Groundhogs are native to North America and are found primarily in those northern regions. These cute furry creatures are excellent diggers and can tunnel as far as 45 feet underground. Though Humans and Groundhogs can coexist, their burrowing causes great alarm to home and business owners alike. These animals can destroy plants and vegetation, decimate your lawns, and their tunnels can traverse under homes and buildings resulting in structural damage. If you are a gardener you may also find that a groundhog is a huge nuisance, they love to eat fruits, vegetables, roots and flowers. There are several ways to Groundhog-proof your yard that will help to discourage groundhogs from coming onto the property.

Rid your yard of food sources

Clearing out all possible food sources makes your yard an undesirable place for a groundhog to make its home. If you have fruit bearing trees, it is a good idea to remove all fallen fruit each day. It is also important to store trash in tightly sealed containers and out of access to groundhogs.

Inspect your homes exterior

Each Spring you should inspect your homes exterior for access points, like broken vent covers or holes near the foundation, under sheds and porches, those points of access should be addressed immediately.

What Won’t Work

Trapping, removal and exclusion are the only sure ways to solve an existing groundhog problem – don’t bother with these methods as they won’t actually remove the groundhog:

• Trying to bury groundhog’s burrow entrance (This will only aggravate the animal)
• Blocking all entrances to the burrow (This will lead the groundhog to make even more new tunnels)
• Building fences to protect your gardens (Did you know ground hogs can climb?)
• Repellents (Smelly repellents may make your groundhog leave, but how far and for how long?)

The most effective solution, and the one that Mid-Atlantic Wildlife control takes, is to use live capture traps. Typically 2-6 traps are set strategically around your home or property with bait designed to attract groundhogs and not other animals. Once captured they can be humanely relocated far from your area. When groundhogs make homes under your porch, shed, or crawlspace, exclusion techniques can be used to create barriers that the animal can not enter, in fact, our method is impenetrable. We provide humane groundhog removal in Montgomery County, Howard County, Carroll County, Silver Spring, Potomac, Eldersburg, Westminster, Annapolis, Gaithersburg, and Anne Arundel County, as well as other counties throughout Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, DC, and Virginia. For more information contact us today.