I'm getting ready to spread a ton of mulch around the house, but we have a bit of a chipmunk problem. I wouldn't call it an infestation, but between the chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits I could be running a petting zoo.
Back to the problem. I want to get rid of the chipmunks before I lay the mulch because they're digging holes all over the beds. What's the best way to get rid of them? I don't really care about being humane here, I'm looking for effectiveness. A friend of mine told me to soak up bacon fat with cotton balls and place them near the holes. They eat them, can't digest them, and die. I don't need a reason to cook bacon and if the grease will help me kill off these pests even better. I just worry about local outdoor pets getting into the cottonballs. What would you guys suggest?
After doing some more poking around I found this method which I'm going to employ in the next couple days.
Take a five gallon bucket, fill it half full with water and coat the top with sunflower seeds. Place it near a step and create a ramp leading to the bucket from the step and make sure to let a little of the ramp hang over the lip of the bucket to create a diving board. Sprinkle a few seeds leading up the ramp. Those chippies will effectively walk the plank and end up drowning in the bucket. I'll let you know how it works.
How much of an effect is this having on your landscape? If your landscape looks like a 10 with no holes what would you rate it with the holes? How much labor is involved in raking your mulch once in a while to smooth it out?
There is a term called integrated pest management that entails tolerating a certain level of damage from pests, insects, disease, etc. before it becomes neccesary to eradicate it. It is more in balance with the ecosystem and cheaper in the long run.
I understand that mice in the house is a bad thing and need to be treated. I understand that grubs eating a lawn needs to be treated (grubs are usually a sign of bigger problems which should be addressed first).
So all the squirrells, chipmunks, and rabbits must die because of some holes in your mulch?
I DO NOT AGREE WITH YOUR LOGIC.
Why not scare the animals away from your yard. Some urine from predators sprayed around the yard will work. Recordings of predators that play randomly to will scare away the creatures. Let your dog spend more time outdoors to encourage creatures to find a new home.
I pray that an alien life form doesn't happen upon our planet and see us as insignificant little creatures that need to be 'gotten rid of'.
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As a father I was always aware that I was raising my sons to leave home, marry, establish families, and be men who could stand on their own two feet. We must fulfill our own destiny. I really wasn't concerned about what they might 'do' but I wanted them to 'be' good men.
- David Epps
A box trap baited with apples will work every time, and you can release the chipmunk in the woods far from home.
Personally, I find chipmunks to be very interesting. I've had them run across my feet while sitting outside. I've learned what their different calls mean and enjoy watching them gather their food.
I'm just curious....have you ever watched an animal drown?
I agree with everyone. Drowning little animals is pretty sick. If for whatever reason you feel they need to die rather than be scared away or trapped and moved the least you can do kill them quickly. Are the holes in your mulch really reason for torture?
From a more pragmatic standpoint, if there's something in your landscape that has attracted enough animals to seed a petting zoo, eradicating the current crop does only that - eradicates the current crop. There will be more to follow.
In part of my own yard I discovered a hole that's about the diameter of a golfball and at least 2' deep. Turned out to be a chipmunk hole (or a snake hole made by a very good chipmunk hunter, because chipmunks were running right in). Didn't really bother me all that much, but even if it did, I know new tenants would move in shortly after the old ones "moved out".
For me, mice and the diseases they carry into a house are a different animal (no pun intended), and for them I have several traditional traps as well as several of the 5 gallon bucket types you describe (baited with peanut butter), filled a few inches with antifreeze (preserves the carcas, preventing the nasty smell of rotting carcasses).
But when the choice is the health of my kids or mice, I'm taking my kids every time.
But for little chippy, I might try the predator urine. The effect might last longer and be cheaper.
1) These things are everywhere and they're really tearing up my beds. There are tons of holes around my foundation and when I'm in the basement I can hear them skittering around the outside of the walls. There's no two ways about it, the population needs thinning.
2) From everything I've read, capturing and releasing them elsewhere ends in death anyway because they don't know where to find food in their new environment and end up starving.
3) Using predator urine, in my understanding, is spotty at best. And since there hasn't been a natural predator to the chippies in my neighborhood in decades I doubt it would work.
2) From everything I've read, capturing and releasing them elsewhere ends in death anyway because they don't know where to find food in their new environment and end up starving.
False!!! I don't know where you read this but it is way off base. Chipmunks are foragers and it is their nature to search for food.
There must be a food source for these pests nearby or they would not be giving you a problem. Eliminate the food source and they will go away on their own. They will continue to be a problem otherwise.
Sorry bud, but drowning is just not an acceptable method of pest control. If you must kill them, find a more humane way to do it.
I can see how the scratching noises inside the house could stoke your fire. I know it did for my mouse problem. I was ready to grab them with my bare hands and separate their heads from their necks.
I'm not sure that there's a way everyone can agree on for solving this problem - so I'll just say good luck in finding a solution that works for you.
If you have a dog you might try putting it in the area on a lead for an hour or two each day. At least let it do it's business there once in a while.
Will it catch the little critters? Probably not, but it will scare the daylights out of them, give the dog some fun exercise and contribute some predator urine to boot.
I am absolutely againist hurting animals of any kind....but don't think I'm a tree hugger or a vegan. I'm a carnivore, and proud of it.
Having said that, the meat we eat nowadays are humanely "taken care off", meaning that there aren't pain involved, or as far as I know.
When I read this thread, I was sickened to hear of chipmunks being drowned. If they absolutely had to be rid of, I'd rather use traps and be released somewhere else.
This makes me sick.....sorry.
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Matt Blanche
Epic Interlock and Landscape
www.epicinterlock.com
Our landscape is a certified Audubon and Wildlife Federation wildlife habitat. We have squirrels, tons of birds, chickens, a chipmunk now and then,and fish. My wife would love to have a couple more chipmunks.
We sit in the patio / shade hosue and watch all these animals. We have had some problems with rats being attracted to the sunflower seed,s but they are humanly dispatched by me and my .22 whilst sitting in shade house. And the birds come back in less than a minute after I whack a rat.
Come on out here and let me hold your head under water so you can inspect my pond and see how long you can breath like that.
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