One thing that seems to work for me is a 5 gallon propane tank with a weed burner. Dig the opening of the hole out fill with propane (not to much) and ignite.If the underground blast doesn't get then the gas will. Also a road flare ( 30 min.kind )down a hole when sealed will irritate their lungs and send them packing.So don't wave the white flag just yet!Good luck to all on the battlefield !!

My jack russell would take care of your problem...shed love it...

I had a problem with rats a number of years ago eating the electrical wires, (somehow they manages to avoid getting shocked) phone wires and even the PVC plumbing under the house. Bad enough when they ate the water lines, but the SEWAGE lines? Gross! The cost of repairs was in the upper hundreds and growing daily. Anyhow, what's that got to do with this thread? My cure should work with ground squirrels as well.

I tried the traps with little or no success, and they ate the poison like it was candy and everything else I tried did nothing. The cure that finally worked was not only cheep but effective, though a bit cruel it worked and saved me thousands more in house repairs.

I got a bag of cement mix (no gravel and such, just the powder) from Home Depot. Mixed that 50/50 with flower and put it in a bowel. They loved the flower and ate the mix till they were full. I also placed a bowl of water next to the flower mix. After such a tasty but dry meal they would be thirsty and need a drink. The end result is obvious.

I'm not recommending this as a first assault, preferring traps instead, but if major damage is being done to my house, all best are off.

That's disgusting... just keep your area very clean and you won't have rats or anything else.

You know, I can't laugh. When we bought our home it had been empty for about a year. We spent some time on renovations and cleaning, then moved in. First night we hear rustling downstairs shortly after all tucked in, so I played possum while hubby toddles down to check things, thinking it's just the cat checking around. Pretty soon, husband reappears ranting as he puts on shoes that he can't find the flashlight and crowbar. !!? More playing possum. Eventually I hear swearing and bangs. Hubby screaming like a girlie and running. I start to think perhaps it might be good if I check on things, when it gets quiet. Husband reappears and mumbles something about couldn't get it to leave but I cornered it.

Wake up in am and go downstairs to cook breakfast and WHOA!! Who moved camels into the office, cuz it smells like a herd of them live there.

Turns out my playing possum was more apt than I knew, hubby had managed to wedge plywood around a footed cabinet such that a fat possum is held under there. Naturally it's the city animal control guy's day off. After we beg to borrow their wire thing to catch it around the neck and drag it off, they promise to send someone when they have time. Eventually a very young police officer arrives with it, shortly followed by his buds. We'd tried running a nylon rope through a length of pvc pipe, but were dissuaded by the very nasty looking teeth the critter so liberally displayed whenever we tried to nab him.

The two senior officers proceed to make a lot of jokes like "Oh, just reach in there and grab him" while the poor low guy on the totem poll works. Eventually he nabs it and drags it to the front yard, whereupon...OHOH!

What do we do with it? The older officers laugh and suggest the new guy just put it in his back seat and drive it to the country. After thinking over this unhelpful advice, hubby appears with cat carrier, and we toss it in there, and carrier in back of our truck, and haul him out to the city dump some miles hither. On arrival hubby put the carrier on the ground, flings open the door and somehow manages to land in the bed of the truck in one move.

Nothing happens.

Eventually hubby resorted to shaking the critter out of the box, whereupon he toddles off toward the dump presumably for lunch. So far no repeat entrances, but we have a rather large possum my children refer to as the "poor mama" who hangs in a tree outside one of our second story windows and looks at us ever few days.

Warning - don't use any poison on your rodents if you have animals around. Your animals will catch the rodents and eat them and poison themselves.

I can't believe my posts are still here from way back then. LOL!!!

Jason,
I was ROFLMAO!

Good to see you again - you are missed at the other place.

Hey, I was glad to see this post again too. Entertaining reading on a very cold 10-degree night.

littlebug5, wishing for spring but NOT wishing for GS

I ran across this old thread while sitting on my deck listening to 20 acres' worth of ground squirrels calling out their love songs to each other. "Peep peep peep cheep cheep cheep." Disgusting little vermin.

They have turned our alfalfa field into a scene from the foxholes of WWI. You can hardly take ten steps without falling into a hole.

I gave up years ago on gassing them. Now we invite hunting parties out to sit in the top floor of our barn and shoot for hours. The first round of hunters this year got about 50; the second, around 35. And still the maddening "Peep peep peep cheep cheep cheep" goes on...on...on.

Back when I was young and optimistic, I bought a good supply of extra-large, heavy-duty gas-bombs made for killing ground squirrels. They looked like sticks of dynamite. You had to go to the next county to find them (legally). They weren't cheap, but I thought, hey, they're sure to work so what's a few bucks?

NOT!

I filled my son's red wagon with squirrel bombs, newspapers, and matches. With a shovel over my shoulder and the wagon rumbling along behind, I set off into the field.

Dig, dig, dig up a hole. Crumple up newspapers. Shove a bomb down the hole as far as possible and light it. Quickly stuff newspapers over the bomb, then backfill with dirt. See drifts of white smoke coming from other holes. See squirrels popping up and laughing.

I must've spent hundreds on those bombs. Oh, and our farmer - the guy who takes care of the alfalfa - has one of those aforementioned gassers he hauls behind a tractor. He said it didn't work at all, and it sure doesn't seem to have reduced the population. So we invited in the neighborhood hunters with their 22s. Although they're closing in on 90 so far, there are easily 100 or more still out there.

We could charge admission I suppose. For the hunters, that is. Oh, and the other day hubby and I visited a local arboretum. What did we see EVERYWHERE on the grounds? Not just lovely green grass and exhibits of flowers, bushes, and trees, but dozens of holes and trails, with tame little ground squirrels poking up their heads and practically waiting for a handout. The locals who live in the city probably think they're "cute." Calling all hunters...

I have succesfully encouraged grey squirrels to leave my attic, trash can, etc. with a pellet gun. The only problems are disposing of the bodies, and the fact that it's illegal to shoot a pellet gun in my town. I have to snipe from inside my house!

Loved reading this page!!! We noticed a problem with the ground squirrels as well. It all started with a few holes in the front yard and under the patio in the back yard. One day, they were even so kind to chew their way through the garage door lining and help themselves to a feast of sunflower seeds! So in return for their nice jesture, I got them a nice large rat trap. I grabbed my hot glue gun and glued a few sunflower seeds to it, since it seemed to be such a hit. I put it next to their growing hole in the ground and withing a few hours, we had him! I disposed of him, peeled off the glue and put a fresh seed on the trap and set forth to catch his partner in crime. Now we're working on number 7 of ??? (too many)...

I have had war fare for four months on the tree squirrels living in my attached garage and building nest in the attic space above my mud room. Shot them with pointed lead pelets an dthe lead posin did not get them. Next door nighbor is a traper got a profesional neck trap NOTHING. Rat trap with apple slices seem to do OK. They have moved on for the summer but as the fall in New Hampshire approches they will be back. I am afraid if I block there entrance with copper wool they will just chew another. Any other options, I am thinking of taking the 22 with quiet short runds to get them when they get outside! But surrounded by 40 acres of old growth woods, if I shot one another will quickly take it's place.

seal up the holes. they find a gap, then chew it wide enough to enter if it was not already. seal all gaps.

So having read these posts I know that there is no need for me to purchase guns, bombs, or poisons as they are only temporary, and not so effective, means of eliminating the pests and may, in fact, actually increase the population as we are mearly providing them with food and entertainment.

While I typically don't believe in killing an animal unless I plan to eat it, I'm making an exception where ground squirrels come to play. Instead of HaveaHeart traps I've invested in a dozen or so large snap traps that I bait with peanut butter. Relocation of any trapped ground squirrel is to ditch on the side of the road. I maybe morbid but I like to leave their bodies where their comrads can see them and get the message, that I mean business!

The only effect my two large dogs has had is to dig even larger holes where the tunnel entrances are. I'm thinking about investing in barn cats. Do you think that a dozen cats will be enough for the first assult?

Has anyone tried relocating these pests to someplace like Afganastan?

An 83 year old Long island man went to jail for shooting a squirrel dead with a bbgun.

A few days ago I lost a beloved sky plant to ground squirrels and the war was on! I am now determined to stop at nothing to get rid of these pests. I have holes burrowed all along my fenceline which I keep covering with dirt and rocks ( to no avail!) and many of my plants have been destroyed in hours. I tried mothballs and that upset my neighbors, but had no impact on the little varmints. I will try the traps that were mentioned, but I am curious as to how quickly these horrible little beasts procreate? I watched a dozen of them on my back patio scrounging for bird seed knocked down from one of my bird feeders. I detest snakes, but am now looking forward to the snakes coming around so they can have a good sized meal of ground squirrels! How is a girl supposed to keep her garden looking nice when these horrible creatures have seemingly taken over the Universe?! Is there a simple solution to the ground squirrel invasion? Every time I turn my back on them they reappear and bring their friends and family!Help!

Try rat poison with peanut butter mixed in.

All squirrels seem to love the stuff, and even lick the box clean and sometimes chew it up.

I am with those who would commit ground squirrel homicide. This is war, and the only way to achieve complete victory is to adopt a strategy of genocide. I don't care if they are on the adjoining vacant property to my home, they die! The more miserable death, the better.

I, like so many others who have posted their war stories, have tried an array of techniques, from the human PETA approach to sitting in a chair with cup 'a Joe with my blow dart gun. These little bastards have an objective to eliminate human beings from the planet unless we get to them first.

Initially, I tried burning them out. I sprayed WD40, diesel fuel, gasoline, and an array of other ignitable fluids down their "rat" hole and ignited it with a propane torch. Very successful ploy! I didn't succeed in ridding myself of the pesky varmints, but I did accomplish a new bathroom plumbing job. My torch burned the drain pipe and filled my home with smoke. Nice touch. Should have read Jason's post first!

I've put obstacles such as rock in the holes and the squirrel CB battalion brings out their heavy equipment to push the rocks back out, or they simply use their C4 to blow another opening in the terra firma. Same with using clay-type mud or concrete. They either burrow around it, or blow it out of the way. I swear, the other day one of the battalion of ground squirrels came out of the whole with a hard hat on its head, scouting for the enemy--me.

I tried the chemical assault--like Jason--using a mixture of common garden poisons, graduating to all-out warfare with array of household chemicals I created from products under the sink and automotive chemicals from my storage cabinet. All without success, except now my gieger counter indicates that perhaps I should no longer use tap water.

Tried the "nature's blend" approach of using various types of pepper, including dog spray [couldn't find Mace]. Tried pouring a bottle of almost pure habanero sauce into a Hudson sprayer, added water and sprayed down into the entrances of all holes. Seems that all this latter approach accomplished is a request by the local ground squirrel community to ask for more tortilla chips to go with the salsa.

I use large scale "squash the bastards" rat traps and occasionally snag one of the enemy. And for you animal rights whackos, I feel damn good about contributing to the "circle of life." Crows have to eat too! All too often, the squirrel rangers are effective at snagging the treat I offer on the trap without getting caught. I will, however, continue this approach along with some others I am developing.

I am contemplating using some flexible plastic hose about 3/8-1/2 inch in diameter attached to my air compressor. I will snake the hose down into the burrow 20-30 feet in the hopes of find the den, at which point I will again attempt to neutralize the horde of savage rodents by first injecting ammonia down the tube, then chlorine bleach. If I can reach the heart of the community, I believe this biological warfare approach will gas the nasty little creeps.

The humane traps will become a component of my warfare, but I will not rest until I am able to claim that I have exterminated the entire population of ground burrowing, flower-eating, slab-destroying pests around my fort. As they say, all is fair in love and war, and baby, the war that I bring to these critters is armageddon.

So here we are in April 2011 - almost 10 full years since the first post here. I live in Connecticut, and have just been told by our landscaping guy that the holes appearing in our front yard are from squirrels (although he didn't specify what kind of squirrel). They first started showing up at the end of last summer on our front yard by the roadway, and now this spring, several more have appeared gradually approaching the front of our house. If these are indeed the horrible creatures described in this post, can anyone tell me if there has been a definitive solution to their eradication over the last decade??

You need to find out if they are Gray squirrels or ground squirrels.

If you scare them do the run up trees or into underground burrows?

Did anyone notice more acorns than usual last year? We did where we live. Lots of furry little rascals burying them in the front yard. Looks like a minefield!

"Mast blooms go in cycles. in years with large acorn production, there will be a lot of very well fed squirrels, mice and other vermin. the following year there will typically be high births among these species. some of them are vectors for human diseases. there can also be subsequent bursts in the populations of the animals which prey on them.

a productive masting season may therefore be the harbinger of disease, harvests attacked by unusually large numbers of vermin, and other ecological phenomena important to human well being."

A link that might be useful:

boingboing.net/2010/09/04/a-glut-of-acorns-or.html

Duped Ground Squirrel:

1 reasonably clean 5 gallon bucket filled 3/4 full of water

1 big bag of birdseed grade sunflower seeds (black oil type from Menards, Home Depot etc.)

1 4ft long board (like a 2x4)

Preparation:

(In the morning, on a reasonably nice day, when its not raining or too windy.)

Place bucket of water about 4 ft away from the opening of the ground squirrel hole. Let the water settle.

Place one end of the board near the squirrel hole and prop the other end of the board just barely on to the edge of the bucket of water. The board will be a ramp leading up to the top of the bucket.

gently spread a layer of the sunflower seeds on the surface of the water that is in the bucket. Keep sprinkling the seeds until the surface of the bucket is covered with a dry looking layer of seeds. Do not add too much where the squirrel can float or temporarily be supported by the seeds. Also do not fill the bucket beyond 3/4 full of water to begin with. The goal here people is to present the illusion of a whole bucket full of dry seeds to the greedy little squirrel. place about 4-5 loose seeds along the ramp.

If you move the bucket you will have wet seeds and they are little smarter than that. Once they are wet - Start over!!!!

Go do something for a while and come back later. They will smell the seeds.

If you come back and find all of the seeds wet and severely disrupted, it's likely that you have duped the unsuspecting pest. If the water isn't moving wait a bit before the removal. If you have disrupted seeds and wet spots next to the bucket, you either filled it too full of water or put too many seeds for the the little bugger to fall through effectively.

Have a reasonable place to dump the whole bucket, water seeds, nuisance, and all. You may want to bag and toss the problem into the trash.

If you already have a bucket and a board, the seeds will cost about 8 bucks. If not, the whole thing can be done for abut 12 bucks.

Do not do this overnight, or when it's rainy. You don't want other types of night feeders making a heck of a mess or an overflowed bucket (waste of money for the seeds).

It works well if you are patient, relatively neat, and detail oriented.

This thread is hilarious! But 10 years later and what's the solution? Drown or trap?

I've got ground squirrels burrowing under my foundation. My first thought was to run a hose down the hole and fill with water, but I do remember Caddy Shack and I have a basement...

So, as with most folks I guess, I tried just moving the dirt back into the hole - yeah right, you guessed it - the next day, the hole was back.

Now, I'm at the check-the-internet stage and I came across this thread. I'm not sure I'm any more educated now than when I started, except for the knowledge that in 10 years the poison manufacturers haven't gotten it figured out yet, oh yeah, and a whole lot of laughs!

Well, I'm no good with dead animals, so I guess I'll have to try the traps. I checked Havahart and the traps are up to $40 now, but on sale for $35. We'll see how it goes.

Amazon has the 0745 traps for $20 (and free shipping w/ Prime).

I did a lot of searching on the best trap to get since Havahart alone has no less than 4 different traps that all advertise as being for chipmunks or squirrels. I found that the 0745 is touted as being the most reliable of the traps--catching even the smartest critters that have gotten around the other models. It's just a bonus that it happens to be the least expensive of the bunch, too.

We bought this place in March and are over-run with ground squirrel. Lots of young ones. After reading this I'm worried they might be responsible for our foundation problems. We have a trap but it has large holes so will be making a trip to HF for a smaller trap.

For you "animal lovers" out there ... ground squirrels, rats, mice, gophers, moles, etc are PESTS (snakes are beneficial and eat some of the aforementioned). Tree squirrels live in TREES. Chipmunks don't dig holes. The best and quickest way to get rid of ground squirrels is strychnine grain. Put a couple tablespoons in the hole where other animals can't reach it. They die immediately and you'll get the thrill of finding their bodies all over the place within a couple hours. Cats belong indoors. They will kill few ground squirrels but will go for the easier prey. The Audubon Society here in Portland reports that 60% of the injured/mangled birds (some endangered) brought in for treatment are the result of house cats that some stupid irresponsible person turned out for the day to fend for themselves.

The Univ of California "Integrated Pest Management Program" says that ground squirrels tend to be infested with dangerous diseases. They do NOT recommend relocating them. Rather, they recommend destroying them by whatever means works. See the link below.

"The best and quickest way to get rid of ground squirrels is strychnine grain. They die immediately and you'll get the thrill of finding their bodies all over the place within a couple hours."

NOT a very responsible way to take care of this.

Owls, hawks, falcons, eagles, foxes, coyotes, wolves, badgers, etc.........even some dogs and cats will then consume these dead bodies (that you find so delightful), and will ingest the poison themselves.

You need to find a better way to deal with this.

@Jason! Your posts have been a bright spot in an otherwise going-out-of-my-mind-trying-to-get-rid-of-squirrels kind of month.

I wish I would have found a definite answer here but it looks like using the killing traps might be the only answer. ugh. I hate to do it but it looks like I have no choice... Well, my HUSBAND has no choice, I'm not doin' it.

When we saw the first ground squirrel in the back yard we thought it was cute and harmless. Ha! We now have an entire army of the little critters. There are holes everywhere. We have tried filling in the holes, no good, we have flooded the holes, no good. Seriously considering the bucket of water & sunflower seeds method. :(

*sigh* After watching the little brats I just cannot bring myself to kill them (or having them killed) so I'm going to have to spend the money for some kind of fence. Ugh!

A friend tells me she uses catnip plants as a repellant to keep these pesky critters away from the slab on which her house sits. Reading 10 years of this blog on ground squirrels clearly told me I'm not alone. Lots of good ideas, persistence seems to be the critical tactic. I trapped several ground squirrels with rat traps (Big Snap E) set out to get rats. If you are unfamiliar with them, google them. They are incredibly effective. Dont get the Victor trap look-alikes. They dont work.

I just put out the Hav A Hart traps today.

I caught two of these pesky ground squirrels with two Hav-A-Hart traps yesterday using a couple of walnuts stuck on peanut butter smeared on some small scraps of wood. And three antelope squirrels with the Big Snap E traps I mentioned on the previous post.

Depending on how you dispose of the ground squirrels you may have messy traps. I did when I took on the skunks who were systematically stealing chicken eggs at my last house. The guy who delivered the alfalfa for us told us how to clean a wire cage like a Hav-A-Hart trap even after sprayed by a skunk (yuck!). Wash the cage well with water, sit it out in the sun all day, then use Simple Green to clean. Believe it or not, Simple Green takes out all the odor out of metal.

I am becoming more adapted to my open space location. I killed a rattlesnake the other day with a cinder block. Necessity is the mother of invention....

So, I went to go to the store the other day, my car wouldn't start. Seems *something* chewed through a necessary wire under the hood. *sigh*

We thought the first one or two ground squirrels were cute too, lived here since 1987 and they started to appear last year. I think we are in for the long haul now as holes are everywhere on our 3 acres. HELP!!! We thought the woodpeckers were bad destroying our cedar siding, so now we have a new enemy...:O(

Oh my gosh.. I have been laughing so hard at all we have tried to do to get rid of these little devils! LOL
ok.. so i do like the idea of trapping them & moving them BUT.. if you have 2.5 acres and a million of them.. what do you do? Its not like there are only 50 of them... and now there are babies.. ugh! i am so over them!!

jul57.. We also have 2 and a half acres and they run rampant! There's no way, short of sitting out there with a shot gun all day long, that I'm going to get rid of all of them.

If you do container gardening, a friend of mine just told me a good way to do it so the little a$$holes won't get to my plants...

The answer is CINDER BLOCKS and smooth plastic pots. If you put the potted plant in a smooth pot and then on top of a standing up cinder block (edge of pots must be hanging over blocks), the little a$$holes can't climb up and eat your plant for dinner.

It might not look all that great, but it's something. My friend gets large plastic tubs to grow veggies in and puts it up on cinder blocks, and she hasn't had any problems with the plant-murdering critters!

I'm not sure about the rabbit that comes and eats my rose bush blooms... but we shall see if this will work for him too.

Just read over 10 years of battles with these vermin. Thank you for the laughs. I have been fighting this war for quite some time myself and love seeing new ideas. Going to try the flour and cement for sure. For those with the devil spawn in attics, basements or crawl spaces, I highly recommend scattering moth balls in the space and then closing up the access point with steel wool when they have gone. I traped/shot over 100 of the little devils in one summer around our animal pens. The highlight was finding two of them in the live trap with a medium sized rattlesnake having a little party.

I have had a measure of success against the ground squirrel invasion by using The Rat Zapper. It works for rats and surprisingly it also works for ground squirrels.
I tried using the Havahart live traps, but after catching and removing over 30 of them I realized that I wasn't making any headway. I also found out that's it's technically illegal to transport them because they are considered hazardous.
Luckily, a few went after the bait in the Rat Zapper that I had set out for the rats and they were instantly electrocuted. That set me on my mission and last year I wiped out the squirrel population - best bait was shelled peanuts.
Of course, they came back this year and the biggest mistake was not keeping the Rat Zapper baited and out in the yard all the time.

We discovered that rats were tunneling underneath our foundation. We could see the holes on the ground near the foundation walls. One of them made it into a wall and died. The stench was almost unbearable for several weeks.

We hired our exterminator to dig a trench 12" wide and 12" deep around the entire circumference of the house. He filled it with cement. Then, he performed an entire house exclusion from chimney to ground, filling in every crack or gap where any climbing or tunneling creature could enter.

It has been over 7 months since the work was done, and we have not heard, smelled, or seen any evidence of tunneling rats or any other creature in our house. Yes, it was expensive but so was the damage that would have eventually happened, not to mention the YUK factor of having rats invade our home.

Recently, we have noticed tunnels underneath our fence and our tool shed. We have plans to address the shed, but how will we drive the critters away from the fence?

Here is a picture of the cement trench around the foundation:

These things are crazy. At least I know what doesn't work after reading these posts. I have them eating all my plants roots (can't get them to eat the weeds-mind u). Now they are building houses next to my tree roots & chewing on hot tub wires. ;(
I contacted a friend that's a local grower figuring they might have a solution. If u live in a high or low dessert, these plants work quite well. I'm attaching the link. Have also heard peppermint oil disturbs them. I'm sure that it wouldn't be as much as they've annoyed me.
If u do the plants, their roots run about 8-12' in any direction so they plant them about 8' apart. Make sure u wear gloves when handling plants as they are poison. Also, make sure to bury the roots deep enough as the roots smell like dog poo.
Hope this helps. :)

I moved into a house. I planted a garden ands that is when I noticed I had squirrels. I tried everything like Jason posted. No luck. My doctor told me I had to walk at least an hour everyday. I could not believe the amount of squirrel holes as I walked around my block which is longer than most. I decided to start an anti-squirrel campaign and printed all the suggestions and went door to door around the whole block and explained if we all got together maybe we could get rid of them. I asked them if they were willing to keep a record so I could post the results. In In 2 months there were 123 that were either killed or captured. Still no luck. Sooner or later they were back. I decided to call a pest control co. and ask their advice. Most told me it was best for them to take care of the problem. Finally I talked to an older man who knew the area I lived in and he told me he had been to that area many times in the past and almost made his living in this area. He said squirrels were very very smart plus they gave birth up to 9 offspring as often as 2 times a year and being I live in San Diego the weather is good for them. Therefore they have a large enough population to reproduce faster than people can kill or relocate them. I told him I had read that a person can build a raised bed for a garden and lay any wire mesh that big enough to plant your plants and small enough so the squirrels could not get through. He kinda chuckled and said they would come out at another location and get to my vegetables anyway. Then after a while I got to thinking and came up with a great idea. I took some liter plastic soda bottles and some bigger that have pre-made tea in them. Cut the bottoms out of them, planted my tomatoes, cukes, bell peppers, ect. Planted carrots, radishes etc. in the larger ones. I have a fence where I used a screw and a washer to attach them to the fence. Small ones on top and the larger under them Then I attached chicken wire so the squirrels could not get to them.. WALLA success!!! I planted Zoyza grass to replace the original grass, After the Zoyzia got established I have not seen any more hole in my yard. Hope this helps anyone reading this post.

I have enjoyed reading all these posts over the years. About 5 years ago ground squirrels moved into our neighborhood here in AZ. Especially our one acre of land. At first I thought they were so cute and I had fun watching them playing and multiplying...cute little babies running around everywhere. I plant a garden every year. The ground squirrels ate everything. Everything. They ate my pumpkins, zucchini, cucumbers, snow peas, tomatoes, beets, etc. The next year I planted in containers and put chicken wire around them while the squirrels watched and rejoiced that I was planting a garden just for them. The next year I tried again and tried even harder with chicken wire to keep my garden safe but again they celebrated and had another party. In the mean time they moved under our house and our shed and our woodpile and had babies and more babies and played in our driveway and played tag on our neighbors roof. So I said, at least I will have flowers! The squirrels heard me and they laughed. I bought moss roses and petunias and couldn't wait for them to blossom. In the morning the moss roses finally bloomed and they were so beautiful! I went in to get my camera and when I came out, 2 little ground squirrels were having a feast on my beautiful flowers, one by one, until nothing was left but the plant. I gave up. A year ago we moved in with my mom because she had heart problems and couldn't be alone. Now she is better so we're getting ready to move back. It is amazing what can happen to an acre of land when no one is around and no goats or sheep to eat the weeds. But we have been working hard and are getting closer to the point where we can move back. But there are so many new holes everywhere...their must be dozens of ground squirrels. I want my land back, and I want to have a garden with homegrown veggies, and I want flowers. I have never, ever believed in harming the ground squirrels. But after 5 years of destruction and no garden I am desperate. I have read all these posts and now we will have to decide what to do. Spring will be here before we know it! Oh help.

A good while back, a lady came into the farm supply store where I was working and was almost in tears as she asked for help in getting rid of chipmunks. She said they had destroyed the foundation of her house and had dug holes throughout her lawn and yard. She bought some gopher poison, rat poison and traps and departed. Sadly, I do not know how she fared in her battle.

My bride and I have had many of the same experiences shared here. And we have likewise tried many of the same remedies. Shooting works well, as does the drowning bucket with seeds. Live traps work well too, although in my experience they do best if placed along a runway that the chipmunks use regularly, such as beside the house or porch or garage. And if it's a live trap, it has to be a Havahart because the critters will not go in a trap with only one entrance. Again, that's what I've found; maybe your experience has been different. I've had limited success with regular rat or snap traps. One of the very best solutions of all time is a five to six foot long gray rat snake placed at the entrance to an active burrow. Keeping the snake on chipmunks and out of the chicken house is one drawback to this. The snake is an even better "ratter" than cats, and the long length, age and size ensures that the snake can handle any size chipmunk.

For those of you too kind, squeamish or whatever to destroy these cute little things, I can assure you I share no such sentiments. We have seen and been told by many people of the damage that these creatures inflict on foundations and buildings. We've drowned about thirty or more and that number will hopefully be going up as we are seeing more chipmunk activity around our house and yard every week. We have an active red-shouldered hawk nest in our backyard, and they hunt the place often. They have at least two chicks to feed as of this week. Even so, the parent birds can't keep up with the breeding rate of chipmunks.

We've tried poison, and I'm not sure of its effectiveness since the chipmunk is a cache critter; it fills its cheek pouches with food and carries it back to a storage depot for use in hard times. Poison cloaked in peanut butter may make poison a good to better option. And as many of you, I fear for collateral damage. I make sure any poisoned peanut butter balls are placed well down in a burrow.

I wish you well in your efforts. Chipmunks are a very serious and difficult problem for the homeowner.

Agreed -- there are some funny stories here. But we are probably laughing to keep from crying. Oh my gosh -- I'm getting depressed. I'm in Arizona, and an empty 2-acre lot nearby has an exploding population of ground squirrels. They are truly running amok, and we are certain that we will be dealing with them directly very soon; for sure the people across the road from them are! It is obvious that relocation is not an option.

I've been doing some web searching in hopes of finding an effective method of control -- doesn't look promising. I did notice that some had relative success by aggressively filling in tunnels.

Has anyone tried Burrow Blocker or Tunnel Fill?

Wow! What a post. We have cats. We have ground squirrels. I have an excellent .177 cal air rifle. When they show themselves I kill them. Sorry to be crude, but I have no heart when it comes to ground squirrels. One of their little sub-terranean complexes almost turned my tractor over. It was a close thing. I am three years into this program, have killed dozens and just saw my first one this year. The neighbors are now asking if I will help them out. I don't want to poison them, which one neighbor did, as I don't want to hurt the cats, dogs, grey squirrels ( yes, I do distinguish between the two...although given the job they are doing on my walnuts I may change my mind) and other critters. My wife who generally wouldn't hurt a fly looks the other way on the ground squirrels. I have really tightened up the house too, so there are none in the attic.

I know ground squirrels are insidious pests and getting rid of them is a serious matter, but reading this thread made me bust out laughing at least a dozen times. Still, I don't plan any time soon to don camouflage and start shooting anything that moves. Nor do I plan to capture and release, although I have a perfectly good Hav-A-Hart. My ex and I used it to humanely catch a pesky skunk that kept coming around our yard every night. We got sick of tomato juicing our dogs. We covered the trap w/a blanket and drove it up into the Oakland Hills to release in a park. We set it on a trail, propped open the door, removed the blanket and ran like hell. The skunk sprayed as it ran down the trail in the opposite direction and a strong breeze carried the spray to us faster than we could run! We were able to wash ourselves and soft clothing, but shoes and leather belts had to be thrown out.

There's very good squirrel bait sold at ranch and farm supply stores. You sprinkle a teaspoon of it down an active ground squirrel hole and then you pray real hard the critter dies underground. If they come out to die above ground, you can't know who will eat it and also die. And it may be someone you know and love or a beautiful creature you don't want to harm. NOT a good idea.

I was chatting w/a lady in a store in Medford, OR about our ground squirrel problem in CA and she recommended using Big Red chewing gum. Another lady in the line heard the conversation and also vouched for Big Red, so I bought a bunch of it at the dollar store. It must be actively-used burrows. You can't let your human scent get on the stick of gum, but cut it into squirrel-size bites an inch long and drop a couple of pieces in each hole. They love the cinnamon flavor, chew it and swallow it. I believe they choke to death. It worked to get rid of a very large population one year, but a few reappeared the following spring. I think these were probably newcomers, moving into the pre-built tunnels. We moved before having to re-apply.

I recently moved to 5 acres where a million ground squirrels live. They turned hollowed-out Live Oaks into high-rise tenement buildings, but their main homes are subterranean. I almost broke an axle on my riding mower and twisted an ankle when I stepped into one by accident. I'm also pretty sure they're in the house. Yesterday, I noticed a brick missing from the chimney at deck-level. Someone put thick screen in there to keep critters out, but it was bent down. I put a brick inside to block the opening and a few more on the outside to make it too heavy to push away. It was still all sealed up today. But they could have other entrances I haven't discovered yet.

Someone mentioned sealing up your house w/steel wool and I'd like to vouch for that method. I was told there's no way to keep mice out of a trailer or mobile home. They come up the walls from below. I once had to evict a family of smokers from a rental trailer. They'd so polluted the place w/nicotine that I had to replace everything before it could be rented out again -- ceilings, walls, floors, insulation, appliances, counters, plumbing and fixtures. To keep mice from getting in the insulation behind the new drywall, before we put the foot molding on I used a screwdriver to push steel wool down between the new floors and the drywall, creating a mouse-proof barrier for the entire trailer. It works!. Many people lived there after that and they NEVER had mice! I've sprayed expanding foam in the same way, but mice CAN chew through it, like styrofoam.

Two months ago, I adopted a 9-mo-old cane corso (Italian mastiff) puppy. Walking him on leash through Home Depot, every single person we saw had to pet him or at least comment. Half the people said, "Adorable!" The other half wanted to know what kind of dog he was. Max really made out like a bandit getting treats from every sales assistant. In case you didn't know, that's what those orange aprons are for....carrying dog treats.

One of the reasons Max's people chose me to give their dog to was precisely BECAUSE of the million ground squirrels who lived on my property, which we all saw as endless hours of entertainment for him. I could let him loose out the slider, on his own recognizance, w/o worrying about him getting on the road. In and out, in and out, 20-30 times a day. I knew the first day he started chasing squirrels from his muddy brown nose when I let him back in. I got a wash cloth to clean his face, but quickly realized the only time I need to wash his nose is right before bed.

About a week ago, I heard some squirrels chirping very loudly from the front of the house so I went to look out a bedroom window. I saw Max chase, catch, de-tail and decapitate a squirrel, and get into sphinx position on the lawn w/his squirrel burrito between his paws, just like he holds his chew toy when he's working on it. He ate slowly, obviously enjoying every morsel, and I thought, "What a great puppy, catching his own protein and getting rid of vermin at the same time!" Then I realized the squirrel could give Max fleas, lice, rabies or other diseases.

Late that day, as the sun was setting, I heard a VERY loud and persistent chirp in the backyard. Max and I went out on the deck and looked down to see where it was coming from. We saw the largest ground squirrel ever, standing straight and tall next to a burrow. He was half again as tall as any other ground squirrel, obviously the king of the squirrels. If he could have shook a fist at us, he would have. He was angry Max had eaten one of his harem and was giving us a piece of his mind! It was HE declaring war on us, rather than the other way around!

This is what brought me to this site. I can't use poison w/o putting Max in danger, but these vermin gotta go! There are too many to trap, although I LOVE the idea of using animal crackers for bait. Filling every hole w/cement won't work here, an act of futility since every burrow leads to dozens of escape hatches. And there isn't enough Big Red or fox or lion urine in the world to fill all these holes. I also don't want to handle dead squirrels, emptying traps. I don't want to pester them into moving to my neighbors' yards either. I don't like the idea of pouring propane down holes and igniting it, especially in a high fire hazard area like the Pacific Northwest, and especially during the 4th drought year in a row, this year reportedly the worst in recorded history.

Drowning in the sunflower bucket sounds good but, like rats, these are quite intelligent animals. They wouldn't follow the Pied Piper into the sea. They'd see one go up the ramp, plunk in and never return, and they'd figure it out. Chlorine bleach or ammonia dissipate and are gone from the environment w/in a few days, but it would only make the squirrels move next door temporarily and return when it was safe again. You'd have to apply it to a million holes every week forever.

When I lived in Siskiyou County, everyone knew how to keep bears from stealing fruit out of your orchard. You fill a condom w/ammonia and close it off by tying it w/string. Then you coat the condom w/honey or peanut butter, something tasty that stays stuck to rubber. You tie it to a branch 6' above the ground, just high enough to make the bear on its hind legs have its mouth aimed upward in order to get the tasty condom. As soon as its teeth puncture the condom, all the ammonia falls into its mouth and that particular bear will never come back again. But you can only teach one bear at a time. They don't tell each other to watch out for the nasty fruit in your orchard. I lived across the river from a community of 200 bears!

I'd like to know HOW LONG it takes squirrels who eat cement & flour to die? If it happens too quickly, the survivors are smart enough to catch on. Big Red gum may be worth another try. At least no one else would be harmed eating those dead squirrels.

But of everything mentioned on this site, the one thing that ALWAYS works and involves no cost or effort at all on the part of humans is cats, miniature panthers, deadly predators. A few years back, I saw something on U-Tube that blew me away. A couple in southern California attached a video cam to their cat's collar in order to know what it did at night. The cat spent the night cruising the neighborhood, killing everything it could! Not to eat, but for the sheer joy of killing. A cat is a killing machine. We all know this. Once they're well fed, they continue killing and toying with small creatures for the sheer love of it. They're so proud of their kills, they lay them neatly in a row on your doormat, to show you how good they are at killing. I once had a girl dog who did the same thing. There was no way to put her on a diet....the great outdoors was her restaurant.

Max's people said he gets along just fine w/cats. I'll be looking to get me a couple.

Heads up! Google "Underground Exterminator", the best way to get rid of rodents. It's a rubber coupler that connects a car exhaust pipe to a garden hose in order to exterminate moles, voles, gophers, rats, groundhogs, ground squirrels, chipmunks, snakes & skunks. Mfd by Manning Products, Inc., P. O. Box 995, Duluth, GA 30096.

U.S. Veterinarian Analysis: "In a study using 8% concentration of
gasoline engine exhaust (normal car emission is 100%), rodents collapsed in 40
seconds, were dead in 6 minutes. Car exhaust induces
unconsciousness without pain."

Underground
Exterminator VS. Gas Bombs

Run motor 15- 30 min's

Burns 3 min's

Pressurized fumes

Fills burrow

Self-contained smoke

Limited coverage

No flame

Fuse ignites 6" flame

Not offended by fumes, rodents are found facing exhaust 10'-275' away

Sulfur creates strong odor rodents can smell & outrun the limited
coverage of the bomb

--Will it harm the engine? -- No, extensively tested, on the market three years in 48 states w/no reported problems.

--How do I know it's dead? -- Rodents stay in ground. After
removing hose, leave hole open for a day. They repair
the hole soon, if alive. All other
rodents leave the ground to feed. After removing hose, fill the hole with dirt or newspaper. If still alive, they push
out the blocked hole to feed

--How much hose can I use? -- Up to
275'

--Cost? -- $10-$14
(depending on your location)

You've had this problem a
long time, unsuccessfully using poisons, traps, gas bombs, sound
devices in the ground, Diazanon, castor oil sprays, etc. You may have resorted to home remedies like chewing gum, human hair or moth balls.

7/20/15 To: Manningprd@aol.com

Hi, Mike. I bought
a home on 5A riddled w/ground
squirrel burrows. I was about to get mouser cats. I went to war when a) I found squirrel entrances in my chimney & foundation & b)
my dog started catching & eating them & I worry about fleas & diseases. A friend said I could kill them w/carbon monoxide, running a hose into one of their million holes from my riding mower exhaust. I found your site while looking for corroboration, but I have questions:

--- Is it true carbon monoxide is heavier than air, so the pumped-in carbon monoxide stays in the ground & doesn't rise out OTHER holes to poison anything else?

--- You can kill
rodents 275’ away, but do you have to cover or fill all other open holes in order for this to work?

--- Is much digging involved?

--- Do you recommend mask, gloves or other protective gear?

--- Can you connect to a
riding mower to reach more inaccessible areas?

--- Is it done once a year? Is there an optimal time of year to do it?

Just thought I would put in my two cents and see if you have any ideas. I live out in the country on 2+ acres on a corner next to another 2+ acres that are empty. I'd lived there 15 years with my various Saturn cars with never a problem. Last December I bought a Toyota Camry. Within 6 weeks I had $1,500 damage to the cabin filter by my striped ground squirrels which are very similar to chipmunks. I had it fixed, started paying my increased car insurance and within a week after I got the car back they had done another $800 damage in the same way (I caught it sooner so there wasn't quite as much damage). In the past year I have had to have the filter replaced two more times at $45 each time. I have a cat and dog, although both are indoor pets. I have tried putting used cat litter down around the garage, I already use the moth balls to get rid of some kind of bee that burrows into the wood, and I've tried the Shake-a-way for small animals, and fox urine. I find I have to put a couple drops of the fox urine on each side of the car every night to prevent them from getting in - when I did it once a week or twice a week they still went at it. The problem is that the fox urine costs so much. I can't relocate them, and I can't use poison as some of my neighbors have cats and dogs that run lose and I don't want to poison them. Yes, there are cats and dogs running around and it still does not deter the ground squirrels. I also have snakes, ground hogs, rabbits (although not so much now with the fox urine!), mice, deer, regular tree squirrels etc. Short of getting a different car (I swear Toyota puts a ground squirrel attractant on the filters!), anyone have any other ideas? Oh, did I mention that most of their colony live UNDER my garage?