How to keep hamsters away from your yard and garden beds
Humane and natural hamster control methods can prevent them from damaging your garden or garden beds
Gophers, also known as pocket gophers, are small rodents that live in tunnels under lawns and gardens. They are seasonal recurring problems in some areas, but may be a persistent problem in other areas. Ground squirrels rarely take risks on the ground, so this is a fight that usually takes place underground. They target the roots of plants and trees rich in water, which can destroy the growth of many years in a few hours. In addition, the holes and mounds they create may cause serious tripping hazards to people and pets, and their tunnels will weaken the ground, leading to the collapse of terraces and sidewalks.
The size of your yard or garden beds, the type of plants you own, and the area around your yard will affect your success rate in using hamster control. The sooner you find problems and take action, the better. If you are looking for ways to prevent them from damaging your yard or garden beds, instead of blowing them up like Caddyshack, here are some humane ways to try:
Obstacle
Gopher Mesh Barrier: Create a perimeter or underground fence around your garden beds or lawn with galvanized hamster mesh or barbed wire. The barrier shall extend 1 to 2 feet above the ground and above the ground. They may dig all the way to the obstacle where you can start a war.
Under lawn barrier: When planting new lawn, laying turf or shallow flower beds, lay 4 to 6 inches of galvanized hamster net under the soil. This is a huge job for a large area, but if you encounter serious problems, it can save your lawn in many years to come.
Gopher basket: If it is not feasible to install the entire foundation or the perimeter of the grid, you can place the wire mesh basket around the individual plants you want to protect. These are good ways to protect precious rose bushes, fruit trees, succulent plants or vegetable gardens beds. Gopher baskets are available in a variety of sizes, usually made of wire mesh or galvanized mesh, and have a longer service life.
Botany
Plants that hamsters don't eat: hamsters usually don't eat daffodils (narcissus) and most onion, onion or garlic plants, so you can safely grow any number of plants.
Plants for expelling gophers: Other plants that can be used to expel gophers, such as Euphorbia lethyris, Crown, lavender, rosemary, sage, cat mint, oleander and marigold. Try planting a border around your flower bed or garden with these. Some of them can also repel unwanted insects, such as mosquitoes.
Insect repellent products
Odor: Odor dependent insect repellents may be affected because it is difficult to penetrate enough odor into the underground space. In addition, when applying any insect repellent product to the holes, you need to put it into each hole you see. Some of the things you can try are:
Pine Tree Disinfectant: Soak a rag and stuff it into the hole.
Pepper powder: Sprinkle it down the hole as much as possible.
Mint oil: soak the cotton ball and put it into the hole.
Fabric softener sheet: put into the hole.
Garlic stake: These stakes contain garlic oil and can be put in the hamster hole in the whole yard
Castor oil particles: sprinkle the particles in the most serious yard of hamsters, and then water. The particles will dissolve and release an unpleasant odor in the ground to the hamsters and moles. Apply castor oil particles in stages, starting from the farthest part of the yard and every few days, to expand the treatment area to the position close to the exit. The hamster was not hurt, but was taken out of your yard and sent elsewhere. Follow the instructions for application rates.
Sound: The hamster is very sensitive to loud noise, and may be annoyed by the loud radio or even wind chimes, so that it cannot move. This is usually a short-term solution and will not completely solve the problem.
Ultrasonic insect repellent: Most of these products are battery or solar powered. The ultrasonic vibrations they emit are harmless to humans or pets, but annoying to hamsters. The ultrasonic insect repellent is visible on the ground, but can be placed in remote locations around the yard.
Predator
Although these options may not be a non lethal way to get rid of hamsters, they are certainly natural.
Barn owl: The number one enemy of the gopher is the barn owl. A small family of them can eat up to 1000 gophers every year. Encourage barn owls to live in or near your yard by installing owl nesting boxes. But remember, you need a fairly stable supply of hamsters to keep owls around.
Gopher Snake: As their name suggests, gopher snakes eat gophers; However, they only eat once every four to six weeks, so if you have multiple hamsters, their efficiency is not very high.
Pets: The existence of dogs and cats will make the lives of hamsters uncomfortable, and they may continue to move forward. Some cats and dogs will hunt down hamsters; However, hamsters can carry diseases, so this is not always a good idea. In the final analysis, the biggest threat of hamsters to pets is that if they catch an animal that ingests poison, they can transfer the poison to your dog or cat - this is a big argument for not using any type of hamster poison or hamster bait.
Live Trap
Live traps will catch some hamsters, giving you a chance to relocate them. However, hamsters are quite prolific breeders. In a mild climate, they can produce three to five litters a year, so they need to be trapped all year round. The best solution for on-site trapping may be to hire a professional who knows how to successfully place traps and how to deal with hamsters once trapped. Traps are more practical for smaller areas.
How to set hamster traps: If you want to try trapping, it is most successful to place the traps on the main tunnel runway, which is usually 5 to 10 inches below the ground. Go down the exit hole to the main tunnel, which usually extends towards the flat side of the earth mound on the ground. You can also use a long metal bar or screwdriver to poke down from the soil to help you find the tunnel. Dig down to the tunnel and place two traps back to back, one facing below the tunnel, or use two traps A popular bait is Juicy Fruit gum. Some people swear that when local rats eat it, it will clog their intestines and kill them. It may work, but you may find that it is best used only as a decoy. Check the traps intermittently and handle them carefully after the hamster is trapped.
Call a professional: If you need a quick solution, the area to be treated is large or the infection is serious, you may need to ask a professional for hamster clearance. Once they come in and get the upper hand, you can take over and keep control.
For particularly stubborn hamsters, it may be necessary to use multiple methods at the same time, such as insect repellent plants, ultrasonic insect repellents and some physical barriers. After all, the only permanent solution is to concrete the entire yard.
Deprecated method:
It is not recommended to wash water down the tunnel to drown or drive them away, or even make the situation worse. The extra water softened the ground, actually making it easier for them to dig. Ground squirrels have many tunnels to escape from, and even can temporarily block. Their tunnels may run under patios or sidewalks, and underground floods may cause damage or even collapse.
The poison bait is as deadly to your pet as the hamster that eats it. Rodenticide is the most commonly ingested poison for dogs. They either ate it directly or were poisoned again because they caught the poisonous hamster. Either way, it will bring disastrous results. The same is true of birds of prey, owls or eagles, which eat hamsters or other rodents that ingest poison. It's just not worth the risk of using poison.
It is dangerous to ignite propane, butane or natural gas in the tunnel. Although it may infect hamsters, you are likely to cause irreparable damage to the roots of plants you tried to protect at the beginning.
It is not always effective to use a torch that produces gas or to blow waste gas into the tunnel. Ground squirrels have a keen sense of smell and can quickly block their tunnels. It is very dangerous to extract exhaust gas from the mower through the garden hose because the exhaust gas is very hot and can melt the hose.