While picking up after breakfast this morning I watched as a frightened chipmunk ran across my dining room floor into a little crack by the dishwasher. Few minutes later he ran into the living room under my hubby's chair. Upon further investigation I find he has been burrowing in my 6 foot tall corn plant. There is black dirt all over the light green carpeting.
Suggestions anyone???
Not sure what to use to get rid of him. Hate to hurt him, but also hate to have him tear my house up.
Thanks
big traps ? i'd worry less baout huring the thing than it spreading disease into your home.
Buy a HavAHart trap( I believe that's the way it's spelled). It's a live trap. We got one when we had desert chipmunks come into our back yard and set up residence. We relocated them, but either there were more, or they found their way back. After weeks of trapping and ongoing aggravation, we just bought rat traps, and within a few days, the problem was solved.
Rodents are cute. They also carry fatal diseases, bubonic plague and hantavirus for a couple. They dig everywhere, scatter stuff, chew up stuff, and defecate and urinate wherever the urge hits them. Treat them as you will, but recognize them for what they are ........... disease carrying vermin.
Steve
What odd quirk of fate caused Steve B to generate the following ::
You'd be very surprised how far you have to relocate them. Squirrels have to be taken about 10 miles away.
bonnie
There are some Havahart traps, as Steve suggested.
Before buying one, check with your local animal shelter or Humane Shelter (or even Alley Cat Allies, if you have a local chapter). They will often let you borrow a trap. Whether you buy or borrow, make sure they know it is for a chipmunk because these traps come in a wide variety of sizes.
MaryL
Think CAT. Get one as a pet, borrow one, etc.
Unfortunately I am horribly allergic to cats so we will have to resort to one of the other suggestions.
What do you use for bait?
Check with people at your local animal shelter. They are usually good sources of information for questions like this. I would *guess* (but it's only a guess) that almost any food item would do. Based on what I see our squirrels head for, I think I would start with sunflower seed and grains.
MaryL
As an addendum to this thread, I suggest that you also take steps to keep other chipmunks *out.* After all, if one can get in, others may follow -- and you might *already* have a family residing in your home. I have never had chippies in my house. However, I grew up in a very old frame home in Ohio, and for some time we had problems with field mice coming indoors. We went all over the house and looked for any cracks and crevices (even tiny ones). We would plug them completely with steel wool. That eventually worked, and it is the *only* thing that really worked for us. Look, especially, for openings around drain pipes or under doors. If you keep your windows, check the screens to make sure they are secure. In the meantime (while you wait to trap your little guest), place all grains, cereals, and flour items in secure containers (or even in the refrigerator or freezer). In fact, I would do the same thing for anything edible that is not in a tin can or very sturdy plastic container (for example, anything stored in plastic bags). Otherwise, you may find a little hold chewed in the back of one of those packages. Rodents can literally "sniff out" edible products that we would think are safe. Once you catch the little chippie in a HavAHart trap, keep it set for awhile because it is likely that there may be more to come.
Good luck! Chippies are really cute, but they can also be very destructive in a house.
MaryL
plain old sunflower seeds works for me. peanuts too.
dickm
"rosebud" wrote
The secret I forgot to mention is that they must be allowed to soak at the bottom of a creek for ten minutes.
Steve
Peanut butter. They have to lick it to get it off, so will spring the latch device, whether on a live trap or a kill trap.
Steve
Years ago one entered our home thru a open door I guess, had propped open bringing in groceries.
He was SCARED, I put a coffee can in the corner he was trying to hide in, he went in I put lid on can FAST, had gloves on, and released him outdoors.
I think they are cute:)
Next time he goes in there, put a brick over the hole**, take the plant outside, bprrow a convertible and go 10 miles away, lift up the brick, ring the triangle to tell him dinner is ready, and he'll be out of your hair. If the triangle doesn't work, pour a gallon of water down the hole.
**Or a big sock with a brick over that."Autumn" wrote in news:Vewng.28651$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com:
Have-a-heart trap. You catch them alive. Take them far away from your house and let out into the woods. Maybe you can borrow a trap from your town hall. I'd suggest you clean the trap real well, since you have to bring it inside.
I think so too. I think it was the 9th grade, or 5th grade, we had to write something on what animal we would want to be. I said a chipmunk.
give him a name,,,,,,,,,, ALVIN!!!!!
Get A pet skunk I heard they like to eat them.
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