Giant Destroyer

[D&D Farm]

In our pastures, we have 4 livestock guard dogs, LGD. When any critter gets into the pasture these dogs think they have to do their job and get rid of them no matter what. What starts out as a mouse hole about the size of a quarter ends up being a "bomb crater". Lots of our pastures are on a pretty steep slopeand when fertilizing or sowing grass seed with the RTV and if you don't watch what you are doing one can get into one of the craters and have some real problems.......Called roll-overs or just 3 wheels on the ground and spook city reins supreme............Have tried LOTS of stuff; but the poisons will get to the dogs............so.......has anybody tried something like this:

http://livestockconcepts.com/en/rodent-pest-control/7396-giant-destroyer-gas-sticks-4ct.html

It's cheap enough to at least try and then see if it makes a difference......thoughts??????..............God bless......Dennis

 

[bordercollie]

I have never used those, but I did use some mothballs, where skunks had tunneled under the barn, to get them out. They were persistent.. but it was better than nothing. and they relinquished their claim after several boxes of the stinky things..

 

[green anchors]

on the golf course we used to soak a sock in gas and shove it down the holes. Critters moved out every time.

 

[green anchors]

Have used the sulfur bombs and believe they work initially but after a good rain that hole is open for business again. Of course any hole abandoned must eventually get filled in or someone sometime down the road will move in.

 

[Mark.Sibole]

In the past I have used a good hose hooked up to the exhaust and jammed the hose down the hole and let the machine run.Most dont leave and are just gassed.

 

[D&D Farm]

THANKS GUYS SO MUCH......found this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BQLWCS/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=3527341849&ref=pd_sl_6l6p7q9vwj_pp

Scrolled down and read a few of the reviews......good and bad.........Please though...what has worked for YOU.......?????...........

Again....quarter size holes in the pasture. I find them when the dogs are starting to dig after them. In the past have put poison pellets deeeep as I can get but stopped doing this for fear of hurting one of the dogs........

We have chipmonks all over the place, which IS NOT the pasture problem but the dogs go after them just the same and do the bomb crater thing.........

I attribute a lot of the problem to the lack.....LACK of owls and hawks in the last few years.....Used to me that one could go out on the deck anytime at night and hear one kind of owl or another.......NOW.......NONE
The same with hawks.......one could always see one circling overhead within a mile or so......NOW NONE.......
The result........rodents........God bless......Dennis

 

[bczoom]

I believe I've used that product but it was years ago. I then found a bunch of road flares at a garage sale and switched to those. Flares have the same effect but are several times larger and emit significantly more. Bad part is buying flares at retail may not be cost effective.

Any thoughts of getting another dog? Something more dedicated to ground varmints as opposed to spending a lot of their attention on your livestock? There's breeds out there that just love this kind of work. Heck, my lab/Australian Shepard mix loves to do this. She doesn't dig really but will sit above a hole motionless for a long time (I've seen her do it for over an hour) and then snatch/kill whatever comes out.

Another option may be to get some Owl Decoys. I've used them in the past but it was for problem birds. That may be an issue as it will keep many birds away as well. You do have to move them around to be effective.

 

[D&D Farm]

Really GOOD thoughts BC............lol.....my LGD's are great for keeping pit bulls, coyotes, and fox completely away from here.....but........they are NOT the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to learning NEW things to do..........Anatolian/Pyrenees and AKC Anatolian know how to be aggressive towards critters.....learning how to just sit and watch rather than be proactive is not gonna happen.......Well, shucks put a cat in there......that will just be lunch......they got a great king snake this morning and maybe it is gonna live.....doubt it.....that is really what I wish I could do is to teach them someway NOT to get snakes..........
lol......the Vet will be around in a couple of weeks to give them their rattle snake/copper head booster shots..........7 dogs......5 big ones.......mucho$$$$ but it's cheaper and better than the vet bill when one of them got hit by a rattle snake last summer.........Anyway.....on and on.........God bless......Dennis

 

[bczoom]

Some other thoughts.
Remove the food source for the rodents. E.g. if you have moles, treat the area with something non-toxic that will kill slugs, their primary food source. No slugs, the moles move away.

I'm assuming your dogs aren't a breed that like to eat their own poop. If that's true, take their poop and put it in the holes your varmints created. That should keep your dogs from digging it up.

Never tried it with mice but have seen it work with chickens. Once your dog kills it, take the dead animal, get a string/rope through it then tie it around your dogs neck. After a few days of it rotting around their neck, the dog won't want anything to do with that type of critter again.

It's probably harder to get than their poop but dogs don't like citrus things. If you put orange, grapefruit, lemon... peals in or near the holes, that should keep them away.

If you have things bigger (like groundhogs), it's a favorite past time around here to just get a lawn chair, rifle and a cold beverage and plink them off yourself.

 

[pepr]

Dennis, I think you just may have a double-edged sword issue. Your dogs are there to keep predators away from your livestock. The predators are likely also predators of the rodents that the dogs are seeking while digging.

I'm sorry to say that your guard dogs may just be the issue because they are keeping fox, coyotes, and other predator at bay that depend primarily on the rodents as their food source.

Between a rock and a hard place. You have the need to protect your livestock from the predators, resulting in an expansion of the rodent population due to the absence of their predators, ultimately giving you guard dogs a great play ground. Kinda makes me think of the movie "Hole".

Dennis, I never claimed to provide a fix for your issue, darn-it. Just a little food (no pun intended) for thought.

Philip

 

[TWO GUNS]

I would try the sulfer bombs. No more than they cost. Won't hurt !!!!


Long time ago, seen a man who used boken pieces of styrofoam and old plastic clorox jugs.

Put it in amadillo holes. Got rid of most of his problems. Either they run out and he would shot. Or they would suffacate in the hole .....

The styro foam was easy to light. And burned a strong sticky smell that would take your breath and burn your eys & nose. He cram a stick into the stryofoam,
get it going and run it up in the Amadillo hole.


........ two guns

 

[D&D Farm]

Actually Pepr, we have the problem where we don't have the guard dogs also. Coyotes and foxes are common up on our land where we seldom go. I hunt the coyotes perhaps a couple times a year with so so results; but we hear them all around us perhaps a couple times a week at night........lol......all the dogs in the valley go crazy......

The border collies and an old momma LGD are just as bad as the guard dogs with digging up the chipmonks and whatever they are after in the woods.............For me, I attribute a lot of the situation to NO hawks or owls anymore as I talked about above............

We just got a Maine Coon tom cat that hopefully will start thinning down some of the populations over time.............lol.....now we have kitty litter to put in the holes that the dogs dig and perhaps in the rodent holes??????

Anyway GUYS..........THANKS for the ideas........God bless........Dennis

 

[kobe]

My neighbor used the gas bombs and it seemed to work well. On my pasture not so much
A few years ago I used some rat pellets from the grange and they seemed to work well, however, even though I was very carefull to push them deep underground, when I noticed we had a couple of resident deer dying. I asked the Fish & Game to see what the problem was. We found that the ground Squirrls were pushing the pellets out of the holes and it will actually kill a deer, or just about anything else. Also found a couple of dead hawks, and assumed they had eaten the poisoned rodents, yes, more rodents due to less hawks. Don't want to upset anyone, but that's not the way to go. .223 cal works well, and you don't kill your own pets or other wildlife. (I almost lost my Black Lab from chasing down and killing poisoned rodents

 

[TWO GUNS]

to .223 cal works well

.............. and yes, I AGREE !!!!

 

[D&D Farm]

So far have "NUKED" 10 or 12 holes/nests and perhaps just 2 or 3 have shown signs of life 4 days later. So, the Giant Destroyer has perhaps a 75% kill rate on my chipmonks, field mice, or just plain ol rats that make a burrow/hole.........
Northern Tool is about as cheap as I can find them, so today ordered out another 100 to go with the 20 I just used up.........God bless......Dennis

 

[D&D Farm]

OK........nuked another 20 or so holes...........these had major excavations by the dogs in trying to dig them out. I call them bomb craters but they are a real hazard in the pasture when driving across our 15 to 20 degree slopes. If by chance you get into one with the low side of the tractor/rtv going into one.......DEAD MEAT for sure.
NO I seldom drive across the slopes, more like turn around; but sometimes one cannot avoid doing it. Gonna have my hired hand fill them in again and then see what we have coming back............
Those that I originally did and got perhaps 75% kill rate, I went back and did again to those that had been opened up.......100% GONE.....NADA.....NO MORE....So, for me, yes worth the tiny bit of labor and little cost.......God bless......Dennis

 

[bczoom]

Glad to hear they're working for you!

My dog caught 3 rabbits the other day. I didn't see her grab the first 2 but on the 3rd on, she just stuck her head in the hole and grabbed it. She played with it for a minute or two before putting it out of its misery.

 

[CornerstoneFarm]

I've used them but only on groundhogs. The holes weren't reopened. But I've found cheap roll of toilet paper partly soaked in diesel fuel makes them move out too. Put it in hole, close up all the other entrances and leave it for a few days. Then I come back and close the holes. Will also make the fox move out too.

But my best defense is two good dogs. Australian cattledog and australian shepherd. They love to hunt and kill groundhogs.

 

[muleman RIP]

Good old stinky cat litter is what I use. They don't like it anymore than I do and move on. It also works good for trespassers tree stands........sprinkle it all over the ground and they end up with it in their boot treads and they won't see any game from that stand and usually end up with it on their hands when they climb back down.

 

[bordercollie]

That is a great use for sure Muleman !! That stuff keeps me a distance too ! collie