I have a rodent problem. They’re called chipmunks, and the little bastards are everywhere, tearing up flower beds, stealing from the bird feeders and the worse part, they got into my garage and also into the duct work earlier this year. The don’t go for the live traps, the little shits seem to be smarter than that. So I looked online and found this solution.
RE: Getting Rid of Chipmunks
There are a number of posts describing the use of a pail of water with sunflower seeds on top. I can attest that this method really does work. Chipmunks can not resist sunflower seeds. They cannot tell there is water underneath the mat of sunflower seeds. The biggest problem I have had is the raiding of the sunflower seeds by squirrels. When the 5 gal pail is about half full, or a bit more, spread enough sunflower seeds on top to cover the surface of the water. I locate the pail next to a step with the top of the pail at the same level of the step. You will likely have to dig a small hole for the pail to be at the level of the step. When chipmunks come by they jump right in generally without hesitation. I put the dead chipmunks in the woods where they disappear within 24 hours. I use a bent coat hanger to find the dead chipmunks at the bottom of the pail. Again, believe me it really does work and you will be able eliminate a whole neighborhood of chipmunks over a summer. (05/31/2008)
I tried it. I didn’t have a 5 gallon bucket, but I had an old pot in the garage. Instant results.
One down.
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Owning a cat also works, but sometimes kitty doesn’t deliver dead chippers . . . and chaos ensues when a live one is brought into the house for fun and games!
Do you have a method for getting rid of those pesky neighborhood cats which some folks let run free?
At the risk of pissing off more people, when it comes to cats, if they’re feral cats, I’d use poison. If it’s just the neighbors cat crapping in your yard, use a live trap and turn it into the local shelter so they’ll have to pay out the ass to get it back.
Do you have any sure-fired ways to get rid of a $#@*% mole?
Thanks for the info.. I am going to try it. Cute as they are they do so much damage.
Dan . . . some people just do not like cats. I used to work hard to save abandoned feral carts from Wisconsin winters, after kind folks abandoned them on the country road next to our house.
Hugh . . . our cat does not leave our yard, because she is not very adventurous.
Also, Dan, I told my wife, the Master Gardener, about this post and she advises that you can save the sunflower seeds and digging a place for the bucket. Simply fill a bucket half full of water and lean a stick or wooden stake against the bucket to provide a way to the top edge. The chipmunks will do the rest.
Poison huh? Wow so someones cat accidentally gets out of the house and it gets poisoned by ass like you? Karma…is all I can hope for when it comes to you! And you are more then an Ass…
Deletes this jerk from future mailings….
No! Quick, get a cat!
As gadfly says…”Owning a cat also works, but sometimes kitty doesn’t deliver dead chippers! … happened today at my house-10am this morning. As “chipper” was proudly brought into our home … the cat proceeded to play “cat and mouse” … my son finally caught the little rascal and the cat finished her game outside.
Dan,
You can borrow mine. Ha!
Deb,
Maybe you should keep your cat on a leash?
Have you ever witnessed how feral cats kill small mammals and birds? Maybe poison isn’t the right answer where you live, but if you live in a rural area it works for me. How about just getting out the shotgun? Or maybe you can come over to my neighborhood and catch them for me and perform sterilization on them so they’ll quit multiplying?
The fact is, I do live in a neighborhood where I’ve only rarely seen a stray cat. I even took one in that was pregnant, but she disappeared after only one day. It was when I had a fox family living in the culvert last year, so I think maybe they had her for a midnight snack.
Quit killing chipmunks!!! I save them from drowning in our pool. Live trap them and reloctate them to our house; I will take all your chipmunks!!! There has to be a humane way to live trap them.
Head count so far 3
I’m at 7, but have not checked it since yesterday afternoon. Had a large black crow actually steal some of the little chipmunk corpses right out of the bucket.
does this work for ground squirrels also? Those things do more damage than chipmunks.
Ahhh Chipmunks natures little speed bumps.
We have Chipmunks in our front yard. I have seen them around since about June, but finally decided to try to get the little suckers here in October. They dig holes and tunnels in our mulch and front lawn. Set a live trap 4 days ago, and have caught 2 already. I suspect we have 3-5 total. The live trap for us is working good, we put saltine crackers on there (I’ve heard peanut butter on a cracker works good too). The crackers go on a little ledge, then when the chipper goes on the ledge to get the cracker, his weight snaps the door shut. We haven’t bought a new trap for years because the one we have works great, but we got ours at Ace Hardware. We catch them and relocate them to a nearby park with lots of forested area. However in defense of the O.P., if we had chippers in the 20+ numbers, I’d probably try the bucket thing too.