Voles (meadow mice) are rodents with short tails and round bodies. In California, we have six species of voles from the genus Microtus. The California vole (M. californicus) and the montane vole (M. montanus) are the most common garden pests in our state. Adult voles are 5 to 8 inches long, including the tail. Vole populations can be cyclical, which means that their numbers can spike to several thousand per acre in a short time. If you think you have voles, it’s important to get them under control quickly.
Voles are vegetarians, feeding on grasses, vegetables, herbaceous plants, bulbs, tubers, tree roots, and bark. Unlike moles and gophers, they’re not diggers, so they often take over abandoned gopher or mole burrows.