PK-R10 · Rodents
How to get rid of Groundhogs (woodchuck)
Marmota monax
Groundhogs are large marmots that dig serious burrows under sheds, decks, and foundations. The structural risk is undermining. The garden risk is daytime herbivory. They hibernate. Control that lasts is exclusion (buried fencing, deck skirting) and, where legal, trapping by people who know the local wildlife code. Pouring gasoline in a burrow is dangerous, illegal as a pesticide use, and a way to create a vapor problem under a house. Groundhogs are not commensal rats; they are wildlife with seasonal young in dens.
How to identify Groundhog (woodchuck)
- Chunky, 5–10 pounds, grizzled brown, short tail, waddling walk.
- Large burrow mouth with a fan of soil, often under a structure or fencerow.
Signs of an infestation
- Collapsed soil near a deck post.
- Daytime feeding on vegetables and clover.
- A well-worn path to a den.
Biology and why they show up
True hibernators in winter. Young are born in spring in the den. They can climb better than their reputation. They whistle when alarmed.
Health and property risk
Foundation and livestock-injury holes. Vehicle collisions in suburbs. Not a typical indoor disease reservoir like rats, but any wild mammal bite is a medical/rabies conversation.
Proven control sequence
Work in this order. Skipping inspection or exclusion is why most “treatments” bounce back in a week.
- Confirm occupancy and young. Do not seal a den in spring without knowing if young are inside. That is a welfare and odor disaster.
- Skirt the deck. Hardware cloth buried 12 inches out in an L, then up. This is the repair that outlives trapping.
- Fence gardens. Buried bottom, sturdy mesh. Electric strands where legal and labeled for the use.
- Lethal or live control only as law allows. Many suburbs require a NWCO. Relocating woodchucks is restricted in numerous states and may spread disease or dump your problem on a park.
Prevention that actually sticks
- No vegetation piled against foundations.
- Close unused outbuilding floors.
When to hire a licensed professional
Burrows under occupied structures, septic fields, or in HOA properties: hire a licensed wildlife operator. DIY gas cartridges under a house are how people make the news.
United States and Tier 1 notes
New England to the Midwest and south into Alabama’s range edge. Not a desert marmot (those are different species). Groundhog Day is folklore; burrow damage is not.
Common questions
Will a latrine or human hair repel them?
Not as a structural plan. Skirt the deck.