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how to build better a chipmunk trap...?


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The chippy saga continues...

I'm sitting here and I hear some scurrying over in the darkside of the basement. Using my "Ninja stepping" I get over just in time to see the critter. Dang how much they look like rats when they are standing on their hind legs in the dark...he looks HUGE...I flip on the light and he's another chipmunk...not so huge but bigger than a mouse for sure. First thought was my trusty 35 year old Crosman 760...I don't really want to kill him though.

I crept really close as he froze. This time while looking around, he bolts...gone.

OK so is this the same one that I trapped last time who doesn't like the cold or as I suspect another of a family member of the other chipmunk?

Ideas on a good live trap?

I'm on my way to the hardware store anyway and will see what they have.

Maybe I should just get a hamster cage with all the fun accessories and let him stay down here with me in the man-cave...err...studio. He'll likely keep the place free of crickets and spiders for me...

And the bigger question - do I tell the GF or let her "discover" him for herself - that girl can SCREAM! If I tell her I'll be doing all the laundry...hmm...better not tell.

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Go to your local Agway store and ask them about the Have A Heart traps.

I have used them to trap everything from Mice to Raccoons.

No harm to the animal other than the stress of being confined (which can kill certain animals).

Once the animal is in the trap cover it with a loose tarp or some type of opaque covering. It is less stressful for them being transported when they can't see.

Transport the animal a min of 5 miles away befor releasing it otherwise it may return.

Realize at this time of year transporting a chipmunk away from its den may be a death sentance to it from freezing/starving to death.

You can make a small den for it somewhere outside the home and feed it until spring when you could then transport and release it.

JK

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Have a heart (not sure of spelling) traps seem to work quite well for bigger critters like skunks and raccoons. I suspect they have one for that size critter as well.

But before you get too carried away you really need to figure out how they are getting in or this will be a continual battle until they head off to hibernate...or worse, decide your man cave is a good place to hibernate, raise a new family, etc.

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much as I hate losing a pelt for my new hat...

borrow a cat ?

chipmunks are ..... pretty fearless.

kill it outright is, unfortunately, your best option.

trapping and releasing 5 mi away will almost certainly cause it to die

from predators or starvation....

introduce your gf to Mr. Munk and try to find out why you have

him in your house. As pointed out, find how he gets in.

Look for his stash of nuts. If he is foraging in your basement, remove the food.

do you keep birdseeds down there? you may have a raider.

If you find a cache of nuts and seeds, you are the proud owner of a burrow.

and your pest is probably a young chipmunk.

I once read they are fairly neat and tidy creatures,

maybe a habitrail to a burrow box to his entry point? and evict him next spring?

One more thing, chipmunks do hibernate, however observers have said that they

do not have a reliable schedule, and seems to be related to volume of food,

less food = more snoozing.

Yhe book I have says nothing about evictions of pest type chipmunks.

and I am so jelous, my 'hood has no chipmunks for me to play with.

good luck.

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I'm just back from the store and they had a no kill trap. I had seen these for raccoons but didn't know they made them this small.

I'll toss in a few fresh sunflower seeds and see what happens.

I like the box and stick method from when I was a small kid (big kid now) but went high tech - store bought instead.

If I have to I'll make it unfriendly down here and let the dogs in for a while...

post-12620-1225567587_thumb.jpg

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This won't have the end result you are looking for but it works. Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it half full with water, sprinkle bird seed in the water until the top looks like it is a bucket of bird seed. Put a plank going up to the top of the bucket, put a little bird seed on the plank as well, when they get to the top they think they found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and jump in. You can figure the rest out. Sounds crazy but I think we have gotten 30 plus chippys this way. They dig up the flower beds so we wage war.

Tom

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thanks Tom. We have to go that route if they don't get the hint.

He must have just gotten in as he's REALLY active....and Miranda is right this guy show no fear. He just came right up behind me while I'm typing...

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we have a winner!

He loved the seeds! The first time he tripped it from outside and couldn't get in. When I walked over to reset it he just sat there guarding his find. Finally reset and about 5 minutes later snap! Both doors shut and now he's out in the back 40'. At the speed he left I'd say he's down to akidale's ranch by now.

I reset it for any other interlopers that may happen in while we find the entrance.

Edited by hk_mtbr
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ho boy...

you are going to get used to doing that...

for lack of a better way to say this, his out look on what just happened

I got a seed !

there is no other thought there ....

for you to convince him to stay away you are going to take away the seed.

hohohohohoho

what is the worldcomming to?

robbing chipmunks.

well,

I suggest you name him 'speed' and leave him a pile of nuts (sunflower and unroasted nuts with shells. outside!)

he will come back....

miranda

miranda

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ho boy...

you are going to get used to doing that...

for lack of a better way to say this, his out look on what just happened

I got a seed !

there is no other thought there ....

for you to convince him to stay away you are going to take away the seed.

miranda

But I made mean faces at him...oh...no I didn't he was too dang cute...but I will next time

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My father in law, up in Toms River, NJ, used to feed them seed outside all winter. They would literally line up, sit up, and beg for chow. If he was late going out to feed them, they would scratch at the glass door. I had never seen one before, and they were fun to watch at play. I wouldn't want them in the house though... enough problems with rats down here in the attic.

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my computer siezed up while I tried to post this.... the chipmunks are taking over.

I am glad you don't want to bump him off.

I am very fond of chipmunks.

They are dauntless and determined and a lot of fun to watch if you have the time.

You and your new 'friend' are likely to come to terms over the next few years.

if he is a she you will get to meet her kits....

"look kids, this is the food bear. Be polite"

You will have to update us on your new chipmunk farm.

hohohohohoho

miranda

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When I was a young boy, my Grandfather kept a pump action 22 rifle loaded and propped up next to his seat at the breakfast table. It was a good 30 yards from the window to his garden. While seated at breakfast, he'd raise the window and send those darn chipmunks straight to hell. I saw him shoot dozens of them over the years and he never missed.

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