Ground Squirrel and Prairie Dog Solutions

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...

A Little Lesson on Ground Squirrel Reproduction To better understand the pending ground squirrel boom, we need to talk about sex...ground squirrel reproduction that is. Their mating system is officially called: polygynandrous. That means they are promiscuous litter critters that mate with up to 4 others. If you were wondering why you haven't seen them on their dates, it's because they copulate underground.  W hen ground squirrels emerge from hibernation the first thing on their mind is sex. Is it surprising that the males emerge a few weeks earlier than the females? They just can't wait. This is their big chance because the females only produce one litter per year. (I've heard from a few biologists that they sometimes mate again if they lose their litter, but I can't find that in writing.) 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 ha...

CONGRATULATIONS Garrett,  from Lemoore, CA! WINNER of a  $250 Bass Pro Gift Card  from the World Ag Expo 2015 Burrow Blocker Booth Drawing. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our Burrow Blocker booth last week at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California! More than 100,000 people attended this year's 3 day event. Mike and I met some of the nicest people. People visited us from Canada, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Utah and of course, California. They all work hard and love their animals. One of their big problems is dealing with g round squirrel or prairie dog infestations. The rodents carry disease, eat their crops, and dig dangerous holes throughout their property. Besides the financial loss, they worry about someone getting hurt, their horses or cattle getting injured, or damage to their equipment and irrigation.  Mike and I are happy that we can provide a solution that gets rid of the burrowing rodents and t...

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...

There's lots happening at Burrow Blocker ! This morning, Mike woke up to an adorable little surprise at the ranch. We didn't know the Mama Llama was expecting. This cute cria turned out to be a special New Year's gift. Now the big questions is, what to name her? Please send me your name ideas. The other big news is that Burrow Blocker will have a booth this year at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA. Mike has attended the Expo for many years, but this will be the Burrow Blocker's and my first time there. We are excited to introduce the "world" to the Burrow Blocker machine.  Please stop by and visit Mike and me at Booth #5017 in Pavilion E. The ground squirrels have sure enjoyed the December rains. They've been out on the sunny days and eating away. We've started getting lots of calls from Southern California people frustrated by the ground squirrels and their dangerous holes. Their breeding season has begun and they are on ...

THE BIG QUESTION:   Do Ground Squirrels Climb Trees? Mike and I finally made it to the The Nut Show. Too many people told us that's just where we belong. Not sure what they meant by that...hopefully, it's because of our machine. The Burrow Blocker fills in ground squirrel holes; we don't deal with tree squirrels. So why are ground squirrels a problem for Nut Growers? It turns out that ground squirrels love nuts like their cousins, the tree squirrel. The Burrow Blocker booth at the  West Coast Nut Conference was a popular place. Our large banner with the ground squirrel was a scary reminder of the nut growers' gnawing and thieving nemesis, the ground squirrel. Growers don't see a ground squirrel, they see dollar signs being subtracted from the the value of their total yield. Besides stealing and burying nuts, the ground squirrels destroy new trees, gnaw on bark, chew holes in irrigation lines, and undermine the trees' root systems by burrowing beneath them....