Although they may look cute and cuddly and have achieved some degree of stardom from kids TV shows such as Alvin & the Chipmunks and Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers, chipmunks are considered a pest by many.
They cause destruction by biting just about anything their little teeth can get into – and it’s not just your plants, bulbs and flowers that are at risk. They’ll chew through walls, wires and anything else they can get their gnashers around. In addition, they build tunnels that can be over 3.5 meters long and run under your buildings weakening the foundations. They will also scare desirable species of songbirds from your garden.
In this article I will discuss the various methods that can be used to get rid of chipmunks and keep them out of your yard forever.
You may also be interested in the different ways of trapping chipmunks using chipmunk traps.
Humane Methods for Getting Rid of Chipmunks
- Humane Traps: Using humane traps such as those manufactured by Havahart (pictured below) is perhaps the singlemost effective method to deal with chipmunks humanely. You simply bait the trap and leave it in your yard overnight.By morning, one of the little critters will have been trapped alive and all that’s left to do is release it into the wild (preferably at least 2 miles away from your home)
- Fox Urine Pellets – In the wild, foxes are one of the chipmunks’ natural predators. Spreading pellets that have the scent of fox urine around your yard can scare the chipmunks away.
- Decoys – Likewise, a lifelike model of an owl or hawk can also scare the chipmunks off your property.
- Cat Litter – The smell of cat urine also frightens chipmunks. If you don’t have a cat, you can borrow used catlitter from a cat-loving friend to scatter around your yard.
- Mothballs - Finally, mothballs stuffed into old socks and placed strategically around your yard are a natural deterrant for chipmunks.
Lethal Methods for Getting Rid of Chipmunks
- Spring-Loaded Traps – Spring loaded traps such as the Big Snap-E Rat Trap are an inexpensive method of chipmunk removal. You bait the trap and leave overnight. When a chipmunk tries to eat the bait, the jaws of the trap lock snapping the chipmunk’s neck and spine, killing it instantly.
- Electric Traps – Similarly, electric traps such as the Rat Zapper Ultra (pictured below) attract the chipmunks with bait but instead of snapping their spine, they fire a jolt of electricity through the chipmunk’s body, which electrocutes it. Although more expensive, this is is advantageous over the spring-loaded trap as there is less blood and gore to clean up.
- Bucket of Water Trap – This ingenious trap can be easily constructed at home.It consists of a 1 gallon bucket of water with a plank of wood leaning against it. Seeds or similar bait are then placed on the plank and in the water (ideally, ‘air-filled’ seeds such as pumpkin seeds should be used as they will float on the water’s surface). The chipmunk, attracted by the bait, walks up the plank and, whilst trying to fish out the seeds from the water, falls in and drowns.
- Get a Cat – Cat’s like to stalk, chase and kill a whole of host of rodents, including chipmunks, so having a cat on your property will reduce the chipmunk population and act as a deterrant toother chipmunks.
Chipmunk Bait
Because many of the methods described above use traps, I thought it would be useful to take alook at what makes good chipmunk bait.
Although you can buy dedicated chipmunk bait, it is cheaper to provide your own bait and very often, it is more effective. Chipmunks are attracted to many fruits, seeds, nuts and even pet foods. From experience, the best baits to use are:
- Prune pits
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Popcorn
- Honey-roasted peanuts
- Peanut butter
Peanut butter is also useful for ‘gluing’ other bait into place (such as when placing seeds on the plank in the bucket of water trap).
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Pests And Diseases
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