[permaculture] voles

lbsaltzman at aol.com lbsaltzman at aol.com
Thu Sep 13 13:09:17 EDT 2007


I wanted to add one thing that has been really working for me. Victor electric traps with peanut butter for bait are amazingly successful. It is a clean humane kill. I use rechargeable batteries with them.


-----Original Message-----
From: Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia at yahoo.com>
To: permaculture at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 9:10 pm
Subject: [permaculture] voles



We have a ton of voles here in northern California, hence a ton of vole 
predators too, since we live in a rural area.  The only non-toxic strategy to 
deal with voles seems to be a multi-pronged approach.  Increasing predator 
habitat seems worthwhile, but predators can't eliminate their prey completely or 
they will starve.  As a permaculturist, I am focusing on perennial alternatives 
to annuals.  Once established, perennials are generally more resistant to voles 
and gophers.  They don't like woody stems and roots as much.  Other solutions 
include the following:
   
  1.  create low barriers such as earth or solid rock walls, wire (1/2 inch 
poultry) fencing going a foot down and six inches aboveground, temporary plastic 
collars for young plants
   
  2.  spread out or thin bushes and low-growing vegetation to avoid creating 
preferred habitat
   
  3.  eliminate junk piles close to gardens
   
  4.  create open swathes or design in paths and roads around gardens to 
discourage voles from crossing
   
  5.  trap, trap, trap (mouse traps with peanut butter inside tubes or covered 
inside tunnels work well)
   
  6.  cats can be effective vole predators, and since they stick around humun 
dwellings, they actually can wipe out their prey, as long as they have some 
other source of food (but not too much)- my neighbor has some cats that were 
raised in a barn, so they are not used to killing birds and she hardly gives 
them any additional food, so she doesn't have to feel guilty about feeding a 
domesticated animal more protein than the average poor person gets
   
  7.  judicious use of non-persistant and relatively harmless vole poisons 
(vitamin K and other things are available) for emergencies
   
  Please let us know how your situation evolves,
   
  Rain

       
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