Serving Chipmunks an eviction notice

Thundyrkatz

Hello again everyone,

Well, you guys were really about great helping me with some minor plumbing issues. I hope you can help me again.

We have a nice stone wall along our drive way and up to the front walk, this is apparently THE place to live if you are a chipmunk. We would like to plant some flowers in the general area of the stone wall and will need to evict the chipmunk(s) in order to do this.

So, has anyone had any success getting rid of the furry little critters?

I would prefer not to kill them in the process. However, if it must be done it must be done.

So far we have tried to pour Tabasco sauce around the tunnels and thrown in cut up hot peppers. They just threw them out of the hole and moved on.

Thanks in advance for your help!

WildEEP

Throw moth balls into the hole. They apparently can't stand it and the fumes fill the tunnels. Was very effective in evicting them from my uncles place.

Usagi

Why exactly do you need to get rid of the chipmunks?

I lived and gardened successfully for years in a heavily wooded area with chipmunks, squirrels, turkeys, etc and the only animal I ever had a problem with was the deer eating my lilies.

Thundyrkatz

Usagi, Aside from the fact that they are creating large openings in the ground where we would like to make the flower beds, which is unsightly. All our research has suggested that they will eat any of the young plants that we try to grow.

Did you have chipmunks living in the area that you were successfully growing plants and flowers in? If so, did you do anything to keep them away from the plants? Did you use a specific plant that they did not like? Or did you just have particularly well behaved chipmunks?

Usagi

Oh yeah, I had a very similar setup with a stone wall along the property line with the chipmunks living in it. The whole wall was bordered on one side by garden and the other by lawn, and I grew all sort of things (annuals, perennials, bushes and bulbs) without any problem with them digging them up or eating them. In the early spring and late fall I put out a corn mix for the birds and squirrels that I think they snacked on too, so maybe that's why they stayed away from new plantings?

Orestus

I grew up with chipmunks living in and around a long stone wall bordering our driveway, we grew flowers and stuff behind the wall and all around the house and never had an issue w/ chipmunks eating flowers or disturbing them.

I'm not an expert gardener or anything though.

WildEEP

Chipmunks WILL eat their way thru gardens - but like any other creature on this planet, they are just trying to make their way. If they've got an abundant food source that isnt your garden, then most of the time, you'll be just fine in leaving them be. When all they have is your garden to eat, then you're in for a huge war. They can eat ANYTHING..garbage, plants, wires, plumbing, etc. and they are stubborn as hell.

Steps to dealing with them are basic:
1. Cut off primary food source
2. Dislocate them from current burrows
3. Bait and Trap
4. Relocate / disposal

Shoe-Eater

you could always do this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Ya6z-NlDo

I can't guarantee it wont kill them or solve the problem, but at least you'll be entertained

L Ron Howard

We had groundhog(s) digging underneath our garden, which was on top of a plateau, for lack of a better word, with a stone wall on the side. It sounds similar to what you've got.
We poured ammonia in the hole, and stunk the beast out.
I think he relocated away from the house a bit, and the hole has pretty much sealed itself up after years of unuse.

travathian

I must be dense, but can someone explain how the chipmunks live in a stone wall?!?

L Ron Howard

travathian wrote: »

I must be dense, but can someone explain how the chipmunks live in a stone wall?!?

They don't literally live in the stone wall. The wall is there to hold dirt up, right, and look pretty. What they do is live in the dirt behind it, and use the wall to get in and out of their burrows.

Thundyrkatz

Haha! the squirrel launcher is a great idea. Though i don't think it shoots them far enough away, and landing on my neighbors roof and or through their windows will not help me make friends. No matter how amusing I assure the neighbors it was in the beginning. :lol:

L Ron Howard is right on, it is a stacked stone wall only about 3 feet high and there are lots of voids for them to get in and out of. Its like a little condo for vermin.

I like what you are saying WildEEP, i don't know what their level of available food is, and don't want to find out by losing a summers worth of plantings experimenting. Looks like we are on to trapping and relocating. There is a nice park a couple miles away, i am sure they will like it more then my yard.

Once again, thanks for the sound advice!

travathian

Ah, that makes sense. I was thinking of a free standing wall not a retaining type wall.

Floowid

After a few summers spent gardening with chipmunks, I find we like the furry little guys more than the daisies. You say you don't want to waste a summer's worth of planting, but I suggest to you that it would be worth it to see if you guys can co-exist.

Usagi

Yeah, it's a whole lot easier to try and work with the animals in your garden than to try and keep them out.

tsmvengy

This should give you everything you need to know:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lYm0c7gYyU

EWom

It'll be one hundred and ninety eight percent easier to put out a small feeder with food for chipmunks to keep them fat and happy and away from your garden on their own accord than to try and keep them away any other way. Put out two feeders a bit away from your garden, but still close enough to their homes that they'll find them, in either direction and see how it goes.

Otherwise, if you really want to get rid of them, I suggest you invest in rattlesnakes, but that presents it's own unique problem.

SkyCaptain

I'd rather feed the 'munks than try to drive them away and I feel horrible for laughing at the squirrel catapult. It's animal cruelty.

November Fifth

Chipmunks can do a lot of damage to your yard and your foundation if you allow them to establish themselves near your home.

Professional exterminators use baits which are essentially blood thinners. These work well, but I am terrified of a neighbor's pet or child ingesting one, because they look like candy.

You can try Have-A-Heart traps baited with sunflower seeds (birdseed is cheaper). Make a little trail of seeds running into the trap. Be sure to check it every day because birds can get in the trap, and the chipmunks themselves are fairly delicate and can't stand long exposure to heat or cold.

After you have taken off a few dozen and gas hits $4.00 a gallon again...

Spoiler:

Get a large bucket (like the ones Home Depot sells). Fill it half way full of water, then pour a layer of sunflower seeds on top of the water to create a false floor. Place the bucket near the wall and lay a plank running from the top of the wall to the bucket. Place a trail of sunflower seeds along the plank.

Remove stiff chipmunks and dead roaches from bucket every couple of days and replace the seed trail.

GothicLargo

November Fifth wrote: »

Professional exterminators use baits which are essentially blood thinners. These work well, but I am terrified of a neighbor's pet or child ingesting one, because they look like candy.

My parent's dogs accidentally got into some of this stuff at a relative's house. They lived but it took about a month of force feeding pills to get them back to 100%.

Anyway, if you live in the country (as opposed to in a municipality with cops and laws) then THE solution for groundcritters is Federal Premium Game-Shok .22 LR #12 Lead Shot. Get some beer, get a lawn chair, set up the tv, and wait for them to come out.

Oh, and don't try using that in a semi-auto. Shotshells don't produce as much pressure as normal .22 LR rounds and recoil mechanisms for .22 are usually finicky even with normal bullets. That and they're expensive, so crunching one sucks. Use a lever or bolt action.