Voles In Omaha – Since Beginning Of Time
Voles can cause a considerable amount of damage to your lawn and garden. Exterminators at Omaha Pest Control, Inc. have over 25 years experience with pest inspection, pest treatment and pest control of voles and other pests.
Omaha, Nebraska is a city in the center of the agricultural Midwest and centers around the farms and crops that feed our world and provide employment for its citizens. Successful farming requires successful pest control, your home is no different. Pests can transmit disease and destroy your property so pest management in your home and yard is essential.
Vole Facts, Identification & Control
Latin Name: Family – Cricetidae
General Size and Appearance
Voles are small rodents that grow to 3-9 inches, depending on the species. They can have 5-10 liters per year. Gestations last for 3 weeks and the young ones reach sexual maturity in a month. As a result vole populations can grow very large in a short period of time. Since litters average 5-10 young, a single vole can produce up to 100 more voles in a year. They are commonly mistaken for other animals such as mice, rats and shrews. Since they make and use burrows they are commonly mistaken for moles and ground squirrels.
Behavior, Diets and Habits
Voles thrive on small plants yet, like shrews, they will eat dead animals and, like mice or rats, they can live on almost any nuts or fruits. Therefore, they will often eat succulent root systems and will
burrow under plants or ground cover and eat away until the plant is dead. They can damage your lawn and garden.
Typical Lifespan
The average life of the smaller vole is three to six months. These voles rarely live longer than 12 months. As many as 88% of voles are estimated to die within the first few months.
Recommended Control Measures
When voles are numerous or when damage occurs over large areas, toxic baits can be the quickest and most practical means of control. Take necessary measures to ensure the safety of children, pets and nontarget animals. Anticoagulants, often referred to as multiple-feeding baits, interfere with an animals blood-clotting mechanisms, eventually leading to death. They probably are the safest type of rodent bait for use around homes or gardens because they are slow acting.