A homemade chipmunk trap can be as simple as a five-gallon bucket or a small wire cage baited with peanut butter. Both designs work well, cost almost nothing, and can be built in minutes with materials most people already have. The key to success isn’t the trap itself but the bait, placement, and a bit of patience.
The Bucket Trap
The most popular DIY chipmunk trap uses a standard five-gallon bucket. Fill it about halfway with water, then scatter a handful of sunflower seeds on the surface. The seeds float, making the water look like a solid layer of food. Lean a board or stick against the rim at an angle to create a ramp the chipmunk can climb. When it jumps in after the seeds, it can’t climb the smooth bucket walls to escape.
This is a lethal trap. If you want a live-capture version, skip the water entirely and just place bait at the bottom of a dry bucket with the same ramp setup. The chipmunk drops in and can’t get out. Check the bucket frequently, ideally every few hours, so a live-trapped animal isn’t stuck in the sun or without water for long.
Wire Cage Traps
If you’d rather buy or build a cage-style live trap, use one sized for rats or squirrels. Standard mouse traps and mouse-sized cages are too small for chipmunks. A rat-sized wire cage trap with a trigger plate works well and can be found at most hardware stores for under $20, or you can bend your own from hardware cloth and a simple door mechanism.
One common frustration with cage traps is that chipmunks steal the bait without triggering the door. If this keeps happening, place two small pieces of duct tape on the floor of the trap, one in front of the trigger plate and one behind it. Smear bait on both pieces. This forces the chipmunk to step on the plate to reach food on either side.
Best Baits for Chipmunks
Peanut butter is the most reliable bait. It’s sticky, so chipmunks can’t grab it and run, and the strong scent draws them from a distance. Sunflower seeds, almonds, and pecans also work well. Some trappers swear by candied pecans or even fish-flavored cat food, which has a pungent smell that carries farther than nuts.
A useful trick is to bait the trap but leave it unset for two or three days. This lets the chipmunk discover the free food, get comfortable approaching and entering the trap, and lose its wariness. Once it’s visiting regularly, set the trigger. The chipmunk won’t expect anything different.
Where to Place the Trap
Set your trap along a wall, fence line, or foundation where you’ve seen chipmunks running. They follow the same routes repeatedly, so placing the trap directly in their path increases your odds. Near burrow entrances, along garden borders, and at the base of bird feeders are all high-traffic spots. Keep the trap on flat, stable ground so it doesn’t rock or tip when the chipmunk enters.
Safety When Handling Chipmunks
Chipmunks look harmless, but they carry real health risks. They can host fleas that transmit plague, the same bacterial disease historically associated with rats. They also carry ticks that spread Colorado tick fever and tularemia (sometimes called rabbit fever). You don’t need to be bitten by the chipmunk itself to be at risk. A flea or tick that fed on the animal and then bites you is enough.
Wear thick gloves when handling a trap with a chipmunk inside. Don’t touch the animal directly. If you’re disposing of a dead chipmunk, double-bag it and wash your hands thoroughly afterward. Check yourself for ticks after working around areas with active chipmunk burrows.
Check Your Local Laws First
Trapping chipmunks on your own property is legal in most states when they’re damaging your garden, foundation, or landscaping. However, what you do with the animal afterward matters. In New York, for example, it is illegal to relocate a trapped animal off your property. You cannot drive it to a park, a wooded area, or state land and release it. Many other states have similar rules. The reasoning is that relocation spreads diseases like rabies and Lyme, stresses the animal, and dumps your problem on someone else’s property.
If you’re using a live trap and can’t legally relocate the chipmunk, your options are releasing it on your own property (where it may return) or contacting a licensed nuisance wildlife control operator to handle removal. Before setting any trap, check your state’s wildlife agency website for the specific rules where you live.
Keeping Chipmunks From Coming Back
Trapping alone won’t solve the problem if your yard keeps attracting new chipmunks. A few changes to your property make a significant difference.
- Seal entry points: Use quarter-inch hardware cloth or copper mesh to close gaps in your foundation, around vents, and near utility lines entering your home. Chipmunks can fit through surprisingly small openings.
- Protect garden beds: Cover bulbs and seeds with quarter-inch hardware cloth buried under a layer of soil, extending at least a foot past the edge of the planting area.
- Manage bird feeders: Fallen seed is one of the biggest chipmunk magnets. Use feeders with built-in seed catchers, or clean up spilled seed daily.
- Move firewood away from buildings: Stacked wood against a wall creates perfect nesting habitat.
- Break up ground cover: Continuous landscaping that connects wooded areas to your foundation gives chipmunks a sheltered highway right to your house. Leave gaps of open ground between plantings and the foundation.
For serious exclusion around a fenced garden, dig an 18-inch-deep trench along the outside of the fence and line it with half-inch galvanized hardware cloth. Extend the cloth up the fence at least three feet, then attach sheet metal above it. This blocks both burrowing underneath and climbing over.