# Chipmunks...They are everywhere



## Bondo

> *Chipmunks...They are everywhere*


Ayuh,... Bushytailed Rats you mean,..??

De-con Rat pellet baits.....


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## yesitsconcrete

we used moth balls but that was back in the day when i could catch moths :laughing:


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## mudpaw

I would love to find an answer to ridding my yard of chipmunks. I have tried mothballs and they just dig escape tunnels and start new ones to get away from the fumes/smell. My yard is like crumbling swiss cheese at this point, it has even caved is spots. I would avoid rat poison (d-con). You will have that lovely rotting flesh smell to deal with and well as very likely killing any of your or your neighbor's pets (the poisoned rodents go above ground sometimes and die and then get nibbled on my curious pets who then get poisoned themselves.


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## yesitsconcrete

we had a couple in the front yard & the rest of the family in the back,,, hate to admit this but i shot 'em w/my .22,,, you may select a .410 shotgun or .22 skeet if your shooting's not all that good but always be VERY careful of what's behind the shot :whistling2: just in case you miss.

i've heard they don't like loud rap music ( i know - redundant ! ) but that seems extreme especially in our fuddy-duddy 'hood.


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## Wisco

Yah I guess the live trap will work, I have trapped 2 and moved em to the RR tracks miles away. Told my kid he can use the pellet gun and 2 dollar bounty a head. Funny thing is he accidently let one get out of the trap. That little **** bounded away like a proud Houdini slapping me in the face. I have mudjacked my patio yesterday probably a little because of my striped friends, maybe alot. What was the name of the Bill Murray movie? .


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## Shamus

Caddyshack!

I once used a pellet rifle. Probably got rid of several dozen but that didn't leave a dent in the population.

There is several "shake-away" products. Basically Fox pee in a small granular form. They do work to some extent.

The food source that brings them into your area will keep attracting them regardless of what you do. Remove the source and they leave. Cutting trees down might be a bit extreme.

I currently have squirrels I'm dealing with. Pellet rifle works well but I had to add a scope to assure accuracy shot after shot. This could be a full-time job if I could just get someone to pay me. So far I haven't seen any evidence that the Fox pee has hampered them any.


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## 47_47

Fox urine didn't work for me. Rat poison, trap and shoot. Squirrels are another problem. They are territorial and if you limit the food, you'll keep the population in your yard to a minimum. You will never get rid of them all. The chipmunks stored three of these on the platform I use for storage in my outer garage.


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## Bugzilla

Trapping is the best way to eliminate chipmunks. Live-catch wire mesh traps or common rat snap traps can be used to snare them. If the infestation is severe, it might take several weeks to eliminate the population. Tomahawk and Havahart both make traps for chipmunks. The little rascals also readily enter Ketch-All multi-catch mousetraps. A variety of baits can be used: peanut butter, nut meats, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, raisins, prune slices, or common grain based breakfast cereals. Load the traps with bait and place them where you've seen the most activity.

Bugzilla out --


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## dhag

get some nasty tomcats


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## dbldee20

*Death pool*

Fill a 5 gal bucket 2/3 with water. Cover surface of water with 1" of sunflower seeds(they float) Set a plank of wood 1X6" overlapping the rim of bucket by 5" or so from the ground. Bait the plank with seeds & a small amount of peanut butter. Drop a small spoonful of PB on top of seeds in bucket just out of their reach.
I had tried to rid my yard of these striped rats for years with no success. THIS WORKS EXTREMELY WELL. I drowned 25 in a about 7 days. When I remodeled my kitchen I found they had been nesting over winters in ceiling above my plaster. They got in under cedar siding. I have 2 Pin Oaks in my yard, they love acorns & will nest in your house. 
You will know you got one when the PB is disturbed on surface of seeds. They sink to the bottom after drowning. Dig a hole in ground & pour contents into it. I have dumped out as many as 5 at a time. They LOVE peanut butter!! Make sure they have to jump from the plank(Diving board) to reach the seeds/PB in bucket. If you have squirells, you may have to try to keep them off the bucket. They love the seeds as well but will not go in, they will sit on the rim and eat seeds. Make sure water isn't too close to surface, the chipmunks will hang over rim to get the PB/seeds. They WILL jump for it if they cant reach it. You can just add fresh seed/PB to surface instead of dumping each time.
As of end of last fall I had absolutely no more chipmunks. If you see a few in your yard you have many more than that. I tried poison, traps, bait etc. This works, be patient.


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## Chemist1961

I have seen an artificial motorised owl with a motion sensor built in. It has several settings for scaring off creatures. Apparently works VERY well with Racoons.


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## Scuba_Dave

47_47 said:


> Fox urine didn't work for me. Rat poison, trap and shoot. Squirrels are another problem. They are territorial and if you limit the food, you'll keep the population in your yard to a minimum. You will never get rid of them all. The chipmunks stored three of these on the platform I use for storage in my outer garage.


Is that the right picture?
They stored 3 tractors? :laughing:
Or is it what is in the bucket that they stored?


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## Leah Frances

I want to know if 47_47 likes his Kubota. DH and I are talking about getting one.


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## devid001

dhag said:


> get some nasty tomcats


Good one .. hahaha :laughing: .. cats are good for rats ...


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## 47_47

Scuba_Dave said:


> Is that the right picture?
> They stored 3 tractors? :laughing:
> Or is it what is in the bucket that they stored?


:laughing:



Leah Frances said:


> I want to know if 47_47 likes his Kubota. DH and I are talking about getting one.


I do like my BX24. We've moved quite a bit of dirt (45 yards), stone (30 ton), block for retaining walls, 8' tall Arborvites, removed stumps, installed drain pipe... It is compact, can get into tight spots, well engineered, my wife is very comfortable operating the tractor, but best of all it beats using a shovel and wheel barrow.:thumbsup:

Negatives are the capacity (750 lbs, 4' bucket), digging depth of backhoe and slow cycle rates. 

Initially this is a little small for my projects, but in a few years it will be the right size (and no Scuba_Dave, it is not going to grow). I got it in April of 2007, have ~180 hours and have not had any problems.

You could check out http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/


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## handy man88

I bought the harbor freight special small rodent trap for $9.99 during the summer of last year and in about 3 months, caught the following:

Female Chipmunks - 15
Male Chipmunks - 3
Rat - 1
Cardinal - 5
Squirrel - 2

I ended up drowning the chipmunks and the rat. I released the others, as squirrels actually perform a service, per se, by cleaning up the pear buds from my tree, and don't dig holes.

I used sunflower seeds (shelled and roasted) as bait.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94397


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## dbldee20

Death pool is cheaper!! $2 for the bag of seeds. No need to handle any live critters, they are dead & drowned in the bottom of bucket when you get home from work. All you have to do is dump the contents into open hole in your garden. I put it out one morning & in no more than 10min I had one trying to tread water. They take about 5 or 10min until they give up.


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## Bob Mariani

dbldee20 said:


> Fill a 5 gal bucket 2/3 with water. Cover surface of water with 1" of sunflower seeds(they float) Set a plank of wood 1X6" overlapping the rim of bucket by 5" or so from the ground. Bait the plank with seeds & a small amount of peanut butter. Drop a small spoonful of PB on top of seeds in bucket just out of their reach.
> I had tried to rid my yard of these striped rats for years with no success. THIS WORKS EXTREMELY WELL. I drowned 25 in a about 7 days. When I remodeled my kitchen I found they had been nesting over winters in ceiling above my plaster. They got in under cedar siding. I have 2 Pin Oaks in my yard, they love acorns & will nest in your house.
> You will know you got one when the PB is disturbed on surface of seeds. They sink to the bottom after drowning. Dig a hole in ground & pour contents into it. I have dumped out as many as 5 at a time. They LOVE peanut butter!! Make sure they have to jump from the plank(Diving board) to reach the seeds/PB in bucket. If you have squirells, you may have to try to keep them off the bucket. They love the seeds as well but will not go in, they will sit on the rim and eat seeds. Make sure water isn't too close to surface, the chipmunks will hang over rim to get the PB/seeds. They WILL jump for it if they cant reach it. You can just add fresh seed/PB to surface instead of dumping each time.
> As of end of last fall I had absolutely no more chipmunks. If you see a few in your yard you have many more than that. I tried poison, traps, bait etc. This works, be patient.


I use this method for years. Catch about 6 every night until they are gone. The raccoons and fox loves to tip over the bucket at night to eat the dead chipmunks. My wife hates to see them doggy paddling for hours, but they have to go. healthy plants just fall over after they have eaten the roots clean through.


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## evapman

any chance of a photo of the bucket setup? can't quite picture it?


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## Bob Mariani

evapman said:


> any chance of a photo of the bucket setup? can't quite picture it?


Use any bucket, I use a 5 gallon drywall compound bucket. Fill about 2/3 with water. Float about a handful of sunflower seeds on the water. Now make a ramp to the edge. I use a 3" wide X 4' piece of plywood. Sprinkle some seeds up the blank. At first they will eat those seeds. But soon they dive in after the ones in the tank. They try to hang on the sides, so this is why you need to not overfill the bucket.


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## Tommy2

I have a HUGE Chipmunk problem. We moved in to our house a couple years ago. At first, we thought they were cute, harmless, etc, etc.. but, now Ive come to the conclusion we have got to get rid of them..

They have found away to tunnel under our entryway into the garage/bsmt. They come into the house..Thats where I have to draw the line. They have dozens of holes in the front yard. I'll cover them with rocks or bricks..They just dig around them. They are impossible to discourage.

I also happened to get mice in my garage this year. Likely because they use the Chipmunk tunneling. I caught 4 mice with traps, and also placed some rat poison in the garage, just in case a chipmunk, or rat was living in there. 

Nothing touched the poison or traps for a month. Now all of the sudden the posion pellets have been chewed on, and one pellet is actually missing (theyre pretty big). Theres no way a mouse could do that damage. Whats funny is the peanut butter mouse traps are untouched..Soem type of rat, or probably chipmunk.

Anyways..I really hate to posion anything..but I dont know what else to do. I could do the sunflower bucket thing..but I really dont want anything to suffer unnecessarily (i.e., I dont want to hear it paddling around the bucket for hours).

I bought some special foam sealer Im going to use to try to seal any gaps where I beleive the critters are coming in. I know they can chew threw it..but, theres really no other option. Im not crawling under the stairs to methodically fill gaps with something more solid just to have a chipmunk fall in my face. Im caustrophobic as it is..

Ive used mothballs before..They do seem to work with mice..but of course, they will stink up the area you place them in.. Doubt it will work with chipmunks.

Maybe I can try to put several mothballs in every single hole. Maybe that will irritate them enough to move to the neighbors house..

I should use decorative gravel around the entry way too, instead of mulch. Then it will be inpenetrable.


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## 4just1don

Find a five gallon jug. Fill with water. turn jug over on top of burrow. They will pop up inside jug. From there its up to you if you want to teach them to endurance swim,,,or relocate them.

We first learned we could water drown them out at a one room country school. We hand pumped all the water into coal buckets. Caught the little boogers. We had a sweeping compound can almost full on bottom before the teacher caught us. We had to let them all go!!! This was many a moon ago. Around here they are called striped ground squirrels.

I read,and never tried it myself, BUT someone said bubblegum spread on or near there tunnels. they cant digest that and get stuck up.

Another try might be like mice and rats,,,try a pan of coke a cola. mice and rats cant burp. doubt ground squirrels can either,,if that doesnt work,,stir in some 'golden maldrin' fly bait. it works VERY well for raccoons in the sweet corn patch too. If they get more than 10 feet before they go toes up,,,mix in a bit more fly bait. (Dry weather, and ONLY source of moisture/water improves odds)


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## dbldee20

These rodents will tunnel along your foundation & nest in your home over winter. I found a pretty large nest above my plaster ceiling when i remodeled my kitchen. It sounds like you have a big problem. They will search for food in your home & destroy anything to get at it. If they are in your garage they will soon be in your home if it is connected. THEY ARE RODENTS. They will also destroy numerous plants by eating the roots.
The bucket works. It's so easy & cheap to set up. There is no need to watch them drown. I would set it up before i left for work. You can tell you caught one if the seeds on surface are wet, i use about an inch of seed to cover surface of water. You will never have to handle them, I just dig a hole in my garden & dump the contents into it. They sink to the bottom after drowning. I got rid of at least 20-25 in 7 days of setting it up. By the end of last fall I had no more chipmunks. Move the bucket around your house where ever you see activity. They cannot resist peanut butter. I usually drop a small spoonful on top of the seeds, just out of their reach. I would also smear a tiny bit on the plank leading up to the rim. You want to overlap the rim of the bucket with the plank of wood. I used to think they were cute too, until i found they were nesting in my home. Personally I wont tolerate rodents in my home. They multiply quickly.


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## dbldee20

You may want to try a "have a heart" trap. Im not sure you can find a trap for critters as small as chipmunks. I dumped as many as 5 or 6 at a time from my death pool into ground. They are no different than mice IMO. I wouldn't want mice in my home. I tried numerous types of poison with no luck. I didn't want a neighbors cat to eat the poison so i tried the bucket. Keep in mind if you poison them they may die behind your walls, which will not smell very nice as they start to decay. They only other critter that will mess with the death pool are squirrels, but they will not go in, they just sit on the rim and grab the seed. The chipmunks will hang off the rim to get the seed, so make sure the water/seed is far enough below the rim so they have to jump for it.


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## jkrodger

How would you modify the death bucket for squirrels? Will it work on them?


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## Bob Mariani

No. The squirrels will sit on the ramp and eat all the seeds. But this leaves them a sitting duck for a shotgun blast.


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## dbldee20

maybe a bigger bucket for squirrels? if they can touch the bottom they will probably jump out. you would have to keep seeds/water low enough so they jump in for it. they get pretty comfortable sitting on the rim of a 5gal bucket eating the seeds, so they could easily be shot while feeding. i think squirrels are territorial so i seldom see more than one in my yard.


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## Bob Mariani

your lucky. Usually shortly after shooting one, the next one shows up. I get about 6 a day. Squirrels will just sit and eat. No interest in the seeds in the bucket. It is great for moles, voles, chipmunks and mice and rats. That is about it. At night the raccoons or foxes will clean your your kill so you do not even have to bother it. Avoid looking into the chippy's eyes as he slows down those desperate treading. In fact the way you hunt squirrels is to shoot one, remain silent and still and mark on your map where they land and die. Soon another will look into what is all the noise was. Continue until you have a pot fill. Use a flashlight and gather them all up.


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## yeldarb

*This Works!!!*

I've been plagued by chipmunks for quite a while but this year took the cake. Anyhow - I did the bucket, walk the plank trap - I go 2 yesterday/last night. I went to the trap this AM - 2 dead as rock chipmunks!!! I'm thrilled. I've added 3 more traps - my garden is about 1/2 acre - I've got my fingers crossed - buy what a stroke of genius! Thanks a whole bunch!!! Bill


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