Up until now I've been trying to pee down his hole with chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid, pool bleach, industrial ammonia, etc.
But, this guy (or family?) is already turning my freshly wood-chipped "lawn" into dirt piles!
Looks like I'm going to have to get tougher than just using annoying chemicals!
Danny D'Amico wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@is.invalid:
pool bleach, industrial ammonia, etc.
That's *not* a gopher hole; it's waaaaaaay too small. You have chipmunks.
Get a rat trap, and bait it with raisins. If you have pets or small children, make sure they can't reach it: a rat trap will crush a dog's or cat's paw, or a child's hand.
use a live trap and relocate whatever is bothering you.
but seriously how bad are some chipmunk holes?
trap and drown.
Looked like a chipmunk to me too, but maybe more pictures or observation would help.
I've got quite a few chipmunks, and sometimes they are a problem. I had one get under the area my garden hose hangs and the ground collapsed.
Then I had a city right by the front door that the postman kept sinking into.
I mostly block the entrances so they go somewhere else.
My guests really like watching them scamper around at barbecues. So, I say live with them but deal with digging where you don't want it.
Actually, I've seen the guy, and he's not a chipmunk, but, I realize you can only tell from his holes in the picture.
Here is a picture of the cute guy in the summer:
And, here's a picture of the devastation on my "lawn" he wrought:
I don't like to kill - I just want him to go away - so I already tried all the obnoxious chemicals I could find around my pool:
Since then, I covered my "lawn" with wood chips. But, the darn gopher is overturning them with a half-dozen holes daily.
So, it's time to get tough. I already know the main methods, but, I was hoping one of the "obnoxious" methods I was attempting would just make him go away.
I know I can kill him with: a) Exhaust from my vehicle b) Special two-way traps for gophers c) Poisons such as strychnine (which I've never seen in California)
I guess I can try these obnoxious methods: d) Filling his holes up with the garden hose e) Smoking 'em out with something called 'gopher flares' f) Buying a few "gopher snakes" and letting them roam the lawn g) Making repellent cotton balls out of Tabasco sause h) I've heard filling the open gopher holes with dog poo works.
Danny D'Amico wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@is.invalid:
Even worse: you have chipmunks *and* a gopher.
Yep, looks like a gopher hole.
And *that* is a chipmunk hole.
Rat traps for the chipmunks, and a rat terrier for the gopher.
I'm done with creating noxious gases out of pool chemicals. I'll try some dog poop in each hole tomorrow. Then, I'll move on to flooding them out. If that doesn't work, a road flare or two may smoke 'em out. And, if that still doesn't work, I might move on to the exhaust gas method; but that actually kills 'em, so, I prefer not to move forward to traps which do kill 'em fer' sure.
Hi Danny,
Dig out about a foot of their hole. Cram cat s-- down the hole. Dried cat pee from the litter box works too. Cover the hole back up. Felines are their mortal enemies.
-T
Next is the C4 ;-)
BTW the chemical trick is bleach and ammonia but run like hell. It is real WMD. (chlorine gas) along with a bunch of other nasties
What? Real men don't have cats? Try this: "Excuse me kind neighbor. Might I impose upon you for a steaming hot cup of cat s---?" Should do the trick. :-D
-T
I am going to the bad hell for jokes like that. I just know I am going to wind up playing golf for eternity with Stormin' :'(
I tried that already!
Didn't work.
Don't have cats; but, I was wondering a mechanical thing.
If I exhaust gas them out, how do you connect the exhaust pipe to a 2" pool vacuum hose without melting the hose?
Any suggestions for a cheap and already available fitting?
Borrow some poo from the neighbor's litter box.
Does that mean he has to return it later?
This is how kids get in trouble.
They start of saying to a classmate, "Can I borrow a sheet of paper", when they have no intention of returning it, and the lender has no expectation of getting it back.
Later they borrow a car from car dealer's parking lot.
Then they borrow 50,000 from the armored car guard.
And they figure they're borrowing, not stealing so it's all right.
Danny, be up front and set a good example for your kids. Tell the people with the cat you want the poo for keeps. No backsies.
This way they won't grow up to be armored car robbers.
Hi Micky,
Still chuckling at the idea that the neighbor would want his, sorry her, cat s--- back.
"Excuse me good neighbor, but I have finished with your cat s--- and would like to return it. I have microwaved it to resume it to its original steaming state. What??? Why are all my their gophers suddenly in your yard? No idea what so ever. None I say. Hog tie me and call me ... Here is your cat poo back. Bye."
-T
Golf with Stormin' in eternity can't be all that bad, can it?
The gophers in the next yard thing actually happened to my sister's neighbors after a good helping of cat s--- down their holes. She is single and did not have to borrow any.
On 11/29/2013 8:41 PM, Danny D'Amico wrote:
Last spring was our first in our new home, and it didn't take long to see that there were lots and lots of critters residing with us. Chipmunks galore, thanks to the former owner and me leaving some indian corn in the garden over winter. Dumb. With garden planting soon upon us, I went out to get some really good chipmunk (rat) traps. They couldn't be bothered with the peanut butter on the traps. Next idea, limited use of poison. Apparently not appetizing. I was soon busy with planting garden, putting in new flower beds, feeding grandkids, cleaning koi pond, etc., so ignored the chippers for a while. Now I had moles digging up the whole west side of the yard! Darn! $20 for a mole trap, which is an extremely evil looking device....put in the mole trap, put my plants back into the ground where there were tunnels, and wait. Seems the moles were interested only in my newly turned soil in flower beds; not ambitious enough to get into the lawn. They made exploratory tunnels and then apparently departed. My tender new plants were doing just fine in the garden, so I stopped worrying about the chipmunks for a while. They used the bottom of our wood fence as a highway, and liked to stop at the pond for refreshments. They didn't like where I planted some seeds and bulbs, so they moved a few. They planted sorghum next to the back door. Then a neighborhood cat started showing up in our yard and patrolling along the garden fence. The rabbits disappeared and the chippers apparently moved out. Very few of them around after mid summer. There is one chipmunk that lives in the pile of rocks that forms a waterfall for the pond, and he isn't shy at all. Runs right by me when out and about, and likes the dead tomatoes that fall of plants. Son's schnauzer likes tomatoes, too.
Why on earth cover the yard with wood chips? Plant ground cover and then forget about weeds and chipmunks. Deer LOVE hosta....
I tried that once. Shoved the hose in as far as possible (6-8 feet) and let it run. Our soil is sand and all the water did was soak in, burrow never flooded. Went to pull out the hose, no way...the burrow had collapsed around it and I had to dig it out. YMMV
I've learned to live with gophers. They move around quite a bit so wait and he will go next door.
There is a way. ^_^
TDD
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