What is the best way to get rid of 13 banded (ground squirrels) ?
by
Constance
+5
We live on 8 1/2 acres surrounded by 3,000 cropland with the farmers spraying chemicals constantly. The vermin have moved onto our land now setting up their massive colonies. They are about 9" long, breed like rats and burrow EVERYWHERE! You cannot have a garden for they eat everything out at the root. It's getting so expensive. Poison isn't the way I wish to go for I have a Service Dog. They are extremely smart, even destroy large Tom Cat traps for rats. Burrowing under foundations of barns are making them weak. Colonies are EVERYWHERE! Please help!
Going squirrely in South Dakota
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Ground Squirrel poison. just keep putting it in the holes. Also a 4/10 shotgun works well
We bait them out in early morning and SHOOT THEM!
Call the Department of Agriculture and tell them your dilemma. Call the Department of Wildlife and tell them the same thing. If either one of these organizations can't or won't help you, then you have no choice but to poison them. Just keep your service dog on a short leash.
I did call both when the situation was getting really bad. They said "Good luck!" I did do some research on my own and there is a new invention called "Burrow Blocker" which rapidly fills the burrows with watered down liquid sand drowning out the whole colony. It's PERFECT, and the only thing that I can see that truly works. Problem is, it's expensive and zero people here in SD do it. POISON IS NOT AN OPTION!
If you don't want to put poison out, then your other alternative is to trap them.
This one is easy make and very effective, if you don't mind drowning the rodents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSk79YcuIRQ
or this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBFmdnllGEY
Perhaps you could do it DIY. Get some fine sand, mix it with water and try putting down a few holes. Mark the holes so you know what ones you tried it on and check them to see what happens. Try a small garden, dig it out about a foot down and put chicken wire down. Replace the soil and plant a few flowers or something and see if they can get through the wire to eat the roots. This may help you be able to have a garden.