Your home is your castle. Unfortunately, lately it has become the castle for groundhogs, also. If you have been dealing with groundhogs you probably are not too excited to have them around. This is because groundhogs burrow under homes and are considered pests. It is however, possible to get rid of groundhogs in three easy steps.

Identify the groundhog problem

The first step to getting rid of groundhogs is confirming that there is a problem. This means figuring out where the groundhogs are burrowing and how they are getting there. Ground hogs are burrowing animals, meaning they like to live underground. When they burrow under your home they can cause damage to your home.

For groundhogs, sealing off the entry is not going to work. Groundhogs love their homes almost as much as you love yours and they will find a way in. You also run the risk of damaging your home while trying to damage theirs.

Get rid of the Groundhogs

Once you have an idea of where the groundhogs are located you need to move on to step two. That, simply put, is getting rid of the critters. No matter how much you love groundhogs they are a risk to your home’s integrity. You need to take serious steps to get them to build elsewhere.

You can trap your groundhog, but you aren’t allowed to kill it while doing so. This means you have to coax the animal out of its comfy home. The best way to get them out of their home is to provide tasty snacks. Just like we will go to the door for a pizza, a groundhog is equally as motivated.

Groundhogs enjoy fruits and vegetables. Popular baits are cantaloupe, corn and strawberries. Some groundhogs even respond to vanilla extract. These animals have a definite sweet tooth.

Know when to contact a wildlife control expert

The problem with groundhogs is not that they exist; it’s that their homes exist. Even if you are certain you have removed the groundhog, as long as their den remains, it poses a risk for your home and is an attractive location for other groundhogs. This means, like the movie Groundhog Day, it could happen over and over.

That is why it is so important to contact a wildlife control expert even if you removed the groundhogs. The wildlife control expert will be able to assess the damage that was done and help your home recover.