Scary when that happens, huh? Happened to me a couple times, and I got weirded out to see something with a head and breathing come out of the ground! My guess is that they're voles. Looks like a small black mouse.

anitamo, you may be right! That also could explain the two very cute rodent babies that I found sitting just inside the garage doors last Sunday when I opened them up. Cute ittle guys with round ears, about an inch big, not moving. I was abe to go behind them and get a pot and place it over them. Once inside a plastic carry-out container, they were moving. They had suffered orthopedic injuries in the act of sliding the dustpan under their pot, so they were not going to live long, anyway. I knew they were not just mice, they looked too cute. I grew up chasing gray field mice in the country with our dogs, and they did not have round ears.

I'll set some flower pots upside down in the garden with apple under them and see if I get any takers. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing? I have IDed and found the way to elliminate them in ony a few hours! Since they may be the ones eating the bark off the Silver Maple they are under, they gotta go.

Scary when that happens, huh? Happened to me a couple times, and I got weirded out to see something with a head and breathing come out of the ground! My guess is that they're voles. Looks like a small black mouse.

Oops, sorry about that double post. I walked away from the computer for a while, and forget that I had already sent it when I returned.

Most voles are dark but that wasn't the first thing that came to mind when I read your post simply because the ears aren't that prominant and that's something you noticed right away about them.

I don't know what you have there but here is a link to info about voles:
Voles

Here's a good photo too:
{{gwi:865171}}

(the ears are indeed round but they don't really stick out as a prominant feature. The tail is not mouse-like.)

Barb
(the ears are indeed round but they don't really stick out as a prominant feature)

So how do you get rid of them because I have many. One keeps eating through my clamtis stems.

Thanks.

There is a poison you can buy. The guy at the garden center told me to put it inside a piece of pipe so that birds wouldn't get it instead of the voles. They always leave little trails around my yard during the winter. I don't mind that, but i had heard that they eat the bark off of shrubs. This spring I found a $200 maple that's about 2 inches in diameter girdled by the little rascals. It's leafed out, but I've been told that it might still die.

Voles are bad. Bad voles.

According to two articles I read, the way to get rid of voles is to put slices of apple under upside-down clay pots. If you find apple pieces with little teeth marks, you've got voles. Then get the old-fashioned spring-loaded traps and put apples on them under the pots. Do not spring the traps for a number of days, then load them and catch the critters once you have gotten their confidence.

The poison in a covered area is good, too.

Barb, I saw no tail or ears on the furry critter going between the garden blocks. It did not seem rodent-shaped, but I only got a glimpse. I guess if mice can go through a dime-sized hole, it must be possible for them to get long and skinny, so maybe it was a vole. It was furry and seemed very black. A giant furry caterpillar seemed the best description, but it was FAST, like a centipede. The mousy part came in when I saw the little babies earlier in the week in the garage. They were way cute and had round ears. Since I have not been able to find a photo of baby voles, I cannot know for sure. I guessed that maybe ears may be more pronounced in rodent infants, as they are in puppies.

Any ideas on the insect end of things?

By the way, Barb, that is the best picture I have seen of a vole. Is it yours? I searched the net and found nothing that good.

It wasn't a weasel was it? Weasels are long and skinny. They probably eat voles.

LOL... no that's not my vole.

I 'do' breed Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamsters though...they are about the same size and don't wreck 200.00 trees *wink wink*.

Barb
Here's my hamstery (below):
Potter's Woods Hamstery, S/W Ontario
http://www.geocities.com/knottyceltic/hams.html

Voles aren't bad. Stupid people. As to clematis, just put a ring of tin foil around the base when it comes up in the spring. Worked for me. I named my vole Ace, keeps me company when I'm gardening.

Wow, I barely remember this conversation, it was 11 years ago! We had dial-up at the time, I think. Glad you are enjoying your wildlife, but calling people who were searching the internet for information stupid, is not helpful.