How to Catch a Chipmunk in Your House or Yard

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First, we are not talking about catching some cute little Disney character but an animal that can be a huge pest to a homeowner. Since a chipmunk can be somewhat larger than a rat, using a traditional rat trap may not be the best choice in this situation. A chipmunk will require the use of a trap that is larger, and sometimes a trip to your local hardware or home improvement store is necessary to get a trap that is the right size for your prey.

After you have purchased the metal trap, it is time to bait that trap with some food. After all, your pest is not going to walk right into the waiting trap you have set without it. Chipmunks like cheese, and many times they love the taste of peanut butter. When you set your trap consider using the peanut butter to attract your prey.

After putting in the food, make sure that you give it enough time for the chipmunk to find your bait and take advantage of it. Set the trap and let the chipmunk come inside to get the food. Do this for a couple of days so that the chipmunk is really comfortable going in and out of the trap. After the chipmunk has done this for several days, the next time you bait your trap, set the door so that the door will close after the animal is inside.

Chipmunks are relatively comfortable living around us humans and will venture onto our properties as long as we have the type of food that they love. In addition to being enticed with peanut butter and cheese, there are natural food items that they love. Nuts, seeds of any kind and many different berries are all natural items that may be growing well on your land. If you see a chipmunk, you will probably have a couple of them around. Chipmunks like to hang around in the day time and they resemble a small squirrel with pronounced stripes running down their back. These animals are easily identified.

If you choose not to set an automatic trap, you can use one that you pull shut manually. Set up a box over a piece of wood and on top of the wood place your desired bait. Attach some string or rope to the top of the box and prop it up with a stick or ruler. Once the chipmunk ventures into the wood area, you can pull the string causing the box to fall down over the animal. However, this is much easier said than done, because you will need a lot of patience, and has to be hidden so the animal does not get wind of you and stay away from your bait.

Getting rid of the animal is not as easy as it would appear. Some homeowners choose to use poison just as they would for a rat or mice problem. However chipmunks are very discriminating and only like to eat things that smell good to them, and this definitely leaves out most poisons on the market.

There are chipmunk repellent sprays that these animals do not like. The sprays are safe for your plants and grass and when applied, chipmunks get a taste of the spray and will leave the area alone. However, many times they just move onto another place in your yard. Chipmunks burrow into the ground and some homeowners think they can flush out these burrows with a garden hose. However, these burrows can reach up to 40 feet into the ground and the typical garden hose will not do much to deter these pests. Likewise it is not wise to use gasoline in these burrows as you can destroy your land before it will destroy the chipmunks.

Another way to deter these pests is the use of coyote urine. It sounds weird and most homeowners will ask themselves, where I would even find this product. However, chipmunks are so scared of coyotes that if they pick up the scent of the urine will not come back to that place. Consider looking online for this and other products that may come in handy if the use of a trap does not do the job.

More in-detail how-to chipmunk removal articles:

Information about chipmunk trapping - analysis and methods for how to trap.
Information about how to kill a chipmunk - with poison or other methods.
Information about how to keep chipmunks away - prevention techniques.
Information about chipmunk repellent - analysis of types and effectiveness.

This site is intended to provide information about how to catch a chipmunk, so that you can make an informed decision if you need to deal with a chipmunk problem. This site provides many chipmunk capture articles and strategies, if you wish to attempt to solve the problem yourself. If you are unable to do so, which is likely with many cases of chipmunk removal, please go to the home page and click the USA map, where I have wildlife removal experts listed in over 500 cites and towns, who can properly help you with your nuisance chipmunk.

Click here to read more about how to get rid of chipmunks.