If there's one thing that can drive a homeowner or frequent gardener insane, it's voles in Los Angeles County! These tiny rodents will make small tunnels throughout your lawn if left uncontrolled. So how can you prevent them from tearing up your yard and garden?

Here's what Los Angeles County homeowners should know about what voles look like, how they get into your yard, signs of a vole problem in your garden, and how to keep them away permanently with pest control in Los Angeles County. 

What Does A Vole In Los Angeles County Look Like?

You may see evidence of their destruction, but not all homeowners know what voles look like. These rodents can be easy to miss, and they're often mixed up with moles, another animal that enjoys tunneling through yards and gardens.

Voles have round bodies with short tails, small, beady eyes, and rounded ears that aren't always visible through their reddish-brown fur. While moles tend to have long noses and look like they have no eyes, a vole's eyes are always visible, and their noses aren't as prominent.

Some other key facts you should know about voles include:

  • You may also hear voles referred to as meadow mice due to their mouse-like appearance.
  • Including their tails, voles can grow anywhere from four to nine inches long.
  • Voles are mostly herbivores that feed on plants, which is why they're so fond of gardens.
  • Voles are some of the fastest reproducers in the rodent family, and a single female vole can produce anywhere from thirty to sixty young per year.
  • Voles build underground tunnels in gardens and yards for both shelter and protection, and may occasionally use the burrowing holes that other animals have made.

Voles are usually not aggressive, but they can still be bad news for your Los Angeles County garden. 

a vole in a yard

How Do You Get Voles In Your Yard?

Now you know what voles look like, but how did these rodents get in your yard in the first place? There are a couple of different factors that can attract voles to your property, including:

  • Long or tall grass: Voles like yards and lawns that provide them with a lot of coverage when they come out of their burrows. Yards with tall, un-mowed grass may be more attractive to these rodents. 
  • Yard debris: Much like tall grass, yard debris and clutter can provide voles with even more hiding spots on your property. 
  • Gardens with no fencing: Voles like easy access, and gardens that don't have fencing provide voles with an even more accessible food source. Even with fencing, voles may still be able to get to your garden if the fence doesn't go very far into the ground. 
  • Large gardens: No surprise, voles like a plentiful food source, so they may spend more time in yards that have bigger gardens and more plants for them to feed on. 
  • Yards with a water source: Yards that have decorative ponds or another water source that’s easy for voles to access are likely to be more attractive to these pests.

While you can't control for every variable, keeping your yard and garden well-maintained and fenced in can go a long way towards minimizing the risk of voles moving in.

Signs Of Voles In Your Garden

There are plenty of things that may attract voles to your property, but they live primarily underground, so how do you know they are there? Here are some major signs that can indicate a vole problem in your garden: 

  • There are tiny holes near the base of trees in your yard, which are vole burrows.
  • There are paths one to two inches wide on the surface of your lawn.
  • There are places in your yard where the grass is very short, despite not cutting it.
  • There are chew marks near the bottom of plants and young trees.
  • The exposed stem on certain plants have been chewed into a pointed end.
  • When you lift up dead plants, there's no remaining root structure in the ground.

All of these signs can indicate that you've got voles in your garden feeding on your plants and trees.

How To Keep Voles Away For Good!

Because voles reproduce so quickly, it's important to get a handle on a vole infestation before it spirals out of control and destroys both your garden and yard. Fortunately, you can take action against these pests by enlisting the help of HomeShield Pest Control's vole control service.

If you're seeing any of the signs listed above or have other reasons to believe you might have voles, don't wait any longer – contact us today at HomeShield Pest Control to learn more about how we can help you keep voles away permanently.