We have about 6 of them. There were two last year, but DH refused to do anything about it. Next year it'll be 18? They are very wary of us. If they hear a door or window open they run into their burrow. No way we could get close enough to clonk them with a bottle of Poland Spring. They are odd creatures. They don't touch the hosta, but they ate a sea holly to the ground. Sea holly? It's all prickles! I had trouble potting up the darn thing, and they ate it. Our battles haven't begun, but my father had one with them on the order of Caddy Shack. He would sit by the window overlooking his garden for hours, screen removed, with a gun across his lap just waiting for them. I think the only thing he managed to shoot was the sprinker system. One year he tried a quarter stick of dynamite and all he managed to do was blow up one of my mother's gardens. He tried concrete as well. Crushed stone. You name it. He gave up. Years later there don't seem to be any more of them. Maybe Coyotes eat them? He's got a lot of those now. We have a friend who has had great success keeping them out of his vegetable garden with an electric fence at about ankle height (nose height to them). His must be stupid ones. They haven't figured out they can burrow under it.

>>>> ellenr Could anyone direct me to a site where I could confirm this? I have always heard this is true, but would like to verify. You had me fooled ellen, I thought you were inquiring so you could catch them not turn in your neighbor. Youll get no sympathy from me. >>>Trapping is sadistic, Says you >>> and it is ridiculous to think you can free your property of groundhogs. Works pretty good for me. Id rather battle a couple than a couple of dozen >>> Hello...isn't there always one to take its place? Better one or 2 than a dozen >>>I know someone who has been trapping squirrels for years. Ive trapped bushy tailed rats for 5 years now. I wont tell you how many, I wouldnt want to give you a coronary so early on a Sat morning, emergency rooms are full on the weekends, but YOU WOULD BE SHOCKED. Its a never ending battle, I have to do the same thing every year, like planting the flowers, cutting the lawn, tilling the garden, planting the garden, weeding the garden, bagging the leaves, removing the varmints, get the picture? All part of the never-ending list of tasks. >>>LOL. What I makes me LOL is people who spend all that time and money taking care of their flower beds, veggie gardens and lawns only to see it destroyed day after day after day. Nature had a plan for pests like squirrels and groundhogs. Predators! Civilization has squeezed out those predators, which results in a squirrel explosion. Ive taken over where Nature left off. >>>Sure if that is how you get your jollies. You think I like paying $3 a gallon for gas? >>> Don't imagine you are keeping your property critter-free. Pretty close. We use to have waves of 6 7 squirrels at a time grazing multiple times a day, on everything they could find, rummaging through flower pots/beds, digging up the shallots, poking holes in tomatoes, digging holes all over the lawn etc, etc. etc. To give you an example, I NOW have 4 pots of beautiful gerbera daisies on the front steps, planted from seeds. Took me 12 weeks of caring, watching, watering and fertilizing. I HAD some squirrels that took a liking to the flower heads, they would wait till the next flower stalk came up and then poof, it was gone. Now the squirrels are GONE, I actually get lots of flowers now, never would have happened if I didnt trap. My neighbors absolutely love me; their flower bulbs actually come up now. >>>> since no matter where you 'relocate' them to, they will try to return to their territory. 3-4 miles is all you need, I know cause in the beginning, I use to put a little shot of latex paint on their tail to verify they werent returning. I never did see a white spotted bushy tailed rat. >>>> Visual stimuli like strobe lights, mylar tape, scarecrows, and scare-eye balloons. For only so long, they quickly become accustomed to them. Witness the groundhogs feeding just feet from the curb along the side of many of New Jerseys busiest highways. Didnt take long to realize the cars wouldnt hurt them. >>> and loud noises. My neighbors would just love that. >>>In my cosmology people who trap animals will return as animals and die slowly in a cage in the sun and temperature of 90 degrees and be eaten by ants. With full consciousness. Thanks for the good laugh, I gotta save that one and pass it around. I'll leave you with this, A squirrel a day keeps the critters away.

Vaherbmom THANK YOU!! meldy_nva Pine-Sol! The smell is overpowering but makes so much sense!! I was going to run a hose about 10’ into their hole and funnel a quart of ammonia followed by a quart of bleach. Bend the hose into the hole and cover it with dirt but the exhaust is so much cleaner:) The University uses dry ice at the same time on multiple holes covered with A LOT of wet dirt and then they hold. They standby because the students would remove the dry ice (the non home owners felt it to be cruel) My issue is living between immigrants that believe animals have a place in the world. They do! But not when they damage your property! So she continued to feed them by dumping her table scraps and compost in the alley behind our houses. She felt differently when her yard was excavated for a sewerline break. The workers explained that the absence of support structures caused it to snap. I have used conibear traps in the attic for squirrels, just be careful to do so when there is no chance youll be leaving behind unfed helpless babies. For folks that have groundhogs in open fields contact your local Jack Russell Terrier club. They might have to dig a hole or two to get the dogs out but GO TO GROUND is what JRTs were bred to do. My 16lb baby caught the 30lb animal she was feeding and I left it for her to bury so she could see what she created. Point being if your neighbors arent on board, theyll just comeback later. 16lb JRT foot, 30lb groundhog under the first step closest to the ground. JRT 1: Chuck 0

No rolled up sod this morning, thinking it was originally groundhogs I laid out bright balloons, pinwheels and spread a ton of Costco Chili Powder around the grass. Coincidence or not who knows but it also seems that the squirrels are scared of the pinwheels, something I should have put 2 months ago before they ravished my tomatoes (unlike any other summer, I'm assuming it was due to the dry summer we had and they were super thirsty).