Spotting and driving out voles without harming the mole

At a glance

The vole, in the garden usually the water vole, eats roots, tubers and bulbs. By gnawing the roots of young fruit trees it can kill whole trees.
Never confuse it with the mole. The mole eats only insects and worms, harms no plant and is strictly protected. Fighting it is forbidden.
The most effective method is trapping with snap traps in an active run. Poison has no place in the home garden; it endangers other animals.
Best of all, prevent it: plant fruit trees, perennials and bulbs in wire baskets and encourage natural enemies like the cat, weasel and birds of prey. Voles are active all year round.

When a young fruit tree wilts for no reason and can be pulled out of the ground with a single tug, an invisible rodent is often behind it: the vole. It works out of sight and eats away exactly what matters, the roots.

But before you reach for the trap comes the most important step: identify it correctly. Because a second animal lives in the soil that burrows in a very similar way but is the complete opposite. Whoever mixes up vole and mole may end up fighting a protected beneficial. So let us clear up the difference first.

Brown vole with a blunt snout feeding on a green plant stem — The vole is a pure plant-eater · Photo: Adrian Pingstone, Public domain

Vole or mole? The crucial difference

Both throw up soil and dig tunnels, yet they could not be more different. The vole is a rodent and a pure plant-eater: it eats roots, tubers and bulbs and does real damage. The mole, by contrast, is an insectivore. It devours grubs, larvae and earthworms but touches no plant.

That is exactly why telling them apart matters so much. In Germany the mole is protected and may neither be caught nor killed. It is even a beneficial that eats pest larvae and loosens the soil. Only its hills are a nuisance in the lawn. The vole, by contrast, you may and should control.

How to tell the two apart

Vole versus mole

Damage to plants
Vole: gnawed roots, wilting plants that lift easily. Mole: no feeding damage at all, only thrown-up soil.
The soil hills
Molehills are round, tall and fine-crumbed, with the hole centred beneath. The vole's spoil is flatter and irregular, often with coarse clumps and root remains, and the hole sits to the side.
The tunnels
The mole tunnel is round. The vole tunnel is oval across, that is wider than tall, and runs close under the surface.
The animal itself
The mole is black and velvety, with a pointed pink snout and big pink digging shovels. The vole is brown and rounded, with a blunt snout and typical rodent teeth.

European mole with black fur, a pink snout and large pink digging paws — The mole: clearly recognised by its pink digging shovels and pointed snout. It is protected and eats no plants.· Photo: Kristianmatilainen, CC BY-SA 3.0

How to spot a vole infestation

If you are unsure, the dig-open test helps. Open a suspicious run over about ten centimetres and wait a few hours. If the animal closes the opening again from inside with soil, the run is actively occupied. That is how you find the main runs into which the trap later goes.

A second sign is the damage pattern. If lettuce, perennials or young trees wilt for no obvious reason, gently wiggle them. If they lift easily because the roots have been eaten away, the vole is at work. Gnawed pieces of carrot or celery that you lay in a run as bait also give it away.

Pest profile

Vole

Arvicola

Typ: Plant-eating rodent
Familie: Eats roots, tubers, bulbs
Ernte: Damage above all in autumn and winter
Saison: Active all year, no hibernation
Wasserbedarf: Enemies: cat, weasel, birds of prey, owls

Trapping: the most effective method

Find the active main run
Use the dig-open test to find an occupied main run. Main runs often follow bed edges, paths or fences and are reliably closed again.
Prepare the trap odour-free
Voles are suspicious of foreign smells. Handle the trap with gloves and rub it with soil beforehand. Pincer or box traps made specifically for voles work well.
Set the trap properly
Open the run carefully, set the trap into the running tube and cover the spot lightproof and airtight with a board or soil. If light or a draught gets in, the vole just pushes soil in front of it.
Check daily
Look at least once a day. If you catch nothing in one place, move the trap to another active run after two to three days.

Prevent with the wire basket

The best protection is mechanical. Plant fruit trees, valuable perennials and flower bulbs in a wire basket of close mesh, and the vole cannot reach the roots. For whole beds you can lay wire mesh flat under the soil. The bulbs of tulips too are reliably protected by such a basket.

Natural enemies are your best allies

Cat, weasel, stoat, fox, buzzard and owls hunt voles in numbers. Whoever offers these animals a habitat keeps the numbers low. A simple perching pole at the bed edge gives birds of prey a lookout for hunting. How to encourage beneficials in general is in Encouraging beneficials.

No poison, and leave the mole alone

In the home garden, do without poison bait and fumigants. They endanger pets, beneficials and birds of prey that eat a poisoned rodent. And more important still: the mole is strictly protected. Catching or killing it is forbidden and can cost you dearly. When in doubt, first identify exactly who is burrowing.

First identify, then act. The vole you trap, the mole you leave in peace, and roots you best protect with the wire basket.

The core rule against voles

Frequently asked questions

How do I reliably tell vole from mole?

By the damage and the hills. The vole eats roots, its spoil hills are flat and irregular with root remains. The mole eats no plants, its hills are round and fine-crumbed. When in doubt, open the run: the vole tunnel is oval across, the mole tunnel round.

May I control the mole?

No. The mole is protected, catching and killing it is forbidden. It is a beneficial anyway, eating pest larvae and loosening the soil. If the hills bother you, you can only level them and smooth the lawn.

What is the most effective method against voles?

Trapping with snap traps in the active main run. Set correctly and prepared odour-free, it is more reliable than any repellent. What matters is covering the run lightproof again.

Do crown imperial, garlic or sound devices help?

Only to a limited degree and never alone. Plants like the crown imperial or garlic and vibration stakes can repel voles somewhat, but rarely drive out a real infestation for good. They are a supplement to traps and wire baskets, not a replacement.

How do I protect my fruit trees for good?

Plant them from the start in a wire basket that encloses the root ball. That is the safest protection especially in the first years, when a gnawed apple tree can still die. Later the tree anchors deeper than the vole reaches.

Legal note

This article is no substitute for expert advice. The mole is under special species protection and may not be caught or killed. Use traps and other means only against voles and only within the legal rules.

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