Meadow mice are munching their way through several yards in the city and leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

Voles are rodents and are slightly bigger than mice but have a shorter tail and rounded head.

They can be found all over Canada and are in abundance in the prairies.

The little pests become a problem for homeowners when the warm weather returns and many have two or more litters in the summer.

They make prominent runways under the lawn and can destroy landscaping and cereal crops.

Calgary homeowner Kortnee Huot found her yard destroyed when the snow melted this spring.

At first she thought it was mice, but quickly learned that voles were responsible.

They chewed out tracks in her lawn and stripped bark off the trees.

Huot says she spent thousands of dollars landscaping her yard last summer and now it will cost thousands more to fix it.

A local exterminator blames the weather and says everything comes in cycles.

“This year one of the problems was that because we didn't have a true Chinook, the snow offered a bit more insulation so there are more voles breeding as well as nesting underneath the snow,” said Brock Anderson from Absolute Pest Control.

Anderson says he's getting nearly twice as many calls as last year about voles.

Tips for getting rid of voles:

  • Cleaning up all possible food sources like vegetables left in the garden at season's end will help keep voles and other rodents away from your yard. Removing mulch from the base of fruit trees in winter will also help avoid an increase in vole numbers. If you intend to put mulch down on strawberries or other perennials, do so only after the soil freezes. If you do so before the soil freezes, you will be providing an ideal location for rodents to gain access to roots in unfrozen soil.
  • Use metal or glass rodent-proof containers to store seeds and bird feed. Composters should also be inaccessible to rodents.
  • Gravel or cinder barriers around garden plots are an effective and easy means of protection. The barrier should be 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) deep and a foot or more wide. The sharpness of cinder particles deters voles from pushing their noses into the soil.
  • Commercial plastic tree guards, a piece of chicken wire or small mesh wrapped around the base of trees and extending below the soil will help prevent tree girdling. Talk to your local tree specialist for how to use these materials properly.
  • Traditional snap mouse traps can be used. Place them in areas where voles are known to be. Barricades may be used that allow only voles to enter a trap. Buy a large number of snap-traps and set them all out at once for a one- or two-night period. A good technique is to bait the traps with a tiny dab of peanut butter or bacon for two or three nights without setting the traps. When the traps are finally set, voles are less likely to shy away from them. Always exercise extreme caution when handling a trap and keep them out of the reach of children and pets.

(With files from Scott McLean)