Chipmunks are, without a doubt, one of the cutest animals you will encounter. Just like how they are personified on television, chipmunks are just as adorable when they are stuffing their faces with different varieties of nuts.
But they can also be a nuisance, especially when maintaining a garden or a backyard. Since they are burrowers, you will often find them digging through your garden, leaving behind traces of damage to the soil and the grass that covers it up.
When it comes to chipmunk holes, they aren’t as damaging as the standard rodents and burrowing animals. However, that doesn’t mean you can take it for granted, especially because excessive chipmunk holes can damage the garden’s look and destroy the plants you are considering growing.
Also read: How to Get Rid of Prairie Dogs? | Top 7 Tips
Table of Contents
How can you Identify Chipmunk Holes?
Before you look through the different ways to fill the chipmunk holes, the one factor worth considering is identifying the holes. Identifying the causative trigger behind the holes enables you to understand what you need to overcome the issue.
The easiest way to identify a chipmunk hole is to look into its size and location. Most of the chipmunk holes measure 2-3 inches in diameter. But that’s not all. Chipmunks are very strategic with the kind of holes they dig into the ground. Most of them stay at a level to the ground and don’t have unnecessary dirt or mold growth inside them.
A chipmunk can build a hole or a burrow for multiple reasons. Some do it to have a safe shelter during the night. Some do it to store their excess food. Whatever the reason is, you’d find two major types of chipmunk holes. The first kind is the one that has no exit point to them. This means that they are blocked from one side.
The other one is the plunge holes, which often join into the tunnels formed by additional or surrounding chipmunk holes in the garden. These are the ones that you need to watch out for. The non-exit holes are generally harmless and not used by the chipmunks anymore.
Since chipmunks are pretty intelligent animals, it isn’t surprising that the more they create these holes in your garden, the more complex each colony becomes. Over time, you’d often find it hard to distinguish which ones are active holes and which ones aren’t used by the animal anymore.
List of Ways to Fill Up the Chipmunk Holes
Now that you have a fair idea of what to look out for when it comes to a chipmunk hole, you must find ways to fix it. How can you humanely sort the issue without hurting any animal?
1. Plug the Burrows
The first and easiest way to eliminate the chipmunk hole is to spot them in your garden. You’d be surprised to know that, unlike other rodents, chipmunks don’t dip and pile the soil around the hole. Instead, they stuff it inside their cheeks.
What does this mean? It suggests you won’t pile dirt and soil around the burrowed holes. So, when doing a manual inspection around the garden or yard, look for holes measuring 2-3 inches in diameter.
Since they are pretty intelligent, they want to be inconspicuous when digging up the holes. So, look for the rare areas. So, areas like underneath the patio or even the stairs are areas you want to look out for.
2. Pack the Visible Holes
Before you go ahead and think it is a permanent fix, let us put a stop to your thoughts. Packing the visible holes with sand, soil, and dirt is a temporary fix. The chipmunks will return to the spots and try to dig up the hole once again.
But packing the holes with some potting soil or debris ensures that you can divert the attention of the chipmunks. This is one of the easiest ways how to fill the chipmunk hole. Just pack the hole tightly with the excess dirt and soil.
Packing it loosely will give easy access to the chipmunk to return and re-dig through the holes again. Ideally, we’d recommend that you check for these holes daily to pack them as much as possible.
3. Use Harder Substances like Gravel
The previous method is often considered a temporary fix. This is primarily because the chipmunks can dig through the soil packing and re-dig the hole you have packed.
In such cases, you must look into stronger, sturdier materials like gravel. Unlike soil, the chipmunks won’t be able to bite and dig through gravel, ensuring that the holes are closed permanently.
You can take a trowel to fill the hole and then pack in the hole to the brim. Once done, you can either use a roller to roll down the gravel or stomp on it repeatedly to level out the ground.
4. Use Concrete for Coverage
Another easy way to fix the chipmunk holes is by using concrete. Not only is the process quite effective, but it also enables you to prevent the chipmunk from re-digging the hole.
However, you can’t use concrete in areas where you are planting trees or other plants since that will drastically hamper the growth of the plants. Instead, you can use concrete in areas where you know you won’t plant any trees in the future.
Once you use concrete, remember that your garden will have uneven patches without any grass growing. That can be a bummer in some cases.
5. Keep Chipmunks Out of your Garden
Sometimes, prevention is better than cure. Instead of focusing on how to fill chipmunk holes, find more concrete and long-term solutions. The easiest way to fix that is by finding ways to prevent the chipmunks from entering in the first place.
One of the easiest ways to fix that is by building a fence across the perimeter of your garden. However, ensure the privacy fence is tall enough, so the chipmunk doesn’t climb over it, enter the garden, and cause a nuisance.
A fence of at least 8 inches in height is ideal for keeping the chipmunks out of your garden. For better results, use a mesh fence to prevent them from creeping from the bottom of the fence.
6. Set Up Traps
Before you think it’s inhumane, we want to highlight that we are discussing humane traps. These traps will only withhold the chipmunk inside without hurting them. Once you have caught them, you can take the trap and relocate them somewhere else.
Live chipmunk traps are abundant in local lawn care or hardware stores. Just ensure that you consider getting humane traps that won’t hurt them.
7. Spray Fox or Coyote Urine
Yes, it is gross, but it is hands down one of the most preventive measures to keep the chipmunks out of your home and garden. The pungent smell of the fox or coyote urine is alarming for the chipmunk since they are predatory.
So, when the chipmunk smells them around the garden’s perimeter, they feel threatened enough not to enter the property, let alone dig holes throughout the entire garden area.
If you can’t get your hands on the same, you can always DIY some chipmunk repellent by mixing garlic and pepper and then spraying it across the entryways.
8. Let Your Pets Out
If you find a chipmunk in action, digging into your garden’s soil, you can scare them away with your pets. Since chipmunks are relatively smaller in size, they are very easily intimidated. So, even a tiny dog is enough to scare them away and prevent the chipmunks from creating a mess in the area.
For the individuals who don’t have pets, why not use a fake owl or larger bird in the garden to scare the chipmunk? You can also install motion-activated sprinklers in your home to sort out the issue.
We hope you now know how to fill chipmunk holes and prevent the situation from spiraling out of hand. Given that these holes destroy the look of your garden, the last thing you want to do is leave them be. These tips should help you fix the issue without any hassle at all.
Also read: How to Get Rid Of Chipmunks? | 10 Effective Ways
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How many chipmunks live in a hole?
Generally, one chipmunk lives in one hole, especially during the mating season. They also live alone because of their territorial nature.
How do I stop chipmunks from digging?
Some easy ways to prevent chipmunks from entering are by putting up larger fences or spraying repellent around the perimeter of your home.
Do all chipmunk burrows have two entrances?
Some burrows typically have complex tunnels and connections, while others have exit points inside them. Ensure you look for the plunge burrows because those are the active ones you need to look out for.
