Getting rid of chipmunks

[falcon2]

A couple of bushy tailed rats are undermining my front porch.
I tried sprinkling a few sunflower seeds around and sitting up on my roof with a .308 waiting for the little bastards to poke thier noses out. Unfortuately this is not nearly as entertaing as it sounds, and my neighbors started acting weird.

The hardware store has stuff to get rid of gophers, moles, dogs, cat, rats, deer and snakes, but nada for chipmunks.

Anyone have any tips?

[funneefarmer]

Live box traps, they're made of wire and come in various sizes. The place around here that carries them is Central Tractor, an agriculture type retailer (don't know if this is a national chain) It would seem that Nasco (a mail order ag. retailer) would also carry it and they're on the web, I think. Slap a couple of nuts in there an Voila, Chipmunk. Then, my suggestion, sneak over to your neighbors open window and drop them inside for some cheap entertainment.

[Akatsukami]

Well, one possibility for getting rid of chipmunks is a cat. Of course, it's necessary to get a useful cat. Ours has caught four, but only killed one; the others were delivered, live, to the patio, and allowed to run loose. I suppose that they may have died of trauma or infection later, but not where we could see (or smell) them. Our cat also suffered the humiliation of having a chipmunk run over her whilst lying on the lawn: up her rump, over the back, and down the nose. This provided us with several minutes of amusement at her expense.


If cats are too uncertain, and shooting chipmunks too boring, I would suggest rat traps. My mother-in-law uses them to catch the chipmunks that her green tomatoes (I don't care for tomatoes myself, and wouldn't care if the Argyle rats carried the whole vine back to their burrows). A little peanut butter on the trigger as bait, and, voila!, dead chipmunk.


I will note that if the local fauna include such carnivores/scavengers as raccoons and coyotes (as the wildfire in my neighborhood does), you may find the traps disappearing; these critters would rather be served chipmunk on a shingle than hunt their own.

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"Kings die, and leave their crowns to their sons. Shmuel HaKatan took all the treasures in the world, and went away."

[aseymayo]

Why must it include killing? How about laying a trail of peanuts and when they're out, you seal up the place where they get under your porch? They'll go elsewhere - isn't there room enough in the world for you AND chipmunks?

Or there's the "leave them alone" option - how much damage can they really do to your porch? Have they started carrying out sackfuls of dirt, or are they wearing tiny mining helmets? If not, you could just let them stay under the porch and flip them peanuts occasionally.

[EnigmaOne]

{{{I tried sprinkling a few sunflower seeds around and sitting up on my roof with a .308 waiting for the little bastards to poke thier noses out. Unfortuately this is not nearly as entertaing as it sounds, and my neighbors started acting weird.}}}---falcon2

ROFLMAO!!! I needed that! Thanks.

A .308" is just the teeniest bit of over-kill, donchathink? The ammo is too expensive, and you'd have nothing left to mount over your mantle.

Try a .22. I'd recommend a Ruger 10/22--loads of fun to empty out a 50 round magazine on a Sunday afternoon.

Uh, don't wear the cammo's on the roof either--I have noticed that the most balanced of neighbors get a bit edgy when they see an armed person, dressed in cammoflauge fatigues, in a strategically advantageous position. ;)

Ok, now that I've mortified and alienated the animal rights activists.....

Call your local humane society and ask them to recommend a few agencies who specialize in trapping and relocating the pests. To those who don't realize the significance in such animals undermining the structure of a home....believe me, they can do horrendous amounts of damage if allowed to dig unchecked--not all homes are possessed of a slab foundation.

Good luck!



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--Kalél
(The Original EnigmaOne)

[EnigmaOne]

{{{No C&P}}}

As an afterthought:

Don't wear a USPS uniform either. The neighbors will call out the SWAT Team for sure!



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--Kalél
(The Original EnigmaOne)

[falcon2]

I normally wouldn't say this, but these fuzzy bastards have exhausted my patience.

How about laying a trail of peanuts and when they're out, you seal up the place where they get under your porch. They'll go elsewhere

You honestly dont have a clue do you? I tried flushing it with water to get them out, and filling the burrow entrances with rocks, and the next day, theres a a couple more holes. I tried sticking mothballs down the hole, which is supposed to repell them, but they just chuck them out.


Or there's the "leave them alone" option - how much damage can they really do to your porch?

My neighbor across the street just payed $7200 to have his porch replaced because it was undermined by the vermin and settled, cracking it to pieces. I'll leave them alone if YOU want to pick up the tab, ok?

Didn't think so.

[mangeorge]

I'm with asseymayo. I've lived with chipmunks (outside) and we got used to each other. they don't really hurt anything, and they're fun to watch. Kids love 'em, and you get to be mr. nice guy.
Enjoy your sensitive side, falcon2. ;)
Peace,
mangeorge

[According to Pliny]

Well, I once saw this cartoon where Donald Duck crammed 500 sticks of TNT into the hole and...uh, nevermind, it didn't work and the two little bastards just came back to torment him in the next cartoon.

[Jophiel]

Try fox urine. You can get it at most larger garden centers and supposively it works well against most small beaties (I know it works well on rabbits). There's also some company, Smokey Mountian something-or-another that has a website about it, so that probably doesn't help you much. But trust me, I've heard good things about it. You apply it (it comes in a bottle) to little holders and stick them about every 15 feet or so. Makes the little guys think there's a fox about so they find a new home. Also comes in coyote, lynx, and wolf flavors.

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"I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn't."

[Ringo]

I've got a barely used ultrasonic rat blaster I'll let ya have cheap.

[falcon2]

Ok mangeorge, asseymayo and any other tree hugging freaks out there. They are UNDER MY PORCH, and the can and do cause REAL DAMAGE. Which could cost me THOUSANDS of dollars. Maybe may sarcasm was lost on you, but I did not really sit on my roof with a freaking ELK rifle shooting at chipmunks.

I dont really care where the hell they live as long as it is not under my porch, and all things being equal, I would rather not have their rotting carcasses stinking up the joint.

So if you got any remotely plausible suggestions that will make them pack up their little chimpumk bags and move 15 feet I'm interested.
But if you just want to tell me to coexist at a potentaily tremedous expense to me, let me remind you that such cash could be donated to save wolves, whales, wetlands, and whatnot if the freaking chipmonks would just MOVE!

[aseymayo]

Falson2, I'm sorry if I impugned your character, but you sounded set on extermination. I didn't think chipmunks could be that destructive, but if you say they are, I believe you.

So how about consulting a real expert? We have a pest control guy in town who specializes in trapping and removing small animals and relocating them. Try the yellow pages. Or as EnigmaOne said, call the humane society. It might cost you a few bucks, but it can't cost more than new porch.

[Jorge]

The ultrasonic boxes are worthless. What does work, though:

Get a Nagra, or other fine tape recorder; a rat box-type (live) trap; some #20 copper wire, a razor blade, some salt, a lantern battery, several q-tips, a rasp, one roll duct tape, a 2-ft square piece of plywood, some curtains, and a bottle of tequila.

1. drink tequila;
2. put plywood on ground, surround with curtains [for privacy];
3. set up microphone and recorder on corner of the plywood;
4. set up battery on adjacent corner;
5. catch one critter of target species;
6. use remaining equipment to torture said critter, putting it down humanely after one side of tape;
7. splice tape into loop, then play it daily with a small speaker set under the porch (I'd seen this work at an overseas military base - with rats).

Or follow the best piece of advice given so far on this thread: call a professional, which could be found in either the Yellow Pages or via the local animal control officer. The pro will have the techniques, the permits, etc... and costs on the order of a C-note.

Good luck ! It can be real aggravating, what you've got now.

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"Proverbs for Paranoids, 1: You may never get to touch the Master, but you can tickle his creatures."
- T.Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow.

[Joey P]

Try fox urine. You can get it at most larger garden centers and supposively it works well against most small beaties (I know it works well on rabbits). There's also some company, Smokey Mountian something-or-another that has a website about it, so that probably doesn't help you much. But trust me, I've heard good things about it. You apply it (it comes in a bottle) to little holders and stick them about every 15 feet or so. Makes the little guys think there's a fox about so they find a new home. Also comes in coyote, lynx, and wolf flavors.
__________________________________________
flavors???

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Formerly known as Nec3f on the AOL SDMB

[Omniscient]

Hey, I'm all for killing the little fuckers. Provided that you make a sport out of it. With all the tree huggers about, I felt it needed to be said. Happy Hunting.

[eggo]

one great "trap" that i have discovered is actualy one that my dad invented here is a diagram:

<pre>
________
| |
| |
| / \ | ground__
____|/ \|___________|___

^--hard for critters to fit through


critter comes up through
his critter hole into the
trap and discovers there
is no way out but the way
he came, he tries to go
back through but the inward
tilted sheet metal is
unforgiving and scrapes
all the skin off his back
and belly. the inposing
critter than bleeds to death
in his burrow. thus making
the other critters not like
to live there, and they will
leave. after they are gone,
fill the hole with cement.
</pre>

i hope this helps


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i am on a never-ending quest to eliminate capital letters

[Narile]

One thing my Grandmother used to do was bury up to the neck a couple of bottles with screw on lids, fill the bottles with a measure of ammonia, then around dusk/dawn, when the monks are most active, uncork the bottles. You cork the bottles up the rest of the time to avoid to harsh a scent in the yard. She used this for the garden and it did work.


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&gt;&gt;Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry....unless the other guy is bigger than you.&lt;&lt;

---The dragon observes

[falcon2]

I'm sorry if I impugned your character, but
you sounded set on extermination.
Or as EnigmaOne said, call the humane society.

Ffft. They advised me to call an exterminator.

So far fox whizz is the best solution proposed. I have cats but the like hunting small more annoying animals like furbies. And since I have cats, I cant really use mechanical traps. I wonder if getting my dog to leak out front would do the trick.

Jorge: have you tested that tequenique or did you you learn it in applied psychopathy 101?

[C K Dexter Haven]

"Live with them" ??? Well, sure, if they're just digging up your backyard, maybe. But when they start to burrow under the porch or sidewalk or steps, they can undermine the concrete and it can be very expensive to replace.

My neighbour and I have had this problem for the last few summers. We've tried about everything, like sitting on the porch with a BB-gun, water, blocking up the tunnels, etc. My dog is useless, he'll chase them but he doesn't catch them.

We found two approaches that are effective:

(a) Call a pest-control company. They put out the wire cages that funneefarmer suggested, although they said they use peanut butter as bait. The cages trap the chimpmunks and the pest-control people then drive them out to the woods far away to let 'em loose. Cost depends on how many they trap, but ranged from $200 to $300. Cheaper to do it yourself, if you wanna buy the cages and drive the li'l buggers out to the woods. You need to check the traps every day, of course, because you just wanna get rid of 'em, you don't wanna cause them suffering being locked up for days without food or water.

(b) Rat poison works. The hardware stores around us are forbidden to tell you how to kill chipmunks -- not sure why -- but we experimented with various poisons, and found rat poison was effective. Mouse poison, no, but rat poison, yes.

CAUTION -- you don't wanna leave that stuff out for birds, dogs, cats, squirrels, or stray children. I dumped the rat poison down the chipmunk hole, so that only the 'munks would eat it, and they presumably died in their holes. (I kept a careful look out because I didn't want dead poisoned bodies lying around for the dog or crows to pick at.) It took about four or five days, when I blocked up the holes and they didn't unblock them.

Before the Anti-Cruelty to Chipmunk Society gets after me, I want to stress I only did this to the holes around the concrete foundations of the porch, and the steps. The ones out in back by the tree, I left alone. I don't approve of massacring harmless li'l beasts, but when they dig under the concrete they ain't harmless.

[Markxxx]

Basically you are suggesting "offing" Chip & Dale?

[TubaDiva]

Basically you are suggesting "offing" Chip & Dale?

"Chip & Dale" damn near burned our house down for us; they like to chew on wiring.

The chewing on the wires managed to short out our air conditioner; it needed extensive repair and rewiring last summer, we had to have it replaced this year, wiring and all. Thanks, guys.

Little bastards also ruined our Jacuzzi; they chewed the wiring out of it AND ripped stuffing out of the top as well.

Since this house is on a slab, we're naturally concerned about where they might burrow.

The long and short of it, you might think they're cute as hell but I'm here to tell you, them's our natural enemy.

We usually don't believe in outside cats, but one took up with us and he's a good hunter; we have seen no chipmunks in quite some time. We've also had quite a few shrews and moles dumped on our doorstep as well, but if that's the price of safety, sorry boys, move further out in the woods and away from the house.

your humble TubaDiva
nature is fine, far as it goes . . . the edge of the yard is far enough!

PS We also have a snake killing dog, terrier mix puppy; she's found and killed 3 rattlesnakes this summer alone. They can stay out of the yard too . . . or take their chances. (I'm betting on the dog.)

[jayron 32]

Well, the method I have seen be the most effective is mothballs. Use either naptha or PDB balls, doesn't matter which. They also sell bottled naphtha, works well too, but teh balls are the best. Dump 4-5 mothballs down every chipmunk hole you can find. The chipmunks will find their lair unliviable as the whole thing fills with napthalene (or paradichlorobenzene, depending) fumes. Even if you miss a few holes, the whole lair fills up with fumes. The chipmunks get so fed up they tend to get quite far away from your yard. Your neighbors may find their steps starting to slump, but yearly mothballings are a humane way to keep the little beasties from your lawn.

Also, another method is "de-grubbing" you lawn; as chipmunks feed on grubs, by reducing their foodsourcs you can cut down on them. More expensive, though. I recommend the mothball method. Humane and fairly successful if you are diligent.

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Jason R Remy

"One pill makes you taller, and one pill makes you small, but the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all"
-- Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit (Slick, G. 1966)

[EnigmaOne]

{{{1. drink tequila;}}}---Jorge

Ummmmmmm! Tequila!

{{{PS We also have a snake killing dog, terrier mix puppy; she's found and killed 3 rattlesnakes this summer alone. }}}---TUBADIVA

Fry 'em up! They's good eatin'!



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--Kalél
(The Original EnigmaOne)
Common ¢ for all ages.

[TubaDiva]

{{{PS We also have a snake killing dog, terrier mix puppy; she's found and killed 3 rattlesnakes this summer alone. }}}---TUBADIVA

Fry 'em up! They's good eatin'!

Dog's too big to fry up now; she's about 9 months old.

your humble TubaDiva

[EnigmaOne]

{{{Dog's too big to fry up now; she's about 9 months old.}}}---TubaDiva

ROFLMAOPIMPSTCAN!!!

Youse A Shweetheart! I needed that. :D

....ya caught me drinking Pepsi this time too.



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--Kalél
(The Original EnigmaOne)
Common ¢ for all ages.

[DougC]

- - - This is what air rifles are for.
-
- Spring-piston airguns make much less noise than any .22 round, even shorts. Some people argue for using "humane methods" but they don't bother to "relocate" cockroaches or termites and it isn't their house at risk. I'm not particularly fond of hunting (I never did go shoot the pigeons), but there is no shortage of chipmunks. Shooting them is the safest, fastest, cheapest way to get rid of them and done prudently, it doesn't endanger anything else at all. $50 for a rifle, $3.00 for 250 pellets - that's 250 chipmunks. Will an exterminator kill 250 chipmunks for $53.00?
- You should warn the neighbors in advance so that they don't think you've flipped when they see you toting a gun around the yard. The chipmunks are used to people being around so camo clothes aren't necessary. After yours disappear after two or three days, they may even ask you to do theirs. For general info go to http://www.airgunletter.com
-
- If I lived near you, I'd do it , for a small fee ;-) - MC

[Akatsukami]

jayron 32 writes:Also, another method is "de-grubbing" you lawn; as chipmunks feed on grubs, by reducing their foodsourcs you can cut down on them.
Chipmunks do not feed on grubs to any noticeable extent; they eat the same things as their larger cousins, the tree rats (a/k/a gray squirrels): seeds, fruits, and assorted vegetable matter. Animal tissue of any kind makes up only a small portion (<15%) of their diet.


You may be thinking of moles, which do eat grubs, and, in the process of finding them, dig tunnels under the lawn. They seldom undermine masonry, however (no grubs, hence no reason to dig there).

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"Kings die, and leave their crowns to their sons. Shmuel HaKatan took all the treasures in the world, and went away."

Chipmunks do not feed on grubs to any noticeable extent; they eat the same things as their larger cousins, the tree rats (a/k/a gray squirrels): seeds, fruits, and assorted vegetable matter. Animal tissue of any kind makes up only a small portion (<15%) of their diet.

Chipmunks also seem to have a fondness for sparkplug wires that are used in Saturn vehicles. I'm not the only Saturn owner in my area that has found the wires chewed off, and a heap of acorn shells left in the holes the wires had previously been in.
Can't imagine what is so delicious about silicone insulation. BTW, the liddle cuties also shredded the insulation blanket (fiberglass) under the hood of my car, and made a nest in the air filter after chewing their way in.


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FixedBack

"Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity."~~G.K.Chesterton 1908

You may be thinking of moles, which do eat grubs, and, in the process of finding them, dig tunnels under the lawn. They seldom undermine masonry, however (no grubs, hence no reason to dig there).

Moles are certainly capable of undermining an above ground swimming pool! I learned this firsthand as I helplessly watched our first pool flood the back/side yard through a maze of tunnels. The pressure of the water had pressed the vinyl liner into the tunnel, and apparently in an effort to remove it, the mole perforated the liner. Bet he was surprised! I sure was.
For what it's worth, the mole drowned. Pretty expensive way to kill moles, i'd say.




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FixedBack

"Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity."~~G.K.Chesterton 1908

[Patricinus Scriblerus]

Just give Dave a call and tell him to come pick up Alvin, Simon and Theodore.

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You sound reasonable....it must be time to up my medication

[C K Dexter Haven]

How much chipped gunk could a chimpmunk munch if a chipmunk munched chipped gunk?

[manhattan]

Guns? Water? LET THEM LIVE???

For Chrissakes, just slow down the record player.

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Livin' on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine