberg]

I know we had this thread a while back, but having gone out in my yard and noticed holes right by where my areaway leads down (via the stairs) into the ground and under the cement - I am figuring voles. I lifted one of my water drain things and there was a mouse looking thing there.

Is it harmful just to leave them alone for the winter or do I need to root out this problem now? I don;t want to deal with dead little bodies.

[Wick]

Kill them now. They are just getting started and your yard will look like crap by the time spring arrives.

I use mouse/rat poison. But, then again, I don't have any pets. Alternatively, you can hire an exterminator to set traps in your yard. That will do the trick.

[Dawne]

Wick is right, kill them now, and don't worry about the dead bodies.

Winter is so dry here, you don't need to worry about smelly rotty bodies. They'll freeze dry before that happens. Alternately, something else will dispose of them (bugs, etc).

If you wait til spring, little buggers will start dating/mating/procrating and you'll have a zoo in your yard.

Time was when the hawks would keep these in check, but with the house so close together, the hawks won't hunt around them. The voles/moles/chipmunks/mice find a nice haven around the houses (and it's warm too).

Put the bait out, but be sure it's not where other animals can get to it (ie: not around the pond, etc). Best to place it nearby where you've seen the buggers.

Alternately, you can try humane trapping, and then let them go in a vacant lot - at which point they DO become hawk bait.



Dawne