Ground Squirrel and Prairie Dog Solutions

It can be overwhelming when you discover your property has been overtaken by ground squirrels. The destructive devouring diggers act like your place is their personal buffet and demolition playground. When ground squirrels  are beyond being a simple nuisance - they quickly become a dangerous and costly liability. What do you do if you find your property, business, farm, or school overrun by ground squirrels?  First, do not panic! No need to take out the explosives and act like Carl Spackle in Caddy Shack. Check out these resources to take you on the path of safely controlling ground squirrels.  3 Resources to Help Eliminate Ground Squirrel Problems 1.  Educate Yourself Before you can fight the ground squirrel battle, you need to arm yourself with knowledge so you know what you are up against - and verify they are actually ground squirrels and not another digging rodent. Once you understand their behavior, biology and habitat, you have an advantage in getting rid of t...

Chunky California Ground Squirrel - skipping hibernation and stealing food from the chickens. What happened to ground squirrels hibernating? We've all heard and maybe even read that California ground squirrels hibernate in the winter. Lately, it looks like the ground squirrels didn't get the memo to go underground and take a hiatus from their daily digging and destruction. Makes me wonder if those jittery squirrels discovered the magical powers of coffee? In Southern California, caffeine isn't the reason for all of ground squirrel activity - December is the beginning of mating season. That means, unless you do something about all of those ground squirrels, soon you'll have even more of the them to deal with.  Ground squirrels are out in the winter for different reasons. In higher elevations and colder areas, they are more likely to hibernate. In Northern California, the male ground squirrels, hibernate a month earlier than the females and young. The...

What kind of damage do ground squirrels' chewing and digging cause? 1.  Destroy Irrigation Ground Squirrel Water Fountains make for a costly and time consuming day. Whether they are thirsty or just like to to chew, either way ground squirrels wreak havoc on irrigation systems. Water is wasted, erosion occurs and the trees or crops don't get the water they need to grow. Mark Trost with Squirrel Busters, discovered this "water fountain"in an almond orchard he was treating with his Burrow Blocker. Mark provides ground squirrel control service in the Madera, CA area. 2.   Holes...lots of holes. Mention ground squirrel damage and that's the first thing people complain about - holes. It goes far beyond messing up landscaping, which is also a costly problem. Holes are a safety hazard and a liability at parks, farms, and schools.  3.  Erosion/Levy Safety Issues Ground squirrels digging along canals and levies are a disaster wait...

For Hay Growers, ground squirrels and prairie dogs impose frustrating, costly, and dangerous situations. Here are 4 reasons that make nice farmers hate ground squirrels: 1 .   A Bumper Crop of Ground Squirrels is Not the Goal Have you ever heard of anyone with a ground squirrel farm? There are too many farms that look like they are raising burrowing rodents. Predators like hawks, snakes and coyotes might think it's a good idea for a restaurant, but farmers don't have a use for them. If the area predators can't keep them under control, over-populations of ground squirrels and prairie dogs mean lots of hungry rodents devouring the hay. Besides eating away profits, these rodents pose a health risk to humans through the spread of disease, such as the plague. 2.  Ground Squirrel Mounds Dull the Cutting Blades When ground squirrels and prairie dogs dig burrows, they bring soil and rock to the surface. The end result is mounds of dirt near the burrow openings. The longe...

Let's talk about sex...ground squirrel reproduction that is.  The ground squirrel mating style is officially called: polygynandrous. That means they are promiscuous litter critters that mate with up to 4 others.  In California, breeding season runs from December - April. The further south, the sooner the ground squirrels start breeding. After 25-30 days gestation, the female has a litter of 1-15. Yes, you read it right...up to 15 ground squirrels! Fortunately for us and the female, they usually have 7-8 and only one litter per year. Now is the time to prepare for the new wave of destructive diggers. After 6 weeks of growing up in their burrow, the litters are starting to emerge from their nests.  Young Ground Squirrels begin to burrow as early as 8 weeks. The young look like miniature lighter colored versions of the adults. They stay near the nest until about 6 months of age. Then young ground squirrels will move into old...

Winning 2nd place in the California's Children's Squirrel Killing Contest, with 104,509 Ground Squirrel Tails, was the Davis Creek Grammar School! The school was awarded a $30 prize. There is no mention of the name of the 1st place winner or how many squirrel tails that school's children collected. Besides school ground squirrel killing contests, there was actually such a thing as Ground Squirrel Killing Day. The Board of Supervisors in Modoc County, California, designated June 9, 1918 as county Ground Squirrel Killing Day. Every man, woman, and child was expected to spend the entire day getting rid of those destructive pests.  All of this surprising information was found in the June 3, 1918, Modoc County Record. That was 99 years ago and times have changed. Although, not as quickly as one would imagine. Animal killing contests were banned in California in 2014. 

Ground Squirrels are often thought of as a pest like a mouse or rat. Each state has different regulations regarding ground squirrel control. If you are treating your own property, most do not require a license. Before you start, check with your local Agricultural Commissioner or County Offices to see if you need a pest control license in your state. The California Fish and Game Commission classifies Tree Squirrels as a game animal and Ground Squirrels as a nongame animal. A property owner or tenant can control in any legal manner, nongame animals that are damaging property or injuring growing crops. Game animals, like the tree squirrel have a hunting season and a license may be required. California Fish and Game Commission - Hunting  Tree Squirrels  and Trapping Ground Squirrels California Department of Pest Regulation - If you are providing ground squirrel control service for hire or profit, in California, you need a qualified applicators license (QAL).   Grou...

Are you dealing with ground squirrel or prairie dog problems? Maybe you should consider inviting a coyote and a badger to your place for a hunting trip. Coyote striking a pose while ground squirrel hunting on our ranch. He couldn't find any, so he went to the neighbor's. Coyotes like to hunt and chase down ground squirrels. Badgers like to hunt and dig up ground squirrels hiding in their burrows. Since coyotes are best at the above ground hunt and badgers excel at digging up their prey, the two make excellent hunting partners.  Native American's observed this unlikely pairing of badgers and coyotes and wove it into their folklore. Scientists have studied their association and have found witnessing these hunting buddies is a challenge because they prefer to stay clear of human interaction.  Here's some rare and amazing video footage showing coyotes and badgers hunting together: Here's a video from Animal Planet showing the Badger and Coyote Hunti...

Ground squirrels driving you crazy? What if you want to get rid of them, but really don't want to do anything.  How can you have nature solve your solve your ground squirrel problem? Encourage Predators Rattlesnakes and Gopher snakes eat ground squirrels. The snakes go after the young squirrels because the adults are not easy prey for them to devour. Adult ground squirrels have even been known to fight and bite snakes, including rattlers! I'll share more info on their fights in another blog. Here's an idea...if you see a gopher snake on your road, safely relocate it to the nearest ground squirrel hole. The snake will have a safe place to hide and may discover dinner inside. Coyotes enjoy eating ground squirrels - when they can catch them. Sometimes they'll try to dig for them like this video of Mike's black lab, Pepper. Hopefully, a coyote would be hungrier than Pepper, and catch the destructive rodent. Raptors Raptors like the Red-tailed hawks,...

Ground squirrel holes! They can destroy beautiful landscaping and make athletic fields and pastures hazardous. Ground squirrel holes are much more than an unsightly nuisance, they can cause serious injuries. How do you get rid of ground squirrel holes?  Often people grab a shovel and start pushing the dirt surrounding the hole back in. That's usually not enough dirt on the outside, so they get more dirt and keep shoveling it in until it looks full. Surprise! The next day the hole is back. After trying dirt, rocks are often the next choice. Again, the next day, the hole is often back.  Why doesn't filling in ground squirrel holes using a shovel work? Shoveling in the holes is often unsuccessful, because the ground squirrel is hiding in a lower portion of the tunnel system and they dig their way out. What is the best way to fill ground squirrel holes? The Burrow Blocker machine is a fast, easy, and effective way of filling in ground squirrel holes.The patented ma...

Admit it. Holes can be mysterious. When we see a hole, we wonder what lurks below. Even Alice found the rabbit hole intriguing. Maybe it's because we know that there is more than meets the eye. It may not be Wonderland, but ground squirrel burrows can be 6 feet deep and 35 feet long. They have multiple entrances and have nursery, food and sleep chambers. A kit fox's home often has a key hole shaped entrance. A badger's entrance is often shaped like the letter D and gophers can make a crescent, C-shaped mound. If only all holes could be identified with a letter from the alphabet at their entrance! HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S IN THAT HOLE? Unless you are some nature TV host getting paid the big bucks, it's not such a good idea to just stick your hand in the hole to reach for whatever is inside. 1.    OBSERVATION -   Start by getting a comfy lawn chair, a cool drink and sitting back and relaxing awhile. Observe who g...

The Burrow Blocker marketing team consists of me. That means I am the crazy person always taking pictures of ground squirrels and holes. Those darn squirrels are everywhere until I click to take a picture. Often, I'll pull over next to a field overrun by ground squirrels. They are busy chasing each other and racing all over the field. As soon as I look through my camera lens, they disappear into their holes!  It's much easier to just take photos of their numerous holes. The problem with that is that it's tough to make a photo of a hole interesting. That's why I often have pictures of dogs, horses or kids next to the holes. They are much more photogenic and usually more cooperative. Speaking of cooperation...in preparation for the World Ag Expo , I needed to design some new posters for our booth. Last Friday, was a lovely clear day at the ranch and my plan was to get some photos of the horses in the pasture. No matter what I did to get their attention, Casino and Wi...

Dogs love to hunt for ground squirrels. Below, is one of our squirrel hunters from the ranch. Actually, Pepper is more of squirrel chaser and not much of a catcher. We rarely have squirrels at the ranch, so Pepper doesn't get much practice. Here she is sitting on her buddy, Brutus, in the duck blind. (Don't tell Mike, but his great duck hunting dog is really a cuddly lap dog - even in the duck blind.) Dogs really can help with ground squirrel control. Jack Russell Terriers, Rat Terriers or pretty much any dog that is feisty enough will make an excellent squirrel hunter. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and patience to get those digging rodents. Unfortunately, when a large property is ridden with hundreds of holes, the task becomes pretty much impossible for a dog. Of course, it doesn't mean that the dog won't love trying! When our dogs go up on the hill, they are on high alert for ground squirrels. Sometimes they get lucky and a neighboring squirr...