Pesky Chipmunks

Chipmunks are those small adorable versions of little squirrels. I want to love them and dwell with them in harmony – but I recently found out that they can be a home owner’s worst nightmare. I hear that they can tunnel beneath your concrete and create havoc with your patios, walkways and foundation as well as dig holes, and eat your plants. And for those of you out there who think “big deal”, well be advised that concrete work ain’t cheap. They tunnel beneath it, and the result is a big crack or caving-in of your patio. And patching up concrete generally doesn’t last very long – it deteriorates much more rapidly than normal. And that isn’t all. Last year, some pesky critter was stealing all of my tomatoes just before they were ripe to pick. I was so mad! At first I thought it was an opossum, but when I bought a garden net to ward off univited guests – the next day I found a chipmunk tangled in the net. Unfortunately for the chippie, it was actually my boxer dog, Chester, who found him first… but that’s another story.

Anyway, now I have been seeing more and more chipmunks in my yard and I need to address this before my veggies get any bigger – I refuse to share my tomatoes another year! A colleague offered me a trap and she said she uses Cheerios as bait (she claims this is their favorite snack), but I always feel guilty trapping wild animals so I don’t know what I’ll do, but I did find a very entertaining forum about dealing with chipmunks if you need some advice.