How to Get Rid of Marmots: Effective Tips and Techniques
Marmots are skittish animals that won’t hurt you if you don’t interrupt them. They belong to the squirrel family and like to dig burrows. You will mostly find them in knolls, prairies, mountains, steppes, timberland edges, and tundras. Overall, they like warm climate and hibernates 7-8 months a year.
Yet, the remaining four to five months that they are awake can hurt you. Firstly, if you like to do gardening, you will most likely attract marmots which will destroy the land and increase the soil’s susceptibility to erosion.
Additionally, they will also eat whatever they like in your garden. You can’t stop them either as they will end up biting you. Overall, you shouldn’t prefer marmots on your soil.
This begs the question of how to get rid of marmots. Well, don’t worry; we will cover everything to marmots here. Starting from natural deterrents to trapping methods.
Similarly, you will also learn how to spot a marmot because they have companions who have similar appearances. Last, if you can’t handle it yourself, you must engage a reputable marmot extermination service. It can be difficult to choose one, so we’ll also go through how to pick a qualified one.
Identifying Marmots
Before taking any action, identifying them should be your priority. Without proper identification, you risk removing the wrong animal with the incorrect deterrents.
Overview Of Marmot Appearance And Behavior
So what do Marmots look like? Well, you can compare them to squirrels. They are just the bigger version of it. While squirrels’ height ranges from 11–14 cm, marmots have a height of 42 to 72 cm. Marmots are also chubbier than squirrels.
You can recognize marmots before trapping them thanks to their typically small black eyes and tiny ears. Also, the brown fur that covers their bodies.
These large squirrels are quite playful in their behavior. Although they may appear pleasant at first, you don’t want to keep talking over them. Why? They are most likely not alone.
Marmots always have company and are not here by themselves. These large animals travel in groups of twenty to twenty-five more marmots. Whether you are on the wildlife management or a gardener, you are probably alone and they won’t fall back seeing you.
As you can see, they are not shy at all when they see humans. Moreover, won’t attack you first. These are the traits you can use to recognize a marmot on the behavioral side.
How To Identify Marmot Activity?
Certain activities will help you confirm marmots’ presence. Firstly, if rocks are nearby, the marmots will tend to sit or lie behind them. They do this to search for any predators that might hurt them.
One of the things that they are scared of the most of its predators. So they evaluate the environment first and then move.
Furthermore, the only thing that they love and do the most is burrowing. If you were not present on a day and the marmots were, you will come across a lot of holes in your garden the next day. Their most common trait is digging holes which will help them survive predators during their hibernation session.
When it comes to sunlight, they don’t like it at all. That’s why you will find them early in the morning or during sunset. They hunt for food during that time. Thus, you will most likely find them in your farmyard at that time.
Another great identifier is their loud noise. They communicate in a high pitch which can let you know from far away that these rodents are here.
Key Signs Of A Marmot Infestation
- With marmots, you may consider their poop to be a sign of marmot infestation.
Well, this isn’t the case with them. They are quite sacred about their poop and won’t leave any trace on your farm. Rather, their poop is only found underground where they have burrowed. For this, pest control can help to locate and confirm.
So are there any signs of infestation that are visible to everyone? Fortunately, they are not so careful when it comes to collecting food.
- The marmot species will leave their food here and there around the farm. Therefore, any non-professional can also spot if there is any infestation.
Why Get Rid of Marmots?
If you are someone sensitive, you might be wondering why you should get rid of marmots in the first place. Even though you don’t have any problem with them stealing a little amount of food, there are other consequences.
We will look at the natural marmot repellents later in the article. First, let’s know why you should get rid of them.
Overview Of The Reasons To Get Rid Of Marmots
Marmots are capable of ruining your entire garden on their own. They won’t just get the veggies for a day and leave. These rodents will hunt with their groups and will empty your entire garden in a few days.
- Similarly, they also ruin your garden through digging as mentioned before.
- Replanting plants becomes challenging because of the places left by the digging. Thus, they eliminate the areas that were left behind for future planting.
- Apart from your land, your health is also at risk. Marmots carry diseases and parasites with them like the sylvatic plague, Lyme disease, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. These are carried by ticks that are present on marmots.
Ticks are parasites that feed on their hosts’ blood, which can come from animals or people. With a sensitive area where you grow food, you want to be repelling marmots.
Discussion On The Ecological Impact Of Marmot Infestations
When it comes to ecological impact on marmot infestations, humans won’t affect these rodents by a ton. They have many places to live and if you decide to get rid of these groundhogs, they will simply find another place to survive.
Even though humans don’t affect these rodents, these rodents play a significant role in the ecosystem. Firstly, they get to be on the food chain of foxes, wolves, and other predators. This helps to keep the entire ecosystem balanced.
On the other hand, the burrowing that they do helps plants. How? It keeps the organic matter rolling on the grass. These matters help the plants to improve water-holding capacity and soil structure.
Laws And Regulations Regarding Marmot Control
When it comes to trapping regulations, marmot control laws vary from state to state in the USA. Similarly, it varies from country to country.
However, what we can ensure is that live trapping is legal everywhere around the world. As the method involves catching them without harming them, they are an excellent method to utilize.
Another thing that’s confirmed legal is deterring them. We will talk about them in the next section.
Natural Marmot Deterrents
Natural deterrents mean not holding the marmots hostage or harming them in any way. They might not be scared of humans that much, but they are skittish when it comes to predators. These rodents are scared when it comes to predators. This is where natural marmot deterrents come in.
Here, you will make an artificial indicator that a predator is present. This will make them scared and not come near your garden.
Overview Of Natural Marmot Repellents
There are three effective ways to deter marmots. You can use predator’s urine, spices, and a foul-smelling mixture.
- For predator urine, you can use coyotes, foxes, eagles, and badgers. You can grab them from stores or on the internet marketplace. Simply take the urine and spread them around your garden. The rodents will think their predators are around and won’t come near.
- Similarly, marmots don’t like spices in their nose. They simply can’t take it. So what you can do is spread some cinnamon, garlic powder, or hot pepper around your farm.
- On the other hand, you can also use a foul-smelling mixture. It is the last thing that a marmot wants to smell. The mixture consists of both predator urine and spices. Take pieces of fabric and mix them on the fabric.
Just law down a few pieces of these foul-smelling fabrics around the farm and you are good to go.
Pros And Cons Of Various Deterrent Methods
The pros and cons of these deterrent methods are quite self-explanatory.
- Using the predator’s urine method has always worked for everyone
- The spices don’t have a 100% success rate. So, if not fully covered with spices, the marmots may sneak in.
- However, while spices are not the most effective, they are available everywhere.
- On the other hand, predator urine might not be available where you live. Similarly, if bought from the internet, shipping can also be expensive.
- The foul mixture needs both spices and urine. Out of all the methods, this can be said to be the most effective one. These rodents hate both of the substances that are present.
- When it comes to colored balls, sensor lights, or scarecrows, there’s nothing much to talk about. All of them are known to work fine to keep away marmots. The only question is whether you own one of those or not.
How To Properly Use And Maintain Natural Deterrents?
When it comes to using these methods, one thing is common for all.
- Use gloves and masks when handling urine or spices. The gloves help you not to touch gross stuff like urine, whereas the mask aids you from the strong odor of urine. Additionally, it stops the spices from getting in your nose directly.
- On the other side, while using other animals’ urine, make sure they are fresh. Urine tends to lose its strong odor and slowly the odor tends to fade.
- Similarly, make sure the sunlight doesn’t directly fall under the urine. In the dry state, the smell goes away and won’t work to keep away marmots.
- You must keep enough colored balls to cover your garden.
- When it comes to sensor lights, make sure they cover all the boundaries. Otherwise, a small gap is enough for them to enter your garden without you knowing or them getting scared.
- The number of scarecrows depends on the size of your fence. The bigger the fence, the more scarecrows will be needed. Keep a fair distance between them so that from any point of the fence, the marmots can see those.
Trapping Marmots
When it comes to wildlife removal, many traps have been introduced to catch them red-handed. Starting from the classic toe-holds to chemicals, there are numerous ways you can trap a marmot.
However, each of them has its different suitability. So let’s check them out so that you know which one is viable for you.
Different Types Of Traps And Their Suitability For Trapping Marmots
We are going to discuss three trapping methods that are known as the best traps for marmot control. Let’s have a look.
1. Toe Traps
Toe traps are humane traps that catch the marmot’s feet and hold them. This is the most recommended trap as they keep the animals alive.
Additionally, if you own any pets around the farm, you have to be extremely careful with them. There’s a chance that your pet might get stuck on the toe traps. If their legs are not so strong, it’s going to be painful for them.
2. Beaver Traps
These types of traps can instantly kill any marmots passing through the trap painlessly. We don’t recommend using this as it can instantly kill them. The mechanism is similar to a toe trap but lethal.
3. Fumigation
Out of all the trap types, this is the most unique one. We also discourage you from using these. In this context, fumigation is the process of killing marmots using specific chemicals.
They cannot be used in an open field. The fumigation process is only viable to eliminate marmots that are underground. The gases are released there and it slowly kills them.
Pros And Cons Of Various Traps
- While using a toe trap, you must consistently watch out thrice a day. This will ensure that none of your pets is stuck there.
- You also need to make sure that the marmot isn’t there for too long suffering in pain.
- The advantage here has to be that you are not harming the marmots in any way. Yet, this also opens the gates for the marmots to come back to your farm again.
- The biggest drawback with the other two methods has to be that you are killing the animals. The answer to how to get rid of marmots in your garden shouldn’t be eliminating them. However, these are extremely effective if you want to get rid of them permanently.
How To Properly Set Up And Use A Trap?
Knowing how to properly set up a trap is vital. Otherwise, it is of no use. So here’s a step-by-step guide that will help.
1. Toe Trap
Step 1: Make a little hole to put the trap at or slightly below ground level
Step 2: To secure the trap, drive one or more stakes
Step 3: Fill the hole’s bottom with loose soil by sifting it
Step 4: Put the prepared trap in the opening and apply pressure firmly
Step 5: With the four-point approach, check for wobbling
Step 6: Strike the jaw’s slack
Step 7: Strike the opposing jaw
Step 8: Push a single lever
Step 9: Tap the opposite lever
Step 10: Add extra soil beneath any areas that bob up and down if you see them
Step 11: Fill the area surrounding the trap with soil
Step 12: Foothold traps must be covered after being bedded
2. Beaver Trap
Setting up a beaver trap can be quite complicated. Thus, we believe that a visual representation would help you more than some writing. So you can check this video out;
3. Fumigation
We don’t recommend doing this process on your own but rather hiring professional pest control companies. This process is extremely dangerous as it involves using chemicals. Thus, a professional is must required for this process.
Safety Tips For Trapping Marmots
Here are some tips for trapping marmots that might save your life;
- Always use gloves when applying any of the methods mentioned above
- Don’t let your pet go near the traps
- Always be careful near the jaws of the traps
- Don’t test the trap works or not by using your fingers
- Always wear masks when the fumigation process is utilized
Professional Marmot Extermination Services
No matter how simply we say it but trapping marmots can get complicated. You might get tired of trying to catch one, but the marmots just won’t give up that easily. Well, this is where the professional comes in.
Overview Of Professional Marmot Control Services
When things are not working out, people tend to lean towards marmot control services. These teams have been working toward marmot removal from gardens for years. They know exactly where to hide the traps to catch the marmots on the first day.
Additionally, takes all the safety measures if you choose to use fumigation. They always prefer being eco-friendly, though and won’t encourage you to kill them. Overall, it’s safe and smart to choose professionals.
How To Select A Qualified Pest Control Company?
Selecting a pest control company can be hefty if it’s your first time. There are plenty of factors to consider when selecting pest prevention that is qualified.
- Out of all, the first thing you should seek is a license. Whether they have a pest control license or not implies a clear indication of their qualification. You can confirm their license authenticity by calling your state’s pest regulatory office.
- Moreover, do they have a certified entomologist or not is also important. The entomologists study zoology to provide effective measures needed by the team.
- Similarly, their experience plays a significant role. You can seek out the number of years they have been dealing with marmots.
- Finally, the company’s reputation should also be validated. Ask for customer references from the companies; they shouldn’t hesitate to give you if they have done a good job in the past.
Pros And Cons Of Hiring A Professional
The pros of hiring a professional are;
- Have both the knowledge and experience to complete the task properly
- Can prevent your farm from future infestation
- Personalized strategies for baiting marmots
- Highly advanced equipment for pest control
- Achieve faster results
On the other hand, there can be disadvantages to hiring a professional as well. They are;
- Can get expensive and might not feel worth it for small areas such as backyard pests
- Might not use natural pesticides
What To Expect During A Marmot Extermination Service
If you are just gardening for a hobby, what’s going to happen during an extermination service shouldn’t bother you. However, if your business is related to your gardening, there are factors to consider.
- To start, the extermination service can take only a few hours up to 2-3 days. Depending on the size of the area and the level of infestation.
- The pest control services will not let you in till the exclusion of marmots is confirmed.
- Consequently, they will encourage you to follow some of their steps to ensure no marmots get in again soon.
FAQs
To wrap things up, let’s go through some frequently asked queries regarding marmots.
Q: Are marmots dangerous to humans?
No. Marmots are not dangerous to humans at all as long as you don’t irritate them. They will simply eat plants, seeds, and flowers and won’t spend their valuable energy chasing you. However, if you come in between them and their food, the rodents might try to bite you.
Additionally, they are known to be carrying diseases such as ticks. So you don’t want them to get near you or bite you.
Q: What should I do if I accidentally trap a non-target animal?
There’s nothing much to do if you trap a non-target animal. If they are a non-dangerous animals and are hurt, try to add some first-aid to them. Consequently, release them in the wild as per law.
On the other hand, if it’s a dangerous animal that you have trapped, call for help. You certainly don’t want to handle any wild animal on your own and catch unwanted diseases. Perhaps a professional with animals is recommended.
Q: How long should I leave the trap out before checking it?
You should check the trap at least three times a day. However, if you own a pet such as a cat, we recommend you check the trap every hour. Your pet could be sitting trapped and hurt if you don’t keep an eye on the trap frequently.
Similarly, don’t set the trap during the night. This opens up the gates for unwanted animals getting trapped there. For marmots, use the trap in-between early in the morning before sunrise. Or after sunset, until the sun is completely down and dark.
Q: What should I do with a trapped marmot?
We recommend that you leave it in the wild rather than hurting them. While you may be annoyed with them stealing from your garden, leaving these living creatures alone is best.
Conclusion
Let’s give you guys a recap. So how to get rid of marmots? You have plenty of options starting from toe traps, beaver traps, and fumigation. You can use any of the trapping methods that you find best. However, don’t forget that fumigation can only trap marmots that are underground.
Similarly, there are natural deterrents as well that don’t require you to trap any marmot. These naturally stop them from coming to your farm. The natural deterrents are predator’s urine, sprinkled spices, or a mixture of both.
Nonetheless, we shouldn’t forget that they are living creatures too, and has the right to live like us. So we always encourage you to not use any lethal traps such as the beaver trap or fumigation. Instead, use home remedies to deter the marmots.
Lastly, don’t only be limited to us and conduct more research on marmots and how to get rid of them. You can also call your local pest control services to know more about the state laws about getting rid of marmots. So don’t restrict yourself and feel free to search for more.
