Chipmunks! How to get rid of them?

[Allan Speers]

Long story short: We have a HUUUGE family of chipmunks that now live all around our house. I guess it keeps them safe from predators. They aren't cute anymore, causing a lot of damage to the lawn, shrubs, etc.

Ca anyone suggest the "best" way of eliminating them? I don't care about keeping them alive, though a quick death would be preferable to something nasty. (Anything is better than being eaten alive by an owl, I think.)


I'm actually considering a slingshot, followed by a baseball bat. :mad:

[Malcolm McLeod]

What doesn't work... My F-I-L used live traps on 'his' squirrels. Once caught, he hauled them miles to remote area for pardon & parole to their new wilderness home.:D And yes, the squirrel(s) got back to the house before he did.:eek:

Use a projectile weapon. Caliber, propellant, and muzzle velocity determined by proximity of neighbors who think they're cute. Air gun worked for my father.

I tried poison on skunks. Epic fail. Remington worked fine.

[Phil Mueller]

Allen, sent you a PM.

[Joe Tilson]

Peppermint oil has worked in my shop for the past two years. A few drops on a cotton ball in their hole. they can't stand it. It's also good for mice and moles. It really works. Just make sure the peppermint oil has a high concentration of menthol in it (mfg. in Japan is best). Keep putting it out and they will leave.

[Chris Padilla]

Get a dog or a cat? :)

We used to have issues with squirrels chewing on stuff and destroying everything.

Now that we have a dog, he chews on stuff and destroys everything! :D

(but at least he is trainable and we are working on it....)

[Brent Cutshall]

I pop 'em with BB guns and slingshots but I suppose you could use mouse traps. Around here we call them "boomers" and dogs just hate them. I don't know why, maybe because of the noise they make, but don't let any dogs really get to looking for them or they'll tear your stuff up. Are you planning on eating them, I've never had chipmunk but I guess it ain't far from a squirrel.

[Kev Williams]

My dad used to swear by turpentine, in the old days we'd put garbage cans out for pickup the night before, and the neighborhood cats, racoons and whatever would have them tipped over before the garbage trucks showed up in the morning. He started pouring a little turpentine in the can, and that fixed the problem. Cheap to try!

[Jerry Bruette]

Google pvc bait station. You can make it small for mice only, or a little bigger for mice and chipmunks.

[George Bokros]

Dcon or Tomcat mouse poison worked for me.

[Gordon Eyre]

A break barrel air rifle works great and the cost is pretty reasonable. They are relatively quiet and the cost of the pellets is minimal.

[John Conklin]

Regular old Victor mousetrap works fine for me. lol

340432

No joke, just happened a week or so ago.

[Bruce Page]

Get a dog or a cat? :)

We used to have issues with squirrels chewing on stuff and destroying everything.

Now that we have a dog, he chews on stuff and destroys everything! :D

(but at least he is trainable and we are working on it....)

That made me laugh out loud

[Larry Frank]

I fight this problem with the striped ground squirrels every year. I use "Better Rodentraps" by Intruder. They are plastic but work fine and recommended by the local feed store.

I bait them with peanut butter and bird seed pushed into it. I also wire them to a pole or stake as raccoons like a free meal and can take off with the traps.

I have a number of the traps and the first year got around 75. I get them out in the spring when I see the first o n e. It is a never ending battle but I live in the sticks. There is a mass graveyard of them over the back fence.


Good luck...you will need it

[Ole Anderson]

Get a TomCat black plastic snap trap (HD has them) and bait it with sunflower seeds, don't bother with peanut butter, you might attract squirrels. And get a box of 1 quart freezer zip lock's to use as body bags. Hold the trap over the bag, squeeze, bait again and on to the next one. Chipmunks are really easy to trap, they are very stupid.

[Matt Day]

I had a couple dozen of them running rampant around my house just a week ago. They'd literally run into you, and were way too nonchalant. They started getting into my garage and I had enough.

I simply used a have-a-hart trap and caught 6 in about 3 hours of trapping. I used sunflower seeds. I did this all with my 3 year old as I am not ready to have her see the cute little chipmunks go for a swim, so the live trap was the ticket. I "tagged" each one with some orange spray paint so we'd know if they came back, and walked each one about half mile away and let them go on the other side of a fairly busy road.

It's been very quiet since then.

[Allan Speers]

thanks guys.

Good to know about sunflower seeds as bait.

I'm gonna' do the traps, and maybe also a sligshot. (Imagine the satisfaction!)

[Larry Frank]

If you can hit them with a slingshot, you are better than me. Mine are so fast it is amazing.

I have squirrels also but never had one in a trap. I have tried other baits but unless the bait is stuck to the trigger, they can get it without springing the trap. Just have to find what works for you.

[roger wiegand]

Perhaps a nice condo on the fifth floor of some building in the city where you won't have to interact with nature?

I find myself surrounded with folks who move out into the county and then are shocked, shocked to find that they might have to share a bit of it with other occupants. I, for one, will simply enjoy living is an area replete with pesky deer, groundhogs, mice, voles, chipmunks, squirrels, and many other creatures despite the occasional inconvenience.

[Malcolm McLeod]

... despite the occasional inconvenience.

My father-in-law's squirrels chewed $5800 worth of occasionally inconvenient holes in his gables.

[Al Launier]

I've had the same red squirrel/chipmunk problems for years & have tried a number of traps & bait to rid them. By far the best bait I've used is black oil sunflower seeds in a rat trap like this http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/trapper-trex-rat-trap-p-95.html?gclid=COaD0JK05s0CFcgfhgod_RsFgA that I picked up at either HD or Lowes (don't remember which) or https://www.amazon.com/Trapper-T-Rex-Rat-Trap-Traps/dp/B0084X5ONI/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1468068799&sr=8-12&keywords=rat+trap. I also use another trap that has the wire bent at a 90° https://www.amazon.com/Aspectek-Reusable-Easy-Snap-Trap/dp/B00UKHESHO/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1468068799&sr=8-13&keywords=rat+trap.

I like the latter better, seems to be more reliable - fewer escapes, but both work very well. I tie off the trap to a railroad spike to prevent the squirrel from dragging it off. What I like about each trap is that I can release the squirrel by holding the trap at the end opposite the trapped squirrel without having to touch the squirrel. Trust me this is a big feature for my wife.

Above all else is how well the black oil sunflower seeds works. This is a fail-safe bait! If you don't catch them with this bait there simply aren't any squirrels around. The squirrels go "nuts" over it. I average 30 squirrels each year with only (2) traps - there seems to be no end to them.

If you have that many squirrels to get rid of, then I would suggest more than (2) traps. A half dozen traps will keep you busy "unloading" them. I'm not going to wish you good luck because you'll be amazed at how well these work. I would use no more than a level teaspoon of these seeds at first for each trap, then ffter the first couple of trappings you won't need many seeds to draw them in to the trap, half a teaspon is plenty, you'll see for yourself & the seeds are very inexpensive.

[Larry Frank]

This is what I caught today with peanut butter and bird seed. I actually got the two that have been in my flower pots on the back porch...

340465

[Allan Speers]

This is what I caught today with peanut butter and bird seed. I actually got the two that have been in my flower pots on the back porch...

340465


^ Now that's a GOOD chipmunk !

[Allan Speers]

Now, if only I could figure out a way to kill chipmunks with a shiny new Felder combination machine!


"But HONEY, it also kills rodents !!!! " Think she'd say yes? :)




(Maybe if it was also on sale. And came with a free pair of shoes..... )

[Matt Day]

My chipmunks were so fast it was hard to hit them with a burst of spray paint from an inch away. Good luck with the slingshot!

[Tony Zona]

When we had mice, we had run out of cheese for the trap. We put in a picture of cheese. Yep, next day we had caught a picture of a mouse.

[Allan Speers]

My chipmunks were so fast it was hard to hit them with a burst of spray paint from an inch away. Good luck with the slingshot!


Ah, but I have a secret weapon !

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31826742/Ninja%20Slingshot%21.jpg

[Jim Reffner]

I use a Victor rat trap, no bait. Just kick dirt into to the burrow to cover the entrance and place the trap by the "covered" entrance.

[bill kaminski]

Lots of ideas, and ways. I use the 'water bucket' method. It works, silent, can be placed anywhere, and does not harm pets,etc. ....bill

[Al Launier]

Lots of ideas, and ways. I use the 'water bucket' method. It works, silent, can be placed anywhere, and does not harm pets,etc. ....bill
Interesting & clever!
Has this happened? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvjmtfeBicc
Once you do catch them, do you partially fill the bucket with water?

[Mike Berrevoets]

Lots of ideas, and ways. I use the 'water bucket' method. It works, silent, can be placed anywhere, and does not harm pets,etc. ....bill
+1 this method works surprisingly well.

[Myk Rian]

Water bucket. Guaranteed.

Fill a 5 gal bucket up to 5"-6" from the top. Sprinkle sunflower seeds to completely cover the water. You can use a board as a ramp to the edge. Check it later.
Did I say "Guaranteed"?
I use a bent coat hanger to check for them in the bottom, but they do float to the top. Use tongs or one of those extended "Hands" clamp tool to take them out.
Add more seeds. Change the water every few days.

Guaranteed to work. I toss them out in the woods. Don't know what eats 'em. Raccoons maybe.

[Conrad Fiore]

Rent a weasel from Jim Koepke

[Ted Calver]

rent a weasel from jim koepke

That's just too funny!!!:)

[Ole Anderson]

In my mind snap traps are more humane than drowning. Maybe not?

[Myk Rian]

In my mind snap traps are more humane than drowning. Maybe not?

Heck with humane. They're a hole digging pest.
Would you rather it drag a trap around until it bled out?

[Michael Weber]

According to a recent post by Jim Koepke, you need to get yourself a weasel or two.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Our chipmunk problem ebbs and flows. Across the street in the woods lives a Great Horned Owl. He or she occasionally will swoop down across the front yard and catch a chipmunk on the fly. It is absolutely spectacular to watch that huge wingspan glide down silently, grasp the chip in its talons, and fly off without ever touching the ground. The owl never gets them all so the population recovers.

[Ole Anderson]

Heck with humane. They're a hole digging pest.
Would you rather it drag a trap around until it bled out?

Trapped probably 25, only had one that wasn't a clean kill.

[Harry Hagan]

Ditto on the rat traps if you don't have other critters you're fond of roaming around.

[Allan Speers]

Well, I've tried both of the "mousetrap" types suggested on this thread.

I've had maybe 30 - 40 trips, and NOT ONE SINGLE DEAD RODENT.
So then I put JUST A FEW seeds right in the center, they still get out. Those suckers are FAST.

Also, the grey squirrels are joining in, messing things up. (no peanut butter, just seeds.) I actually watched a squirrel trip one. The squirrel's head was so big, the trap did no damage.

@#$@%#$

I think all the 'munks from the neighboring yards are now coming over for the banquet I've laid out.

-----------

Got me a hunting slingshot yesterday, and some 54 cal lead balls. Still not very accurate, but today I bagged my first sqirrel. I aimed center-mass, so naturally it was a head shot, right in the eye. Hey, dead is dead!
I felt kinda' bad skinning the thing, but I'm not killing something without eating it. Supposed to be really tasty !

Now I gotta' go hunt me a BAR! I don't think they move as fast as chipmunks. (I might need a bigger slingshot, though.)



Fricking chipmunks ......... Today part of my side walkway collapsed. Underneath the pavers, a huge area had opened up. Sure enough, i had chipmunk tunnels all around its perimeter. I think they were holding town meetings down there.


It's time to try that "drowning bucket of doom." I really didn't want to drown them, but this is war.

[Allan Speers]

Our chipmunk problem ebbs and flows. Across the street in the woods lives a Great Horned Owl. He or she occasionally will swoop down across the front yard and catch a chipmunk on the fly. It is absolutely spectacular to watch that huge wingspan glide down silently, grasp the chip in its talons, and fly off without ever touching the ground. The owl never gets them all so the population recovers.


Nice !

A friend of mine has a trout pond, out in NW New jersey. Every once in a while a crane will swoop out of the air and snag a trout, then carry it off. (Yes, a "swooping" crane. ;))

Those things are HUGE. Talk about spectacular sight!

[Allan Speers]

Get a TomCat black plastic snap trap (HD has them) and bait it with sunflower seeds, don't bother with peanut butter, you might attract squirrels. And get a box of 1 quart freezer zip lock's to use as body bags. Hold the trap over the bag, squeeze, bait again and on to the next one. Chipmunks are really easy to trap, they are very stupid.

Mine must have gone to college. :mad:

Is there some trick to this?

--------------------------------

I went out today, to check my 12 snap-traps (six intruder, and six of the black ones recommended earlier.)

2 Intruders are simply gone. Two have been ripped apart. (raccoons?) Two were tripped with no catches.

2 black ones tripped with no catches, and the other four are still set, but empty !

[Mel Fulks]

Allan those traps are a little fussy. You can secure the wire a little too solidly, you want it to be so easily sprung that you have to be pretty careful to not get hurt. I need them so rarely that my first setting is invariably to slow.

[Mayo Pardo]

I had chipmunks burrowing and nesting underneath our patio and then below the siding on the house. I could hear them chewing on the framing on top of the foundation, so no more... I got a hav-a-hart trap and used dried fruit and nuts (trail mix) which worked good, but also found small pieces of apple worked very well. I caught a total of 7 which I relocated to a park near a river. Hopefully that's all there were in the family!

[Larry Frank]

I have the chipmunk and use the Intruder trap. All of mine are wire tied to something. As mentioned earlier, I use peanut butter with bird seed or Sun flower seeds pressed in which makes it difficult to clean them out without snapping them. However, at times, mice will clean them out.

I keep the population down but not out and constantly have to set them. It is death, taxes and chipmunk.

[Ole Anderson]

Mine must have gone to college. :mad:

Is there some trick to this?

--------------------------------

I went out today, to check my 12 snap-traps (six intruder, and six of the black ones recommended earlier.)

2 Intruders are simply gone. Two have been ripped apart. (raccoons?) Two were tripped with no catches.

2 black ones tripped with no catches, and the other four are still set, but empty !

Ok, in my neighborhood they are really stupid. Are you using the black oil sunflower seeds normally used for birdseed?

[Allan Speers]

Ok, in my neighborhood they are really stupid. Are you using the black oil sunflower seeds normally used for birdseed?


Yep. They definitely do go crazy for them. In fact, now I think I have all the chipmunks in the entire neighborhood in MY yard. :eek:

Even the "guaranteed" bucket of liquid death hasn't worked. The chipmunks eat all the "tempter" seeds I put on the long ramp, get to the top, gaze down at the massive bounty of seeds floating just inches below..... then turn around and leave. I've actually seen them do this several times. They must watch YouTube & know what to expect.

This is not working out quite the way I expected. :mad:
---------------


Mel & Larry gave me some ideas to try. We'll see tomorrow. Right now, an Ak47 seems like a pretty good option.

[Allan Speers]

UPDATE:

It's 2 am, and I just went out to check on the "bucket of death" one more time. I had made the water level even higher, figuring that might help. Maybe 3" from the top. The surface was totally packed with seeds.

From a distance, I saw that the ramp had fallen down. Perhaps a customer?

well, yeah, but.... ALL OF THE SEEDS WERE GONE, except for a few empty husks, and no dead animals of any kind.

I assume a raccoon must have straddled the bucket & had himself a time.




This is not working out quite the way I expected. :mad: :mad:

[Lee Schierer]

UPDATE:

I assume a raccoon must have straddled the bucket & had himself a time.




This is not working out quite the way I expected.

The raccoon probably used the water to wash the seeds before he ate them as well.

[Myk Rian]

UPDATE:

It's 2 am, and I just went out to check on the "bucket of death" one more time. I had made the water level even higher, figuring that might help. Maybe 3" from the top. The surface was totally packed with seeds.

From a distance, I saw that the ramp had fallen down. Perhaps a customer?

well, yeah, but.... ALL OF THE SEEDS WERE GONE, except for a few empty husks, and no dead animals of any kind.

I assume a raccoon must have straddled the bucket & had himself a time.

This is not working out quite the way I expected.
3" is to close. They hang by their hind legs and scoop them out. Yes, raccoons and squirrels will steal them.
You don't need to put seeds on the ramp. Chipmunks are very curious. They will find them on their own.

[Allan Speers]

The raccoon probably used the water to wash the seeds before he ate them as well.


LOL. Next time I'll leave a little roll of floss.

I'm nothing if not a gracious host.

[Allan Speers]

3" is to close. They hang by their hind legs and scoop them out. Yes, raccoons and squirrels will steal them.
You don't need to put seeds on the ramp. Chipmunks are very curious. They will find them on their own.



THX. - but when I tried 6", that didn't work either. I don't get it.

[Mike Berrevoets]

This is starting to sound like Carl the groundskeeper and his battles with the gophers in caddyshack. :) (sorry Allan)

my bucket of death method is as follows:
I set the bucket next to the deck which is up two steps. So the ramp is basically level with the top of the bucket. Like a diving board. The board is actually a left over window blind slat about 2" wide and maybe 1/8" thick or so and slick plastic. I hang the ramp/diving board over the edge and sprinkle half a dozen seeds on the board. once they walk past the bucket edge the board tipped in. I used about 8-12" of water in the bottom and enough black oil sunflower seeds to make it look a nice solid surface for them.

id keep an eye on it if I was home and use the pellet gun to end them quickly if I was around. I just noticed a few holes this weekend and one just ran across the deck so it's probably time to set it up again.

good luck. My other method is just sitting outside in a lawn chair at dusk with a pellet gun and a beer and wait for them to show. Takes a little while but the beer makes it tolerable. Figure I'm drinking beer somewhere anyways so I might as well do something productive.

[Scott Brihn]

Tried the water bucket for a week with no results. Bought a $3 rat trap from the hardware store. Caught nine chipmunks & two field mice in just over two-weeks.

[Mike Henderson]

I'd go with an air rifle rather than the slingshot. But that's because I'm terrible with a slingshot.

Just make sure you don't get Alvin, the chipmunk. The penalty is that the chipmunks will sing "Christmas, Christmas time is near, time for toys and time for cheer, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBAshnF0HwY) etc" outside your window every night, for the rest of your life.:)

Mike

[Wayne Hendrix]

I started with rats and got rid of them and the chipmunks moved in. I sent the rat traps out and watched a chipmunk sit on the trap and eat the peanut butter. He was just too little to set off the rat trap.

[Clarence Martin]

Had a problem with Chipmunks digging into the shed. Ate holes right through the plywood. 6 #2 Sleepy Creek Double Longspring traps got rid of them within 2 days !

[Allan Speers]

"#2 Sleepy Creek Double Longspring traps"

Whoa! Nasty.

I LIKE IT! Death! Death! DEATH ! ................




- But I'd be worried that a neighbor's cat might get caught in one of those. Unlikely, but not impossible. That would be not so good.

[Patrick Bernardo]

Given that I live in a state that is increasingly paranoid about all kinds of stuff like this, I don't know anything. However, I do know of... uh... a friend in a neighboring state... who was fed up with the chipmunks digging under his patio, leaving trap-like sinking patio stones that would have broken Indiana Jones's neck (and spirit). From what I understand, the 'Rat Zapper,' baited with a little peanut butter on a bottle cap from a craft brew, is incredibly effective, and pretty cheap from Amazon. You know, that's what I heard. Not that I know or anything. Plus, the wife thinks they're cute.

[Ole Anderson]

In my mind they are nothing but rats that have evolved with a cute exterior motif that seems to save them by wives and moms calling them too cute to execute.

[Allan Speers]

Given that I live in a state that is increasingly paranoid about all kinds of stuff like this, I don't know anything. However, I do know of... uh... a friend in a neighboring state... who was fed up with the chipmunks digging under his patio, leaving trap-like sinking patio stones that would have broken Indiana Jones's neck (and spirit). From what I understand, the 'Rat Zapper,' baited with a little peanut butter on a bottle cap from a craft brew, is incredibly effective, and pretty cheap from Amazon. You know, that's what I heard. Not that I know or anything. Plus, the wife thinks they're cute.


A friend of mine, who lives in a remote village in Siberia, tells me that he's had success simply gluing an exposed 14 gauge wire inside a wooden box, dabbing some peanut butter in the end of the wire in-between the exposed leads, then plugging it into an outside socket.

Good thing he's in Siberia !



(BTW - I am becoming an expert on what does NOT catch chipmunks. It's truly unbelievable....)

[Allan Speers]

In my mind they are nothing but rats that have evolved with a cute exterior motif that seems to save them by wives and moms calling them too cute to execute.


Social Darwinism, right there. ;)

[Patrick Bernardo]

A friend of mine, who lives in a remote village in Siberia, tells me that he's had success simply gluing an exposed 14 gauge wire inside a wooden box, dabbing some peanut butter in the end of the wire in-between the exposed leads, then plugging it into an outside socket.


Haha - the Rat Zapper is a much safer version of that, but it's the real deal. It really does work. No fuss, either. Just set it, and when you see the blinking red light, go inspect your kill. It's easy enough that you might start to feel bad.

[Allan Speers]

Haha - the Rat Zapper is a much safer version of that, but it's the real deal. It really does work. No fuss, either. Just set it, and when you see the blinking red light, go inspect your kill. It's easy enough that you might start to feel bad.


^ Man, 55 bucks, and you have to constantly replace batteries.

I think 10' of wire, a few pieces of wood, and a circuit breaker should get it done. Maybe I'll use plexiglass, so I can watch them fry. Plus it would then be weather resistant. The only hard part will be designing a removable "business end" so it can easily be cleaned. Shouldn't be TOO hard to figure out.

Maybe I'll even design a multi-room unit: "Le Chateau Chipmorte."


Death. Sweet, sweet death !!!!!

[Patrick Bernardo]

No kidding. I didn't look up the current price before I posted. Should have. I got it a couple of years ago for under $30. Batteries last a long time in it, actually. If you put it into CamelCamelCamel, I bet the price will drop to something more reasonable.

[David Mansi]

Try a Rat Zapper. I have a chipmunk problem and that is what I use. I kills them in less than 10 secs with no mess, easy to clean up, and you can reuse it. Here is a video on it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HBzPNQ16zxg

[David Mansi]

Hi Allen, Try a Rat Zapper. I have a chipmunk problem and that is what I use. I kills them in less than 10 secs with no mess, easy to clean up, and you can reuse it. Here is a video on it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HBzPNQ16zxg

[David Mansi]

FYI - chipmunks mate in April and July. You may want to put your traps out the beginning of April if you can.

[Jim Kimbrough]

Another area of my experience, not necessarily expertise.

I know that prairie dogs love bubble gum and cannot digest it once they eat it. Terminal constipation.

Packrats love cocoa powder, mix with a bit of sugar and portland cement. Same effect.

[Larry Frank]

I have gotten between 20 and 25 of the striped ground squirrels this year.

[James Runchey]

Ditto on the Tomcat plastic traps from HD.....they work like a charm. I use peanut butter, never tried sunflower seeds. I caught 15 last year after they ate thru the garage weatherstripping, I'd had enough of their nonsense.

[Rod Sheridan]

I'd go with an air rifle rather than the slingshot. But that's because I'm terrible with a slingshot.

Just make sure you don't get Alvin, the chipmunk. The penalty is that the chipmunks will sing "Christmas, Christmas time is near, time for toys and time for cheer, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBAshnF0HwY) etc" outside your window every night, for the rest of your life.:)

Mike

Thanks Mike, I partially inhaled/exhaled a mouthful of Earl Grey all over my desk.

Now I'll have that falsetto voice in my head all day.............Regards, Rod.