I recently discovered that chipmunks are living in some of the exposed holes in cement blocks that are part of the foundation of my house. When the house was constructed, a "shelf" of cement blocks was incorporated into the foundation along the front of the house with the intention of adding a stone front, but this was never done. A deck was added, hiding the "shelf," and making it difficult to access it. Now I know that my basement floods because of rain coming in via those open cement block holes and I want to remove the chipmunks before covering the holes.


The chipmunk tunnels in the blocks themselves might go 7-8 feet down. (They're against the house, so I'm unable to look inside.) It’s conceivable that the chipmunks have dug beyond even that. The deck is over 20’ long, but I can’t tell if all the holes are exposed (and potentially inhabited) until removing some deck boards. (Some of the holes may have already been filled with something before the deck was built.) Is putting mothballs near the openings I can get to helpful? I'm concerned about actually dropping the mothballs in. Does Juicy Fruit gum work? Any help will be appreciated.

Spray amonia down in the holes... worry more about fixing the problem than about evicting them. They are small rodents and will desicate without issues with odors.

Chewing gum of any type would be crueler than mothballs. Ammonia would work, but it might take awhile to disperse down the holes. The reason mothballs work on mammals such as chips or squirrels is they smell so strongly the animals have to leave. Other materials, such as bear spray, have less toxicity but are more offensive to humans

Assuming you don't want to leave the tops of the blocks exposed any longer than necessary, the mothballs will be the most effective and the least unpleasant.