Ground Squirrel and Prairie Dog Solutions

Ground Squirrels Do More Than Dig 1.  Ground Squirrels Climb Trees They don't spend as much time in trees as Tree Squirrels do, but they do run up trees to escape predators. Ground Squirrels also strip the bark of of young trees and eat fruit and nuts. 2.  One Acre of Land Can Be Home to 100 Squirrels It's like an over-populated underground squirrel city! Imagine all of the burrows and holes - and rodents! Large populations of ground squirrels lead to disease, erosion, and their holes are a dangerous liability. 3. Ground Squirrels are Cannibals They are not vegans. A small part of their diet is cannibalizing their own kind, and eating road kill. Quail and pheasant eggs are also on their menu. 4. Ground Squirrels Can Fight Snakes - and Win      (Warning - the video below shows an actual fight and it's violent & bloody.) 5. You Can't Trap & Release California Fish and Game Code specifies it is illegal to release ground squirrels elsewh...

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, is that a Squirrel I See? A ground squirrel as a Christmas gift?  Farmers, ranchers and groundskeepers would be thrilled! Imagine them trapping ground squirrels and selling them at roadside stands. They'd dress them up in little squirrel sweaters, hats and mittens - hoping to make up for all of the losses they've incurred due to the ground squirrels destroying their crops and land.  Don't start knitting those squirrel mittens, quite yet. In California, ground squirrels are a keystone species and an important part of the ecosystem. They are also legally labeled as pests. And it is against the law to feed ground squirrels and keep them as a pet or "emotional support" animal. People battling ground squirrels on their property  may find it difficult to see them as providing  emotional support - especially when these digging rodents make them act like  Bill Murray's Caddyshack character, Carl Spackler. Not familiar...

Let's talk about sex...ground squirrel reproduction that is.  The ground squirrel mating style is officially called: polygynandrous. That means they are promiscuous litter critters that mate with up to 4 others.  In California, breeding season runs from December - April. The further south, the sooner the ground squirrels start breeding. After 25-30 days gestation, the female has a litter of 1-15. Yes, you read it right...up to 15 ground squirrels! Fortunately for us and the female, they usually have 7-8 and only one litter per year. Now is the time to prepare for the new wave of destructive diggers. After 6 weeks of growing up in their burrow, the litters are starting to emerge from their nests.  Young Ground Squirrels begin to burrow as early as 8 weeks. The young look like miniature lighter colored versions of the adults. They stay near the nest until about 6 months of age. Then young ground squirrels will move into old...

Ground squirrels driving you crazy? What if you want to get rid of them, but really don't want to do anything.  How can you have nature solve your solve your ground squirrel problem? Encourage Predators Rattlesnakes and Gopher snakes eat ground squirrels. The snakes go after the young squirrels because the adults are not easy prey for them to devour. Adult ground squirrels have even been known to fight and bite snakes, including rattlers! I'll share more info on their fights in another blog. Here's an idea...if you see a gopher snake on your road, safely relocate it to the nearest ground squirrel hole. The snake will have a safe place to hide and may discover dinner inside. Coyotes enjoy eating ground squirrels - when they can catch them. Sometimes they'll try to dig for them like this video of Mike's black lab, Pepper. Hopefully, a coyote would be hungrier than Pepper, and catch the destructive rodent. Raptors Raptors like the Red-tailed hawks,...

Introducing Burrow Blocker 2200 - "The Red Burrow Blocker" Pepper sitting next to the Red Burrow Blocker Not everyone has hundreds of ground squirrel holes. Some customers requested a smaller Burrow Blocker to use on their property that could be towed by their small truck or ATV. They wanted something easy to operate, affordable and effective. The Burrow Blocker 2200 - The Red Burrow Blocker, is designed to tackle ground squirrel and prairie dog problems at smaller ranches, farms, schools and parks.  Like the original Burrow Blocker, the Burrow Blocker 2200, effectively fills ground squirrel and prairie dog holes with a slurry of sand and water. The water is absorbed into the ground and the sand is left, eliminating the hole and the rodent's food and home. By getting rid of the burrow, re-infestation by another rodent is drastically slowed. Also, no hole is left for a person or horse to step in and be injured. It's all about keeping people and the...

The Burrow Blocker marketing team consists of me. That means I am the crazy person always taking pictures of ground squirrels and holes. Those darn squirrels are everywhere until I click to take a picture. Often, I'll pull over next to a field overrun by ground squirrels. They are busy chasing each other and racing all over the field. As soon as I look through my camera lens, they disappear into their holes!  It's much easier to just take photos of their numerous holes. The problem with that is that it's tough to make a photo of a hole interesting. That's why I often have pictures of dogs, horses or kids next to the holes. They are much more photogenic and usually more cooperative. Speaking of cooperation...in preparation for the World Ag Expo , I needed to design some new posters for our booth. Last Friday, was a lovely clear day at the ranch and my plan was to get some photos of the horses in the pasture. No matter what I did to get their attention, Casino and Wi...

There's lots happening at Burrow Blocker ! This morning, Mike woke up to an adorable little surprise at the ranch. We didn't know the Mama Llama was expecting. This cute cria turned out to be a special New Year's gift. Now the big questions is, what to name her? Please send me your name ideas. The other big news is that Burrow Blocker will have a booth this year at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA. Mike has attended the Expo for many years, but this will be the Burrow Blocker's and my first time there. We are excited to introduce the "world" to the Burrow Blocker machine.  Please stop by and visit Mike and me at Booth #5017 in Pavilion E. The ground squirrels have sure enjoyed the December rains. They've been out on the sunny days and eating away. We've started getting lots of calls from Southern California people frustrated by the ground squirrels and their dangerous holes. Their breeding season has begun and they are on ...

Squirrel Busters Organic Squirrel Abatement consists of the dynamic duo of Mark and Wyatt Trost. They are a father and son team that won the ground squirrel battle on their own land in Chowchilla, California. Their almonds and grapes are safer and are they are out saving others from those dastardly diggers! Read about Wyatt's ground squirrel experiences: Wyatt Trost checking the sand level in the Burrow Blocker hopper. "When I first heard about the Burrow Blocker machine, squirrels were already a major problem in our field. My dad and I had tried a variety of things from stuffing a flare down the hole to different poisons. I remember the last method we tried before finding the Burrow Blocker. When we found a hole in the ground and we stuck a pellet in it. This pellet had some fancy scientific name that I can never seem to remember. When it came in contact with moisture it would turn into a gas. I found it fascinating, but the gas was just as deadly to us as to the s...

The BURROW BLOCKER is in the latest issue of FARM SHOW!  The article, "Burrow Blocker" Fills Gopher Tunnels with Sand, is an excellent summary of the Burrow Blocker machine and how it was developed by my dad, John, and my brother, Mike.   Those of you familiar with the Burrow Blocker, know that the article title is a little misleading. The Burrow Blocker is used to fill Ground Squirrel holes. Gophers tend to back-fill as they dig and often dig just under the surface. The Burrow Blocker is most effective on the holes of deep digging rodents with well defined tunnels.   What makes it all confusing, is that some people call ground squirrels, gophers. In Canada, the Richardson ground squirrel is often referred to as a gopher. The other problem is that sometimes people just don't know what is digging up their property. All they care about is that it stops! To learn the differences between ground squirrels and gophers, read my popular blog...

 Mike at the Burrow Blocker booth - CASH 2013 "Oh! You are the Squirrel People!" The first time someone said that to Mike and me, I wasn't sure how to react. After I thought about it, at least they knew who we were. Last week, Mike and I became known as the "Squirrel People," at the C.A.S.H. 34th Annual Conference on School Facilities. We had a great time meeting superintendents, facilities managers and maintenance supervisors for California school districts. Ground squirrels are a serious problem for schools. As we all know, kids run across fields for their sports and just for fun. The last thing anyone wants to see is them tripping in a ground squirrel hole. We met people from schools that shared how students have sprained their ankles and even broken their legs because of ground squirrel holes. What really impressed me is the number of school districts that are getting away from using baits, poisons and gases. They care about the environmen...

This summer, I got to know Peter Breen. He is concerned about the environment and actually does something about it. Along with his lovely wife, Ione, and his son, Leon Ingebrigtsen, he runs Lakeport Farms. They grow organic walnuts and grapes in Lakeport County, California. Peter is a highly intelligent, high energy guy that always makes me smile.   When Peter called inquiring about the Burrow Blocker, I felt like he was selling me on the concept behind the workings of the machine. He loved the idea of controlling the ground squirrels through habitat modification. It wasn't long before John and Mike were on their way up to Lakeport to deliver a Burrow Blocker to Peter, Ione and Leon.      Peter & Ione Breen, Mike Tikalsky, and Leon Ingebrigtsen at Lakeport Farms - August 1, 2012. Better than having me try to explain Peter's experience with ground squirrels and the Burrow Blocker, read it in his own words:  "We have nine acres of waln...

When someone mentions hunting, usually ground squirrels aren't the first thing that comes to mind. Surprisingly, there are people that regularly hunt ground squirrels and then line up all of their dead little bodies for photos. I'll let you search online for that yourself, because I am currently erasing those pictures from my memory. Do you know who really loves to hunt for ground squirrels? Dogs. Cats probably do too, they just don't like to show their excitement; they like to play it cool. Here's a photo of Jake with his prize catch. He was so thrilled that he brought the ground squirrel into the barn to show off. I didn't want to see if the critter would be Jake's afternoon snack, so we picked it up and set it on the truck bumper and went to get a shovel. Ground squirrels are full of surprises! That little guy was playing possum! He jumped off the bumper and ran away! Jake's favorite hunting buddy was Orwood, our ranch cat. Orwood l...

Are ground squirrels making you a little nutty? What crazy methods have you tried to control them? Before we created the Burrow Blocker, our ranch was over run by ground squirrels. We were so desperate for solutions that we tried almost everything to get their population under control. Since we didn't want to risk poisoning our dogs, cats or other wildlife with pesticides, we tended to get pretty creative. Here are a few crazy things that we've tried: Wrigley's Gum - I'm not sure why it had to be Wrigley's gum but we heard it worked, so we tried it. First we put the sticks of gum in the holes and a few weeks later, when the ground squirrels were as plentiful as ever, we thought maybe we should have chewed it first. We had lots of holes and lots of gum and our jaws got tired pretty quickly. All we ended up with was fresh breath and gum stuck to our shoes...and still too many ground squirrels. Water - The next idea was to just fl...

Admit it. Holes can be mysterious. Even Alice found the rabbit hole intriguing. Maybe it's because we know that there is more than meets the eye. It may not be Wonderland, but ground squirrel burrows can be 6 feet deep and 35 feet long. They have multiple entrances and can have nursery, food and sleep chambers. A kit fox's home often has a key hole shaped entrance and it's common to see flies buzzing about the opening of an active ground hog burrow. So how do you know what's in that hole? Unless you are some nature TV host getting paid the big bucks, it's not such a good idea to just stick your hand in the hole to reach for whatever is inside. Start by getting a comfy lawnchair, a cool drink and sitting back and relaxing awhile. Just watch to see who goes in and out of the hole. Pay close attention. That snake you see gliding into the hole is probably just looking for lunch and chances are it's not his ...