Anyone else have chipmunks digging holes in their yard?

[Heruga]

So it looks like they've found a new home in my garden bed around my bleeding heart and hydrangeas. There are holes all over around those 2 plants. Could they eat the roots of my plants? How much damage does a chipmunk usually do? I searched the internet with all different answers so I want to know what your experiences are.

 

[mgmine]

I have chipmunks all over the yard. They are very friendly and will sit in the palm of your hand and eat seeds. My problem isn't with the chipmunks, it's with the dog digging the chipmunk holes up trying to get at them. He can turn 1" hole into a one foot hole in under 30 seconds. The chipmunks don't eat the roots of the plants or cause any damage at all.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

I have chipmunks in my back yard other than their holes they don't do any damage to the plants, other than filling in the holes there not really much you can to get get rid of them.

 

[Beth_B]

Last house I lived in, there were tons and tons of chipmunks. We had a vegetable garden and extensive perennial/flower beds. In the six years I was there I can honestly say they did zero damage (apart from their little tunnel entrance holes.)

I have also read all the dire warnings about bulb and plant damage as well as structural damage, but we experienced none of that. I'm not going to contradict people who report that chipmunks did extensive damage to their gardens and homes, but that was not my experience. If they started showing up here I wouldn't worry. I'd watch, but I wouldn't worry unless I saw a reason to.

 

[Heruga]

Oh wow thats a relief I thought they were equally bad pests as deers. But there are a couple digging all over my some of my favorite plants... I think I at least need to get rid of those

 

[IcyBC]

I don't have chipmunks problem but I have squirrels problem! They dug up my gladiolus and ate two bulbs already.

 

[petesede]

I heard this trick for birds, and maybe it will work for chipmunks coming out of trees. Buy cheap rubber snakes from a dollar store and put them in a few different places in your yard.

Birds have a part of their brain ´wired´ to recognize the shape of a snake as dangerous, and even with just a glance, they will avoid landing. It worked like a charm in my vegetable garden against birds.

 

[Heruga]

So can chipmunks digging holes in a trees rootball potentially kill the tree? I have a 2 feet dwarf maple tree(not established yet) and this stupid chipmunk dug a hole like 5 inches away from the trunk. Can they damage the root system?