Does anybody have a good repellant besides a 22 for these ground rats. My daughter is now getting older and she thinks it is cruel to shoot em' but man they are getting to be pests to close to the horse areas.

And she doesn't leave that much for me to do my vermination.

I don't know if there is something that might drive them away naturally. I don't want to poison as we have some nice hawks in the area. But they only get a few.

Take care and hope everyone is doing well through this economy.


Equineman

i don't know of any chemical repellants, but my grandma got a couple manx cats. They're more of a hunter type and they get a bunch!

I believe the gun is the safest way. It sometimes is sad because they are animals as well. But you really can't push them out.

I have tried "auto flares" I buy them when I see them on sale.

I light them push them down the hole then bury just that one side. The smoke lets me know where the other outlets are. And sometimes the squirrels will run out.

Then I light another one after awhile and stick it down the outlet hole. And bury it. Most the time the smell of the flare will keep them from coming back in the general area.

System#2 - This is fun to do with a kid okay Boy as it is how I learned from my Gpa.

You take two empty milk jugs (plastic ) and fill them with water. Find the inlet and outlet hole. You tip them both upside down and stick them in the holes. Put your foot on the back side of the jug and soon enough a ground squirrel or prairie dog will climp into the jug to get away from the water.

Transport to a new location and release.

It was just fun to do with my grandpa.

Caution: where gloves and boots because it can turn into a funny home video if they get past the jugs.

Spud

Ok, I am litteraly dying of laughter!!!! PLEASE do take a video of that lol

That sounds like a lot of fun! Now I want to go to my grandpa's house just to do that. When I was a kid, he actually had the same problem, but instead he borrowed all of his neighbor's cats. But a couple of them actually brought them back to him alive thinking it was a game of fetch or something. Though now I know a humane and fun way to do it with a jug!

If the problem is in an area where there are no pets or children near,
try Critter Ridder. It is a strong blend of pepper and other secret blend
of herbs and spices. Place it around the base of the tree. It will
need reapplication after rain.

You can also use paprika around the base of the tree. You can get a bag of it in the
supermarket-usually found in the Spanish section. The bottles in the spice isle are
usually too small.

Good luck!

Hehe, I've actually never thought of peppers or paprika.

I know this will sound crazy but it works. I've got a friend that sits in a chair with a tootsie roll tied to a piece of fishing strings and fish's gophers out of their holes with it. They will come out after it he will catch them with a bucket and take them else where to live. I know how rediculous this sounds but I've seen him do it and it does work. Or you can just get them to come out with the tootsie roll and shoot them with a 22 if you dont have anywhere to take them. Not sure what it is about ground varmints and tootsie rolls but might be fun to try if your bored. LOL