Chipmunk traps
General Topic
I am looking for ways to get rid of chipmunks & red squirrels. I have used the 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full with water and sunflower seeds floating on the water. It works good but after 3 days or after any rain they all sink. I went through 50# in sunflower seeds last year - plus getting rid of smelly rotting seeds is a pain.
I am looking for other ideas. Snap traps have worked a little bit, but not to affective and we have small dogs and I like sex to much to let my fiancés dogs get snapped in the face.
Live traps not enough - I want to get rid of a dozen or more quickly.
Has anyone tried the "spinner mouse trap" on chipmunks? The kind where you have a dowel through a pop can (with peanut butter in the middle of can) on top of a 5 gallon bucket half full of water? Mice jump onto the can it spins and they fall into the water for what I call a swim test. They always fail:)
I would think chipmunks and red squirrels are to quick and agile and would likely not fall in. Same goes for similar traps with a plank that rotates.
Ideas?
Can only get one at a time, but small cage traps, although if you don't want to have to dispatch them, rat traps work well, even on red squirrels... Caught a few red squirrels getting in folks campers with rat traps and killed them grave yard dead...
I use rat snap traps. If your worried about a dog, set them in a pipe or screw them up on a high stump.
Five. Gallon bucket with a small hole and it's a done deal. Or get a pic pipe and install a one way door, catch them live and do with them what you want. The best way if able is to get a nice lounge chair, a cold beer and a nice pellet rifle.
I agree Bearman, rat snap traps work well and fairly cheap, couple bucks a piece (or used to be)... Put a half dozen of them out out and you'll have 6 dead critters a day... Only thing though, if you have red squirrels ya probably have bigger grey and fox squirrels too... Never had one in a rat trap, but I'd imagine if one snapped down on a big ole fox squirrel, there'd be a he!! of a commotion... Likely the jaws would eventually kill it but squirrel and trap might end up in neighbors yard... If they're around might want to somehow stake the trap down...
Rat trap in a wooden box with a 1.5" hole for the chipmunk to go in. Put something heavy on top so the dog can't flip the box over?? Or let the dog get cracked once and it will learn to stay away???
You might want to think about rewording your second paragraph just a little, Don ;-)
There was a thread on here last year (“Stupid mice”) that has a bunch of ideas.
"Has anyone tried the "spinner mouse trap" on chipmunks? "
YES!! Works like a charm! Make a ramp too for the little b*****ds to make it easier for them to get to it. MUCH easier to clean too and doesn't stink. I use a bait that I smear on the bottle made of peanut butter and bacon grease (helps it not dry out). You can put some seeds in it too if you like.
We have that problem every year at our bird feeders.
Besides eating seeds, the squirrels chase the birds away and the chipmunks spend all day hauling. The feeders attract so many that some of them get into our vehicles and home and can do damage.
Great bow practice before bear season... and like others have already mentioned, Victor rat traps for the ones that get too wary. Screw the traps to a bigger board so you don't have to look for them occasionally.
Look up the A18 Squirrel Destroyer !! Nothing looks faster and delivers cleaner kills....
Absolutely nothing beats a conibear trap for reds. Hang it in the tree and you'll get rid of one every few hours. Might be a touch big for a chipmunk though. But it will chew through your reds quicker than spit. My uncle caught nearly 200 in a calendar year in a postage stamp property in the city using exclusively conibears. He was hanging the tails on his garage with his kids and after a while the tails started disappearing and turns out squirrels were stealing the tails for nesting materials lol.
His favourite go-to bait was actually using a peanut in the shell on the wire and then a dab of peanut butter on top. Good luck. I've caught them with buns or bread works great too.
Instead of sunflower seeds try smearing peanut butter on the inside of your bucket at the water line. Works great and easier to clean up.
Lot's of good info, thanks!
BC, I heard they only jump it to water when seeds are there because they think it is solid. I know when there is not a solid layer of seeds I catch far fewer. If the peanut butter works that is exactly what I was looking for. I do get a few with my air rifle too.
APauls I am surprised they run through it and not around. Might have to get one of those.
Get one of these. Put a camera on it and share with us.
I use rat traps baited with peanut butter for red squirrels. Kills em dead.
.22 LR birdshot in a revolver puts out a basketball size pattern in about 3 yards and kills the shot out of small rodents and feathered rats. Works great on a moving target.
DV, it works. They hang by back feet trying to reach peanut butter but almost always get greedy and fall in. Keep water level just low enough where they have to stretch. Try it.
Every time I post from phone it doubles. What’s with that?
We have had ONE single Chipmunk for 3 years now. No way he will die at our hands. I cannot figure out where he came from & why Alone.. He lives under our deck. I thought they kinda hibernated but we have seen him many times on a nice, snowy winter day stuffing his jaws. We have tons of Squirrels, birds & him No Gophers. When I lived next to a golf course & overrun with Gophers I used them for keeping my hunting skills sharp.. That was tons of funs.. Close ones I had rules, no sights. Long one, sight.
BowSniper……..the A18’s are not available for purchase in the states, (only in the UK and New Zealand) for some stupid, unknown reason, but the A24’s are. I’ve been trying to find the A18’s for the past couple of years, to try and control the damn fox squirrels around my place. For chipmunk sized rodents, the A24’s should work great. I’m booked for a hunt in NZ next spring…. I may end up bringing a few contraband items back from NZ with me……
hunter78 x2 Get a kick watching them around our rock terrace, drives the pooch nuts that she can't catch em.
hunter78 x2 Get a kick watching them around our rock terrace, drives the pooch nuts that she can't catch em.
I've caught a boat load of them with regular rat snap traps and various bait like a grape or anything that won't dry out too quick.
I use a 5 gallon bucket filled 1/3 water with two holes near the top with a threaded rod thru and a short piece of EMT (tubing) coated with peanut butter and sunflower seeds. Make a wood ramp up to the pipe. I killed many mice and chipmunks with this setup.
Set this for red squirrels but..., I have cedar siding on my cabin and these are horrible.
Looks like an Oneida #1 jump.
They get in my trackloader and eat wires. These traps really work on chipmunks and mice. I should’ve bought the counter for it so you know when the co2 is spent
Victor stoploss jump trap.
I've also taken a Victor rat trap and made a small post for it with a 1"x2" that's mounted to an 8"x"8 piece of 1/2" plywood. Then you attach the rat trap vertically with the trap pan on the lower side, so that the pan itself is about 5"-6" off the bottom board. When they stand up to get the bait, the trap bar get's them right in the neck and kills them quickly. I've NEVER had a miss with this set up.
I have been catching chipmunks in my dog proof coon traps. If you already have some it is a simple matter to set them, pour a little corn, dog food or cat food in them and stick them in the ground. I know that cracked corn works well. If you do not have in coons around, you may not even need to stake them. Of course, if you get a coon in one you will lose the trap and the coon will suffer.
Good catch, jdbowhunter! I missed the stoploss spring, at first glance.
Chipmunks were destroying my garden and for whatever reason the population was way up last year. I used a Havahart live trap and caught 52 of them in a very short span of time. All of them got a trip a distance away and were released alive. This took care of my problem entirely.
Or a JACK RUSSELL TERRIER!!
My vote is for the cat maybe two or three cats those dudes can hunt!
