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Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

My wife has a large flower garden (about 30' x 40') that chipmonks have
declared to be their home!
There are small tunnels that literally have spread all over the garden. We
have tryed to block the tunnels; we've have used fork shovels and "stabbed"
the dirt all along the tunnels; we've found their entrances and exits and
filled them with "special" formulated food laced with chipmonk poison.

Nothing has worked. We're now worried that the colony may start eating
roots and underground bulbs. The only thing we know of, but not tryed, is a
slow burning gas bomb that you put into a tunnel that shows a lot of
activity.

With all the gardeners and collective wisdom in this group, there must be a
method that works -- even if it takes a lot of work. Please post any words
of wisdom on how to rid the area of chipmonks. Thanks!

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

You have chipmonks?

Are they that religious order devoted to making tollhouse cookies? Or are
they that cult that only makes potato chips?

Chipmunks don't make tunnels. You are alluding to ground squirrels. Not the
same at all.

"Jim Schott" wrote in message
...
My wife has a large flower garden (about 30' x 40') that chipmonks have
declared to be their home!
There are small tunnels that literally have spread all over the garden.
We
have tryed to block the tunnels; we've have used fork shovels and
"stabbed"
the dirt all along the tunnels; we've found their entrances and exits and
filled them with "special" formulated food laced with chipmonk poison.

Nothing has worked. We're now worried that the colony may start eating
roots and underground bulbs. The only thing we know of, but not tryed, is
a
slow burning gas bomb that you put into a tunnel that shows a lot of
activity.

With all the gardeners and collective wisdom in this group, there must be
a
method that works -- even if it takes a lot of work. Please post any
words
of wisdom on how to rid the area of chipmonks. Thanks!

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

"Cereus-validus" wrote in message
om...
Chipmunks don't make tunnels.

They sure do. Their nests can be a few feet down, especially when they
winter over.

I never seem to have had any problems with them eating my plants or bulbs
(compared to mice, rabbits, and squirrels). They do like the bird seed that
falls around the bird feeders though. The population of them have seem to
have grown substantially over the past few years. Hawks, foxes and coyotes
seem to be the natural control; maybe snakes.

-al sung
Hopkinton, MA
(Zone 6a)

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

"Alan Sung" wrote in
news:Gfpvc.32379$pt3.9011@attbi_s03:

"Cereus-validus" wrote in
message
om...
Chipmunks don't make tunnels.

They sure do. Their nests can be a few feet down,
especially when they winter over.

I never seem to have had any problems with them eating my
plants or bulbs (compared to mice, rabbits, and squirrels).
They do like the bird seed that falls around the bird
feeders though. The population of them have seem to have
grown substantially over the past few years. Hawks, foxes
and coyotes seem to be the natural control; maybe snakes.

they'll kill things by tunneling under, small shrubs &
perennials. they eat tomatoes, watermelon, & cantalopes in the
veggie garden (they make a little hole on the bottom of a
melon & eat out the insides leaving just a shell).
we got barn cats specifically for the chipmunks, but the
fewer mice in the barn is a bonus.
lee

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

i ahve the little critters as well, although they do make many holes
in my garden, they have not eaten any roots or bulbs either. but i
would also like to know how to humanely get rid of them???

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

"Cereus-validus" wrote in message
om...
You have chipmonks?

Are they that religious order devoted to making tollhouse cookies? Or are
they that cult that only makes potato chips?

Chipmunks don't make tunnels. snip

Like hell they don't! Mine not only make their own tunnels but they use an
underground drain to get from the back of the house to the front. Maybe they
make their cookies in there.

Felice
on Cape Cod

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

I trap and relocate mine with a Havahart™ live trap.

Live traps are essentially cages that trap and hold the animal without
injury until it is released. It has doors at either end that fall shut
when the animal steps on the release plate in the middle of the trap.

They come in various sizes. In the case of chipmunks, a small one (18" x
5" x 5") is fine. Just set the trap near where they are active, bait it
something they like such as peanut butter or peanuts and when you catch
one move it promptly to a new home and release. Be sure to check the
trap regularly so the ones you get don't stay confined too long.

I take mine to a large public park about a mile and a half away ... far
enough so they don't find their way home and big enough so they can make
themselves at home.

After having had a severe infestation one year when I moved 12 of the
little darlings, I find that if I just use the trap every 2-3 years and
move relatively few chipmunks, the population stays below a level where
they do much damage.

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 10:56:46 -0400, "Jim Schott"
wrote:

My wife has a large flower garden (about 30' x 40') that chipmonks have
declared to be their home!
....
With all the gardeners and collective wisdom in this group, there must be a
method that works -- even if it takes a lot of work. Please post any words
of wisdom on how to rid the area of chipmonks. Thanks!

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

In article LKtvc.750$%F2.264@attbi_s04, "Felice Friese"
wrote:

"Cereus-validus" wrote in message
om...
You have chipmonks?

Are they that religious order devoted to making tollhouse cookies? Or are
they that cult that only makes potato chips?

Chipmunks don't make tunnels. snip

Like hell they don't! Mine not only make their own tunnels but they use an
underground drain to get from the back of the house to the front. Maybe they
make their cookies in there.

Felice
on Cape Cod

Chipmunks build tunnels to get from one chamber to the next, & over years,
this system of underground housing can become elaborate, especially with
females, though generally there is only two or three chambers & merely
enough tunnels to get from one to the next chamber, & to provide emergency
escape locations. Often their entrances are difficult to find, they are so
unobtrusive, intentionally so lest they invite digging predators.

Usually only one chipmunk lives in a burrow because they're not a communal
species (unless they're actually lined ground squirrels, which are
communal), but during estrus temporary couples may live together, &
females' larger burrows will have kits & adolescents for a while, though
when they reach adolescence they're usually leave.

Very rarely males have been observed helping raise young, but usually he
lives somewhere else entirely; almost never the mother tolerates her young
when they are adults, but often instead of shooing them out, the mother
will move to new territory to get away from her offspring, & a dominant
female offspring will take over the old burrow & shoo away her siblings.
The population is usually controlled by their own reluctance to live in
any ongoing way in close proximity.

The tunnels are not like mole tunnels. Chipmunks make them deeper, & they
exist to get from chamber to chamber, not to hunt for food near the
surface like a mole. Tunnels are usually well below bulbs & not harmful to
plants. An excavating chimpmunk will even circumvent thick root systems of
shrubs just to keep the digging labors minimal; they are tunnelers of
least resistance, so might really enjoy tunnelling through a newly-turned
area if ground was loosened to over a foot depth. It could happen, but is
rare, that their tunnels pose any problem to plants; they're are strongly
in harmony with their environment & do much more good than harm.

Chipmunks are stupider than squirrels, & don't often thrive where domestic
cats are living. Though excellent climbers they are not particularly
arboreal (so as not to be in conflict with squirrels) & this makes them
more vulnerable to cats & dogs.

If a female & her transient family members did get established in a
garden, they would probably do minimal damage, & be great fun to observe
since they're strongly diurnal & out & about a lot & very playful. They
will of course harvest from a vegetable garden which can be annoying, but
they are not usually harmful to an ornamental garden, & they're generally
easily kept away from veggies if they're given a feeding station with nuts
& corn. Since they eat things like tomatoes more for the water than for
food, a water feature in the garden that they can reach to drink from also
helps keep them out of a veggy garden (unless you grow corn, nothing will
bait keep them away from that). As a rule, they do less harm in a garden
than sundry songbirds, or one's pet dog, & before deciding they're pests,
really think strongly about their activity & if you're overreacting, &
assess whether they can't actually be accomodated & loved.

If someone really has an exception-chipmunk that is an honest-to-shit
destructive little pest, check with Fish & Game, & Animal Control, in case
it is a protected species, & someone may even come out with a trap to
catch them live for you, or at least loan you free a suitable trap &
inform you what to do with captives (release elsewhere may be illegal).

-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"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

Jim Schott wrote:
: My wife has a large flower garden (about 30' x 40') that chipmonks have
: declared to be their home!
: There are small tunnels that literally have spread all over the garden. We
: have tryed to block the tunnels; we've have used fork shovels and "stabbed"
: the dirt all along the tunnels; we've found their entrances and exits and
: filled them with "special" formulated food laced with chipmonk poison.

: Nothing has worked. We're now worried that the colony may start eating
: roots and underground bulbs. The only thing we know of, but not tryed, is a
: slow burning gas bomb that you put into a tunnel that shows a lot of
: activity.

: With all the gardeners and collective wisdom in this group, there must be a
: method that works -- even if it takes a lot of work. Please post any words
: of wisdom on how to rid the area of chipmonks. Thanks!

Figure out if it's a chipmunk or a ground squirrel, with some species,
it's easy to confuse them.

Here's a useful list of species by state:
http://www.geocities.com/yosemite/ra...squirrels.html

eNature has useful online field guides:
http://enature.com/search/show_searc...5&shapeID=1041

I have 13-lined ground squirrels around the farm and garden and haven't
found them to be particularly destructive to perennials or trees and
shrubs. I do select rodent-resistant bulbs when I plant bulbs, but more
because of the voles than the ground squirrels.

-- Karen

The Garden Gate http://garden-gate.prairienet.org
================================================== =================
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
^and cats -- Cicero
================================================== =================
On the Web since 1994 Forbes Best of Web 2002

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

"Jim Schott" wrote in message ...
My wife has a large flower garden (about 30' x 40') that chipmonks have
declared to be their home!
There are small tunnels that literally have spread all over the garden. We
have tryed to block the tunnels; we've have used fork shovels and "stabbed"
the dirt all along the tunnels; we've found their entrances and exits and
filled them with "special" formulated food laced with chipmonk poison.

Nothing has worked. We're now worried that the colony may start eating
roots and underground bulbs. The only thing we know of, but not tryed, is a
slow burning gas bomb that you put into a tunnel that shows a lot of
activity.

With all the gardeners and collective wisdom in this group, there must be a
method that works -- even if it takes a lot of work. Please post any words
of wisdom on how to rid the area of chipmonks. Thanks!

12 Guage!

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

"Don Kaminska" wrote in message
om...
"Jim Schott" wrote in message
...
My wife has a large flower garden (about 30' x 40') that chipmonks have
declared to be their home!
There are small tunnels that literally have spread all over the garden.
We
have tryed to block the tunnels; we've have used fork shovels and
"stabbed"
the dirt all along the tunnels; we've found their entrances and exits
and
filled them with "special" formulated food laced with chipmonk poison.

Nothing has worked. We're now worried that the colony may start eating
roots and underground bulbs. The only thing we know of, but not tryed,
is a
slow burning gas bomb that you put into a tunnel that shows a lot of
activity.

With all the gardeners and collective wisdom in this group, there must
be a
method that works -- even if it takes a lot of work. Please post any
words
of wisdom on how to rid the area of chipmonks. Thanks!

12 Guage!

Plastic rat traps baited with peanut butter!

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

Jim Schott wrote:

My wife has a large flower garden (about 30' x 40') that chipmonks have
declared to be their home!
There are small tunnels that literally have spread all over the garden. We
have tryed to block the tunnels; we've have used fork shovels and "stabbed"
the dirt all along the tunnels; we've found their entrances and exits and
filled them with "special" formulated food laced with chipmonk poison.

Nothing has worked. We're now worried that the colony may start eating
roots and underground bulbs. The only thing we know of, but not tryed, is a
slow burning gas bomb that you put into a tunnel that shows a lot of
activity.

With all the gardeners and collective wisdom in this group, there must be a
method that works -- even if it takes a lot of work. Please post any words
of wisdom on how to rid the area of chipmonks. Thanks!

You can deal with this like a gardener or as a farmer.

Personally I choose:
http://www.rodenator.com/

--
Kit Walker
Guardian of the Eastern Dark
http://www.deepwoods.org/

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?

Kit Walker wrote in message .. .
Jim Schott wrote:

My wife has a large flower garden (about 30' x 40') that chipmonks have
declared to be their home!
There are small tunnels that literally have spread all over the garden. We
have tryed to block the tunnels; we've have used fork shovels and "stabbed"
the dirt all along the tunnels; we've found their entrances and exits and
filled them with "special" formulated food laced with chipmonk poison.

Nothing has worked. We're now worried that the colony may start eating
roots and underground bulbs. The only thing we know of, but not tryed, is a
slow burning gas bomb that you put into a tunnel that shows a lot of
activity.

With all the gardeners and collective wisdom in this group, there must be a
method that works -- even if it takes a lot of work. Please post any words
of wisdom on how to rid the area of chipmonks. Thanks!

You can deal with this like a gardener or as a farmer.

Personally I choose:
http://www.rodenator.com/

dude, you can almost hear Kenny Loggins singing "I'm Alright" and Bill
Murray cackling.

-goro-

Chipmonks - How to get rid of them?