I have a question. We have a groundhog. That is my question.
At first we found it charming and cute. Groundhogs ARE so cute. They’re so fat and sleek and waddley! And our yard has foxes and raccoons and songbirds and squirrels and chipmunks and hawks, and sometimes deer and skunks and turkeys and owls, and on one memorable occasion bears—so why not groundhogs?
Well. Because this groundhog can’t be reasonable. Two burrow entrances, three, FOUR (that we know of)—we still found it charming: we’re not prissy about our lawn. But then a crater a meter across and almost as deep, right in the center of our lawn, with a fifth (that we know of) entrance. My dude.
Also, one of the entrances is through an old rock wall that supports part of the yard; another one is right next to our old, old foundation. We’re not super savvy as homeowners, but we’re pretty sure neither of those is good.
But what to do. Paul researched it through a wildlife preservation/rehabilitation site, which gave links to places that would relocate a groundhog safely and humanely. He has called all four. One has not returned any of his emails or calls. Another, it turns out, has relocated themselves safely and humanely to another state. The other two were like, WHO said we could relocate it?? They can trap it for us, so that we can relocate it ourselves (which does not seem to be possible/legal, and they had no ideas/leads for us; and when we asked follow-up questions, one of them said things like “Well, I’M not putting it in MY yard! I have a garden!”—which felt particularly unhelpful considering he SPECIFICALLY, VERBATIM, lists “groundhog relocation” on his website as one of the services he provides) (Paul ended up hanging up on him), or they can kill it. Those are the options. We can leave it where it is and let it do its thing, or we can kill it.
I am loathe to kill a living creature for the crime of living in the world and sharing the land we live on, which in a TRULY SIGNIFICANT sense is no more ours than theirs. THE EARTH BELONGS TO US ALL. But also: the groundhog is demolishing our shared property. ONE COULD SAY THE SAME OF HUMANITY, AND THIS PLANET!!!!! But also: right now we are talking about this groundhog, and our yard.
This reminds me of mosquitos. If mosquitos could just TAKE A LITTLE BLOOD, without LEAVING BEHIND A WELT THAT ITCHES FOR TWO WEEKS and/or MALARIA, I would be FINE with it. In fact, I would actively do my part: I would stand outside each day and allow, say, six mosquitos to sting me.
It reminds me of ants. If ants just CLEANED UP THE CRUMBS LEFT ON THE FLOOR, and didn’t have to INFEST THE ENTIRE STRUCTURE and/or INFEST THE FOOD IN THE PANTRY, we would coexist, and even be grateful to them for their service.
It reminds me of mice. If mice just lived cutely in our houses, and nibbled on crumbs and didn’t CHEW THROUGH WIRES AND INSULATION, we would probably be fine with it, I’d even be willing to leave out supplemental food/water for them! Though we might ask them to contain their droppings to particular areas.
It reminds me of rabbits. If rabbits would eat the food in one roped-off rabbit corner of the garden, instead of TAKING ONE BITE OUT OF EACH VEGETABLE/FRUIT, RUINING EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE, we would probably be okay with that. We would probably even have fun planting the rabbit section each year with new things for them to sample.
It reminds me of humanity. If humans could just LIVE ON THE PLANET and TAKE CARE OF THE RESOURCES THEY NEED TO LIVE, WITHOUT…….. Anyway, the groundhog. And maybe it is not ONE groundhog; maybe it is MANY groundhogs. We have only SEEN one groundhog at a time; we have never seen more than one. And yet, statistically: can it be only one? With five entrances to the burrow? that we know of?
Apparently if you hire a service to kill the groundhogs, they block off all the entrances and put a very humane gas into the burrow to make sure they kill them all. Then they block up the burrow so you don’t get new animals moving in there. Don’t you wish sometimes that you could communicate with animals, to let them know what is at stake? “Listen, the first four entrances are fine. The fifth means we are seriously considering wiping out your entire family and then demolishing your house! Thought you would like to know what we’re thinking!”
So I am wondering if you have any…er, groundhog stories. And if you can tell me how they ended. Did you end up having to…..er.
We had a groundhog two years ago. He made a large tunnel right next to our foundation, which is not optimal for foundation longevity. I posted about it here: https://mostgladly.net/2024/08/05/mystery-resolved/
Our groundhog did not fare well in the humane trap at the mouth of his burrow. He didn’t spend much time in the trap, but he had died by the time the removal guy arrived. Honestly, given the size of his excavations, I did not have much sympathy for him by the time he shuffled off this mortal coil.
This post was a DELIGHT to read, and I laughed loudly several times.
We had a groundhog in our old house! At least, I’m pretty sure we did. Wait —
Okay, yes! This is why having a blog is a good idea, I found that we DID have a groundhog, back in 2020 (can’t imagine why the groundhog doesn’t rank more highly in my memories), but I didn’t write extensively about it. My hazy memories are that we discovered multiple alarming holes, and then went through the same issue of calling around to people who supposedly relocated groundhogs, and they told us that they did not in fact Do That. I think one of them told us that we needed to find all the entry points to the groundhog’s home and then put (peeled) garlic in each hole. The note in my blog post says that I also apparently poured some water mixed with cayenne into the hole and that the next day the hole was filled in. I do not recall ever seeing the groundhog after that. That seems QUITE LUCKY to the point that I am concerned something untoward may have happened to the groundhog.
I just searched my email; this seems like something I would have emailed my mom about. I did not email her about the 2020 groundhog, but I did email her about a groundhog back in 2012. Apparently we called it Allan.
I am really hopeful that your other readers have more reliable groundhog removal strategies for you to try.
We have… various someones digging holes in our yard, off and on, and have ever since we moved in. I see a groundhog occasionally. Some of them are the perfect size to place one boot in and break an ankle. More of them are clearly snake or squirrel holes. But I’m the only one who uses the yard enough to notice, and I just ignore them.
The snakes though… a few years ago, I was walking down the hallway, on my way to feed the cat, and a huge black snake was on the basement steps!!! (Put the cat in the bathroom and the snake in a pillow case and took it outside.) Never figured out how it got in, but there hasn’t been another one since. The same thing happened a few years later with four little mice–caught them, took them for a long drive to a wooded area, never figured out how they got in but haven’t seen signs of any since.
When you say you “put the snake in a pillowcase,” how did you…NEVER MIND, ACTUALLY I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW, PLEASE TELL ME YOU INVITED IT TO ENTER THE PILLOWCASE AND IT DID SO GRACIOUSLY
We used to have a cat who would catch little snakes and bring them into the house. This was in the 90s, so I am hazy on the details, but somehow my now-wife-then-girlfriend would entice them into wrapping paper tubes and take them inside. I do not remember how she got them to go into the tubes, but it happened multiple times. This might have been a sign that she (the girlfriend) was a keeper.
I’m not helpful; I’ve hit so many creatures with my car that I’ve become sanguine about it all. My feeling is that much like Doritos, nature will always make more.
We don’t have groundhogs here. However, I had success convincing a mole to leave my garden by pouring black castor oil around its holes. I don’t know how far away it went. (I just wanted it out of my cultivated garden. Much of my yard is left welcoming to wildlife, and I don’t bother burrows in those areas.) A quick Google search suggests groundhogs also dislike the black castor oil. It’s not particularly expensive, so maybe worth a try before trapping?
In case this will be as fun for Paul as it was for my hubby, I recommend buying wolf urine. It comes via the USPS and you can spritz it around the hole you don’t like.
Otherwise go to plan D – dog or death. This is one good reason to have a diverse set of friends. Always good to have a hunter in the group.
We used to have groundhogs at our old house. The yard was large, though, and the back half of it was quite steep and not really fit for human occupation. The groundhogs had visible holes along the incline and would come up and graze on our grass sometimes where we could admire them. But we also had a dog that would chase them away as soon as they got too close to her territory. I realize that suggesting you get a dog is not practical advice. I’m sorry.
I’d feel similarly about exterminating the ground hog. But I also don’t think you need to sacrifice your entire yard to the groundhog, either. I hope the wolf urine works!!
We had moles for a bit, and bought solar-powered stakes from Amazon that drove them away. They emit vibrations that the moles don’t like. I think they are supposed to work for groundhogs, too.
We had a raccoon in our attic last year and it was so conflicting! On the one hand, he’s just trying to live. On the other hand…. it was creepy and gross. We set a trap but he left before tripping it, and we closed up the entry point before he came back.
You are nicer than I am. We live on a farm, and tend to have groundhogs around one particular barn. I know you won’t like it, but my son shoots and disposes of them. Thankfully he is a good shot and almost always kills them on the first shot.
i share your general philosophy here! I wish we could communicate to the animals that we don’t mind sharing, if they would just be reasonable.
We have a groundhog. In fact, I’m pretty sure there is an entire Fantastic Mr. Fox style burrow/condo for animals under our shed, because there are several entrances and I’ve seen rabbits go in there too. We’ve had all of the same animals you listed, up to and including the bear, although we did not see the bear. We just saw the bear poop, the claw marks on our trash can and all the trash from the buffet we provided him/her. Anyway, the first year we lived here, my husband trapped and relocated the groundhog. The next spring, another groundhog arrived. We tried trapping and relocating farther away. Another groundhog moved in, and we gave up and now we coexist. We did fill in one tunnel that was particularly close to the house with some quick cement or concrete or something when we knew the groundhog wasn’t in there, but that’s it.
The “humane gas” is concerning to me. I don’t have the heart to look into it right now but I’m fairly certain there aren’t any groundhog specific ways to gas an area. I’d think every other creature in the space would also die. If those animals didn’t die immediately in a “humane” way, they could potentially drag their bodies into your barn or other places to die slowly and unnoticed until the smell… I’d also be concerned that one of the cats could choose the gas day to try and bolt outside and potentially be exposed.
The gas is put into the burrow, after all the entrances to the burrow are sealed. They check first to make sure they found all the entrances, by putting colored smoke into the burrow and seeing if any leaks out anywhere else. Then they put the gas in the closed-off burrow. It’s true that any other animals in the burrow would die, if there were any; I don’t think you need to worry about the animals who are out in the fresh air—and I’d think all such animals would definitely be staying away from all the people tramping around and making noise, certainly for long enough for the gas to dissipate. I also don’t think you need to worry about animals figuring out how to get into our barn in order to die there (the doors are closed), or about our indoor cats somehow escaping (the doors are closed; they have never escaped).
You can use dry ice. It’s carbon monoxide? They suffocate but there is no chance of secondary poisoning. I know they want to do it with rats in Boston — and have until PETA got involved and sue the city. So we are back to warfarin which DOES cause secondary poisoning and doesn’t seem super ethical to me. Anyway. Dry ice.
The vibration/sound things are very common my area. My husband got chicken wire-looking mesh and put it on the (cleared off) ground, then put stakes all over the mesh so groundhogs would hit their heads on those before hitting the mesh. Then we put soil and grass/groundcover all over. This is not the best solution if you weren’t interested in stripping and replanting, but if you thought maybe you’d get rid of your lawn and replace with native local groundcover or wildflowers or a butterfly garden or something, it could be worth it.
Yes, it was a lot of work, and we’re in the middle of doing it in the front yard, but it doesn’t require killing any wildlife and gives you an opportunity to make an even more shareable land for them. Also, I didn’t have to do it; I just paid for whatever my husband said he needed.
We are in east Ventura County, CA, if that matters.
I would love to see photos of the entrances and the yard destruction. I can’t even imagine what this looks like. I do like these ideas about natural ways to coax it away from its current home so it pursues its digging somewhere else, but I also totally get how one reaches the limits of ones patience with such creatures
Hahaha having lived through both ant and mice infestations, I really get this.
We don’t have groundhogs but we do have voles all over our property. Depending on where they pop up, we either leave them alone OR someone sets a trap for them (not me). They can be very damaging to gardens. The vineyard manager has a dog who is a “ratter” who, um, catches them. The ones that get trapped with actual traps, they get “thrown over the bank” (the hill) and the coyotes, um, have a snack. I don’t like killing living things just for existing but this is not under my jurisdiction, and also I think of it as a “circle of life” type of thing.
I have groundhogs, those fat rats ate my garden and turned my shed into their personal bathroom. It was wrecked, they burrowed right underneath. I had to take it down eventually.
I spent a ton of money on trapping and relocating them, they just kept coming back, I guess they like the bathroom facilities. I gave up after a few summers of this. Can’t fight nature, I guess.
We have trapped many groundhogs. And raccoons and possums and other creatures. Tractor Supply has big traps and you can relocate what you trap (plan to drive very very far). Cantalope, corn on the cob are good bait. Wear gloves when you handle the trap, esp with an animal in the trap. There is no skill required, just a big trap.
A few years ago, I really enjoyed watching a family of groundhogs near my house. It was a mother and two babies, and they were precious and always scurrying around, all waddles and chub. Then one day I took my dog for a walk and I saw, right outside their hole, the mother and both babies lying dead on their backs, all 3 lined up next to each other, looking for all the world as if they were fast asleep. I wonder if they were humanely gassed? It certainly didn’t look like an animal got them, as they were in perfect condition, and there was no blood or wounds anywhere. Poison? I couldn’t understand it. Anyway, I literally sat on the ground and cried, because they had been so cute and fun, and it just made for such a tragic tableau.
After recently finishing “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH” with my kids (HIGHLY recommend, can’t believe I missed this one when I was a kid!), I feel quite dismayed about humane gassing. Please keep in mind I have a VERY strong habit of anthropomorphizing, and I imagine all animals being very human-like in their life experiences. So, for instance, I would imagine these groundhogs tucking in their babies and reading the paper at the kitchen table after supper, Father Groundhog smoking a pipe and Mother Groundhog perhaps sticking a loaf of bread in the oven, all snug in their burrows, completely oblivious to their impending doom.
Too much “Bread and Jam for Frances” and Beatrix Potter and Brambly Hedge as a kid, I guess.
Look into the sound things someone else mentioned? My mom uses those to keep moles/voles at bay, and they seem to work somewhat?
We did use a local guy to humanely relocate the raccoons in our attic. Even extreme animal lovers have their limits.
I am with you on the ants and mice. When they invade my country house, and I rant at/to them – there are acres and acres of woodlands around my house. Go live there and I will never mess up your vibe. But if you come into my space…..sorry, but you are going to perish to the best of my ability, because once one of you arrives, you invite the next dozens to set up camp as well. That being said, we do have a groundhog living under the shed. So far, no additional holes in the yard that we are aware of, but if so, he will be put on notice. Now the wild rabbits…..have free range of the whole front and back lawn, are adorable, and are left alone. They also dine 2 feet outside of the dog’s fenced yard, and give zero cares when he is out there barking his fool head off. But I don’t have a garden and they aren’t destructive, so live and let live there. I’m no help…..just stay out of my house or walking paths in the yard and we shan’t have an issue, mmmkay, wildlife?
P.S. The mice recently found a drainage pipe in the woods, and followed it up and into the crawlspace area of the house (a looong way), and chewed through the thick plastic drain cover multiple times to gain access. Said drain cover is now stainless steel. Hhhmph!! They also errr……feasted on their furry relative who was killed in a trap. Only the head remained. I did not know mice could be cannibalistic and did not want to know! Bleh….
I don’t have any ideas about the groundhog but relatedly I recommend the recent Pixar movie Hoppers. It is not about rabbits, as I initially thought, but beavers and humans and their attempts to coexist. BEAVER BEAVER BEAVER CHOP WOOD. Iykyk.
I know this is probably really annoying, but I can’t help rooting for the badger a little, lawns feel like such an unnatural system anyway. Have you ever thought of tearing it out and putting in a meadow?
Sorry I don’t know why I said badger! It isn’t even close to a groundhog haha!
Since the whole post is talking about how much we like the groundhog, and about actively looking for ideas to let us keep him or at least keep him alive elsewhere, and about how we’re not prissy about our yard, YES IT’S A LITTLE ANNOYING! I will be by later to drop off one (1) groundhog into YOUR meadow lawn to dig around YOUR foundation!
I’m wondering if barn cats would help keep them away. The interwebs says that they are wary of one another and that cat urine can be a deterrent. It also suggests dumping used kitty litter in the entrance.
But I don’t know what impact having barn kitties (usually feral, feral-adjacent) and house kitties would work. (lots of looking out the window, for sure)
The humane society here about once a year puts a call out for anyone wanting a barn kitty. They make sure they’re fixed and the cost isn’t as much as adopting a house cat.
But I vote barn kitties.
Lucy keeps critters away and it’s not as great as one thinks…sometimes she leaves “broken” things behind or has an upset tummy. But…we also don’t have moles and few rabbits.
Hi Swistle, I’m new to your blog but I have experience with this problem! What ended up working was using a long drainpipe to roll a box of mothballs into all but one of the entrances. He waddled off and never came back!
We used a cage and caught the ground hog. Put him in the back of a pickup with a blanket over top. Drove him to the local metro park. There was a sign that said no release of animals. Naturally, there was someone else there doing the same as us. Our little nephew was with us since it was an adventure. We set the groundhog free. Never had another. Nephew is going off to college in the fall and I am a little teary about that.