[NAFEX] size of meadow voles

Alan Haigh alandhaigh at gmail.com
Thu Apr 29 06:07:49 EDT 2010


The correction given me about meadow vole size caused me to do a little
searching and now I'm a bit confused about my own rodents here in
southeastern NY.  I described 2 types- one slightly smaller and tan and
white and only in the 4" range that I think are meadow voles.  These seem to
be responsible for girdling trees and create runs through grass.  A little
larger, maybe 4.5 inches,  with shorter tails and grey-black fur are what I
identify as my pine voles.  They come up from fairly deep holes and kill the
trees by stripping the roots of everything but the largest wood at the
center.

The only difference between the references I find and what I see here is my
voles don't get 6' long if we're talking about body length.  The reference
did say that size varies with larger animals the colder the climate.  Can
anybody explain what might be the reason for the smaller rodents in my
area?  I've been trapping these animals here for 20 years and have seen
hundreds if not thousands of the animals.  If there were any larger rodents
here besides wood rats, chip monks and squirrels I would have trapped them
as well because I set both rat and mouse traps.
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