Chipmunks, with their striped backs and puffy cheeks, are often a delightful sight in suburban backyards and wooded rural areas. Their playful antics can be entertaining to watch. However, when these small rodents start to multiply and move closer to your home, they can quickly become nuisance chipmunks, causing significant damage. What begins as a charming wildlife encounter can turn into a frustrating chipmunk infestation.

This guide will help you understand the difference between enjoying a few chipmunks from afar and dealing with an overwhelming population. We’ll explore their behaviors, the signs of an infestation, and effective strategies for chipmunk control. By the end, you will have a clear understanding of how to manage these creatures and know when it’s time to call for professional help.

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Understanding Chipmunk Behavior

Activity

To effectively get rid of chipmunks, it’s important to understand how they live. Chipmunks are most active during the early morning and late afternoon, which are the best times to observe their behavior and implement strategies to deter them.

Diet

They are avid foragers, constantly searching for food to eat and store in their burrows. Their diet mainly consists of nuts, seeds, berries, and flower bulbs. This is why gardens are so attractive to them. They are also known to raid bird feeders and consume pet food left outdoors.

Nesting Habits

Chipmunks create extensive burrow systems underground. These burrows can be up to 30 feet long and have multiple chambers for sleeping, storing food, and raising their young. They often dig these tunnels near or under structures like patios, retaining walls, and even house foundations. While they primarily live underground, they sometimes seek shelter in other locations, with some homeowners finding chipmunks in the attic or under decks.

Understanding these habits is the first step toward effective chipmunk removal and control.

Identifying a Chipmunk Infestation

Are you unsure if you have a few visiting chipmunks or a full-blown infestation? Here are the common signs to look for:

Burrow Holes: The most obvious sign is the presence of small, neat holes in your lawn or garden beds. These holes are typically about two inches in diameter and don’t have mounds of dirt around them like molehills do. You’ll often find them along foundations, sidewalks, and retaining walls.
Chipmunk Damage to Plants: If your garden looks like a buffet, you might have a problem. Look for uprooted plants, missing flower bulbs, and half-eaten fruits and vegetables.
Structural Damage: While small, the cumulative effect of their burrowing can cause significant problems. Tunnels under patios, walkways, or retaining walls can undermine the structure, causing it to sink or collapse over time.
Chewed Items: Nuisance chipmunks may chew on outdoor furniture, irrigation lines, or electrical wiring, leading to costly repairs.
Frequent Sightings: Seeing a chipmunk dart across your yard is normal. Seeing several at once, or seeing them frequently throughout the day, indicates a large and growing population.

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Preventative Chipmunk Control Measures

The best way to manage a chipmunk problem is to make your property less inviting to them. This involves habitat modification and using various chipmunk deterrents.

Habitat Modification

Secure Food Sources: Keep bird feeders away from your house or use chipmunk-proof feeders. Store pet food in sealed containers and avoid leaving it outside.
Protect Your Garden: Plant bulbs inside wire mesh cages to prevent chipmunks from digging them up. You can also place a low fence (at least 18 inches high and buried a few inches deep) around your garden beds.
Clear Debris: Remove piles of wood, rocks, and other debris that chipmunks can use for cover. Keep your lawn mowed and trim back overgrown shrubs, especially those close to your foundation.

Exclusion Techniques

Sealing entry points is a critical step in preventing chipmunks from entering your home. Inspect your foundation, walls, and vents for any cracks or holes. Seal them with caulk, steel wool, or wire mesh to block access. Pay special attention to areas where utilities enter the house, as these are common entry points for rodents seeking shelter, especially when looking for a place like an attic to nest.

Chipmunk Repellents

Several types of animal repellents can help deter chipmunks. Their effectiveness can vary, and they often need to be reapplied, especially after rain.

Homemade Animal Repellent: Sprays made with garlic, hot pepper, and soap can be applied to plants.
Putrescent Egg Crumbles: These commercial products mimic the smell of a decaying animal, signaling danger to chipmunks.
Predator Urine Granules: The scent of predators like foxes or coyotes can scare chipmunks away.
Capsaicin-Based Sprays: Hot pepper sprays create an unpleasant taste and sensation, discouraging chewing on plants and furniture. Be careful using around children and pets.
Mothballs: While sometimes recommended, mothballs should be used with extreme caution. They contain toxic chemicals that can be harmful to pets, children, and other wildlife if not used correctly. It is often best to avoid them.

Humane Chipmunk Removal Strategies

When preventative measures aren’t enough, you might consider removing the chipmunks from your property. However, trapping and relocating wildlife is a complex issue. If you are dealing with a significant chipmunk infestation, especially if they have entered your home or are causing structural damage, always hire a professional wildlife removal and control company.

A licensed wildlife removal service offers several advantages:

Expertise: Professionals have the knowledge and experience to accurately assess the extent of the infestation and identify all entry points.
Safety and Compliance: They are trained to handle wildlife safely and are knowledgeable about all local and state regulations regarding chipmunk removal.
Effective Solutions: A professional service will not just remove the animals. They will also provide comprehensive exclusion solutions to ensure the problem doesn’t return. This includes sealing entry points and offering advice on long-term prevention.
Humane Methods: Reputable companies prioritize humane methods that are effective and ethical.

Trying to manage a severe infestation on your own can be frustrating and often fails to solve the root problem. A professional wildlife control expert can provide a lasting solution.

Wrapping Up

While chipmunks can be a charming part of the local ecosystem, they belong in the wild, not under your patio or in your attic. A large population can cause considerable chipmunk damage that is expensive and difficult to repair.

By understanding their behavior, recognizing the signs of an infestation, and implementing preventative measures, you can keep your property safe. For persistent or severe problems, don’t hesitate to seek professional help. Taking proactive steps will ensure your home remains a peaceful, chipmunk-free environment.

If you’re struggling with nuisance chipmunks in the Indy area, contact us for a consultation with an experienced wildlife control professional. We can assess the situation and provide effective, humane solutions tailored to your needs.

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Chipmunks are hard to dislike. Not only are they one of the most adorable, furry little critters you see in Indiana, they are also one of the most entertaining to watch play and hop around. However adorable, chipmunks can also be little troublemakers. They love to munch on seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, and even dig up plants to eat their roots, all of which make overgrown gardens and lawns a prime target this time of year. If you are having trouble with nuisance chipmunks, it may help to familiarize yourself with some of their common behaviors and habits in order to find a solution to the problem.

Continue reading to learn some useful and interesting facts about chipmunks, including what you can do to put a stop to their destruction.

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Interesting Chipmunk Facts That You Can Share

🐿 Chipmunks are Rodents

Technically, a chipmunk is a rodent, as they are part of the Rodentia order. They are also mammals, of the family Sciuridae, just like squirrels, prairie digs, and marmots. There are 25 known species of chipmunk, one of which is not native to North America.

🐿 Chipmunks are Omnivores

They eat an omnivorous diet, just like humans. They commonly dine on fruits, nuts, seeds, cultivated grains, vegetables, fungi, insects, arthropods (spiders, butterflies, scorpions, crustaceans, Etc.), and sometimes even small amphibians like tree frogs. Chipmunks have large cheek pouches that they use to stuff full of food they find, then they bring it all back to their underground burrows where they store their food for the winter. They mostly forage on the ground, but will also climb trees to get acorns and fruit.

🐿 Chipmunks Love Their “Me” Time

Did you know that chipmunks are actually loners? Although more than one chipmunk family can reside in the same burrow, they travel alone and basically ignore all other chipmunks around them until mating season starts up again in spring. This is good news for homeowners with a chipmunk infestation in the attic. Most often, it is just one lone chipmunk, which does a lot less damage than an entire colony of squirrels. However, females can give birth to litters of 8 or more, so an infestation can be larger if it is a nursing female.

🐿 Chipmunks are Mostly Subterranean

Chipmunks live in underground burrows that they dig themselves, which usually consist of an elaborate network of tunnels that can extend up to 11 feet in length. They keep their sleeping area clean, while keeping waste and droppings in another area. The entrances to their burrows are well-concealed, and usually only detectable by a trained eye.

🐿 Chipmunks Hibernate

Chipmunks hibernate. They fill their burrows up with as much food as possible in late summer and fall in order to have enough provisions for the winter. Aside from hibernation, chipmunks sleep an average of 15 hours a day, mostly because they do not have to stay on alert for predators since they live underground.

🐿 Chipmunks Have a Quick Life

Unfortunately, chipmunks do not live for a very long time. In the wild, their average lifespan is between 2 and 3 years. In captivity, they can live a little longer, up to 6 or 7 years with strict owner commitment. This is usually most common at licensed wildlife rehabilitation facilities.

If you have a nuisance wildlife problem, your best course of action would be to request professional advice from a licensed Indianapolis wildlife control company. They have the training, experience, and knowledge to give you helpful advice or service.

Affordable Wildlife Removal and Control in Central Indiana

Call Modern Wildlife Control at 317-847-6409 to solve your nuisance animal problems with chipmunks at a price you can afford. Our DNR licensed and insured animal rescue and removal professionals offer non-lethal wildlife control services in Indianapolis, Indiana and its surrounding counties. We work with all types of wildlife, but specialize in raccoons, bats, birds, and squirrels. We also offer cleanup services and restoration and repair for animal damages, and can even provide insurance claim work. Start with a free estimate or advice, today!

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Invasion of the Chipmunks: Effective Strategies for Infestation Management