make chipmunk leave the back yard

Question

I found that there are several holes, digged by chipmunk, in the back yard. Would you like to let me know how to handle these little animals, or how to push them move away from the yard? Thank you very much.

Answer 1

Te best and most effective would be to kill them, but not everybody likes to do that and there is some other option. You can plant some plants that chipmunks hate. The 2 best are narcissus flowers or daffodils. Narcissus is the best because the are toxic alkaloids and calcium-oxalate crystals in them (do not think it kills them). There is something called U scram 'cat and chipmunk deterrent', this is a cork tree that you put into the ground and releases a safe unpleasant order that they hate and they will go away. The only thing with this is that you might not like it yourself... one of these I think you will find useful. I like the plants because that is what I did and it seems to work pretty well. The other things is what my neighbors around the block did and they say it works well for them to. I did little some research on the flowers for ya. Hope that bug goes away.

Answer 2

I have daffodils in my garden. They do not repel chipmunks or squirrels. They are not eaten by rabbits or deer in most circumstances due to the alkaloids in them.

Chipmunks will spend time in your garden if you are providing any combination of food/shelter/water. If you remove or restrict access to the things they eat which include:

• seed and nuts, bird feeders bring them in, acorns
• fruit: strawberry, service berry, blue berry, haskap berry
• when they are hungry in the spring tree buds, bird eggs
• vegetables: tomatoes...

This site recommends these control methods:

• live trapping and relocation. Keep in mind that at a typical urban density of two to four chipmunks per acre with territories that overlap an ongoing effort may be required.
• remove areas of continuous cover leading to the area. Hedges, rock walls, tall grass provide cover that chipmunks use to conceal themselves
• cutting grass short in the area you want to control
• repellants such as bitrex, thiram, or ammonium soaps of higher fatty acids can be applied to plants you want to protect. They are labelled as squirrel repellents and must be reapplied after rain

I found this to be effective in the short term. Hunting shops will sometimes sell fox or coyote urine. Mark the perimeter of the area with this and reapply every few days. Unless they are really hungry most rodents will avoid areas where they smell predators.

Answer 3

Chipmunks live in woodpiles. I have never seen chipmunks except in places where there is a lot of dead wood lying around.

You can live trap them, but if you have wood piles, new chipmunks will just move into the vacant territory (Oh! Wow! An unoccupied wood pile, let's call U-haul and move the family in!).

Basically there is a simple strategy for getting rid of chipmunks: make sure you have no piles of dead wood or fallen logs near your house.