Ground Squirrel and Prairie Dog Solutions

Question:  Are   Gr ound Squirrels  and a  Gophers the  same burrowing rodent ? Answer: It depends upon who you ask. It's common for people in Canada, Montana, and Minnesota refer to ground squirrels as "gophers."  Technically, they are wrong, but what matters is that is that the person they are communicating with uses the same term.  Some others, think that ground squirrels and gophers are the same digging critter or they truly have no idea what they are dealing with and they call them the first word that comes to mind. Often that word or words are not fit to print - especially if the burrowing rodents are causing extensive damage and their holes are a safety hazard. Ground squirrels and Gophers actually fairly easy to tell apart. The Gopher is chunkier with beady eyes, small ears, and buck teeth. The Ground Squirrel is sleeker with larger eyes, perky ears, and their front teeth don't dominate their face.    ...

Property riddled with holes? Thinking of shoveling a scoop of dirt in each hole is the answer? Think again.  Know what inhabits the hole before attempting to destroy it. Digging away like Pepper in the above video, is what not to do. Start by educating yourself on the endangered and protected animals in your area. Check with your local Agricultural Commissioner's Office and for helpful info, read my blog post: " What Lives in that Hole? " Still Not Sure What's in that Hole?  1 Easy Way to Find Out is to Set Up a Video Camera! Last month, Mike and Daniel provided Burrow Blocker ground squirrel control service at a solar field in the Central Valley of California. They saw a large hole, possibly a den and wanted to verify the inhabitants before filling it with slurry from the Burrow Blocker machine . Mike and Daniel thought it might be a coyote den, so they set up a motion-activated video camera to. Check out the results: Did you see the wil...

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...

Squirrel Busters Organic Squirrel Abatement consists of the dynamic duo of Mark and Wyatt Trost. They are a father and son team that won the ground squirrel battle on their own land in Chowchilla, California. Their almonds and grapes are safer and are they are out saving others from those dastardly diggers! Read about Wyatt's ground squirrel experiences: Wyatt Trost checking the sand level in the Burrow Blocker hopper. "When I first heard about the Burrow Blocker machine, squirrels were already a major problem in our field. My dad and I had tried a variety of things from stuffing a flare down the hole to different poisons. I remember the last method we tried before finding the Burrow Blocker. When we found a hole in the ground and we stuck a pellet in it. This pellet had some fancy scientific name that I can never seem to remember. When it came in contact with moisture it would turn into a gas. I found it fascinating, but the gas was just as deadly to us as to the s...

   What do you think of my friends? Gizmo, Charlie, Hannah and Godiva, graze and guard our pasture. Chances are, if something is happening at the ranch, they are in the middle of it. They play with their big red ball, chase the sheep, and they are very vocal when we they think they aren't getting enough attention. Those little donkeys get away with a lot because they are so darn cute!   Ground squirrel holes can literally be a pain or much worse for equines. When we choose to have animals in our lives, it is our great responsibility to make sure they are healthy and safe. That includes regular vet visits, worming, checking their fencing and preventing injuries. The last thing we want is for one of our horses or little donkeys to get hurt.   Fall is officially here! Out here in Northern California, the fall colors are not as brilliant as they are east of us. Actually, where we live, if the area isn't irrigated, it's pretty much just dry ...

Are ground squirrels making you a little nutty? What crazy methods have you tried to control them? Before we created the Burrow Blocker, our ranch was over run by ground squirrels. We were so desperate for solutions that we tried almost everything to get their population under control. Since we didn't want to risk poisoning our dogs, cats or other wildlife with pesticides, we tended to get pretty creative. Here are a few crazy things that we've tried: Wrigley's Gum - I'm not sure why it had to be Wrigley's gum but we heard it worked, so we tried it. First we put the sticks of gum in the holes and a few weeks later, when the ground squirrels were as plentiful as ever, we thought maybe we should have chewed it first. We had lots of holes and lots of gum and our jaws got tired pretty quickly. All we ended up with was fresh breath and gum stuck to our shoes...and still too many ground squirrels. Water - The next idea was to just fl...

Admit it. Holes can be mysterious. 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 can have nursery, food and sleep chambers. A kit fox's home often has a key hole shaped entrance and it's common to see flies buzzing about the opening of an active ground hog burrow. So 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. Start by getting a comfy lawnchair, a cool drink and sitting back and relaxing awhile. Just watch to see who goes in and out of the hole. Pay close attention. That snake you see gliding into the hole is probably just looking for lunch and chances are it's not his ...

Here is our second attempt at a Burrow Blocker demo video. Can you see that I discovered a fun video app on my phone? The Game Your Video app lets you add "flavor" to your video. I'm not sure how Mike feels about me adding a little Charlie Chaplin flavor to his demo. It's a silly little video that still shows how simple and entertaining filling ground squirrel holes can be.

After much anticipation...our first video demo of the Burrow Blocker is here! Professional videos may film for 6 hours to get less than 6 minutes of footage. I'm happy to say that I was able to create it on my phone in much less time. What did you think of all of our helpers? We have quite the pack at the ranch, but only Summer, Haley and Daisy made the cut. :) Did you hear the donkeys hee-hawing in the background and the plane flying overhead? I like to think all of the extra stuff added some character.