Voles: long-tailed, broad-spectrum garden pests

How to deal with a vole?

• Fact:
  Body length is 12-14 cm, with the tail taking up up to 75 percent of this length
• Fact 2:
  The body is covered with gray or light brown short fur, quite hard to the touch. Sometimes the color is beige.
• Fact 3:
  Field mice have underdeveloped, high zygomatic arches. Interparietal bone narrowed
• Fact 4:
  Does not like deserted forest-steppes and continuous forests. Settles well in moist interfluves

The field mouse is a small mouse that lives throughout Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, China, Europe and other countries. It causes great trouble for gardeners and summer residents, households; it can carry infectious diseases, spoil the harvest of vegetables and grain, dig holes, etc.

Appearance and characteristics of the vole

It has a pointed muzzle with brown or gray small eyes, and on its head there are ears (2 pieces), oval in shape, slightly curved forward. The length of the ears is about 1-1.2 cm; weakly visible ear lobes are located on the auricle itself.

The body length is 12-14 cm, with the tail taking up up to 75 percent of this length. Sometimes it reaches ten centimeters.

Vole paws with claws. The body is covered with gray or light brown short fur, quite hard to the touch. Sometimes the color is beige.

In the middle of the back the coat is darker, with an admixture of brown or dark color. On the belly side the color is practically white.

It is believed that the color of the fur is directly related to the age of the vole, older mice become lighter, the fur fades, approaching a beige shade. Sometimes some of the fur even turns grey.

There are nipples on the belly; the number can be from 6 to 8. The vole’s skull reaches 2.7 cm in length. It has an elongated nasal part and alveolar tubercles. The braincase is flattened and rounded. It has frontal ridges along the edges. The interorbital space is powerful with large rims in the form of ridges. The contours of the skull are straight.

Field mice have underdeveloped, high zygomatic arches. The interparietal bone is narrowed. The back of the head and the crown are touching. The palate is half the length of the skull. The animals have wing-shaped plates that look like dimples on their cheeks.

Description

Appearance

The body length is 10-13 cm, the tail length reaches 70% of the body length. The muzzle is elongated, pointed, the eyes are dark. The ears are small and folded forward. The body is round in shape, the fur is thick.

Color

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The upper body is colored reddish-ocher, reddish-brown or reddish-brown. A clear and distinct black or brown stripe runs down the center of the back. The bases of the hair on the back are dark. The belly is light, whitish, the base of the hair is dark. The sides are reddish in color with a clear border. In old voles, the base of the hair on the back becomes very light, and sometimes the hair turns grey. House mice are black.

Male and female: differences

Sexual dimorphism is not typical for field mice. There are no pronounced differences in the appearance and size of males and females.

Habitat

Throughout Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, China, Europe and other countries. They can also be found in China, Mongolia, Denmark, Finland, Korea, and Taiwan. In the Russian Federation, the rodent is distributed in Primorye, Siberia, and the Urals. Prefers hills and mountains. Found near the Black and Azov Seas.

Does not like deserted forest-steppes and continuous forests. It takes root well in moist interfluves. Prefers overgrown meadows, small depressions, collective farm fields, sunny edges of deciduous forests and vegetable gardens. It can be found in greenhouses, greenhouses, cellars, abandoned utility sheds and even in residential premises. With the onset of autumn, rodents move into stacks, haystacks, and stacks of straw.

Prevention measures

To reduce the likelihood of voles settling on your property, you can:

• get a cat or dog;
• do not drive away the natural enemies of mice, especially owls;
• do not allow the area to be cluttered with equipment, firewood, faulty furniture, etc.;
• constantly loosen the ground, destroying the “grooves” of field mice;
• promptly dispose of trimmed branches, leaves, weeds and other garden debris.

To combat voles, it is necessary to use an integrated approach that combines prevention, creating an environment that is uncomfortable for rodents, and physical destruction.

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Sources

• https://vrediteli24.ru/gryzuny/opisanie-polevoj-myshi.html
• https://simple-fauna.ru/wild-animals/mysh-polevka/
• https://faunistics.com/mysh-polevka/
• https://apest.ru/myshi/vidy-myshej/polevye-myshi/
• https://rusfermer.net/ogorod/vrediteli/myshi/polevye-m/chem-pitaetsya-polevka.html
• https://animals-mf.ru/obyknovennaya-polevka/

Offspring and procreation, life span

Reproduction occurs from early spring to mid-autumn. In one season, a field mouse produces 3-4 offspring. In rare cases, it bears offspring up to 5-6 times a year. Gestation of the cubs lasts 21-23 days. One litter brings 5-7 babies. Babies are born helpless and blind. But they are developing rapidly. 12-14 days after birth they begin to see clearly. 30 days after birth they become independent.

Young individuals can begin to bear offspring 90-105 days after birth. How long does a field mouse live? The lifespan of a field mouse can reach up to 7 years, but in the wild, mice usually live for a year or two. Now imagine how quickly rodents can multiply in just one summer season, full of warmth and plenty of food.

Field mouse diet

The vole is a herbivorous rodent. Since she belongs to the hamster family, her teeth grow throughout her life, so her instinct is to constantly grind them down. This explains why mice are almost constantly gnawing on something. During the day, an adult vole should eat an amount of food equal to its own weight.

The mouse eats almost everything it can find from vegetation:

• herbs and their seeds;
• berries;
• nuts, including cones;
• grain;
• tubers, roots, bulbs, root vegetables;
• buds and flowers of various bushes;
• tender bark of young trees.

Winter supplies in the pantries of field mice can reach a weight of 3 kg.

Seasons and the cycle of life

In summer and spring, field mice are active in the evening and at night. How do voles spend the winter? In autumn and winter they can be active during the day. They do not hibernate. Natural shelters or earthen passages can be used as burrows.

The burrows of field mice reach 3-4 m. They usually have 2-4 exits, one of which leads to a watering hole. Dwellings must have a nesting chamber and 2-3 pantries in which winter supplies are stored. The storerooms are located at a depth of 0.5-1 m.

Rodents that live in swampy areas do not dig burrows. They build nests in the form of balls. The main material is grass. Such dwellings are located on tall bushes.

Food cravings

What the field mouse eats interests most of the population.
Because pests chew on almost everything - wood, concrete structures, bricks. Some mice chew on foam, plastic, rubber and other synthetic materials. However, mice are interested in grains, seeds, and the juicy parts of plants as food. Mice eagerly gnaw the bark of trees, young shoots of plants, seedlings, mature vegetables, and fruits. They eat small quantities of worms, insects, eggs and chicks.

In human territory, the red mouse gnaws on almost all food supplies - grain, cereals, legumes, flour, vegetables, fruits, baked goods, meat, lard, sausage and much more.

During the day, a field mouse should eat 5 g of food and drink 20 ml of liquid. If there is not enough water, it gnaws on the succulent parts of plants. It begins to stock up for the winter in mid-summer.

Rodent nutrition

Food at different times of the year

• The food of voles is varied and depends on the time of year.
• Winter. Field mice do not hibernate, and feed in winter as actively as in the warm season.
  In the wild, food supplies in winter are very scarce, so voles rush to residential buildings, hay barns, granaries, and cellars in search of food.

  They eat grain, root crops, and straw with great pleasure, causing great damage to farms;

• Spring Summer.
  In the warm season, voles do not have any special problems with food; they eat succulent plant stems, roots, berries, and leaves. They live in large numbers in fields, destroying seeds and young shoots of grain, beets, carrots, causing significant damage to agriculture and farms;
• Autumn. This is also a favorable time of year for field mice. The harvest is underway, and there is something to profit from in the fields, since after harvesting a lot of grain remains on the field.
  The hay has already been cut, and the haystacks are one of the favorite places for voles to settle, it’s warm and there’s a lot of tasty grass. The sunflowers are ripe, and field mice will never refuse their tasty seeds either.

  The harvest is ripe in the vegetable gardens and orchards - you can profit from ripe fruits and root vegetables;

Do they stock up for the winter?

The burrows of field mice are quite simple; in rare cases, they may have several exits. The depth of the hole is small. Sometimes field mice make round grass nests on the surface and live in them.

In the voles' burrows, next to the nesting chamber, they build pantries, which allows them not to starve in the winter.

The pantries of field mice are usually filled with nuts, acorns, seeds and grains. The reserves are usually not enough for the entire cold period, and the holes can often be destroyed by large forest animals, then the voles rush to people in search of food.

Difference from other rodents

The rodent is divided into western and eastern representatives.

• Depending on their habitat they have different colors and sizes;
• Differs from other rodents by an even stripe along the spine;
• Unlike mice, it has a larger body size;
• It differs from the Dahurian hamster in its elongated tail;
• Unlike pieds, it has a longer sexual maturity - about 100 days;
• Compared to other subspecies of rodents, the field mouse has an underdeveloped ear;
• The fur of field mice is the coarsest. In adult individuals, the fur becomes very coarse. They develop soft spines, like hedgehogs;
• Field mice belong to the mobile subspecies. They are characterized by seasonal feeding movements;
• May be common in swampy areas. At the same time, they use grass nests as burrows.

These representatives belong to voles: ground rat; mole voles; yellow and steppe variegation; red and bank voles; housekeeper vole; gray vole.

Field mouse

The field mouse, an animal from a number of rodents that belongs, like other mice, to the family of mouse-shaped rodents, is easy to recognize. Unlike other types of mice, its most characteristic feature is an expressive black stripe that runs from the forehead along the back. The hair on the back is reddish-brown. The throat, chest and belly are white. In size, the field mouse differs little from the forest mouse. The body length is about 12 cm, but unlike the wood mouse, its ears are short, bent forward, and do not reach the eyes. The tail, with clearly visible rings formed by horny scales, is somewhat shorter than the body.

Field mice are widespread throughout almost the entire territory of Ukraine - from Polesie and the Carpathians to the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas, except for the dry areas of the southern regions of the Sivash steppes and the central blocks of continuous forests of Polesie and the forest-steppe zone. In small forests, especially in copses and shelterbelts, there are no fewer of them than wood mice.

Penetrating west into the Carpathians, field mice most often accumulate in cultivated fields, in mountainous areas, rising up to 1350 m above sea level. Within their distribution, field mice usually live in moist areas. These are meadows, areas overgrown with bushes, weeds in cultivated areas, etc. They also readily live in gardens, vineyards, on the edges of dense forest plantations, and in river valleys. In the south they hold on

Field mice live in shallow, but fairly long, simple-structured burrows dug between the roots of trees and shrubs. In winter, a significant number of field mice accumulate in stacks of straw, and in gardens and woodlands - under fallen leaves; they also climb into utility and residential buildings and even into granaries. The field mouse is active almost the whole day, but more often it can be found at night. It does not hibernate in winter and is active throughout the year.

For most of the year, field mice feed on leaves, green stems and seeds of various wild herbs, berries, and during the ripening of bread, grain. Their diet often includes small insects, their larvae and other invertebrate animals.

In spring, field mice actively breed. To hatch babies, they usually build a nesting chamber at a shallow depth (about 20 cm and only occasionally deeper), well covered with chopped straw and dry grass. Two or three exits lead from the chamber to the surface of the earth. Quite often they also build semi-underground nests, which they place under heaps of straw, between stones, etc.

By gnawing green bark and shoots on fruit trees and in forest plantations, field mice cause significant damage to forestry and gardening, and in years favorable for reproduction they multiply in such numbers that they cause great losses to grain crops (wheat, rye, corn, etc. .), destroying green shoots and ripe grain. As a harmful rodent, field mice cause significant harm in the Polesie regions.

Field mice have many enemies in nature: foxes, ferrets, weasels and various birds of prey, especially owls, feed on them.

Harm to summer residents and gardeners, farms

In most cases they destroy agriculture. Moreover, they harm both fields with growing plants and granaries. During mass reproduction, irreparable damage is caused. In winter, field mice live in grain stacks and barns.

In gardens and orchards, tomatoes, watermelons, potatoes, carrots, and sunflowers are damaged. If it gets into the cellar, it completely ruins the preparations for the winter. In spring, they feed on shoots and bark of fruit trees.

These mice are carriers of tick-borne typhus fevers and hemorrhagic nephrosonephritis. They can be causative agents of leptospirosis, tularemia, and various erysipelas. The detection of such diseases in humans leads to death.

Preventive measures

To discourage voles from invading your garden at an early stage, there are several simple ways.
Preferring a dense protective vegetation cover of weeds and mulch that provides food and protection from predators, rodents react negatively to active weeding and pruning of bushes. Make your yard inhospitable to voles by creating as much clear space as possible. Fortunately, these pesky animals are not the best climbers. Therefore, to protect vegetable plantings from rodents, surround them with a metal mesh at least 30 cm high and dig it into the ground to the same depth.

Of course, the best watchman will be a street cat, which effectively fights all types of mouse-like pests.

Most of the methods you can use to get rid of mice can be applied to voles. Always remember to use humane methods of control, leaving the animals unharmed unless it is absolutely necessary to use chemicals.

How and with what to fight voles

Muskidan glue will help get rid of field mice in the house. It is applied to sheets of parchment, plywood or thick cardboard. The bait is placed in the middle. When glue gets on the surface, the field mouse becomes trapped;

Wax tablets "Storm" . Spread the drug over boxes, drainage pipes, and burrows. It is important not to take the tablets with your bare hands. If rodents smell a person, they will not touch the bait. When eating the tablets, field mice die within 4-14 days;

Universal “Granules” are made from natural wheat grains. They have a cumulative effect. When field mice eat the bait and return to the shelter, they infect other rodents.

Information: the number of mice is also influenced by their natural enemies, primarily birds of prey. The menace of the field mice is the owl. It eats 1000-1200 pieces per year. Foxes, martens, and weasels feed almost exclusively on mice. A ferret destroys 10-12 voles per day. The weasel, with its long, narrow body, is capable of burrowing into burrows and eating young.*

A rat is not a mouse!

A rat is very similar to a mouse, but, as a rule, it is larger in size and there are many horror stories about rats. The rat is also a rodent and one of the most common animals in the world. There are about 70 species of rats in nature. Rats live everywhere except the polar and subpolar regions, and Antarctica. They can live alone or in a colony.

They are agile, active, and swim well.

The rat has poor eyesight, but a good sense of smell and hearing. Enemies include cats, dogs, ferrets, pigs, hedgehogs and birds of prey

They reproduce very quickly all year round. A female can give birth to up to 20 cubs. Rats are omnivores, they can eat up to 25 grams per day, and they cannot tolerate hunger.

Rats are quite dangerous for humans, they spoil food, and some species are carriers of dangerous diseases, including fatal ones. However, people use laboratory rats for research, and a specially bred decorative type of rat makes it possible to keep this creature at home as a pet.

How are rats different from mice?

At first glance, mice and rats are very similar. They belong to the order of rodents, but are not related. Here's how they differ:

• Weight and height. The mouse can reach a length of only 6-10 cm and weigh up to 30 grams. The rat is larger. The length of its body can be up to 30 centimeters, and the body weight of an adult reaches 1.5 kg.
• Mice drink little; their bodies can produce water themselves.
• Life expectancy. Mice live 1.5-2 years, and rats up to 3 years.
• Intelligence. Rats are more cunning and intelligent than mice. Catching even a small rat can be difficult. But an ordinary house mouse can be easily tamed. She makes contact within a few days.
• Tail. A rat's tail is longer and thicker than a mouse's.
• Paws. Mice have small paws and sharp claws, but rats have powerful paws, the hind paws are longer than the front paws, and there are membranes between the toes.
• Wool. The fur of a mouse is silky, but that of a rat is rough and tough.
• Head. The muzzle of mice is slightly flattened, while that of rats is elongated.
• Ears. Mice have large round pink ears, and rats have small triangular ones.

Interesting facts about rats and mice

Nature is wise and has endowed each of its creatures with unique abilities. It also didn’t spare people’s least favorite rodents. Here are some interesting facts we know about mice:

1. In captivity, a mouse lives 5-10 times longer.
2. Offspring in captivity earlier - at the age of 2-3 years.
3. It is a myth that mice are not afraid of elephants.
4. The most famous mouse is Mickey Mouse.
5. The heaviest and largest tank is also called Maus, it is German.
6. Mice love fruits and sugar, but do not like strong-smelling cheeses.
7. In Vietnam and Rwanda, mice are eaten; for the residents of these countries it is a delicacy.
8. The hearing of mice is 5 times sharper than that of humans.
9. Rats appeared on the planet before people by as much as 48 million years.
10. Rats can dream.
11. A rat's heart beats up to 500 beats per minute.
12. A rat can walk up to 50 km a day; it dives, swims, and climbs trees perfectly. Capable of swimming without stopping for up to 30 km. For a rat, this distance takes about 3 days.
13. A rat's teeth grow throughout its life.
14. Rats can easily eat their offspring.
15. Rat tail hair is used in eye surgery.
16. Scientists believe that the rat may have been responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs because of its love for eggs. Indeed, she could well destroy the nests and eat all the embryos of future dinosaurs.
17. Rats are afraid of water. This is why we all know that rats are the first to jump ship when there is danger. Interesting things about rats are shown in a fairy tale and a cartoon of the same name about Nils’s journey with geese.

Control measures: deratization measures

Sanitary and epidemiological well-being is due to the successful implementation of the entire complex of deratization measures, including organizational, preventive, exterminatory and sanitary educational measures to combat rodents.

Organizational events

include a set of the following measures:

• administrative;
• financial and economic;
• scientific and methodological;
• material.

Preventive actions

are designed to eliminate favorable living conditions for rodents and exterminate them using the following measures:

• engineering and technical, including the use of various devices that automatically prevent rodents from accessing premises and communications;
• sanitary and hygienic, including maintaining cleanliness in the premises, basements, and areas of the facilities;
• agro- and forestry engineering, including measures for the cultivation of forests in recreational areas to the state of forest parks and maintaining these areas in a state free from weeds, fallen leaves, dead and drying trees; This same group of activities includes deep plowing of the soil in the fields;
• preventive deratization, including measures to prevent the restoration of the number of rodents using chemical and mechanical means.

The task of carrying out this group of activities lies with legal entities and individual entrepreneurs operating specific facilities and the surrounding territory.

These events are carried out by legal entities and individual entrepreneurs with special training.