A Guide to Vole Activity Throughout the Year

What are voles?

Voles are meadow mice, they look similar to the common mouse that you find in your house.

What does vole activity look like?

Voles leave behind small, open holes with no raised dirt. They make the lawn look like Swiss cheese.

We experienced a huge boom in vole activity last year after all the rains, luckily this year has not been as severe but we are still seeing a fair amount of activity. We have expanded our pricing to cover a larger amount of vole activity with our one time vole baiting service.

Changes to activity throughout the year

Spring – This is breeding season for most critters, including voles, so it’s common to see an increase in their activity during this time. Luckily nearby open spaces are still lush and full of food for them so they tend to stay there still

Summer – This is the time of year that voles and other critters will start invading our landscapes because the nearby open areas have dried out

Fall – Since the earlier part of California falls are still pretty hot and dry we tend to see the increased activity until the weather cools and the rains begin

Winter – During winter, there is some reprieve from vole and other critter activity because they tend to return to the open space once their food source becomes readily available again

What is the difference between voles, gophers, and moles?

The biggest difference will be the activity that these critters leave behind. As shown above voles leave small, distinct holes. They aren’t good diggers like gophers and moles so they do not leave any pushed up dirt.

Moles will often push up dirt along edges of bender boards, walkways, etc. Gopher mounds can have a distinct “hole” in the middle but they will always plug them up with dirt and not just leave them open.

Voles are similar to gophers in that they eat our plants but voles tend to eat away at the base of plants while gophers eat from the roots up. Moles are entirely different because they are carnivorous so they only eat bugs and other critters in the soil.

These critters are also covered by our ongoing Gopher, Mole, and Vole Control Program which offers year round control!

Since these critters are active all year round we are here to offer our services all year too! If you think you have a gopher, mole, or vole issue please contact us!