What Groundhog Repellents Should I Use?

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What groundhog repellents do is simple - they use sound, smell and other means to scare groundhogs away. The mechanism of how they work sounds very simple, and the commonest question that folks ask about these solutions is: do groundhog repellents work? Well, they do work some of the time, but only as a short term fix. And the rest of the time, they do not work!



It is not exclusive to groundhog repellents, most animal repellents hardly work. Even though they work at the initial stage, they go on to lose their potency over time. Not only are these repellents useless, most of the store-bought repellents are expensive. Do not be deceived by various advertisements you see on TV or internet, repellents hardly work.

However, if you want to try repellents, there are quite of a number of repellents that you can choose from, some of which are naturally sourced and others are store-bought, they basically perform the same way. These are some of the available groundhog repellents;

Epsom salts - Epsom salts is commonly used for repelling animals including groundhogs. It has a bad taste that groundhogs detest so much. Sprinkle some on fruits, vegetables and other farm products that the groundhogs have been feeding on. Epsom salts is good for plant growth, so it is safe to use on your plants. It can however be easily washed away by rain or watering of the plants and blown away by strong wind. So for it to be effective, it needs to be reapplied time after time.

Capsicum Chinese Habanero - Habanero is a very hot pepper that is capable of repelling these animals. Place some habanero pepper at the entrance of their burrows and it will trigger some bad reactions in the groundhogs such as difficulty in breathing, redness of eyes, intense burning of the legs and furs that make contact with the pepper etc. The animal is forced to vacate its burrow due to this discomfort.

Note that Habanero is not only dangerous to groundhogs, but also to the human handling it. It must therefore be handled with utmost care. If the groundhog vacates its burrow though, it may instead of moving somewhere else, decide to make another burrow on another spot in your yard, continuing to wreck more havoc.

Predator urine - Fox, bobcats and other animals are natural predators of the groundhog, and their urine can be used to repel groundhogs. Place tubs of kitty litter which contain urine at the entrance of their burrows. They possess a sharp sense of smell and may be deceived into thinking a predator is around, which is likely to scare them away. Store-bought repellents like Shake-away fox urine granules are also based on this premise and come in various sizes for the same function.

Scarecrow - This can also provide temporary relief from groundhog nuisance. It will scare them for a while, but will later be discovered to be fake by groundhogs, and they will live with it comfortably.

Cats - Unlike other natural predators of groundhogs, cats are domesticated house animals and can be kept to repel groundhogs around the yard.

Rattling or moving objects - Moving and rattling objects like pinwheels may be placed in the yard or garden to scare the nuisances away. The movement plus sound will be disturbing to groundhogs. With time however, they will get used to it and observe that they do not pose any danger, so will just ignore them.

Water sprinkler – Get a water sprinkler and use it to force water down their burrows. Water will force the animals out of their burrows and may even destroy the burrows. It is just a temporary solution because they will return sooner than later and will make another burrow. It has to be done frequently for it to be effective.

Ammonia - Soak a rag in ammonia and place the soaked rag at the mouth of their burrows. The foul odour produced by the ammonia will repel them. There will be need for routine reapplication of ammonia to the rag because the scent will soon wear off.

Electronic repellents - These electronic devices are also often used in driving rodents away. An example is motion sensor. This device senses when groundhogs are out of their holes and will turn on light to scare the groundhogs away.

Helium balloons - These balloons will be blown momentarily by winds, it may scare them away for a time. Just like the other repellents, it becomes ineffective as the animals get used to it.

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