If a chipmunk is loose in your house right now, the fastest solution is to close all interior doors, open an exterior door or window in the room where it’s hiding, and leave. Chipmunks are panicky indoors and will bolt toward daylight once they have a clear path and no humans nearby. If that doesn’t work within an hour or two, you’ll need to set a live trap. Here’s how to handle both scenarios, plus how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
If a Chipmunk Is Loose Right Now
Your first move is to give the chipmunk a single obvious escape route. Close every interior door so it can’t dart into other rooms. Then open one exterior door or ground-level window wide. Turn off lights in the room if you can, so the outdoor light draws the chipmunk’s attention. Leave the room completely, shut the door behind you, and wait. A chipmunk that wandered in through an open door will usually find its way back out on its own once it stops panicking.
Chasing a chipmunk around a room almost always backfires. They’re fast, they squeeze into tight spaces when scared, and cornering one increases the chance it bites. If it disappears behind furniture, resist the urge to pull everything apart. Just set the exit route and give it time. Check back in 30 to 60 minutes.
Setting a Live Trap Indoors
If the chipmunk has settled into a hiding spot and won’t leave on its own, a live-catch wire mesh trap is your best option. These are small cage traps, widely available at hardware stores, sometimes labeled for squirrels or rats. Bait it with peanut butter, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or raisins. Peanut butter works especially well because it sticks to the trigger plate and forces the chipmunk to tug at it.
Place the trap along the wall or pathway where you’ve seen the chipmunk moving. The trap needs to sit flat and stable on the floor. Any wobble or shifting when the chipmunk steps inside can trigger the door early and scare it off before it’s caught. If you have time and the situation isn’t urgent, a technique called prebaiting dramatically improves your odds: wire the trap doors open and leave bait inside for two to three days. This lets the chipmunk get comfortable walking in and out freely. Once you see it eating the bait regularly, set the trap to close normally.
Check the trap every few hours. Chipmunks are active during the day, so you’ll most likely catch one in the morning or afternoon. Avoid handling a trapped chipmunk with bare hands.
What to Do With a Trapped Chipmunk
This is where things get tricky, because the rules depend on where you live. In some states, like New York, it’s illegal for homeowners to relocate a trapped wild animal off their own property. The reasoning is that relocated animals can spread diseases like rabies or Lyme to new areas and cause stress to the animal. In those states, you’d need to contact a licensed nuisance wildlife control operator to handle removal legally.
Other states allow homeowners to release live-trapped chipmunks several miles from the capture site, ideally in a wooded area away from other homes. Check your state’s wildlife agency website before you load the trap into your car. A quick search for your state name plus “nuisance wildlife regulations” will usually pull up the relevant rules.
Finding and Sealing Entry Points
Getting one chipmunk out solves today’s problem. Keeping the next one from getting in solves it permanently. Chipmunks can squeeze through surprisingly small gaps, so you need to inspect your foundation, siding, and roofline carefully.
Common entry points include gaps around utility pipes, dryer vents, foundation cracks, garage door seals, and spaces where siding meets the foundation. Check anywhere you see daylight from inside your basement or crawl space. The fix is quarter-inch hardware cloth, a rigid wire mesh with openings small enough that chipmunks can’t push through. Secure it over any gap with screws or heavy-duty staples. Vinyl-coated hardware cloth is a good option for visible areas since the black coating blends into the background and resists rust.
Before you seal anything, make sure no chipmunks are still inside. Sealing an animal in creates a much bigger problem: a desperate chipmunk will chew through drywall, wiring, and insulation trying to escape. If you suspect multiple chipmunks or an ongoing presence in your attic or walls, set traps first and wait until activity stops before closing up entry points.
Reducing What Attracts Them
Chipmunks come near houses for food and shelter. A few landscaping changes can make your home much less appealing. Bird feeders are one of the biggest draws. Spilled seed on the ground is an easy meal, so move feeders at least 15 to 30 feet from your house if possible. Better yet, use feeders with catch trays that limit spillage.
Continuous plantings of ground cover, shrubs, and low plants running from wooded areas to your foundation act like a protected highway for chipmunks. They’ll use that cover to move right up to your walls undetected and find (or dig) entry points. Keep a clear gap of bare ground or gravel between dense plantings and your home’s foundation. Move woodpiles and debris away from the house too, since these hide burrow entrances that can eventually connect to foundation gaps.
When to Call a Professional
A single chipmunk that darted through an open door is a DIY situation. But if you’re hearing scratching or scurrying inside walls or ceilings, finding droppings in your attic, or noticing chew damage on wiring or wood, you likely have a chipmunk that’s been nesting for a while. At that point, a wildlife control operator can locate entry points you might miss, trap and remove animals legally, and do exclusion work to prevent reentry. Costs vary by location and the extent of the problem, but most companies will provide an inspection and estimate before starting work.
Health Risks to Keep in Mind
Chipmunks aren’t aggressive, but they do carry health concerns worth knowing about. They’re common hosts for ticks, which can transmit Lyme disease and, in some western states, Colorado tick fever. Chipmunks can also carry fleas that harbor plague bacteria, though human plague cases from chipmunks are rare. The risk increases with direct contact or prolonged indoor exposure.
If a chipmunk has been living in your attic or walls, wear gloves and a dust mask when cleaning up droppings or nesting material. Feces can harbor bacteria and, in enclosed spaces, stirring up dried droppings sends particles into the air. Bag everything, disinfect the area, and wash your hands thoroughly afterward.