How long does it take for Gum to Kill a Groundhog?
Oh, you love Phil from the movie Groundhog’s Day but you aren’t gonna love the groundhogs of your lawn! With their powerful teeth, you can’t really trust them! Your crops and plants in the yard are never safe if you have groundhogs there.
An easy and inexpensive way is the bubble gum method, you already know. But some will tell you it takes a good deal of time to remove them! According to others, it works like a magic! But which one to trust!
So, how long does it take for gum to kill a groundhog and make your lawn free from them? You should know the time before you switch to this method.
Will bubble gum kill groundhogs? Does it work on them?
Bubble is a non-poisonous method of killing grounds by taking advantage of their appetite and opportunistic feeding habits.
However, this method isn’t 100% effective and we don’t promise you that it will always work.
Due to their opportunistic feeding habits, placing bubble gum in their burrows will act as a bait trap that gets them into eating it. The flavor of the gum itself is enough to attract the groundhog to eat it.
Now, bubble gum is usually made of rubber-like agents, with most of them featuring polyisobutylene—the same material used to make inner tubes.
When the rodent finds the gum, it will quickly chew it and then swallow it. But their body can’t easily pass gum, so what happens? It causes serious blockage in the digestive system of the animal.
This leads to serious digressive issues such as impaction, which leads to a slow and painful death.
To use bubble gum to kill groundhogs, you first need to learn how to use it correctly. Gather about 6 to 7 pieces of bubble gum (you can use more if you want). You can also use any type of bubble gum and flavor you prefer.
Unwrap all the pieces and pop them into the burrows of the rodent and even outside the hole to increase the chances of the rodent eating them.
But be careful when doing this as the rodent may be inside its home and may run out if it senses danger and probably bite you in the process.
Note that rodent may take around 9 to 10 days to perish after eating bubble gum. This makes it a less humane way of dealing with groundhogs.
How Gum Works
Will chewing gum kill a groundhog-one of the most asked questions of the lawn owners these days is if the process works or not. Yes, it does! You can kill a groundhog with chewing gum. But the process should be perfect.
Just like you kill rats with a trap of food or you catch fish with bait, gum works as bait or trap for the groundhog. In this trap, groundhog loves bubble gum and they eat it.
And what gum does is gumming up the interior of the groundhog. And eventually, it dies. But wait! Is it necessary to kill them?
How much time does it take?
To learn how much time gum takes to eradicate groundhogs depends on how you use it. To do the work, you can simply put some gum down inside their hole.
Also, you need to spread some around the hole to ensure that they see it and eat it. But eating the gum takes time. You have to wait a week or a little more. Though seven days are enough for the gum to work you must add some extra time.
After placing the gum in their holes, you have to wait for 9-10 days. And within this period, you will see that the gum has done its part. It will kill the groundhogs within this time.
Reduction of Time
As we have already told you, the process isn’t the fastest one. You can rely on groundhog killing specific products too. If you still want to kill groundhogs, you have to play some easy tricks on them.
To make it work quicker than the mentioned time, you have to get your hand on some stones. Get the gum inside their holes and cover up the holes with it.
When they won’t be able to get out of the holes easily, they will rely on the food that is left. In this manner, they will eat the gum faster than they usually do.
It will almost reduce the time to half and make your work easier. It will take more or less 5 days to kill the groundhogs and in some cases 4 days or so.
The Amount of Gum for Quicker Result
Well, it depends on how much groundhog you think there is. If there are too many and you want to get rid of them faster, you can rely on more pieces of gum. In general, 6-8 pieces of gum will be enough to kill the groundhog within 7 days or so.
Gum Isn’t Working within 7 Days
Yes, you might think that groundhogs are dumb but they are not. Learn more about it on- are Groundhogs Smart? As they are not dumb, there can be situations when you use the gum and it will not work. Yes, it might take you one or two trails to get them to eat the gum.
If you see that it is taking too much time, the reason is this. You can go for a second trial. Another reason for taking the groundhog too much time to eat the gum can be the gum itself.
At times, they do not like the specific gum you are using. In this case, you must change the brand and switch to something that they like. And after, this all you need is to wait for it to work.
Groundhogs and the Hole
Often people get confused about how many groundhogs are there inside on burrow. In general, they dig 700 pounds or more dirt just over one den! One groundhog usually does not belong to one den. They get three to four dens around its area.
This helps it to move easily and comfortably. Also, this keeps it safer. In this case, to make it work better, you can also add the juicy gums in the road to their burrow. This will help them smell it and eat it.
Bubble Gum Not Working in 7 Days
We already told you killing groundhogs with bubble gum works, but in cases, it fails too. Such as, some lawn owners will tell you that coke works for them while killing groundhogs. But in your case, it might not.
To clear it out, the easy solution is to learn what the groundhogs like to eat. To them, anything that has high sugar is appealing to eat. They can easily smell the fragrance of the sugary contents. In this case, bubble gum can be of much use.
These carry high-sugar. Along with this, the smell is amazing. All you need is to settle for juicy fruit chewing gums. If you settle for the right bubble gum, you are not failing, not soon at least!
Wrap Up
Yes, there are tricky ways to kill the groundhogs. But why will you make the patch confusing? It’s easy to spread some pieces of chewing gum and that’s all it takes to remove them! However, we do not agree that this is a long-term process.
If you want to get rid of them completely, go for the other profound methods. But for now, it’s easy to keep them away with the gum. Also, it’s inexpensive!
