Party at So Lucky's!

[so lucky]

Well, it looks like something had a party, anyway. Now that most of the snow has melted, I can see where some little varmints have been tunneling at soil surface everywhere. Runs here and there and back and forth, holes going down into the ground and back up a foot further. Grrr!
I presume they are voles. Next time I go to the farm store, I will get some rat killer pellets to push down in the runs. Hopefully they won't bring them up to soil surface where the chickens can get to them. Or does anyone have some better ideas? A cat, yes?

 

[thistlebloom]

I have cats. I have voles.
My cats seem to lounge around by their feed bowl, and if they need to remind me to fill it they show up and stare in the back door.

The one cat we had that was a rodent killing machine went missing last year. She was also friendly and sweet and had a clownish personality.
It's always the good ones that don't come home at some point. The two lazy ones I have left will no doubt pass away peacefully at a great old age, in their sleep, lying in their heated beds.

Sorry, no good advice on the best way to deal with your voles.

 

[Nyboy]

I think it depends where you get your cat from. When i was 16 I found a cat on the streets of the Bronx, he was all scared up, life wasn't easy..For 2 years after I lived at home he went outside. Even well fed he was a killer, everything from mice to squirrels. When I moved out at 18 he came with me and lived rest of his life inside. Many places have Barn cats for adoption , they claim there great mousers.

 

[so lucky]

There was some "factoid" on NPR this morning that said cats spend a third of their life hunting and killing. Or, in some cats, playing at hunting and killing. Most cats I have known spend 9/10 of their life napping.

 

[Jeni Ann]

We got 3 Bucket cats when we moved on the place (so called because BIL brought them in a 5 gallon bucket). They were murderous little devils. The best hunter died mysteriously @ about 2 years. The female continues to be a menace to little varmints, but the remaining male .... has become not unlike a smallish pig in a long-tailed fur coat. I actually threw him on a mouse running along the garage wall. He ignored the mouse to glare malevolently at me for interrupting his nap. Littermates ... so go figure why one enjoys killing & one does not.
Anyway - I don't think 14 killer cats could knock down the vole population here. It is also most likely why we have Great Horned owls here.

 

[897tgigvib]

28 Golden Eagles?

 

[thistlebloom]

I have had the same experience as @Jeni Ann with littermates. Some are indifferent to hunting and some excel. Some specialize in rodents and some will not leave the birds alone. Those that hunt at my feeders don't ever make it to a great old age. And some like the two I still have are like kids that don't know where real food comes from. They think it just magically appears in their bowl.