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Permalink Reply by Judi Baker on July 29, 2011 at 7:46am

Found this along side my house yesterday!!!  Big enough to be a drain tunnel.  According to Google the best way to get rid of them is the SHOOT them!!!  Can't do that in the city.  They are running crazy too over across Genesee!!  They play in the middle of the street and run from yard to yard in broad daylight.  Lost ALL of my cucumbers and snow peas this year, they were chewed right down to the dirt. The only things surviving are my tomatoes in planters and my herbs on my front porch..............Now the problems with the 2-legged varmits is another whole chapter!!

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Permalink Reply by Marian Boutet on July 31, 2011 at 4:45pm

Having a dog makes a big difference.  You don't usually think of woodchucks as climbers, but our female pitbull mix, Rascal, chased one up a utility pole one afternoon last summer.   I watched it for a long time, but as of around 10 pm it still hadn't come down.  It was gone by morning and we haven't seen one since.  She's good with raccoons, too.

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Permalink Reply by Judi Baker on July 31, 2011 at 6:12pm

Thanks Marion for the option!  BUT with me traveling quite a bit, poor fella wouldn't see too much of me.  Besides the Doggie Day Care $$ would cut into my 'play money'

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Permalink Reply by Wendy Sullivan on July 31, 2011 at 10:43pm

We have two fake owls in our garden and have not had any woodchucks or other varmints visit our vegetable garden or our yard.  We also scatter our dog's husky hair around as a deterrent. 

 

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Permalink Reply by Mary Reese on August 1, 2011 at 5:19pm

Love that Pit Bull smile Marian.

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Permalink Reply by Marian Boutet on August 3, 2011 at 5:19pm

This must be a problem for a lot of people because I just read about an "organic" remedy in a gardening magazine.  When the woodchuck is out of its burrow, pour kitty litter with cat urine in it down the hole.   It seems woodchucks don't like the smell either.  If you don't have a cat, human urine is supposed to work too.   How you get THAT down the hole is beyond the scope of this post.

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Permalink Reply by Judi Baker on August 3, 2011 at 11:08pm

As BIG as the hole is Marian, I can use any old shovel to fill it in.  As for the litter additive, I got that covered!!!

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Permalink Reply by Joan Roby-Davison on August 4, 2011 at 11:49am

Apparently other city neighborhoods have the same problem.  Check out Mark Hare's column this morning.  He's more formal, calling his invader "Charles".  Still wants him gone, though!

 

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110804/NEWS0201/10804...

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on August 4, 2011 at 12:12pm

we had a possum on Marlborough last Summer - Fall - Winter. We first discovered him when he decided to walk through a newly poured concrete step-  left a clear and identifiable foot print. Months later, he took up residence in one of our cat houses. The cats were unhappy! right after Christmas he made his way into our garage so we set up a trap to get him out. After trapping him, we contact Animal Control with the hope they would relocate him to a better home. They took the trap, walked to the end of our driveway, opened the trap and released him back on Marlborough!! We never saw him again, but he made his way down the street and was discovered dead later this spring.

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Permalink Reply by Judi Baker on August 9, 2011 at 5:40am

Thanks Joan for the humor.  Ha, my Victory Garden has officially lost the battle.  The carnage on my last surviving tomatoes was indeed hurtful....................

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