The Vermin Blog

Voles are the original reason that Rodent Wrangler came into existence as a company and released The Rodent Wrangler trap. Over winter at the tail end of 2024 the owner of the company came back from Christmas with a fresh hatred of voles after watching them through the window destroying his yard. The goal was set to develop the only vole specific trap on the market. Voles, in case you weren't aware, are a small rodent similar to a mouse and often called a "meadow mouse". Voles love to tunnel and will make a tunnel anywhere they see as beneficial to them, often under gardens but usually most visible at the end of winter as the snow melts where they had developed tunnels under the snow. Most people in our area who have a problem with voles only know they have a problem after seeing the trails worn in their lawn after the snow melts or they figure it out when their gardens start dying from the voles eating the roots, bulbs, tubers...etc. With the cost of professional sod installation being between $1 and $3 per square foot depending on the species of grass and some larger residential lawns being near a half acre having to re-sod even a small section can add up fast; better to get rid of the voles for a few bucks than to shell out a stack of cash for lawn repair. Voles don't stop at the lawn, as mentioned they can destroy your prized dahlias or your vegetable garden just as quick. If we at Rodent Wrangler can save some of the frustration of ruined lawns and gardens then we have done our job. / /-RW 8-6-2026

Voles are a small mamal of the order rodentia, family cricetidae and sub-family arvicolinae. The closest relatives of voles are lemmings and muskrats, not mice like most people would intuitively believe. Depending on species of vole they grow between 3-10" nose to tail though out of the dozens of vole species North America has 8 distinct species covering most of the lower 48 with the exception of Florida, Southern Texas and most of Arizona. In order of the greatest to least area covered the 8 species in north america are the Meadow Vole, Pine Vole, Long Tailed Vole, Prarie Vole, Montane Vole, California Vole, Oregon Vole and Southern Red Backed Vole. Out of the 8 species of vole in the lower 48 the Oregon Vole is the smallest topping out at 4" nose to tail max and 5/8ths of an ounce while the largest would be the California Vole at up to 10" nose to tail and 3 full ounces of weight. The only listed species that doesnt tunnel is the Southern Red Backed vole as the other 7 varieties all tunnel and will be more what we are focused on in trap development as our trap is designed around the trail/tunnel systems left by the local Meadow and Pine Voles. Regardless of vole species they universally love grains, seeds, roots, and almost any plant material though they have a definite preference for roots, bulbs and tubers as that is what they can access easily without leaving a protected tunnel system; this is how they wreck gardens in short order. Natural predators for voles usually consist of birds of prey, snakes, and coyotes, most larger animals dont see the benefit in chasing or eating animals as small as a vole and north america is lacking in small mamalian predators aside from the domesticated housecat that can definitely eat a few voles if motivation hits. As for populations voles as social creatures usually live in groups of at least 15-20 though usually much more substantial. Vole populations are only limited by predators and food so if theres a region with little to no predators voles become an extremely cyclical species as they populate, over-populate and the population crashes; this pattern leads to certain years having an excess of voles and other years having almost none. We have personally noticed this pattern at Rodent Wrangler as the winter of 2024 into the spring and summer of 2025 was a massive year for voles locally and then the following year over the same seasons theyre extremely scarce which is good for gardens and lanws but sub-optimal for us trying to trap them. / /-RW 8/6/2026