@usedto
Our problem here with the rodents stems from an abandoned macadamia nut farm. It is at least 5 acres, and might even be substantially more.
We met the folk who owned it, just before they bailed on it. He related a story to us that is somewhat similar to what you related.
He would use welding gases, and inject them into the burrows, and then ignite them. This would cause quite a loud boom, and raise the dirt for as large an area as they had burrowed; by some scientific accounts, this can be four feet deep, and 30' in diameter.
He was also somehow involved in the Mac Nut Farmers of America, or some such focus group. He would conduct seminars in how to blast open Marmot (ground squirrel) dens. I guess our little street would overflow with people that attended these seminars.
Well, he had another one of the seminar blast fests, and, forgot to alert the local cops. They got spooked that someone was terrorizing the outer reaches of our spot in nowhere, and they came out in full force, with the helicopters, SWAT, Bomb Squad, everything that they could drag out.
They raided his party, and, when they found out what he was doing, they asked that he at least give them the heads up before doing so. They then did the big u-turn, rolled back towards the town. Our little dell was now deemed safe and ready for more explosions.
Choices for eliminating them:
> Trapping.
But, then you are not allowed to release them
anywhere else. So they sell traps that fit into plastic tubs that are just a bit deeper than the trap when filled w/ water. And then you get to witness squirrel fizzies. Or you get to gas them somehow, or,... plinking them with pellets at close range.
> Poison
Who wants that? And we have a productive resident Redtail Hawk nest at the outer western perimeter. I'd hate to poison them in the process.
> Sniping
ding ding ding
slow, but highly effective.
