Groundhog under the shed or near the foundation: what to do

A hole about twenty centimetres wide with a mound of soil at the foot of the shed, and a vegetable garden eaten to the ground: that is a groundhog. It lives on the ground, comes out by day and digs burrows with several exits. The real risk is not the garden but a burrow dug under a slab or along a foundation.

Identifying a groundhog

Groundhogs measure 45 to 66 cm. They are the largest squirrel in Québec but, unlike their cousins, live almost entirely on the ground and very rarely climb trees. Greyish brown, stocky, short-tailed, they are often seen sitting still near the burrow entrance. A hole with no soil mound under a deck and a musky smell points instead to a skunk.

Signs a groundhog is around

• a 20 to 30 cm entrance with a mound of fresh soil;
• more entrances a few metres away: a burrow has 2 to 5 entrances joined by tunnels;
• vegetables and flowers eaten to the ground;
• bark chewed at the base of fruit or ornamental trees.

Why act

When food is plentiful, a groundhog generally stays within 15 to 90 m of its burrow: once it has settled near a vegetable garden, it will not leave on its own. Its tunnels can undermine the soil under a shed, deck, patio slab or along a foundation. The older the burrow, the larger the network.

The calendar

• February or March: emerges from hibernation, hungry.
• Spring: a litter of 4 to 5 young.
• Summer: the young leave the burrow at about three months.
• Fall: fattens up, then hibernates.

The best windows to close a burrow are late summer, once the young have left, or early spring, before the birth.

What the law allows

Groundhogs are not covered by the rabies-related relocation ban. Québec’s Act respecting the conservation and development of wildlife still applies: you may trap an animal causing damage only when it is impossible to scare it off or otherwise stop the damage. The Québec government discourages relocation, because another groundhog quickly moves into an open burrow.

The job, step by step

1. Find every entrance, including those hidden under the shed or shrubs.
2. Check activity: crumpled paper or loose soil in each entrance, checked after 48 hours.
3. Drive the animal off: repeated disturbance, strong smells near the entrances, cutting off access to the garden.
4. Trap, if that fails, outside the period when young are in the burrow.
5. Close the empty burrow and backfill near structures.
6. Buried mesh around the shed, deck or garden.

What it costs

No regional range is published for groundhogs: the price depends on the number of burrows, how close they are to foundations and how much mesh is installed. Published ranges for other animals are on the pricing page.

Keeping groundhogs away

The Québec government recommends an electric fence about 1 m high, or mesh with a buried section at least 25 to 30 cm deep, ideally 45 to 60 cm. Around a shed, mesh laid in an “L” shape, buried and bent outward, stops a groundhog from digging underneath.

Yards bordering a field, woodlot or vacant lot are the most exposed anywhere in the service area. That is the case in the Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville neighbourhoods backing onto the mountain and the national park. The same mesh also keeps raccoons from under structures.