We have a groundhog family living under our wood deck. Our house is on a slab. How important is it to get rid of them? I kind of like them, but I don’t want the integrity of my house foundation (or the deck) to be affected. I understand that groundhogs have to be trapped and removed for many miles to avoid their return. Has anyone else dealt with this?
I personally like woodchucks but I am probably in the minority. I found this online: http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/woodchucks_groundhogs/tips/solving_problems_woodchucks.html
Be sure to read about the timing of the eviction as there are probably babies in the burrow.
Thanks for the link. We see them every day now. The problem is that we don’t see them except when they are, shall we say, fertile. I think they are very cute but not so cute that I’m willing to see the integrity of my deck destroyed.
Oh no, no, this is not something you want. They’ll make an extensive excavation as their home, they smell, they devour every organic item , and they can carry various rodent diseases. And they bite! keep dogs away unless they are big dogs.
You can trap them in a HavAHeart with fresh broccoli, fresh cabbage halves, but you have to cover the floor of the trap with mulch or something; they don’t like the wire. Keep the produce fresh. It may take a week (sometimes we first put the trap out, empty and not set) . Throw a blanket over the trap before you pick it up, and put plastic in your car, they pee when they are upset…You are likely to catch the youngsters first.
OR soak a tshirt in an entire bottle of Lysol. Take a broomstick and stuff the shirt down the hole as far as you can. Pile dirt in the hole, and stomp it down. Groundhogs have 2 or 3 exits, so if you can find the others, it works best if you can do all of them at once, but sometimes that isn’t possible. When the groundhog throws the shirt back out, do it again. And again. Eventually, they will move away.
Thank you @greenbutton. I know there are at least two that I have seen. I’d rather force them to move than move them myself. i’ll try the Lysol. Do you use Lysol liquid cleaner or do you saturate the shirt with Lysol aerosol?
For those of you who like groundhogs, send me your address. My husband would love to ship a few to you. We’ll pay the postage. 
They are seriously challenging to get rid of. Yes, you have to harass them until they get so fed up they want to move to another neighborhood.
My husband had some success with some thingie you stick in the ground that makes a periodic noise that is supposed to bother them.
It’s funny; when our labrador retrievers were alive, we did not have this problem. Now, without the dogs, the groundhogs have apparently decided that under our deck is a great place to be. It’s like their boardwalk.
@doschicos, is your husband’s gadget something like this:
ttps://www.pestrepellerultimate.com/guardian.htm?gclid=CP2MluCal8wCFdBZhgodadEIxQ
This is an ultrasonic thing that repels mice, squirrels, etc.
We had a groundhog last summer. We wantedi it gone after reading the destruction they can do house foundations.
We took all of our cats waste from her litter box and poured it in the hole and covered with dirt. Had no showings for a few weeks. But the hole appeared again. Dumped all of cats waste once again and have not seen the critter again. Well over a year but will still keeping fingers crossed.
@njsue The one my husband uses actually is inserted right into the ground. I guess it drives them crazy. I’d ask him but he is more of an early bird than I am so is out for the night.
We didn’t have as many issues with wildlife when are dog was still alive. My guess is dogs activity, scent, and urine probably keeps many animals from moving setting up house in the vicinity.
We never got around to trying it but a guy at our neighborhood hardware store recommended moth balls down the holes, assuming you can find all their entry points.
Thanks. I see at least two entry points. I will arm myself with mothballs and Lysol.
You need this:
Sometimes, you need to think like an animal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvdHXnuaho4
Just please don’t relocate them to a farm. That makes those of us who live on farms so angry as we get to deal with the destruction they cause. We dispatch of all groundhogs/woodchucks that we see living in/around our house, barn, outbuildings, or fields with a shotgun. There are still way too many each year.
Obviously, I don’t recommend a shotgun if one lives in a city or suburb.
But if anyone is relocating them… I’ve no idea where they’re wanted. It certainly isn’t on any farm around us.
I think you need to get a dog. We have two acres, half of which is a meadow. No woodchucks but I have always had dogs.
We were having some problems with them a couple of years ago when the house next door was empty. They lived under the shed that is right up against our fence and also under their deck…they left quite a tunnel in the once perfectly manicured yard.
My dogs chased them more than once , but they didn’t seem too intimidated by them. I was worried because my dogs are corgis and naturally want to " herd " any animals that appear on their turf…if cornered, woodchucks ( groundhogs, whistle pigs ) will attack.
@Creekland there is a horse farm a couple of miles from us, and people are always relocating animals there…a woodchuck attacked the owners small dog and her son tried to break them apart and ended up with painful bites and more painful rabies shots
Fun fact about these critters …they also climb trees which I didn’t know until I saw one sitting on a tree branch eating the buds.
@NJSue …do you actually live in NJ ? I have a friend who takes wildlife out , but not sure how far he travels
We live close to a farmer’s cornfield and our neighborhood is dotted with woodchuck holes. I had a garden until the day I reached down into a hole near my asparagus plants and touched a few squishy baby woodchucks. There are two holes underneath our deck and a few more out by our fence.
One neighbor shoots his varmints with a shotgun. A contractor told me that someone else dropped a bomb into the woodchuck hole underneath his deck. The deck caught fire and then his entire house burned down! My tiny dog is about the size of a baby woodchuck and would be carried away by one of the adults.
They are so very cute but so very destructive. I see them everywhere in our subdivision, and despite trapping, fencing and yes, shooting, we can’t keep them out of our yard – probably because there are just too many of them.
I’ve given up growing tomatoes because of them – nothing keeps them out of the tomato garden. Once I had a few who climbed on my deck and ate most of my morning glories. I swear they were addicted to the hallucinogenic high from the seeds.
My wife hung a suet holder for birds in a shrub near our living room window. One day we saw a baby rodent climb up the branches and chow down on the suet. I thought it was either a rat or an opossum, but it had a long tail and didn’t look familiar. Later on it returned for seconds.
A few days later I saw it leaving our flower garden out back and disappear into the woodchuck hole under our deck. Mystery solved. We removed the suet in the front yard and that finished the free lunch program for baby woodchucks.
They are extremely destructive – they’ll chew fenceposts down to get to a garden, for example. They’ll attack anything near the hole (although they usually opt to just run down it first). A small dog is no match for a scared gopher; our Keeshond killed groundhogs every day but she was a big, angry, aggressive hunter. She would bury them under the deck, which was not cool!
Dump Lysol in bucket, toss shirt in. Any extra Lysol goes down the hole too. Buy several bottles, and be prepared to keep doing it all summer. We’ve caught 4 or 5 adult groundhogs and 3 or 4 babies and it took months to get them all, and close up the holes. Complicated by the fact they were sheltered under a neighbor’s deck…But eventually, they will relocate. I caught the babies too – I dont’ care if they die, there are plenty more. (I know, I know…) I have friends that swear by pouring cement down the hole, but they will just dig another exit. Firecrackers just don’t work, and are dangerous. Chemicals are bad, and cruel.
Mothballs don’t smell enough, in our experience. Groundhogs are very smart, so you have to be diligent and patient. Also, they do climb trees. Just so you know.
We’ve got some living under our shed. They have a nice entryway under the ramp that leads into the shed…which is right next to my vegetable garden. You should see the fencing H put in place to save the veggies last year. He calls it the “Maginot Line” for Mr. Woodchuck. (but it was successful!!)
I can’t wait to stop at the store and get some Lysol on the way home. I’m going to try that trick.