Gophers, chipmunks, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and voles usually live in family groups. Groundhogs live separately most of the time. If one of these animals is becoming a pest, you are going to need to remove all of them. There are no easy solutions for these pests.
There are four methods to stop urban wildlife: making living conditions unsuitable and putting up barriers, traps, and poisons. The first two are the easiest and the last two are the hardest. Each species has its own preference for housing and supply of food and water. Products that work on the senses may work temporarily by making a noise or a smell, but the animals tend to ignore the product after the short time they need to acclimate to it. Fencing the area they live in can work if the fence is sturdy, has small holes, and is buried so they can’t burrow under it.
Multifaceted approaches may work best by making the area intolerable. Predator urine products are available that use coyote or bobcat urine. Deer and rabbit repellents using putrefied egg solids or herbal oils are found in many garden centers. Pouring one of these liquids into the burrow entrance and then blockading the entrance with gravel and dirt will force them to dig their way out through the smelly soil. Daily blocking of the tunnels forces them to work on fixing the entrance and not on finding food, so they eventually move to a better location.
Flooding the burrow with a garden hose stuck down as far as possible into the tunnel may ruin any stored food supplies in the burrow. Both of these techniques may need to be done repeatedly until the animals move away. Do not use the home remedy of mothballs. They are poisonous to little kids and should not be used outdoors.
Depending on the animal species, it may not be legal to use traps or poisons to remove nuisance animals. Typically, small mammals such as chipmunks, gophers, mice, moles, rats, shrews, and voles can be killed without needing a permit. The Department of Natural Resources for each state has various requirements and permits for nuisance animal removal. There are companies that specialize in removing nuisance animals.
Trying to move mammals to new locations has several problems. First, it is dangerous to trap and handle any wild animal. Second, they may have a disease that is transferable to people, pets, or wildlife in the new area. Third, the moved pest animal may have been someone else’s pet. Fourth, it is not legal to release animals into any nature preserve areas. Fifth, any new location that is suitable for the new animal will probably already have enough of that type of animal.
The moved animal will have a tough time fighting to find a territory in the new area. The fighting puts both the new and established animals in danger. If the trapped animal has to move to another territory, it is at risk from predators and cars. Lastly, another pest animal is likely to move into the original territory that is now vacant, unless something is done to make the territory unsuitable to that kind of animal.
Speaking to this last point, why are gophers attracted to your landscape? How can you make it less attractive? If there are bird feeders spilling food onto the ground, can they be changed to ones that don’t drop food? Can the food be treated with hot pepper products that make the bird food unpalatable to mammals but not birds?
