I have both chipmunks and squirrels in my yard. The squirrels aren’t really a problem, since they live in trees, but the chipmunks are digging TOO MANY burrows in my yard. I like the electrocution devices, but it rains so much here in Alabama that leaving those out in my yard might not be a good idea. I’m thinking about ordering your traps with a rear door and baiting as you suggest with pecan paste and bird seed. Am I going to have a problem of attracting squirrels as well as chipmunks? I want to catch chipmunks, NOT squirrels. Also, I prefer the traps with the rear door. Does the fact that they are silver rather than green make any difference with respect to attracting chipmunks? Thanks.
First, live trapping either with the green or silver trap will be equally effective and not impact your success. In other words, squirrels don’t get caught in one model more than the other. And the same is true for chipmunks. Both can be caught by either equally. As explained in our SQUIRREL CONTROL ARTICLE, the only advantage the green trap offers is that it can “blend” into the landscape better which sometimes is preferred by our customers.
Second, unfortunately there really no way to regulate just which animal goes into the trap. Both animals will move about in the same areas and I would naturally expect some squirrels to get caught. That being said, once they’re caught, they usually figure out the trap is a bad thing and will usually avoid it after being caught 2-3 times. In the rare case that they don’t learn, you should relocate the ones that keep entering the traps so they don’t keep interfering with your chipmunk control.
As listed in our CHIPMUNK CONTROL article, they have burrows. One option is to identify a burrow they are using and then place the trap directly over the burrow. This will usually help to keep squirrels from entering.
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