What it looks like

Meadow voles leave 1 to 2 inch wide trails worn through the grass at the soil surface, usually with small open holes about the size of a quarter and no mound of soil. Pine voles work mostly underground and often use old mole tunnels, so the first sign is a shrub, hosta or bulb planting that wilts, leans or pulls out of the ground with the roots gnawed off. Look for gnaw marks at the base of young trees and shrubs under the mulch. Voles are stocky, brown, short-tailed and about 4 to 6 inches long.

Often mistaken for: Moles (raised ridges and mounds, no open holes or chewed plants), mice, or root rot and drought on a wilting shrub

When it shows up in the Triangle

Active all year, day and night, and they breed through most of it. Damage is noticed most in late winter and early spring, when the grass is matted down and runways show, and after a stretch of cold when they chew bark and roots because other food is scarce.

Where you’ll see it

Lawns with thick thatch, tall grass, deep mulch or groundcover, and foundation beds next to woods, fields or overgrown fence lines across the Triangle.

What you can do

Pull mulch back 6 inches or more from the trunks of trees and shrubs so there is no cover right at the bark
Keep grass mowed and clean up dense groundcover, tall weeds and brush near beds
Protect young trees with a hardware-cloth cylinder (1/4 inch mesh) set a few inches into the soil
Set ordinary mouse snap traps baited with apple or peanut butter in the runways, covered with a box or shingle, and check them daily
A wildlife control company can handle a large population; results from repellents are inconsistent
Encourage owls, hawks and snakes rather than chasing them off