Posted on 06/19/2009 5:33:57 PM PDT by randita
We have been plagued with groundhogs burrowing under our front porch slab for a couple of years. The burrowing has caused several cracks in the slab.
We have tried liquid fence, mothballs, noise, electric trip wires, have a heart trap, plugging up holes with stone and cement (it just digs new ones). Sometimes we are rid of them for a little bit, then a new one comes along.
This morning, I went out to pick some lettuce from my small garden and there wasn't any left. It had all been chewed off. We live in suburbia and can't exactly sit out on our front porch in a rocking chair with a .22, waiting for the pest to emerge. Although a carefully aimed shot out a 2nd story window has been fruitful on a couple of occasions. Then again, we can't just sit by a window all day waiting to see the pest.
We can't poison it (would love to!) because it might die under the porch slab and our basement (which we heavily use) would reek to high heaven.
We are at our wit's end. Any and all ideas appreciated.
Any miracle ideas?
Oh oh...
;)
Get a large trap baited with corn (Some town and counties have them to borrow )and after trapping release the groudhog at least 25 miles away from house.
My dog keeps them away.
Wish I could help. Our neighborhood get inundated with moles this time of year. Not as bad as groundhogs, I’m sure. But they destroy our lawn and flower garden.
Protected species??
Put the hose down the hole and flood them out. target practice.
Prairie dogs?
People around my parts find dogs work well.
.22
Pellet gun?
Very accurate.
Poison it. If it dies under the slab to your porch, fill in the entrances/exits from its lair to prevent other animals from using the ready built condo. The soil you shovel in will prevent the stench from escaping. The ground rat (It’s not a hog!) will decompose faster than you think. Your other option is to catch the congresscritter in waiting in the open by the road and run the d@mn thing over.
When I was a kid, we used gopher guns. Are they still legal?
Take the advice of Carl Spackler, noted expert on dealing with varmints:
“To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They’re like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that’s all she wrote.”
Yeah, so? It would only stink for a few days -- a week max. I had pack rats get under my getaway mobile home in the desert and the poison definitely worked. Did I smell them under the skirting and inside the house? Yes!
But it was the smell of victory!
Man up! Do what it takes, and pronto! They can do a lot of infrastructural damage.
There are a couple of ways that I use;
1] a .22 cal rifle with subsonic rounds. [These do not have a loud report to upset the neighbors]
2] fill hole with used kitty litter. The smell of cats & their urine drives them away, and they do not return....
big dumb fat slow rodents. Should be easy. You just arnen’t trying.
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