How do voles live?

Another name is the brown vole, which belongs to the family of rodents. The rat is a narrow distribution species, mainly distributed in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei and other places. Most mice like to live in wet places, especially in depressions with soft soil and dense grass. They are the main rodents in farmland, vegetable fields, orchards and woodlands in some areas. In the hilly orchard at the junction of Henan, Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, apple trees suffered greatly. According to the investigation and statistics of Siheshan Garden in lingbao city, Henan Province, the density of rodents in different ecological environments is 323/ha in wheat field, 195.2/ha in wasteland and 158/ha in woodland. There are 14 1. 1 apple orchards per hectare, and some orchards are as high as more than 300. The perennial damage rate of fruit trees in apple orchards is 4% ~ 5%, and the serious year is 10% ~ 15%.

The food of northern voles is mainly underground rhizomes, especially fresh and juicy food. It has a wide range of feeding habits. The affected plants mainly include reed, white thatch, sedge, locust, paulownia, apricot, pear, wheat, carrot, potato, apple tree and other fruit trees, but they mainly harm the roots of apple trees and potatoes, carrots and wheat. When the apple tree was damaged, the phloem of the root within 30 cm underground was bitten, and the main root of the young tree and the root neck of the fruit tree were most seriously damaged. Winter is the peak of fruit tree damage, especially in the year when heavy snow covers the ground.

[Identification characteristics] The northern vole is a small vole of Carnivora. The body is short, thick and cylindrical. Adult rats are 88 ~ 1 12mm in length, with an average of 102mm. Tail length 1.7 ~ 26 mm, accounting for about 1/4 of body length. Length of hind foot14 ~17 mm. The ears are small and round, and the auricle is almost covered with hair. At rest, it shrinks into a short and thick shape.

The hair color of young rats is light brown, while that of adult rats is thick and long brown or brownish gray mixed with black hair, and the hair base is dark gray. The hair on the side of the body is lighter than that on the back, and it is light brown. The abdomen and the inside of the limbs are slightly milky white, and the hair base is gray. The hair on the instep is sparse and dirty. The tail hair is dark brown above, white at the top and gray below. The skull is short, wide, flat, angular and strong zygomatic arch. The orbital part is wide, generally more than 4 mm, with obvious pits in the middle. The tooth structure is simple. The third maxillary molar has three lobes on the inside and only two lobes on the outside.

【 Occurrence characteristics 】 Rattus norvegicus is a kind of rat that lives in underground tunnels. The cave structure is complex, and the cave system is generally composed of ground mounds, gullies, trunk roads, warehouses, toilets, nests and so on. A complete rat hole has an area of 20-50 square meters, a depth of 0.4-0.6 meters and a length of 20-40 meters. A hole has 2 ~ 3 warehouses, 2 ~ 4 mice, about 8 more, and holds 500 ~ 1 0,000 grams of food. Northern voles have the habit of pushing soil to seal holes. It takes 7 ~ 15 minutes to open a hole in sunny days, and it usually takes 2 ~ 3 minutes to seal the hole in windy days. When digging the tunnel, the mound was pushed out of the ground. So a number of small mounds were formed on the ground, with a general diameter of 14 ~ 20cm, and the hole was below the mounds.

The northern vole is active day and night. Mainly at night, the peak of activity appears from 0: 00 to 5: 00 at night, and there is no activity after 6: 00 in general. There are two peak periods in the daytime, namely, 8 ~ 10 and 18 ~ 20. Each activity lasts about 2 hours, and the activity decreases in rainy days or strong winds. During the day, he often moves in hidden places such as wheat fields and weeds. After the heavy snow in winter, the snow is squeezed under the snow to form a snow trail, which is connected with the hole on the ground, and the roots and bases of the trunk are eaten by the snow trail, so the fruit trees suffer more after the heavy snow in winter. When there is little or no snow, the sun is warm, and branches are piled below for food.

The northern vole migrates twice a year. In the hilly and mountainous areas of western Henan, they moved from orchards to barren slopes, ridges and woodlands in late spring and early summer; In late autumn and early winter, it moved to orchard farmland. The reasons for migration are related to food sources, climate, agricultural activities and breeding density. Frequent farming activities in orchards and farmland in spring and summer destroy and interfere with their normal living environment. The barren hillsides, stems and woodlands are overgrown with weeds, with good hidden conditions and safety. Grassroots, stems and roots provide them with rich food. In winter, agricultural activities in orchards and farmland are reduced, and wheat roots and fruit tree phloem are tender, smooth and juicy, sweet and delicious, which is harmful to moving into orchards and farmland. The mice that moved into the orchard burrowed into the ground under the snow or injured the roots of fruit trees, bit off the lateral roots, girdled the root bark of the main roots or the base of the trunk, weakened the tree, and led to the death of the whole tree. The peak period of damage is from winter solstice to March and April of the following year.

Rattus norvegicus likes to live in groups, with an average of 5-7 rats per hole, up to 16 rats at most. Male and female * * * live in the same cave, and the young rats are sexually mature for 8 ~ 10 months, leaving the old nest to form a new nest to breed offspring.

Rattus norvegicus can breed all year round, and the peak of breeding is in March-May and 8- 10. Breeding twice a year, each fetus gives birth to 2 ~ 4 babies, and some can reach 5 ~ 6.

【 Integrated control 】 According to the living habits of MICROTUS fortis, it should be killed in orchards in winter and spring. At this time, the vegetation is sparse, the food is poor, and it is easy to find the hole, which is a favorable opportunity to kill people. The following measures can be taken:

(1) Artificial deratization: Find out the local activity law of rats and carry out artificial deratization. Siheshan Garden in lingbao city, Henan Province has a very successful experience, and the effect is very good. Please refer to relevant chapters and materials for specific operations.

(2) Rodent killing with instruments: Rodents can be killed with mousetrap boxes, spring pliers and other instruments. This is a special mousetrap developed according to the habit of underground rats blocking holes.

Ventilation and light-transmitting mesh doors are installed at both ends of the mousetrap box, one end is a fixed door and the other end is a movable door. First dig a rat hole, insert the movable end into the rat hole for 3 ~ 4 cm, and block it tightly with soil. Before blocking the hole, the vole entered the box, looked inside and outside, touched the switch, the movable door closed, and the mouse was trapped in the box and arrested.

Spring pliers are made by bending a steel wire into two turns with different sizes. The small circle is equipped with an automatic switch. Put the circle into a hole 5 ~ 10 cm away. When the vole pushes the soil, its head enters the circle and triggers the switch to clamp the mouse.

(3) Rodent tube bombing: LB- 1 Rodent tube is a new product specially developed by relevant units for killing northern voles. It has the characteristics of not detonating explosives, high efficiency, low cost, safety and convenience, and is well received by the masses. According to the habit of blocking the hole of vole, the rodent control tube was placed 6 ~ 7 cm in the hole with an external power supply. When the vole came out to block the hole, the pushed soil came into contact with the power supply, which led to the explosion of the mouse control tube and crushed the mouse to death. Generally, the effect of frying a mouse with one tube is over 95%.

(4) Poisonous bait trapping and killing: Living in the northern vole camp, food is scarce in winter and spring, so using poisonous bait trapping and killing is very effective. The bait can be fresh and juicy carrots, potatoes, apple branches, cabbage sticks, etc. Cut the bait into strips with a width of 0.5 cm and a length of 3 ~ 5 cm, and make it into 1.5% dichlorvos or 0.005% bromadiolone bait when using. Choose a hole with rats in the field and put 2 ~ 3 poisonous baits, with a depth of 15 ~ 20cm. As soon as the voles came out, they dragged the bait into the hole and ate it together, causing the whole nest of voles to be poisoned and die. It works best in late autumn to early spring.

(5) Biological deratization: Pay attention to protecting natural enemies of rodents, such as owls and snakes, and create their suitable living conditions to give play to the deratization function of natural enemies.

The above measures cooperate with each other to effectively control the harm of voles. Poison bait trapping can suppress the peak of voles in a short time, and kill residual rats with mousetraps, mousetraps boxes, spring pliers and other instruments. Improve the ecological environment of orchard, worsen the living conditions of rodents, protect and utilize natural enemy resources as supporting measures, consolidate the rodent control effect and control rodent damage in the medium and long term.