mother f'in chipmunks

[gorcorps]

I need help getting rid of chipmunks. They're making a good portion of my front yard soft with all their digging and it's thinning out the lawn. I've seen at least one of the little buggers so I know it's them, I just don't know if anybody has any history of getting rid of them. There's products out there, but I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff that doesn't work.

 

[mindless1]

Where are you located? Around here, we've had chipmonks for years, but the only surface evidence of them is a hole that goes immediately deep enough underground that I can't tell any softness in the yard from them (maybe if I tried hard I could detect some).

What we have that instead burrows near the surface are moles. My point is, seeing chipmonks, doesn't necessarily mean it's not moles. Chipmonks tend to go above ground where they're seen, to seek food, do not need to perpetually dig up more area, while moles have to keep digging to source food underground. Moles won't come above ground if they don't have to, it's not in their nature so you won't see them until you dig one up.

Another difference is that around a chipmonk burrow you typically only see a hole with minimal loose dirt around it, while a mole creates both a surface and deeper underground area, periodically leaving behind much larger mounds of soil.

 

[Billb2]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...OJXWqj7Oiive3LKwSTdLtbiA&ust=1491399857343300

 

[Ichinisan]

It's probably the moles, which you don't see.

Chipmunks are too cute. Welcome them.

 

[dphantom]

They are probably voles or moles digging up your yard. Chipmunks can be destructive especially to retaining walls. They will burrow and potentially destabilize the wall. But generally are not too much of a problem.

 

[mindless1]

Now about stopping moles...

Old school spear trap - Set above existing tunnels hoping moles go back through them, which they often do. Slightly depress tunnel (inch or so), set trigger. Over the years I've had "some" success using them but some moles don't return to the same tunnels soon enough. Example:
http://www.snareshop.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ADC0645

Poison - Available at most hardware /lawn & garden centers. Take a pole, or whatever you like, to dig a little hole into the middle of a tunnel and dump about a teaspoon (or less) into the hole. Take a clod of dirt and cover the hole you made. Upside is moles may just die underground never to be seen again. Downside is you wonder if they're still around. I've had mixed success with this.

Brutal Shovel Attack - Grab a beer and a lawn chair, hang out in the area in the evening being very still and quiet. Try to avoid walking around, tip-toe if it's a large area. When you see the mole tunneling, grab the shovel and aim for the middle of it to slice it in half, then a few more thrusts a few inches before and after the first for good measure, then dig it up sparing the sod as much as possible. I wrote slice in it half but usually the fur holds it into one piece except internally. It might seem brutal but death is quick, they're usually not twitching a bit within the few seconds it takes to dig them up.

There are other things you can do, for example if your lawn has a lot of grubs, moles love grubs and you can put down grub killer, but they will eat other things you want around too, like worms. Then there are those solar or battery powered sonic beeping (literally) stakes that are supposed to drive them away. The couple I've tried do not work, the moles will dig circles around them wondering WTF they are then carry on.

 

[ReignQuake]

Land mines always work. Land mines.

 

[snoopy7548]

Here's a Wikihow article on getting rid of chipmunks. Not sure how I feel about method #2...

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Chipmunks

Place a bucket half-filled with water outside. Lean a wooden plank against the side of the bucket.

• Scatter sunflower seeds on the plank, in the water and on the grass around the bucket. The chipmunks will walk on the plank to eat the seeds, fall into the bucket and drown.

 

[mxnerd]

It's cruel, but you don't have to spend any money except peanut butter.

 

[momeNt]

It's cruel, but you don't have to spend any money except peanut butter.

I'm not sure that was instant death.

The bucket of water and sunflower seeds is certainly not instant either.

 

[mindless1]

If you want painless or instant death, use a box trap then seal it air tight so it falls asleep from low oxygen levels, then splat it, or load some peanut butter bait with the fentanyl laced street heroin.

 

[zinfamous]

my money is on voles or moles. Likely voles.

My advice is the same advice in nearly all situations: introduce a rat snake (or 2) to your property

 

[JimKiler]

Is damage above ground? I have voles that destroy my yard in the winter and makes tunnels at surface level but destroy the grass to do it. It is not recessed at all just at ground level. Please explain the thinning better.

 

[momeNt]

my money is on voles or moles. Likely voles.

My advice is the same advice in nearly all situations: introduce a rat snake (or 2) to your property

Instructions unclear, rat snake bit off my dick.

 

[mindless1]

my money is on voles or moles. Likely voles.

My advice is the same advice in nearly all situations: introduce a rat snake (or 2) to your property

Voles come above ground, a rat snake might get them but I doubt a rat snake would manage to find a mole unless it was extremely lucky. Maybe if you forced it through a tube down into a mole tunnel and the mole happened to be right there.

Then again if I was a rat snake I'm not so sure I'd want to try to eat a mole. They have powerful front legs and claws that could do quite a bit of damage to the inside of a snake in the time it would take to suffocate one, and that's if they don't chew it to death. Very strong animals for their size, often I'm amazed how fast they can dig through my mostly hard clay soil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w28kk6PE360