# Damn Chipmunks



## Adkjake (Nov 6, 2012)

Last fall chipmunks chewed through the garage door weather seal on the right side. I installed new, as well as new seal on the bottom of the door. The little bast*#ds have now chewed through the new seal on the bottom. And it was a really heavy duty neoprene one!

I want them dead! So why bother with Havahart traps. Will Decon work on chipmunks? How about baited mouse traps.

Any other methods? I no longer have a cat, but the dogs are real interested in all the hiding places in the garage, so far no confirmed kills.


----------



## fespo (Nov 6, 2012)

Get a Rat trap (a good one no cheapies) with peanut butter and a sun flower seed . Push the sunflower seed HARD into the bait area, make sure it's in good and tight. Then take your finger with some peanut butter on it and spead it over the sunflower seed. They smell the peanut butter and try to pull the sunflower seed and  well you know whats next. Let me know if it works for you. Fespo


----------



## Adkjake (Nov 6, 2012)

fespo said:


> Get a Rat trap (a good one no cheapies) with peanut butter and a sun flower seed . Push the sunflower seed HARD into the bait area, make sure it's in good and tight. Then take your finger with some peanut butter on it and spead it over the sunflower seed. They smell the peanut butter and try to pull the sunflower seed and well you know whats next. Let me know if it works for you. Fespo



Thanks, I like that approach. I will give it a tray and let you know


----------



## Retired Guy (Nov 6, 2012)

Search for bucket trap.


----------



## heat seeker (Nov 6, 2012)

I use a Rat Zapper for mice, but it has gotten some chipmunks when I put it near their nests.


----------



## bluedogz (Nov 7, 2012)

heat seeker said:


> I use a Rat Zapper for mice, but it has gotten some chipmunks when I put it near their nests.


 +1... LOVE my Rat Zapper.  So does Mrs. Blue- just dump the critter and turn it back on.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (Nov 7, 2012)

Chipmunks are a constant problem around here too. A .22 works really nice. We also get some in rat traps as fespo suggests. Our count so far this year is 50 of them dead. I doubt that will go down next year so we'll keep on with the target practice. btw, my wife gets most of them. She is a crack shot with that .22. It was a birthday present for her many moons ago and she loves it.


----------



## pen (Nov 7, 2012)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Chipmunks are a constant problem around here too. A .22 works really nice. We also get some in rat traps as fespo suggests. Our count so far this year is 50 of them dead. I doubt that will go down next year so we'll keep on with the target practice. btw, my wife gets most of them. She is a crack shot with that .22. It was a birthday present for her many moons ago and she loves it.


 
Yep, I like the birdshot 22 rounds in the 22 pistol.

pen


----------



## hilbiliarkiboi (Nov 7, 2012)

Cut down all ur trees, then get some dynamite!.  Oh, no-  thats for gophers.


----------



## heat seeker (Nov 7, 2012)

hilbiliarkiboi said:


> Cut down all ur trees, then get some dynamite!. Oh, no- thats for gophers.


 
Ya got gophers? Here's the cure:

http://www.rodenator.com/

Watch the videos, they're a riot!


----------



## SmokeyTheBear (Nov 7, 2012)

Adkjake said:


> Last fall chipmunks chewed through the garage door weather seal on the right side. I installed new, as well as new seal on the bottom of the door. The little bast*#ds have now chewed through the new seal on the bottom. And it was a really heavy duty neoprene one!
> 
> I want them dead! So why bother with Havahart traps. Will Decon work on chipmunks? How about baited mouse traps.
> 
> Any other methods? I no longer have a cat, but the dogs are real interested in all the hiding places in the garage, so far no confirmed kills.


 
Decon will work on chippies.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (Nov 8, 2012)

pen said:


> Yep, I like the birdshot 22 rounds in the 22 pistol.
> 
> pen


 
That's cheating pen! Besides, I have lots of hollow points and it makes her a better shot.


----------



## PapaDave (Nov 9, 2012)

Aim small, miss small.


----------



## timfromohio (Nov 9, 2012)

I second the bucket of doom method, though you'll likely also catch some mice.  I tried the larger rat traps, but the chimunks were never caught - presumably too small.  I have tried conventional traps with limited success, but make sure you weight them (string tied to brick, etc.) otherwise they will simply disappear.  .22 shot works, but I find if I can score a hit with the high-powered pellet rifle it's especially pleasing.


----------



## Backwoods Savage (Nov 9, 2012)

Tim, you definitely have to enclose those traps when you place them by the holes else they will not be forced to walk on the trap. I don't know how many the wife caught this year in traps but do know that most of them she had to finish off. Some just get caught by a foot so not much holding there. The rifle still works best and is good practice.


----------



## timfromohio (Nov 9, 2012)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Tim, you definitely have to enclose those traps when you place them by the holes else they will not be forced to walk on the trap. I don't know how many the wife caught this year in traps but do know that most of them she had to finish off. Some just get caught by a foot so not much holding there. The rifle still works best and is good practice.


 

I agree.  If I can hit small, twitchy objects I know I can hit larger, slower moving ones!


----------



## Adkjake (Nov 10, 2012)

Put out a couple of rat traps baited with seeds and crunchy peanut butter. Have gotten 6 mice, but no chipmunks yet. May have to go try DCon, and keep the dogs away from there for awhile.

My garage is about 75ft down the hill from the house, out of my range and marksmenshp level with the pellet gun!


----------



## save$ (Nov 10, 2012)

You can put your poison bait in wooden boxes that your dog can't get into.    Can't feel sorry for them.  They are too darn destructive. My old cat was good at keeping the population down,  but now he is missing.  17 year old cat.


----------



## Gark (Nov 11, 2012)

My sister, a bonafide rodent slayer, swears by the RatZapper. She has to keep a spreadsheet of how many kills and it's amazing - gotta be in the hundreds over the last few years ('munks and other pests). The ratzapper rounds out her armory of mousetraps and water-traps and BB gun.


----------



## velvetfoot (Nov 11, 2012)

Can small squirrels get in the RatZapper?
I used a havahart trap over the summer and got some small squirrels that I relocated, as opposed to the chippies.


----------



## jdp1152 (Nov 11, 2012)

velvetfoot said:


> Can small squirrels get in the RatZapper?
> I used a havahart trap over the summer and got some small squirrels that I relocated, as opposed to the chippies.


 
I have killed a big gray squirrel and a small red squirrel with it. 

At my previous home, we had just put the house on the market and were getting ready to leave so the realtor could have an open house.  Literally as we were walking out the door, the chorus of chirping starting come from the basement.  Found out a litter of hungry chipmunks were down there.  Not much I could do at that point since they were no where in sight.  Cranked on the washer and dryer and that shut em up and the realtor didn't mention hearing them.  Put the rat zapper down there and got one, but the others were  much smarter.  Snap traps were ineffective, though I bagged a few mice.  Caught two with glue traps, but after having to put them out of their misery with a hammer, I decided that wasn't the route I wanted to keep taking....besides, if I wasn't home to hear them flopping around on it, they would eventually get off (had a few that had legs and tails still stuck on them...not fun to think of that going down).  Finally fed up, I bought some rat poison bait station blocks (Warfarin is the poison).  Crush those things up and made peanut butter balls with the poison in them.  Put one up on the ledge in the basement, two down holes along the foundation of the house and covered the holes with heavy rocks.  Two days later, found 3 or 4 dead ones on the basement floor and never heard from them again.  If you go this route, make sure the munks end up in the trash otherwise scavenging animals can eat the poisoned carcass and be an unintended victim (though technically still can happen since the poison takes a few days to kick in and start the mummifcation process....the animals seek out water as they dehydrate which makes them easy prey)

Now I'm dealing with red squirrels getting in my attic of the new house...place was empty for a year and they managed to find welcome here.  I've killed a lot of them with various methods....but despite no longer having trees to grant access to the roof I heard one in the attic just this morning.  Only thing left I can think of is they're climbing the insulated line from the AC compressors to the air handlers which are in the attic.  Still doesn't explain how they're getting in though.  I've sealed up all the holes and my investigations haven't turned up any new ones.


----------



## jdp1152 (Nov 11, 2012)

and  you should probably look into law on relocating animals.  I know here if you trap one, you have to kill since it's likely to die upon relocation anyway (squirrels don't like others on their turf)


----------



## velvetfoot (Nov 12, 2012)

I didn't have a beef with the squirrels and thought I'd give them a chance.  I actually took a video of a chippie escaping from a havahart trap.  He kept pushing on the opening where the rod held the cover down til it opened.  I modified it by closing the opening with a piece of aluminum foil.  A friend of mine said he had flying squirrels in his attic.  I think he finally hired someone after stepping through the ceiling.  Flashing and screening were involved in the fix I think.


----------



## semipro (Nov 12, 2012)

save$ said:


> You can put your poison bait in wooden boxes that your dog can't get into. Can't feel sorry for them. They are too darn destructive. My old cat was good at keeping the population down, but now he is missing. 17 year old cat.


 
Use poison and you run the risk of poisoning your dog or other animals when they eat the dead or sick chipmunk.
Poisoned animals can also retreat to places where you can't retrieve their rotting carcasses.
One of our older dogs was apparently killed by poison meant for the coyotes that live in our area. 
Personally I'd encourage all to use something other than poisons. 
My motto, kill 'em fast and humanely or leave them alone.


----------



## davmor (Nov 15, 2012)

Bucket of Death, good pellet gun or 22 and a cat will put a dent in the population. I have no sympathy for the little bugers. Just another rodent to me. My neighbor has actually wore out a couple of good pellet guns shooting the vermon.


----------

