Pick a language
English flag Italian flag Korean flag Portuguese flag German flag French flag Spanish flag Japanese flag Russian flag Greek flag Dutch flag                               
How to get rid of stuff » Pest Problems » How to Get Rid of Chipmunks
 

How to Get Rid of Chipmunks

August 29th, 2006 by admin
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (38)
Loading ... Loading ...
Republish     Print This Guide Print This Guide     Email This Post Email This Post        
 

a chipmunkIt’s hard to think violent thoughts against furry little critters like chipmunks. But when your landscaped garden looks like someones idea of a garden shoot-out, it’s time to get down and dirty. When these furry critters have claimed your garden as their playground and blocked your pipes with their fur balls it’s time to get rid of them. Of course, knowing your enemy will give you lots of advantages. But before waging an all-out chipmunk extermination campaign, here’s the lowdown on your furry foes.

Having Chipmunk Problems?

They may look like tree-living squirrels with their tiny noses, puffed cheeks, and bushy tails, but chipmunks are not baby squirrels. Believe it or not, the two are different but related animals. Chipmunks are ground squirrels; they are the burrowing cousins of the larger tree-climbing species. This, of course, explains the pockmarked look of your garden lot. These furry critters dig and build their homes and shelters underground. This is what sets them apart from their tree-loving relatives, which spend most of their time in trees.

Aside from their choice of real estate and relative smallness, chipmunks differ from their cousins by possessing identifying stripes. Chipmunks are distinguished by two broad black stripes that run from the tops of their heads to their rounded rumps. This is the most telltale sign that the critter chewing your spring flower bulb is a chipmunk. That, and the shrill “chip chip” retort they make when you dash out at them with your newspaper in hand.

Approaches to Chipmunk Control

a chipmunk eating in the parkBefore deciding on how to get rid of chipmunks, it is important to learn their habits. Chipmunks are mighty eaters. They spend their life eating, foraging, and storing food. What is the key to getting rid of chipmunks? The key is finding out what chipmunks eat. Chipmunks eat anything and everything from grass to your pizza crusts. Their main diet usually includes fungi, plants, nuts, grains, seeds, and the occasional insect. If worse comes to worst, chipmunks are also known to catch small birds and small rodents like shrews though they do not actively look for these hardy protein sources; they are content to search the ground for edible finds. Chipmunks are not born to be climbers, but they have been observed climbing roofs, poles, trees, and bird feeders to gather seeds, acorns and nuts.

Aside from food, chipmunks are also wary of very open spaces, which is not surprising since they live underground. They tend to stay within shaded areas even while looking for food. Their burrows are usually built in the shade of solid matter like a tree stump or your porch. In your bid to eradicate chipmunks, these are two weaknesses you should exploit to put an end to your chipmunk problems.

*Reader Tip* Several readers have had success with the "bucket method." Here's the original tip from Jonathan: "You can get a bucket of water and float sunflower seeds at the top. Make a ramp to get to the bucket. It's a foolproof method: the chipmunk cant get out."

Getting Rid Of Chipmunks

a catNow that you know their weaknesses, it’s time to put your knowledge into action. As much as these furry critters wreak havoc in your garden, one can hardly think of shooting them into extinction. There are many other ways to get rid of chipmunks so be creative.

An inexpensive chipmunk control option is to keep a pet. In the urban jungle, cats can be an effective (and fuzzy) weapon against these feisty fur balls. If you’re feeling adventurous, take your pick from badgers, weasels or hawks. These are the natural predators of chipmunks. They stalk their prey in the shade and the poor chipmunk won’t have any idea what happened until it hits the predator’s tummy.

a trapped chipmunkFor a less morbid option, live chipmunk traps are effective elimination tools that are sold in most hardware stores. You can get a couple of comfortable size traps and just add seeds, nuts, oats or whatever your chipmunk fancies. Secure the traps in shaded areas or wherever your enemy frequently hangs out. Patience is not even required because where there is food, chipmunks will come. Once trapped, drive to the far side of town and let the critters out. Better yet, drop them off in the nearest national park.

If these don’t work, just give these fur balls a taste of their own medicine. The trick to getting these chipmunks to leave your place willingly is to limit their food supply. You don’t have to strip your garden bare; just spray pepper solution or hot sauce on your plants and the places where your furry friend stays and surely, they’ll move out.

Still, if these tricks don’t work, your chipmunks are a hardy bunch. Just dial pest control and invest in a professional chipmunk extermination program. Now, that’s a foolproof way to get rid of chipmunks.




Other Articles of Interest


 

 
Previous Tips »
  1. September 29th, 2009 at 6:51 am    PJM Says:

    I spent $7000 paving my driveway this summer. Discovered a golf ball size hole near my house with the start of a sink hole around it. I filled it with small stones and called the paving company and told them how dissapointed I was in their job. After 1 day the hole re-appeared and saw chipmunks going in and out. WOW, can you imagine that they could dig a hole in pavement??? Never heard of that in my life. I hate to kill them as they have never bothered our property before, but I am not repaving the driveway either, someone has to go.

  2. August 27th, 2009 at 9:23 am    RC Says:

    The (formally cute) little buggers are wrecking my plants. I went by a wilting flowering perennial grabbed a leaf and it came right out of the ground no root…. Being a former engineer with the bucket method how big a bucket and how high should the water in the bucket? I’m sure there is an optimal.

  3. August 5th, 2009 at 12:58 pm    sean Says:

    I love the bucket method, because we live in the woods we have at least 30 chipmunks making holes across our yard and driving our dog nuts. I have spent months shooting them, and filling in their holes. I even tried dropping an m-80 in to one of their burrows after it ran in.

    This mini war aginst chipmunks has turned out like Vietnam; me hopelessly hunting through the forest tring to blast out an underground enemy that knows how to navigate far better than me.

    But now that’s over, that’s right chipmunks now you’re gonna have to deal with my bucket of DOOM!!!! (evil laughter)

  4. July 21st, 2009 at 1:12 pm    sweetkimxo Says:

    This is our second season trying the bucket method and this year we have sucessfully removed 31 chipmunks and 9 mice and moles. This method is the most effective that we have tried…where there is one there are many…many.

  5. July 18th, 2009 at 8:22 am    Brian Says:

    The bucket method worked great five minutes after I put it out. I cut an apple in half and floated it in the water and smeared sunbutter (rather than peanut butter) on the sides of the bucket. I did not use a ramp because I put it next to the stairs of our deck. Alvin held on to the side and licked some sunbutter and then fell into the death bucket. One down and who knows how many to go, but the war is on!

  6. July 17th, 2009 at 7:31 pm    Kelly Says:

    Is anyone aware that chipmunks are protected in Pennsylvania?

  7. July 15th, 2009 at 12:58 pm    Barry Says:

    Tried the bucket method. Racoons seemed to like it. Never found any chipmunk corpses though.
    Using rat traps worked great. Inexpensive, easy to build, bait and remove chipmunk corpses, doesn’t hurt birds, cats etc, and not an eyesore.
    To make a trap out of 3/4″ x 5 1/2″ – 6′ cheap dressed lumber cut 4 pcs to 15″ (top, bottom and sides)and 1 endcap pc to 5 1/2 x 4″. Screw and glue the bottom pc into the face of each of the two side pcs. Screw the end piece into one end of the box. Screw i pc scrap lumber cut to 3/4″ x 1 1/2″ – 4″ into the top of the insides of the uncapped end. The end cap and piece of 1×2 block one end of the box and keep the box from warping too much. The remaining 15″ pc of 1×6 is for the box lid. Hinge the lid to the box if you wish but it isn’t necessary.
    Paint all of the wood dark green so that it blends in with the colour of grass.
    Drill two small (1/8″)holes near the center of the end cap. Using 20#,about 23″ long nylon fishing line tie one end of the line to the holes in the box end cap end the other end to a rat trap. Keeps the trap weighted to the box.
    Pull the rat trap out of the box, bait it with peanut butter with sunflour seeds stuck in it, set the trap and gently slide the trap into about the center of the box. Sprinkle a few sunflower seeds onto and around the rat trap, front side and rear.
    Set the trap outside out of site if possible. When you trap a chipmunk its tail will stick outside of the box. Check the trap often though as sometimes a chipmunk will eat all of the peanut butter and sunflower seeds without setting off the trap. How they do that is beyond me. The box lid protects the trap and bait from unwanted victims and rain and makes inserting and removing the trap inside the box easier and safer.
    I built 3 traps. They all work great and are rapidly reducing our neighborhood chipmunk population.

  8. July 14th, 2009 at 7:11 pm    cory Says:

    I would like to get rid of my adorable chippies but I will NOT resort to killing them. I’m thinking of renting a live trap and releasing them about a mile away. The only reason that I want to get rid of them is that I heard that they dig burrows about 30 feet long and I don’t want anything collapsing. I also want to make sure that I don’t trap a “mom” chippie with babies. Does anyone know about their reproduction times?

  9. July 13th, 2009 at 2:12 pm    Jeff Holmes Says:

    I subscibe to the bucket method, as well. Just drowned 15 (+4 mice) in the last 4 days. I put out four, 5 gallon buckets positioned next to steps, wood piles, rocks so the little critters could see in, thus I didn’t even need a ramp. This works, but the seeds must be refreshed almost daily, as they eventually get water logged and sink and the chipmunks will not go in the water knowingly – small price to pay for a straightforward and inexpensive solution…I’m happy.

  10. July 13th, 2009 at 8:05 am    Carol S Says:

    I used the bucket method (why send them to someone else’s yard?). Would you send mice to someone else’s yard? Nevermind the plants, these little critters have destroyed our driveway. They burrowed under the garage and made a sink hole in the driveway. We first noticed a pile of dirt inside the garage. I have holes all over my lawn. Within a week,I have gotten 15 of them. I would see them running all over the place and then dart under my porch and house. I hate to think what they have been doing under there.

Previous Tips »


 






Copyright © 2006 by howtogetridofstuff.com