Rodents in the yard...

[fkovalski]

I have in my front yard what I thoght were moles. I was told by the exterminator that they are actually voles (vole: Any of various rodents of the genus Microtus and related genera, resembling rats or mice but having a shorter tail and limbs and a heavier body. )



Anyway- they are really doing a number on the soil. They burrow in and down and bring thier tailings to the top. This must be going on constantly as there are ruts that flatten down when I walk over the surface. Funny thing is: there must be several layers to their undeground condo- I pulled the truck on the lawn to wash it and left 8- 12" deep compressed ruts where the tire were!! I do not worry about the grass as I cut it only 3-4x a year becuase it is so dry up here that it does not grow all that much, but the ruts are going to make the weed cutting difficult (especially with a real reel mower- aka push power)



Does any one have any ideas on ridding the rodents? I do not want to use poisons as the well for domestic water is in the front yard. Exterminator says those "ultra sonic" devices are not worth a darn and did not seem to have any other solutions.



Any comments?

 

[GFritsch]

We have the same problem. We use poison tablets down in the holes, but we don't have a well as you point out. Short of a good mouser cat or two not much I can reccomend. I have used my pellet riffle and killed a few, but you will never keep up. Try to reduce any food sources that you can. Perhaps a small amount of poison tablets at the top of each hole with small cage covering the hole and the poison to keep birds or pets from getting at them. The small amount of poison will eventually get into the soils after the rodent dies and decomposes, but probably not enough to worry about. How about good old fashion rat traps near the holes?



These vole holes have turned into frog residence at our place. After it gets dark hundreds (yes hundreds) of frogs come out of these holes in search of dinner bugs.



Good luck

 

[justinp20012500]

I have in my front yard what I thoght were moles. I was told by the exterminator that they are actually voles (vole: Any of various rodents of the genus Microtus and related genera, resembling rats or mice but having a shorter tail and limbs and a heavier body. )



Anyway- they are really doing a number on the soil. They burrow in and down and bring thier tailings to the top. This must be going on constantly as there are ruts that flatten down when I walk over the surface. Funny thing is: there must be several layers to their undeground condo- I pulled the truck on the lawn to wash it and left 8- 12" deep compressed ruts where the tire were!! I do not worry about the grass as I cut it only 3-4x a year becuase it is so dry up here that it does not grow all that much, but the ruts are going to make the weed cutting difficult (especially with a real reel mower- aka push power)



Does any one have any ideas on ridding the rodents? I do not want to use poisons as the well for domestic water is in the front yard. Exterminator says those "ultra sonic" devices are not worth a darn and did not seem to have any other solutions.



Any comments?

My uncle taught me how to use a pellet gun when I was 5 years old.



He had a real problem with prairie dogs. Not anymore!!!!



If the use of a firearm is out of the question you might want to look into the traps.







Justin

 

[fkovalski]

... Short of a good mouser cat or two not much I can reccomend... .

I heve heard this as a fix. But I am allergic to cats & dogs.

My uncle taught me how to use a pellet gun when I was 5 years old... .

I'd use the pellet gun method if I'd only see the damn things! They only come out between 8am- 5:30pm... and... 11pm to 6:30am :-laf



I am really hesitant to use any type of poison. I might try some traps in the yard... ... OR do my imitation of Carl Spackler (Bill Murray in Caddyshack) and get the high pressure fire hose in one of the holes :-laf :-laf (i'll pass on the dynamite for now :-laf



This has been problematic for a while... . Just did not realize the extent until I drove the truck on the lawn

 

[Lnwing]

The voles were really bad here last fall/winter, but we never realized how much damage they did until spring, when the shrubs and flowers should be pushing leaves. They destroyed the perennial flowers and outright killed some established shrubbery. Anyplace where there was tanbark or ground cover to hide in, they chewed the bark completely off woody plants. I also had several cords of freshly cut locust firewood, cut to length and dumped on a grassy area, waiting to be split. Every piece that had the bark laying on the ground had the bark completely stripped where it touched the ground.



The only thing I've seen that looked like it might work is a castor oil concentrate. I've not tried it yet, but will soon.

 

[TPCDrafting]

Frank,

I'm somewhat allergic to cats as well. Not sure how allergic you are, but we got a couple barn cats a coupla years ago and they kill 4-6 rodents a week during the summer. I don't touch the cats and they never come inside. The neighbor complained they had a huge increase in rodents after we got the cats. I told her she could borrow a cat anytime. :-laf

 

[SLezotte]

I had a similar problem and took rubber cement and gooped up a few bicycle inner tubes with it. ... . slit the tube so it's a long thingy instead of a round thingy... take a broom stick and shove one end as far as you can into the deepest hole you can find. Leave a bit protruding from the hole and light the sucker on fire. Take a leaf blower and fan the flames into the hole. It'll kill the bastids in less than 10 minutes. I must admit I got a few strange looks from my neighbors peeking out of their front windows.

 

[EMD Diesel Power]

Barrett 50 cal. rifle. Oh? too much? Oo. Oo. Oo.



How about gunpowder (kegs of it) down the holes... . still too much? :-laf :-laf



Seriously..... a 22 rifle (takes awhile) , poision (surefire thing), and cats is about the only way I know of to get rid of moles.



The well in the front yard kinda complicates things. But I wouldnt think the PROPER amount of poision used would be detrimental to the water table... . the soil will filter it out and will break it back down.



Good luck with whatever you choose... .

 

[fkovalski]

Frank,

I'm somewhat allergic to cats as well. ... they never come inside. ...

I am very allergic to cats! I would have a couple of "outdoor" only ones if they sovled the problem (just as long as they do give me any "look what I caught for you" presents. As much as I do not care for cats, I would not want to subject them to the winters we get up here 'cause there is absolutly no way they would be inside- although maybe in the garage to take care of mice. (BTW to mice at my place are only present in the garage to which good ole traps do the trick)

... Leave a bit protruding from the hole...

SL- now that's a good example of "neccesity is the mother of invention. " Creative too! The strange thing in my instance is that the holes are hard to locate! There will be this mound of fresh soil with its entance under it. I try to shovel the mound back and will see semblence of an opening, but the dirt is so fine (and dry) that in fills back in! I could try this method, but will have to wait for the county to null the fire bans :-laf

 

[Lnwing]

another solution?

If the critters had burrows that stayed open, and they weren't too close to the house (trust me on this), this would rock their world!! It sure works on groundhogs!



http://www.rodenator.com/index.html

 

[ces944]

On the Farm we take our tractor that smokes the most put a piece of flex pipe on the exhaust, shove the other end of the pipe down the hole. We smoke them out, and if the smoke doesnt get them the shot gun does when they run out. Just an idea :-laf

 

[fkovalski]

another solution

RODENATOR PRO SYSTEM:



Ahnold Schwarzenicker would proud of dis!



If I owned the house I would look into this! But unless the exTERMINATOR offer this type of service... It 'aint happnin'

I can buy too many toys for the truck with $1900

... we take our tractor that smokes the most ... . Just an idea :-laf

Ya' know as much as my new one smokes on startup- I just might try this! (seriously!)



I could just park my Triumph in the yard and let it leak oil into the holes! :-laf

 

[BarryG]

Frank:

I have problems with those darn critters in my yard down here as well. Never seen them before until 2 years ago then all of a sudden they seemed to be everywhere. And your right they can do a real number on the yard. I dont have a well in my front yard so I used poison. I think they were called poison peanuts. Kills them critters pretty quickly. However they just kept coming from somewhere. Havent figured how come they are only in my yard none of the neighbors have tracks in their yards. Figures my yard is the rodent central. I asked a pest guy the best way to get rid of them proactively instead of after they show up and do damage. And he said best thing is to get rid of their food and they will move on. He said the critters I had eat some types of insects(cant remember which ones though). He suggested some type of insecticide. Might be worth checking into.

 

[KBennett]

He said the critters I had eat some types of insects(cant remember which ones though). He suggested some type of insecticide. Might be worth checking into.

It may be grubs. A gal I worked with in Illinois came out one morning to find her yard dug up with little holes and thought it was vandalism. She called the police and they told her that it was a skunk or similar animal that was digging for grubs.

 

[nps]

I could just park my Triumph in the yard and let it leak oil into the holes! :-laf

Assumes that you can get the Triumph to run long enough to make it to the yard. :-laf

 

[fkovalski]

Assumes that you can get the Triumph to run long enough to make it to the yard. :-laf

In fact is has not run for about 4 years now! It has an electrical problm (imagine that!)



I just don't understand how it is still leaking! Oil gremlins come in at night and top it off!

 

[nps]

In fact is has not run for about 4 years now! It has an electrical problm (imagine that!)



I just don't understand how it is still leaking! Oil gremlins come in at night and top it off!

Probably all those plastic engine and transmission parts decomposing back into dead dinosaurs. :-laf

 

[crobertson1]

Frank,



As with my old Harley, I worried if it ever would've stopped leaking! I finally got rid of that peice of crap. No offense to Harley riders .



As for the voles, I vote for night vision and a high powered pellet gun .

BTW, PM sent.



Craig

 

[Jeff H]

Went to farm fest last week. Saw something wich looked like the rodenator. They stuck a probe into the hole. Filled the tunnels with explosive gas. You hit a trigger and BOOM! You could see where the rodent tunneled by where the dirt lifted during the explosion.

Things to try.

-Garden hose. Block all exits. Flood there tunnels and drown them.

-Gas them out with a gas engine exhaust. Diesels don't emmit carbon monoxide.

-dynamite. Maybe 1/4 stick or m80s. Best to throw explosive in hole then plug hole with heavy rock.

-Traps

 

[JPope]

"-Gas them out with a gas engine exhaust. Diesels don't emmit carbon monoxide... "



Excuse my ignorance, but is this true?