Voles dig holes with small mounds around them, just like moles. Voles may be controlled with killing traps and driven away using more aggressive methods, moles may not. It is therefore extremely important to distinguish a vole hole from a molehill. We explain the features.
How do you recognize a vole hole?
A vole hole is a small, round hole with a mound of piled earth on the side. It differs from a molehill in its smaller size, side hole location and fewer entrances. Voles cause damage to vegetables and plant roots.
What does a vole hole look like?
Voles dig small, round holes that are located on the side of the hill, i.e. the heaped earth. Behind this is a sophisticated corridor system that can be up to 25m long.
How do vole holes differ from molehills?
From a distance, molehills and vole holes look quite similar. But if you take a closer look at the building entrances, you can see clear differences:
| Vole | Mole | |
|---|---|---|
| Hill size | significantly smaller | 25cm |
| Hole position | side the hill | in the middle of the hill |
| Number of inputs | about 5 | up to 20 daily |
| Damage | nibble on vegetables and plant roots | purely visual through hills |
Mole or vole? – The hole test
Make sure that the garden resident is a vole before resorting to aggressive control methods. Moles can also be gently driven away, but under no circumstances killed. The best way to find out who is digging holes in your garden is to test the hole: To do this, destroy one of the entrances and 30cm of the passage behind it. A vole will repair the burrow within a few hours; a mole will take significantly longer to repair if it even bothers.
Tip
If you are not sure who is digging holes in your garden, you should use a control method that is approved for both animals. These include smells and noise. For example, you can build a vole scarer yourself or scare away the animals with unpleasant smells such as buttermilk.
