Can you keep voles as pets?

Answer 1

If you want to.

The answer is a qualified "yes", because it depends upon the type of vole in question. Meadow voles should be left alone because they only live three months and simply don't have time to adapt. Also, they can have a rather tricky diet, and often will not eat at all. Red-backed voles are another matter entirely. In captivity they can live up to two years (one less than a domestic mouse), and their dietary concerns are easily met.

Red-backed voles will do well on a diet consisting mostly of dandelion flowers & greens, clover flowers & greens, chickweed, some mixed bird seed, a few shelled sunflower seeds (not too many or your vole with become overweight), the odd raisin and clove of garlic. Try them on a bit of lettuce, beet greens, broken-up bits of broccoli florette, and other supermarket fare. This is important, because overwintering your vole is the biggest concern.

To overwinter your vole, pick a lot of the aforementioned flowers and greens, break them up, place them on sheets of paper towel, and freeze, one layer at a time. This ensures that the greens won't stick together. When you've accumulated enough, place the contents in freezer bags, ideally with the air drawn out.

Keeping voles is a bit of work, and if you're not willing to do the work, don't even think about keeping voles as pets. Neglect is the worst kind of pet abuse. If you are willing to do the work, a vole can make as good a small pet as you can find. They're intelligent, playful, and energetic.

Because voles are rodents, be sure to give them something to chew on. Don't supply them with cedar shavings because they're not good for pets. Ask your pet store for an alternative. Toilet paper and paper towel rolls are ideal, especially because voles need some time to themselves in order to get quality sleep, which prevents a host of health problems. Also, like humans, they need their privacy now and then.

<>

I've switched my voles' diet to mixed bird-seed, whole baby carrots, whole baby beets, the odd whole new potato, sunflower seeds and a bit of lettuce. Paying close attention to their dietary preferences shows that with the onset of winter those preferences have changed. Earlier on in the year they would barely touch a piece of root-vegetable. Obviously their bodies are demanding something more substantial, as resisting the cold burns up more energy.

They would do well on the aforementioned stored greens, as this has worked just fine in the past, but their present diet is far more convenient, more to their liking, and obviously what they want, so I've tossed out the preserved greens.

We live and learn.