Chipmunks

 

Hi all,
I seem to be having a excessive amount of chipmunks around my house.  I
started catching them in my have a heart trap and letting them go about 1
1/2 miles away from my house in a nice wooded area.  In the past week I have
caught 6 of them.  My father and wife think it's the same ones coming back
again. My wife being the wise girl that she is also says they like going for
a ride in my pickup truck. What do you all think?  Is it possible they are
finding their way back to my house?  Would it help if  dropped them off
farther away?  Thanks for reading my post.
Big  Duke

 

wrote:


Amazing... someone named *Big Duke* is ascared of widdle chipmonks.
LOL

Chipmonks are living around your house because there exists a food
supply for them, there will only be a population that the existing
food supply can accomodate.  Chipmonks are very territorial so won't
allow their population to increase.   Removing some won't help, some
may return but otherwise new inhabitants will replace them.   If you
all of a sudden notice an increase in the chipmonk population then
someone is feeding them, bird feeders and dog/cat food are the usual
culprits.

 

On 6/1/10 7:00 PM, Big Duke wrote:

I use a Havahart trap, which I use to catch squirrels.  When I catch
them, I drive 5 miles across a freeway to let them loose in the Santa
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.  There are many hungry
coyotes, owls, and hawks there.  And there are 10 lanes of never-ending
traffic if they want to cross the freeway.

However, something was reaching through the cage wires and stealing the
bait.  I wrapped 1/4-inch steel mesh around the end of the trap where
the bait is set.  Something tore or chewed through the mesh and stole
more bait.  I packaged the bait in another piece of the steel mesh and
put it into the trap.  Yesterday, I found the package on my back lawn.
It was not opened, but the bait was gone.

I now have fruit starting to ripen.  I want to eat more of it than the
squirrels.  I made a small box of the 1/4-inch steel mesh with a hinged
lid and a catch to keep the lid closed.  It also has a hook to fasten it
into the trap.  The box is about 1 inch on each side.  It's been 24
hours, and nothing has touched the trap yet.

--
David E. Ross
Climate:  California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at <http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary>

 

David E. Ross wrote:

I'm afraid I'm more heartless than that. Chipmunks are *the* favorite
food of my cats. Entertaining and tasty.

They seem like such nice gentle creatures but freeing them is hopeless
by the time I see them.

Unsure of the range, but I know that mice have no problem with a hundred
yards. I'm sure my brother recycled many many endlessly. I suspect that
such wanderers as possums will stay in one place if the food is good and
I've seen them return from several blocks.

A mile and a half seems pretty far, but why not mark one with a bit of
paint and see.

   Jeff

 



If you can handle them, perhaps with leather gloves, you can mark them by
nipping off a chunk of fur.

Paul