Critter Invasion! How to Get Rid of Common Rodents in Your Yard

Posted July 11, 2017 by Jacks Small Engines

Wait a minute, this isn’t a Zoo!

Animals can be a pain in the butt when your trying to keep your lawn neatly kept and your garden looking nice. Our list will not only provide you what animals could be lurking around your yard, but also how to get rid of them if you spot one.

Grouchy Groundhogs?

What They Do: Your most likely to see groundhogs in the early morning or late afternoon munching on a variety of green vegetation. They’ll most likely be around during spring since they hibernate during the winter.

What should you do? A sturdy chicken wire fence with a chicken wire lined trench will keep them out. Covering plants with plastic or floating row cover will also work.

Got Deer?

What They Do: Deer have a taste for a wide range of garden and landscape plants. In areas with a higher deer population they can be the worst garden pest you’ll ever encounter.

What should you do? Building a deer proof fence is the most reliable way to keep deer out. Using deer repellent but making making sure you periodically change the repellent since deer will become accustomed is key. Deer proof plants are another option, they include shrubs, vines, and perennials.

 

 

Annoying Squirrels & Chipmunks

What They Do: Squirrels and Chipmunks are burrowing rodents that eat seeds, nuts, fruits, roots, and bulbs. They tunnel in soil and uproot newly planted bulbs, plants, and seeds.

What should you do? Putting down traps with peanut butter, oats, or nut meats as bait. Spraying repellents on plants and seeds along with placing screen hardware covers over plants will also work.

Overrun with Mice & Voles?

What They Do: Mice and Voles look alike and cause similar damage. They eat almost any green vegetation, when unable to find other foods they’ll eat the bark and roots of fruit trees.

What should you do? Placing down barriers such as heavy plastic, sheet metal, or hardware cloths around the base of trees or into soil will work. Placing snap traps with peanut butter, nut meats, or oats will work too.

 

 

Moles Diggin’ Holes?

What They Do: Moles will eat earthworms, who are used to aerate soil. They’ll also create tunnels which can be an annoyance in your gardens and lawn.

What should you do? Harpoon traps placed along the main tunnel runs will kill them when they travel through. Having a barrier of stones or dried compact material in the area will stop them from traveling around your yard.

Pesty Gophers:

What They Do: These rodents tunnel through soil eating bulbs, roots, seeds, and woody plants. Crescent shaped mounds of soil at tunnel entrances are signs of gopher activity.

What should you do? Putting an underground fence or burying a strip of hardware cloth can repel gophers. Also by flooding them out of their tunnels can be an alternative.

 

 

Rampid Rabbits

What They Do: Rabbits can damage vegetables, flowers, and trees at anytime of the year in any setting. They’ll also eat tree bark, buds, and stems of woody plants.

What should you do? Using chicken wire fence as a barrier or using hardware cloth around trees or valuable plants will work too.

Rambunctious Raccoons

What They Do: Raccoons prefer a meal of fresh crayfish but will settle for a nighttime feast in your sweet corn patch. Signs if they’ve been around include broken stalks, shredded husks, and gnawed cob ends.

What should you do? Using a fence with electrified netting attached to posts will keep them out. Planting squash among the corn with its prickly foliage is a sneaky option.

 

 

Using our list as a guide will allow you to be prepared and to have a sharp lookout for those animals. These pesty rodents can pop up in your yard anywhere at anytime they choose.