Are groundhogs bad for your property?

Category: home and garden landscaping
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If not properly controlled, groundhogs can cause serious structural damage when burrowing. Plantings, woodpiles and debris surrounding your home provide shelter for groundhogs, making them more likely to live on your property or burrow underneath the grass or foundation.



Correspondingly, is it bad to have a groundhog in your yard?

A groundhog's, or woodchuck's burrow are holes with large piles of dirt at the entrances and are a nuisance and can be dangerous. A groundhog's tunnels are very large and have many chambers which are invasive to your lawn and garden. So basically, they love to set up around your garden's fence or a farm's field.

Secondly, are groundhogs good for anything? Woodchucks may not appear useful to humans, but they have their own place and identity in the ecosystem and should be accepted—and respected—for that alone. They provide food for coyotes, foxes, weasels, badgers, hawks, and eagles.

Furthermore, what do you do if you have a groundhog in your yard?

Groundhogs like to keep the openings to their burrows near places of cover, like thick brush and tall grasses.

  1. Maintain your yard regularly and clean up piles of leaves, sticks, and wood.
  2. Keep your grass cut short.
  3. Trim back bushes and shrubs so that their leaves aren't too low to the ground or thick.

What are groundhogs scared of?

Groundhogs do not like people, and sometimes the smell of humans is enough to scare them away. You can sprinkle human hair or throw old clothes and shoes around the garden as repellents.

39 Related Question Answers Found

Will groundhogs attack humans?

Yes, groundhogs or woodchucks (a type of marmot or large ground squirrel) can, and will bite. But for a wild groundhog to bite a human in the course of routine and un-provoked behavior would be a very, very rare incident.

How do you get rid of a groundhog in your yard?

How to Get Rid of Groundhogs
  1. Bait the groundhog into a trap, catch it, and then release it in a wooded area five miles away from your home.
  2. Create vibrations in the ground to scare them away.
  3. Smoke them out of their tunnel.
  4. Pour ammonia down their tunnel.
  5. Deter with garlic and pepper.

Why is there a groundhog in my backyard?

Groundhogs will enter your yard to find food and a safe place to burrow. It's important that you take some steps to minimize damage and make your yard less attractive: Remove any tree trunks or other sources of wood that groundhogs can gnaw or grind their teeth on. Use gravel to fill in any abandoned animal burrows.

How deep do groundhogs dig?

They dig burrows that can be 6 feet (1.8 meters) deep, and 20 feet (6 m) wide. These underground homes can also have two to a dozen entrances, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

Can groundhogs hurt you?


While the groundhog may not threaten your pets, it can be in danger from other predators.

What is a groundhogs favorite food?

Most Common Groundhog Meals
Primarily, groundhogs eat grasses, clover, alfalfa, and dandelions. In addition, groundhogs like to eat garden fruits and vegetables like berries, apples, lettuce, corn, and carrots.

Will bubble gum kill groundhogs?

Noel Falk, the “Plant Doctor” had recommended using “Double Bubble” brand bubble gum to eliminate groundhogs. Supposedly groundhogs love this particular brand of bubble gum, but once they eat it, it gums up their insides and ultimately kills them.

What is the life expectancy of a groundhog?

In the wild, groundhogs can live up to six years with two or three being average. In captivity, groundhogs reportedly live up to 14 years.

Are groundhogs aggressive?

Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks, are found all over central and eastern US. They dig burrows in grassy areas and are known to eat through gardens. They're hard to get rid of because they are aggressive animals, and can have rabies.

What does a groundhog sound like?


Typical Groundhog Sounds
When angry or cornered, groundhogs may chatter their teeth. The pests make a low warble that sounds like “chuck-chuck” when startled. These animals are also called whistle pigs due to the shrill whistle they make to alert other groundhogs of nearby predators.

What is a natural way to get rid of groundhogs?

How to Get Rid of Groundhogs
  1. Sprinkle blood meal, ground black pepper, dried blood, or talcum powder around the perimeter of your garden.
  2. Puree and strain hot peppers and garlic, mix them with water and enough liquid soap to make it stick, and spray it liberally around the garden.

Can groundhogs climb?

Though they spend most of their time on or under the ground, groundhogs can also climb trees.

Do groundhogs chew on wood?

Compared to beavers, groundhogs/woodchucks are not adept at moving timber, although some will chew wood. A wildlife biologist once measured the inside volume of a typical woodchuck burrow and estimated that -- if wood filled the hole instead of dirt -- the industrious animal would have chucked about 700 pounds' worth.

Are groundhogs nocturnal?

Unlike opossums and other large rodents who are nocturnal, groundhogs sleep at night and conduct business during the day. Groundhogs have winter homes. They even make a special burrow just for the winter!

How do you get rid of groundhogs?


5 Natural Ways To Get Rid of Groundhogs
  1. Epsom salts sprinkled near or around the burrow entrances or exits will keep the groundhog away.
  2. Castor oil poured in and around the burrow holes can be an effective way to discourage them (they hate the smell) but apply only when you know they're not there, otherwise, they'll just stay burrowed.

How many babies does a groundhog have?

The groundhog breeding season begins in mid-February, soon after the animals emerge from hibernation. Pregnancy lasts 31-33 days and the single, annual litter of 2 to 9 pups is born toward the end of March or early April. At birth, baby groundhogs are naked, blind and helpless and measure less than four inches long.