Chipmunks

[Anonymous Poster]

What's the best way to get rid of them?

 

[s1120]

Cats.

 

[Von]

22 or pellet gun

 

[beenthere]

I trap them in a live trap. What you do with them after that is up to you. But before you move them in the trap, make sure the trap doors are secure. That saves the problem of having to track them down in your car. Kernels of corn for bait works for me, but expect peanuts, or other things (bird seed, dog food, etc.) will work as well.
As for the best way, I think they all have their pros and cons.

 

[MossRoad]

If you don't want to kill them live traps and sunflower seeds work good. Then take them far away and let them go. Make a contest out of it and see how many you can catch each year. We have a family friend that does that with squirrels. He doesn't like them eating walnuts on his deck. Some years he gets over a hundred(retired guys have all the great hobbies). Just don't get caught releasing them, as there are probably some laws regarding trapping wildlife, etc...

If all else fails, good pellet gun with scope makes quick and humane way to kill them. And the soft lead pellets tend to not ricochet too much. Just be sure of your backstop, as you can put many holes in an outbuilding before you realize it, not that I have ever done that or anything /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

 

[EdKing]

<font color=blue>Just don't get caught releasing them, as there are probably some laws regarding trapping wildlife, etc...</font color=blue>

Believe it or not, chipmunks are protected here in Pa. 100 dollar fine for killing the little buggers. If they weren't protected, I would use either a pellet rifle or a .22 with shorts./w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

 

[Ozarker]

Why do you want to get rid of them?

 

[MossRoad]

Chipmunks in your siding, then up in your attic, do more damage than mice /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

They also undermine patios, driveways and foundations.

Very cute little buggers, though /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Last week we had family over the weekend. My brother in law took a bunch of mellon rinds and guts out to our composter, about 50 yards behind the house, way past our garage. I woke up early(can't sleep with others in my house) and went outside to read the paper at 5:30am on my back porch. I have never seen a chipmunk near my house, always way back in the woods. Well, this little chipmunk comes around the corner of the garage with his cheeks stuffed, so I don't move. He comes to within 3 feet of me and I wiggle the paper a little. He spits out a mouthful of mellon seeds and takes off. About 10 minutes later, he comes back, so I hold still again. He picks up most of the seeds and goes right past me and goes up my downspout. I hear him clawing and scratching in there for a few minutes, then he comes out with his cheeks empty. I jump up, he barks and takes off. I shake out the downspout and most of the melon seeds that my brother in law took out to the woods are back at my house falling out of the downspout, along with other debris. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Freds]

I was going to ask the same question regarding getting rid of chipmunks. My parents have been battling them for years. They've tried traps (all kinds, both live and dead), poisons dropped into their holes, exterminators. One poison they were using was mixed with peanut butter and worked for a little while. At any given time during daylight hours you can see at least half a dozen of the little buggers running around their house. If you look outside any of the windows in the house you will see chipmunks. They dig around the shrubs throwing bark all over the sidewalk, get up into their planters and throw the dirt out of them and disrupt the plants. I don't know why the sidewalk hasn't caved in. My parents put some mesh around their shrubs and trapped a couple when they tried to emrge from their holes, but I'm sure the chipmunks will come up with a solution for this.
I'm led to believe they are part cockroach the way they have adapted to all the attempts to decrease their numbers.

Fred

 

[PhilNH5]

We have dozens of them here in SE NH as well. The population exploded this year. I wonder if the mild winter was a contributing factor.
They are doing all of the damage that the above posters described. I finally got fed up and started hunting them with an air gun. Let me tell you they are hard shootin'. Fast as the dickens. I have pulled the trigger more than 50 times and only connected 3 times. Yeah, Yeah, I've recently had my eyes checked At this rate I'll never make a dent in the population.

I have noticed a type of snake I never saw before move into my yard. Short but quite thick. Looks like a black snake except not as long and it has a white chin. Looked it up and it is called a black racer - at least in the books. None of the loacls ever heard that name. Anyway I am hoping that with these "new" snakes the chipmunk population will decline.

Phil