A vole is a small burrowing animal, not commonly seen by humans as it spends most of its time building underground tunnels to locate sources of food.

This little animal is not hazardous to humans since it rarely ever comes in contact with us… and also voles are not the type of animals that like to invade houses or building. Instead they spend hours tearing up flower gardens and vegetation… if you have such a problem you may need a vole repellent.

Why Vole Repellent?

Voles feed voraciously on fungus and plants… in fact, it is believed that a single vole can destroy a flowerbed in just a couple of hours. One vole!

For avid gardeners who spend hundreds of dollars annually on their flowers and trees, the vole is one animal they don’t want visiting. Not only are people’s gardens affected by the food choices a vole makes but their extensive tunneling systems interfere with normal plant and vegetable growth. The tunnels burrowed by voles interfere with irrigation and can ruin garden lawns, crops and golf courses. These facts alone should help you to see why you would want to use a vole repellent.

What To Use As Vole Repellent

It appears that the little vandal vole doesn’t like hot sauce or any vole repellent containing Thiram. Many products that use thiram are registered as vole repellents and are believed to be effective particularly for meadow voles. However these vole repellents offer only short-term protection: if you are going to use a vole repellent containing thiram or hot sauce, you would need to reapply it often for it to provide effective protection.

Effective Vole Repellent

Some of the most effective vole repellents contain toxicants. As such, Zinc Phosphide is perhaps one of the more frequently used vole repellents. Available in a pellet form, the Zinc Phosphide vole repellent pellets are placed in holes and openings where voles tend to enter the ground. However, do remember that this is not just a vole repellent but it actually kills the voles, getting rid of the problem permanently.

Non-Toxic Vole Repellents

There are also many vole repellents that are non-toxic. One example is vole repellent that contains oil found in the castor bean. Such products are a safe method of controlling voles, are environmentally friendly and not intended to kill the vole but to just send them away. There are granular vole repellents that contain this ingredient, which when applied to the vole’s food source can cause stomach upsets if consumed. The granules are safe to use around children and pets plus they are biodegradable.

If you are having a problem with moles invading your lawn, flower or vegetable garden, you definitely should consider using vole repellent. If you would like advice about specific vole repellent products please read our vole repellent reviews in the Rodent Repellent Category.