Key Takeaways
Every homeowner must know how to get rid of groundhogs, as their burrows can cause serious damage to the foundation of your shed, house, or deck. This article will outline:
- How to keep groundhogs from getting underneath your home and sheds
- Why they like to burrow under structures
- How to trap a ground humanely and effectively
- How to keep groundhogs from getting underneath your home and shed
A groundhog’s feeding, breeding, and burrowing habits make it a destructive nuisance to have living under your shed, house, or deck. Also known as woodchucks, they build extensive burrows with at least two entrances. They use their tunnel system to travel, as well as to sleep and raise their young.
Why Do Groundhogs Settle Under Structures?
The underside of your home, shed, or deck provides groundhogs with an ideal and protected place to burrow and create a den that is sheltered from the weather, predators, and, often homeowners.
A groundhog under your deck or shed can come and go more easily without being seen. It is a relatively quiet and undisturbed location from which they can access your garden and other vegetation for food.
Groundhog Damage & Problems from Groundhog Tunnels
Researchers at Cornell University have determined that a single woodchuck can dig out 700 pounds of dirt in developing its burrows and den. Displacing this much dirt can destabilize the ground beneath any structure. They have voracious appetites throughout the spring and summer, ruining grass, fruits, vegetables, and flower plantings in your yard.
Increased Risk of Injury
Groundhog holes can be between 10 and 12 inches in diameter, and each burrow can have a main entrance and up to four other holes through which they come and go. Each of these can be a trip hazard if you step into one. In addition, their tunnels loosen the dirt beneath the lawn, causing it to cave in under you.
It’s important to fill a groundhog hole to avoid getting injured, but understand that this is not an effective way to get rid of groundhogs on your property. If you fill in a groundhog hole, there’s a good chance it will dig a new hole. To truly rid your property of a groundhog, you should always reach out to a professional wildlife control operator.
Yard & Structural Damage
Groundhog tunnels beneath a deck, home, or shed weaken foundations and footings by undermining the stability of the soil under the structure. This disrupts the natural flow of water when it rains or snows, causing water to flow under the structure. Over time, this leads to drainage problems that will cause the home or shed to settle and sink. The water can even seep into a crawl space or basement.
Groundhogs are also not very careful when things get in their way of digging. If electrical wires or an irrigation system cross their path, their sharp teeth can easily chew right through them.
Groundhog Control & Removal
Certain exclusion methods, such as fencing around decks, porches, and sheds, can effectively reduce woodchuck presence in yards. However, most forms of prevention are costly and time-consuming to utilize correctly. The best course of action is always to contact the trained wildlife professionals at Critter Control to remove groundhogs under sheds, houses, or decks is always the best course of action. Critter Control specialists have the training and tools to safely and humanely remove groundhogs before extensive damage can occur.
Install a Barrier After the Groundhog Is Removed
Do not install the barrier or close the burrow until the groundhog and any young have been safely removed. To prevent a groundhog from tunneling under your home, deck, or shed, or to protect yourself from future infestations once a groundhog has been removed, a meshed fence that runs at least 12 inches deep into the ground should be installed. You should bend the mesh at a 90-degree angle, extending away from the fenced-in structure, to keep groundhogs from digging underneath the fence to get in.
Critter Control can install fencing for you once they remove the groundhog under your deck, shed, or house.
Keep Property Tidy
A groundhog was attracted to your property because you have a regular source of food and plenty of places to hide. You can make your property less attractive to groundhogs as well as other pests by:
- Enclosing vegetable and flower gardens behind the fencing
- Keeping trash cans securely closed
- Keeping your lawn neatly trimmed
- Cleaning away brush and other natural debris that a groundhog can use to hide
Groundhog Traps
It’s not advisable to trap groundhogs on your own for several reasons. First, groundhogs can become aggressive when cornered, especially when they have young in their burrows. Knowing how to get rid of groundhogs under a house or how to get rid of groundhogs under a shed by trapping them is useful only with the correct placement of traps and with knowledge about breeding times and relocation laws.
You do not want to use groundhog traps when there are pups in the den that will be left to starve. You also don’t want to be fined for improperly relocating a groundhog.
Critter Control uses a live groundhog trap and bait to humanely capture the animal outside of their breeding season. They have permission and training to successfully relocate the animal in a way in which they will thrive in the future.
Contact Critter Control Today
When you suspect you have a groundhog under your deck, house, or shed, contact Critter Control to effectively and humanely eradicate it before you incur costly damage. Critter Control has over 40 years of experience with nuisance wildlife and locations throughout the nation. There is always a Critter Control near you. Call 1-800-Critter today.
