Something is living under my parents deck!

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Okay, we give up! Something has moved in under my parents deck and we can not catch it or get rid of it. Number one what is it and number 2 how do we get rid of it? Here is what it is doing. It has softball sized holes tunneling from under the deck into the flower beds. We have tried a live trap which it escaped from by bending the back panel out. They tried a rat trap bated with peanut butter a few times and have also tried cheese. Didn't go for it. They have filled in the hole and it redigs them. The last effort was to dump about a cup of amonia down each hole and then after a day filled the holes in. It stayed that way for about 2 weeks. It's now back and has it's holes reopened. They live in the city in a pretty good neighboorhood. Thanks for the help! Robin and her parents.

-- Robin Frontz (frontzfarm@1st.net), May 12, 2001

Answers

Check the archives under Pests. Seems like some people had success dumping used kitty litter down groundhog holes. However, unless you find some way to either kill or remove it, I suspect you will have a continuing battle. Let us know if you ever find out what it is.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), May 12, 2001.

The first spring we were on this farm, a mama skunk raised 4 babies under our back porch. We were friends with the wildlife biologist at a nearby conservation area and when I first spotted her tail disappearing under the concrete slab, I called Scott immediately. He told me he would bring over a live trap but if I caught her to call him, not try to move her ourselves. When he arrived, he told me to run water from the hose down the hole, that she would think her kits were in danger of drowning and leave. Fine. I started the hose then walked Scott out to the driveway, visited a few minutes and he left. Imagine my surprise when I went back to check on things and came face to face with mama and 4 kits nearly as big as she was! I bolted into the house and called the conservation area's office to see if they could reach Scott on his radio and ask him to come back. He took the hose and "sprayed" the quintet out of the yard and told me that because of the maturity of the litter, she and they would probably leave. They did hang around the rest of the evening but didn't show up the next day. We were all amazed that we were unaware of her presence. We were coming and going, our dogs and cats were out there and luckily, we never crossed paths. Every spring I keep that area wet to discourage her coming back.

SO plain old water down the holes? Good luck

-- Marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), May 12, 2001.


check for tracks,, the size of the feet,, ground squirrel, ground hog, gopher, need to know where you live. If you find out, and still want to get rid of it,, try smoking it out,, stuff paper and such in all but 1 hole,, light em all,, keep em burning, try to push the smoke inside, a bellow, or bee smoker would work

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), May 12, 2001.

Kind of laughing here as I remember when I tried to move a woodchuck out of the neighborhood using water. I stuffed a hose down his hole and turned it on. Forget how long I'd left it running, did know at the time however. I did figure how much water went down that hole, about 1100 gallons I figured. Lots of water and still had the woodchuck next day just grinning at me! Of course I realized too late he had another entrance. Oh well so it goes. He/she or the offspring still live around here. Finally just dug a trench around the garden and buried about a foot of fencing into the ground thus ending my problem.

-- Bob Johnson (Backwoods_Bob@excite.com), May 12, 2001.

Scatter a thick coating of powder or DE around the hole and photograph any tracks that you "capture" for evaluation by the local critter specialist.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), May 13, 2001.


Throw moth balls down all the holes and around...most critters will leave. DW

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), May 14, 2001.

Just a thought! Does anyone know FOR SURE where Despicable Bill Clinton is these days?

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), May 15, 2001.

When we lived in the city, we had "something" dig a hole under the black plastic under the deck. The something was a rat...a big ugly rat! I think we poisoned it as it would not be trapped. Nasty things! Be careful of rat poison though as it will kill dogs and cats.

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), May 19, 2001.

When I have a problem with ground hogs on the farm,I shoot them.The reason I shoot them is because the horses and cows fall into there holes, and they break there legs. This cost the farmers alot of money. When you get a smart ground hog that you just cannot get, put some oranges around there holes if you want to shoot them,You will have to wait awhile, or put oranges in a trap. Another way is to dump moth-balls down the hole they hate them.

-- (bunnies4me@email.com), July 14, 2001.

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