Voles

David C. · December 30, 2006, 05:57:11 PM

For years, Rudy had a peculiar behavior at night in our backyard. He would have his ears fully pricked and stabbed his snout at the ground. I always assumed he was picking up earthworms, but I now believe that we may have had voles in our backyard.

How do I know? One of them ended up in our garage two nights ago. Unfortunately, it had gotten itself on one of those glue traps that our exterminator put down. It made this horrible chirping noise that made Zeke and Zora pay attention. Margie discovered it and immediately called me.

I felt bad, I'd have rather it gotten caught in a regular mouse trap and have its suffering over immediately. I decided I had to put the thing out of its misery, so I began looking around the garage for something I could use, but wasn't too valuable that I couldn't get rid of it. I found some PVC piping. I scooted the pad out into the driveway and prepared to land a fatal blow on the creature. I just couldn't do it. My next thought was to put it under the tire of my car and back over it, but I didn't want to do that either. And I certainly could not leave the vole in its current predicament.

I did notice that the vole had some movement on the glue pad, so I thought maybe I could free it. I pried at the vole with the PVC pipe, and sure enough, it sprung free. I chased it a bit away from the house so it wouldn't come back in. It wasn't quite "The Christmas Bird", but I did feel good about freeing the vole from the trap. It really had no business in my garage, other than trying to keep warm, as they feed on roots, bulbs, etc. I imagine it ran in when the door was open.

It did however, explain Rudy's peculiar behavior for those years. He never did succeed in catching one, but I know he definitely was trying! Time will tell to see if the Zs will follow this behavior, but at this point, neither one seems as predatory as Rudy was.

Kari · December 30, 2006, 07:27:55 PM

Quote from: David C. on December 30, 2006, 05:57:11 PM
For years, Rudy had a peculiar behavior at night in our backyard. He would have his ears fully pricked and stabbed his snout at the ground. I always assumed he was picking up earthworms, but I now believe that we may have had voles in our backyard.

How do I know? One of them ended up in our garage two nights ago. Unfortunately, it had gotten itself on one of those glue traps that our exterminator put down. It made this horrible chirping noise that made Zeke and Zora pay attention. Margie discovered it and immediately called me.

I felt bad, I'd have rather it gotten caught in a regular mouse trap and have its suffering over immediately. I decided I had to put the thing out of its misery, so I began looking around the garage for something I could use, but wasn't too valuable that I couldn't get rid of it. I found some PVC piping. I scooted the pad out into the driveway and prepared to land a fatal blow on the creature. I just couldn't do it. My next thought was to put it under the tire of my car and back over it, but I didn't want to do that either. And I certainly could not leave the vole in its current predicament.

I did notice that the vole had some movement on the glue pad, so I thought maybe I could free it. I pried at the vole with the PVC pipe, and sure enough, it sprung free. I chased it a bit away from the house so it wouldn't come back in. It wasn't quite "The Christmas Bird", but I did feel good about freeing the vole from the trap. It really had no business in my garage, other than trying to keep warm, as they feed on roots, bulbs, etc. I imagine it ran in when the door was open.

It did however, explain Rudy's peculiar behavior for those years. He never did succeed in catching one, but I know he definitely was trying! Time will tell to see if the Zs will follow this behavior, but at this point, neither one seems as predatory as Rudy was.

Very honorable David!! I actually had to look up on wikipedia what a vole was

I had no idea

Teresa · December 30, 2006, 08:25:44 PM

I would be the same way, David. I don't think I could have just taken something and killed it. At least you found a way to release it.
Several people that live around Greenville have voles, but we have never had them, so I'm clueless. I know the ones that do have them absolutely hate them because of the damage they do to their lawns.
By the way, I have to laugh everytime I see your "who, me?" avitar!

David C. · December 30, 2006, 09:03:29 PM

Quote from: Teresa on December 30, 2006, 08:25:44 PM
...By the way, I have to laugh everytime I see your "who, me?" avitar!

Zora would probably kick my butt if she knew I was using that piccy as an avatar. It's not a particularly flattering shot of her, although it does have that three-dimensional quality to it as if she was going to come out of the computer and sniff you. I think she would prefer this picture:

Jeri · December 31, 2006, 07:57:13 AM

Killing one of God's creatures is so very difficult. When we lived in the rat infested town home community, Skeeter caught an adult rat in the back yard and badly wounded it. Clearly it would not survive, and clearly it was going to suffer for some time. The only humane thing to do was kill it, so we grabbed a shovel. I tried, but I simply couldn't. Kevin did the awful deed, and felt awful about it, even though it was necessary to end the animal's suffering, and even though it was a rat and we wanted so badly to be rid of the rats.

We have a couple glue traps set out, and have caught nothing so far. We set them out in late spring, and so far I have only caught one teeny spider. I guess I can be happy that I apparently have a vermin free kitchen! I would hate to find a vole!

Teresa · December 31, 2006, 11:00:31 AM

David, you are probably right about Zora, that is a much more flattering picture of her. Zeke, however, probably thinks you should crop it in a little and leave his bottom half out of it

Dee Dee and Hallie · December 31, 2006, 11:51:11 AM

That is a beautiful picture of Zora! The two are so pretty together with their different coloring.

Ack I could never kill anything either, I'd have to find someone. I tried to kill a snake I wounded with the weedeater this summer, I felt so bad...I did get the shovel and chopped it's head off and the tongue kept flicking in and out for the longest time and the body was slithering around with a bloody stump....that did me in I had nightmares about that one. Thankfully I have never had mice or rats here, or even moles or voles. I've only ever seen one squirrel in the 23 years I've lived here. I have seen a deer and a raccoon and a bear though! :)

Roberta · December 31, 2006, 09:56:55 PM

I agree with the others I'm a total wreck if anything is half dead, and we have our little bird catcher Amy. If anything has to be dispensed my darling Nick takes care of it. He thinks it sort of funny as I have done autopsy work etc, but I keep telling him we don't have to kill them.
But that sure was a very lucky vole.
Roberta

David C. · January 11, 2007, 07:40:46 PM

Well, it looks like my little furry friend returned to the garage!

I was working on my bicycle installing a new front derailleur and just tinkering to get it into adjustment when I heard a rustling sound. The little bugger popped out from behind some of Jessica's toys that we have in storage in the garage, took one look at me and hightailed it back into the various things that line our garage wall. It reappeared a couple of more times and then disappeared into a corner. At least I think how I know how it's getting in! As I search the garage, sure enough, it had made a little nest from grass clippings in the corner.

My first thought was to get the Z's to hunt it down, but a) I don't know how predatory the Zs are and b) I don't want to risk the Zs getting bitten by this little thing. I'm probably going to head over to the hardware store and pick up a humane trap and bait it. If the furball takes the bait, I'm going to take him into the woods near my house and release him.

If he makes it into the part of our house where we live, then he is an intruder and all bets are off. At this point, the vole is just an annoyance.

April · January 11, 2007, 08:50:22 PM

You can release mice or whatever from the sticky traps by pouring a little bit of veggie oil on them. It releases the critter and you can take it somewhere else to release back into the wild. That's the kind of trap I insist on using when we get a mouse. I just get some gloves on, a 5 gallon bucket and some oil and hold it down in the bucket to pour the oil over the sticky pad. The critter will fall into the bucket and you can take it away to release it. It works best if you have a lid and you take it at least a mile away though so it can't find it's way back.

Kari · January 11, 2007, 09:18:38 PM

Sneaky vole! I hope you can catch it!

PattyInAK · January 12, 2007, 02:07:10 PM

Good man, David! Thanks for setting the vole free!

David C. · January 14, 2007, 06:57:23 AM

David: 2 Vole: 1

I purchased a Hav-a-Heart trap at the hardware store and baited it with some wild bird feeder material (the gooey block stuff). At 1:30 AM, the cage was empty, but when I woke up this morning, the cage had sprung shut. When I looked in, there was the Pine Vole. I'm going to take it over to our nearby stream valley park and release it. Then I'm going to reset the trap, just in case some of the Vole's friends are around, too.

Kari · January 14, 2007, 10:13:48 AM

Congrats on the catch

Hopefully there aren't too many friends around :crazyeyes: