Saturday, April 27, 2024

How to Get Rid of Groundhogs Humanely in 8 Easy Steps

how to get rid of groundhogs under house

This can be a highly effective way of deterring them from visiting your garden since they absolutely hate the smell. You will want to drive at least 5 to 10 miles away from your home to an area that is wooded with lots of logs, trees, and groundcover. To trap them, make sure that you wear thick rubber gloves so that you don’t transfer your scent into the trap itself.

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Had garlic and lavender growing right by my tomatoes, that didn’t work, they crawled up the tomatoes cages and destroyed every one. Only way I have kept them at bay is with welded wire completely covering my garden beds. Using a sharp object like a scissors, nail, or skewer, poke several holes in the lid. But fret not, for I have just the trick to outsmart these unwelcome guests – an ingenious earwig trap made with simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. We have sorted out the most effective ones in this article to read through and implement for your convenience. I decided to find a new career and now I work as a writer and help others find solutions to their pest problems online.

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However, they will defend themselves, their kits, and their territory when they feel threatened. If you have identified them in your garden, the next step is to remove them. Groundhogs are active during the day and are identifiable by the distinctive whistle-like call they make when they feel threatened. Their habits are similar to other ground-dwelling mammals like voles and moles, but they pose unique property issues of their own.

how to get rid of groundhogs under house

Soiled Kitty Litter

Other signs include high-pitched whistling sounds, disappearing vegetables, and vegetation with teeth marks. It’s essential to prevent groundhogs from burrowing too close to homes or farmlands. Read through several do-it-yourself (DIY) techniques for getting rid of groundhogs below, remembering that your main goals are eviction and exclusion. At first, I went out into the near-by woods patch to look for their holes. I tried filling them in after using "smoke bombs", road flares, etc. It was ineffective.Then, I put up two of these inexpensive-but dangerous conibears, one-per-side at the bottom of my garden fence.

It would be nice to live in harmony with all living creatures, but it usually doesn’t work that way.They have the wild to live in…we have our property. Like most rodents, groundhogs like areas with plenty of cover to hide from predators. Woodchucks also like to make the entrances to their burrows in areas with great cover to disguise their home. To keep woodchucks from burrowing under your fence, make sure you have a pest exclusion feature at the base of the fence at least 2 feet deep. You can also make L-footers yourself with fencing material and wire mesh. Groundhogs live in underground burrows that usually run for several feet.

But even if you want the groundhogs gone, that doesn’t mean you want to harm them. Groundhogs do most of their eating in the early morning and early evening. And they can climb trees, so fruit on trees is also within reach. Almost every home has vinegar, which is a natural substance. As much as we humans enjoy the fragrance of this natural product, groundhogs do not.

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After shooting 10 Wood Chucks over a period of 2 weeks, no more appeared for the rest of the year. This year, 2022, I eliminated 3 more over a few days and haven’t seen any more for several weeks. The only other option is hiring a licensed trapper who can legally move the critters off of your land. Not sure how expensive that service may be or how effective either.

toasting relocated 'chucks on groundhog day - A Way to Garden

toasting relocated 'chucks on groundhog day.

Posted: Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Placing these smells in the holes or next to them will probably cause your annoyance to flee. Garlic, lavender, and Cayenne Pepper are some of the most well-known unpleasant odors. I say him for the first time yesterday when I discovered that my morning glories were eaten. I generally feel the same way, but they’ve caused damage to my porch foundation. I’m waiting on a structural engineer to come out and tell me how much the damage is going to cost.

Pepper and Garlic

Once you've captured your prey, simply dispose of the entire trap and replace it with a fresh one. With this simple yet effective method, you can keep your garden free from earwig damage all season long. Burying the trap in the soil ensures that it's placed directly in the path of earwig activity, maximizing its effectiveness.

They can even undermine the structural integrity of sheds, driveways, and foundations. They don’t like the smell but they also dislike the heat of the pepper, too. You can also spray down your plants with a mixture of cayenne (two teaspoons) with water (a quart) to keep the groundhogs from nibbling on your plants. One of the most straightforward ways to prevent groundhogs from burrowing in a particular area is mesh steel fencing. You’ll create a physical blockade, stopping them from advancing into the ground near your deck or shed. One of the benefits of going with a professional is that they are also fully aware of any state laws or regulations for the safe removal and humane treatment of groundhogs.

When you see that a groundhog was caught, you have two choices. You can put on thick, bite-proof gloves and attempt a relocation if you know of a safe area to release the animal. Cover the cage with a towel and then pick it up, holding it far from your body and making sure your fingers don’t end up inside. Move away from it as quickly as possible, ensuring it doesn’t try to attack. However, that doesn’t mean a groundhog can’t be dangerous.

From a distance, groundhogs can seem cute and cuddly, and homeowners might be tempted to get close or interact with them. “Groundhogs do get pretty big,” he says, as well as mentioning that they have a forceful bite. It’s important for homeowners to remember that groundhogs are wild animals that do not always act predictably, especially if they are rabid. The best wildlife removal services like Critter Control or Terminix will be able to advise homeowners on the safest and most effective course of action to remove groundhogs. They can also help to identify wildlife as it can be difficult for inexperienced homeowners to tell the difference between gophers vs. groundhogs or groundhogs vs. beavers.

If a homeowner puts up the fence incorrectly, the time and money saved by going the DIY route could end up being negated by repeated groundhog removal costs. While there are no commercial chemical repellents designed specifically for groundhog removal, products designed for other rodents may do the trick. For homeowners who have dogs, another option is to sprinkle dog urine or fur around the groundhog’s nest to indicate that predators are nearby. Bobcat urine can also be purchased from home improvement or hardware stores for this same purpose and may be even more effective. Epsom salt is a useful groundhog deterrent and repellent that many homeowners may already have on hand. Ammonia, red pepper flakes, talcum powder, and garlic also make suitable woodchuck repellents and are often found in the home.

The strong smell is extremely repelling for the groundhog and keeps them out. After mid-July, you can evict the groundhog with the methods above or stuff garlic oil or clove oil-soaked rags into every hole. The soaked rags will give off a pungent odor that helps convince the woodchuck to leave. Another solution is using gas cartridges to quickly kill or evict the groundhog. When you’ve evicted woodchucks from your property, you’re left with the extensive tunnels they leave behind. There’s a right way and wrong way to handle groundhog holes as the tunnel systems, even when left undisturbed, can collapse with heavy rainfall or be taken over by another groundhog.

More specifically, groundhog damage is in the form of bite marks, gnawing, and bare crops around your home over the summer. Compared to other signs of ground-dwelling wildlife, entrances to groundhog burrows will be an average of eight inches wide. Other than that entrance, there won’t be other signs of them on the ground since they don’t create raised tunnels or runways. However, groundhogs are active during the day and can often be spotted coming in and out of their burrows. Before installing fencing, homeowners will want to ensure that there are no inhabited burrows in the area—otherwise, the groundhog may end up trapped inside the yard instead of out.

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