Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!

I have had a horrible problem this year with chipmunks digging up perennials &
bulbs. I bought a couple of rat traps and baited them with sunflower seeds. I
don't have a problem with the buggers anymore.
Sue in Mi. (Zone 5)

In article ,
(Georgia) wrote:

Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!

It would be highly unusual for 25 chipmunks to share territory as unlike
prairie dogs they're not the least bit communal. In years when food
resources are high, populations do increase, & territories shrink, so
there are more territories overlapping in smaller areas, but the majority
will be youngsters who'll be forced to move away the instant food
resources fall back to normal. The "large" chipmunk population would
ordinarily be one to three per acre. Even when they have population
explosions that only results in ten chipmunks per acre, few of which would
travel much beyond their own little spots without risking at least
getting yelled aggressively by the chipmunk in the abutting territory.
When food resources drop, there's a rapid die-off back to two or three
animals; they don't horde food like grey squirrels so are more sensitive
to food availability ups & downs. However, any time some chipmunk gets
killed or otherwise vacates its spot, some adolescent chipmunk seeking its
own territory would figure it out in a day or two & fill the vacancy. This
means it's pretty much not possible to ever be free of them if there is a
healthy population for miles around, as adolescents MUST find their own
spots or be harrassed to death.

It WOULD be normal for a trapped-&-released chipmunk to scurry right back
to its territory. They are so strongly territorial they keep rival
chipmunks out of "taken" feeding areas, so a stranger would have no choice
but to find its way home, or spend the last misery-ridden weeks of its
life beaten up & harrassed every time it showed itself. It wouldn't be the
least unusual for a chipmunk to make it back from five miles away. If
release were, say, a scant mile away, it'd be back so fast it would hardly
even miss a meal. Release would have to be ten miles away for it to be
nearly impossible to get home. You might start marking each release with a
different color dye, just for the fun of finding out for sure if you've
really only got a couple chipmunks that you've been bussing around town
again & again.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

"paghat" wrote in message
news
In article ,
(Georgia) wrote:

Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!

It would be highly unusual for 25 chipmunks to share territory as unlike
prairie dogs they're not the least bit communal. In years when food
resources are high, populations do increase, & territories shrink, so
there are more territories overlapping in smaller areas, but the majority
will be youngsters who'll be forced to move away the instant food
resources fall back to normal. The "large" chipmunk population would
ordinarily be one to three per acre. Even when they have population
explosions that only results in ten chipmunks per acre, few of which would
travel much beyond their own little spots without risking at least
getting yelled aggressively by the chipmunk in the abutting territory.
When food resources drop, there's a rapid die-off back to two or three
animals; they don't horde food like grey squirrels so are more sensitive
to food availability ups & downs. However, any time some chipmunk gets
killed or otherwise vacates its spot, some adolescent chipmunk seeking its
own territory would figure it out in a day or two & fill the vacancy. This
means it's pretty much not possible to ever be free of them if there is a
healthy population for miles around, as adolescents MUST find their own
spots or be harrassed to death.

It WOULD be normal for a trapped-&-released chipmunk to scurry right back
to its territory. They are so strongly territorial they keep rival
chipmunks out of "taken" feeding areas, so a stranger would have no choice
but to find its way home, or spend the last misery-ridden weeks of its
life beaten up & harrassed every time it showed itself. It wouldn't be the
least unusual for a chipmunk to make it back from five miles away. If
release were, say, a scant mile away, it'd be back so fast it would hardly
even miss a meal. Release would have to be ten miles away for it to be
nearly impossible to get home. You might start marking each release with a
different color dye, just for the fun of finding out for sure if you've
really only got a couple chipmunks that you've been bussing around town
again & again.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

What about ground squirrels? I have these digging up my plants, and I have
seen as many as five living in the same tunnel complex. Maybe these are
what's bothering Georgia.

-Adam

In article Jj6Ma.2624$926.352@sccrnsc03, "Adam Schwartz"
wrote:


What about ground squirrels? I have these digging up my plants, and I have
seen as many as five living in the same tunnel complex.

I'd really like to know more about the specific conditions that scores you
visits from ground squirrels. You must live very close to open fields
where there's a colony. Do they show any of the friendly tendencies of
tree squirrels (supposedly they can). Do you know what species you're
visited by? I've only heard of the California ground squirrels being so
bold.

Maybe these are
what's bothering Georgia.

-Adam

Ground squirrels (Spermophilus sp) have a social order somewhat like
prairie dogs, with family groups instead of individuals or pairs
patrolling their territorial boundaries, though they do not wander any
great distance from the burrows, so don't wander through suburbs looking
for gardens. I wouldn't think anyone would mistake them for chipmunks,
which are so much smaller, though some ground squirrels do have stripes,
notably the northern or canadian 13-striped ground squirrel; those don't
usually encroach on people because they die out when their habitat is
altered by human activity. The california ground squirrel by comparison
is a bit more adaptable & sometimes establishes colonies right at the
margins of agricultural activity so it can harvest commercial grains or
even tree fruits, though they'd won't have its colony amidst trees they
might have them in clearings right next to a yummy orchard. They'd prefer
a golf course to a woodsy park or street lined with homes.

Colonies of ground squirrels can consist of dozens of animals, with
extensive networks of tunnels with one to four animals per tunnel, each
family group within the colony patrolling only about fifty to a hundred
feet from their own burrow, eating primarily grass & grass seeds. If there
was a veggy garden in reach, they'd be very interested, but since their
colony has to be on open ground, & because anything harvestable has to be
within a hundred feet of home, it's not the commonest occurrence that they
show up in gardens.

Suburban gardeners rarely have troubles with them, since they require
extensive open field or prairie conditions or rangelands, so that they can
see a great distance when they stand up, & urban housing would be too much
in their way, same as they don't like the woods because they can't see
predators coming. But rural gardeners could have a shitload of them
nearby, or a brand new housing project at the edge of a town could easily
encroach on old colonies resulting in conflicts with people.

They tend to eat primarily grass & grass seeds early in the year, then in
western & southwester populations they go into semi-dormancy at the height
of summer (estivating), revive in autumn when they will try to fatten up
on bitter berries such as birds dislike, then hibernate for winter. The
autumn feeding frenzy COULD include everything in peoples' gardens if
gardens were real close enough, & often includes agricultural fields.
Ground squirrels & prairie dogs have been known to beg for frenchfries at
freeway offramp fast-food joints in the middle of nowhere.

It's possible to live with a colony nearby if their favorite seeding
grasses are in abundance & they have no cause to enter gardens. But if
their ideal foods vanish (or if a certain family of them acquires "novel"
tastes for items people are suddenly growing near the colony) then the
nearest human gardens (& especially commercial crops) would be at risk.
During famine & drought, they've been known to girdle trees in desperation
for food & moisture (bark & sap) same as other rodents.

They don't live in wooded areas but if there is a tree nearby with
something good in it, they're pretty good climbers considering their
ground habits. They'll happily harvest walnuts & plums & almonds, & not
wait for them to fall to the ground either. They reportedly make fair to
good pets, because of their social nature, though as adults can become
dangerous to strangers. The only person I know who had one as a pet told
wonderful stories of its destructive behavior around the house, very like
my experience living with a prairie dog, which I wouldn't recommend to
anyone.

Laws vary state to state. For the california ground squirrel it is legal
to trap them alive, or kill them with poison baits, if they are really
causing damage (whereas killing a tree squirrel outside the hunting
season or without a hunting license is illegal). The Mohave ground
squirrel is protected & you could go to jail for molesting or killing
those. I think the 13-striped ground squirrel is also protected throughout
its range. I'd think calling the Fish & WIldlife Department would get some
good answers if someone was experiencing something as strange & wonderful
as a whole colony of ground squirrels in one's garden! Personally I'd be
inclined to change the entire nature of my gardening practice to
fascilitate the needs of the ground squirrels, & I'd go sit with them
ontheir mounds & become the Jane Goodall of ground squirrels. Probably it
would take a professional to relocate (or even sadly to simply kill) a
whole colony.

Rodents rule,
paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

I have had really good results stopping tree rats from digging by sprinkling blood
meal over the plants. just a handful seems to do it. Ingrid

(Georgia) wrote:

Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

(paghat) wrote in
news
agricultural fields. Ground squirrels & prairie dogs have been known
to beg for frenchfries at freeway offramp fast-food joints in the
middle of nowhere.

Just out of curiousity, how do you know they're after french fries and not
really trying to tell you something like "Come quick Timmy, Farmer Bob fell
in a trench and can't get ... um french fry? ... sure I'll have one munch
munch ... like I was saying ... yum munch munch munch ... sure I'll have
another munch munch ... burp ... munch munch ... so how are things
with Bessie? ... munch munch"?

-- Salty

P.S. :-)

Georgia said:

Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

I trapped 9 (and found two dead ones) one summer. That was all it took
to eliminate them from my yard. (They were tunnelling under mature
peonies and some walkways, in a more-than-nuisance way.]

Transported them across a river. They didn't come back.

Habitat niche was refilled by red squirrels moving back in. (These vanished
when the chipmunks first moved in.)
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

wrote in message ...
I have had really good results stopping tree rats from digging by sprinkling blood
meal over the plants. just a handful seems to do it. Ingrid

(Georgia) wrote:

Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

I had quite an active chipmunk population in my yard for awhile,
especially in my shed and under my patio (and in my walls for a
season). My favorite experience with them was the day I cleaned out my
shed in the spring and threw out about 2 bushel baskets full of pine
cones they had apparently hoarded during the fall and winter. taking
a break, I went inside for lunch and my wife suggested I look outside
as I apparently had a helper. There was a chipmonk running back and
forth returning the pine cones, one by one to my shed.

Anyway, this year they are no where to be seen. The difference I
think is 2 neighborhood cats that are pretty constantly on the prowl.

(Georgia) wrote in message . com...
Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!

I recommend putting a Talesin in your garden (kinda like a garden
gnome, only ugly as hell, and much larger) , along with the drugs he
gives to hamsters. The chipmunks should be afraid of that. If not,
either they'd OD, or he'd dress them up as gerbils and send them off
to a gay bar.

-
theoneflasehaddock

On 7/1/03 10:24 PM, theoneflasehaddock at wrote:

(Georgia) wrote in message
. com...
Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!

theoneflasehaddock


Sorry for weird piggyback, but the original didn't appear in my reader.

Personally, I'd recommend getting a cat to keep the population down/at bay,
but when I was looking on the web I found this link.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...004727958.html

(It got kind of amusing toward the end when the "chipmunks" started posting
replies to the mean humans trying to get rid of them.)


=^..^=
The NetKitten
Alexandra Ceelie
denrealm.palacehosting.net
ICQ: 1291198

Great thread! Good for a few laughs...

Actually, I'm rather happy a chipmunk population explosion is taking place
around our yard this year. This is the first year I haven't had to fight slugs
thanks to the voracious appetite of those chipmunks! The chipmunks are saving
more plants from the slugs than they are destroying...so for me they are
welcome...so far. Oh yes, they've nibbled off the first bunch of carrot and
chard shoots, but after putting out a few dishes of water, they've left the rest
of the vegies alone. I finally got to see my delphiniums in full bloom this year
thanks to the slug eating chipmunks...all prior years the slugs ate the buds and
I never got one flower. The hostas are looking the best ever too!

BT

"Alexandra Ceelie" wrote in message
...
On 7/1/03 10:24 PM, theoneflasehaddock at wrote:

(Georgia) wrote in message
. com...
Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!

theoneflasehaddock


Sorry for weird piggyback, but the original didn't appear in my reader.

Personally, I'd recommend getting a cat to keep the population down/at bay,
but when I was looking on the web I found this link.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...004727958.html

(It got kind of amusing toward the end when the "chipmunks" started posting
replies to the mean humans trying to get rid of them.)


=^..^=
The NetKitten
Alexandra Ceelie
denrealm.palacehosting.net
ICQ: 1291198

really.. what an interesting juxtaposition. Ingrid

"BT" wrote:
thanks to the slug eating chipmunks...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

In article ,
Alexandra Ceelie wrote:

On 7/1/03 10:24 PM, theoneflasehaddock at wrote:

(Georgia) wrote in message
. com...
Just curious if anyone has an effective remedy for keeping chippers
from digging up perennials? I recently planted a bed of about 50-60
plants and the stupid chipmunks are already destroying it! I have been
using a Havahart trap and have caught and re-released (far away) about
25 so far. They're probably just coming right back...

HELP!

Thanks!

theoneflasehaddock


Sorry for weird piggyback, but the original didn't appear in my reader.

Personally, I'd recommend getting a cat to keep the population down/at bay,
but when I was looking on the web I found this link.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...004727958.html

(It got kind of amusing toward the end when the "chipmunks" started posting
replies to the mean humans trying to get rid of them.)


I agree, when I was a kid one of our cats kept all pests out of the
garden, he was such a good kitty! The other cat didn't hunt but just
her presence was enough.

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 13:57:44 -0400, Alexandra Ceelie
wrote:


Sorry for weird piggyback, but the original didn't appear in my reader.

Nor mine.

Personally, I'd recommend getting a cat to keep the population down/at bay,
but when I was looking on the web I found this link.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...004727958.html

(It got kind of amusing toward the end when the "chipmunks" started posting
replies to the mean humans trying to get rid of them.)

Heh. I've found that with squirrels, bunnies, and chipmunks, I throw a
bit of wild critter mix, along with some veggie scraps from the
kitchen, far away from what I don't want nibbled. It seems to work
smashingly for me.
~L


.... goats?