Groundhogs are invading my yard. Now what?

For some homeowners, every day is Groundhog Day. That is, around this time of year, you may discover a furry neighbor living beneath your patio, deck or maybe a shed. They are always under something. They aren't called groundhogs for nothing.

Actually, they're called a lot of things, like woodchucks, whistlepigs, land-beavers and groundpigs. Some homeowners call them pests.

So should you be worried that your house will someday sink into a groundhog-caused sinkhole? Possible, but unlikely, experts say. Groundhogs tend to be more serious problems for vegetable gardens.

Groundhog 101

If you only know groundhogs from the Bill Murray movie and the holiday, let's reel out a few facts. Groundhogs live mostly in the eastern half of the United States, though Alaska has them. (If you live in the west, you may be living with prairie dogs or armadillos, which can also cause foundation issues for homeowners.) Groundhogs are stocky and part of the squirrel family, and can climb trees, and swim. They tend to be solitary, unless a mom is raising kids. Groundhogs are an important part of our ecosystem, says DeeAnn Reeder, an ecophysiologist at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

"Their digging activity in an area helps with soil aeration and thus healthy plant growth," Reeder said. "Groundhog burrows can be used by a variety of other mammals as well, protecting racoons, opossums and small mammals like chipmunks from predators." But those burrows ... boy, they are something. They tend to range as short as eight feet and as long as 66.

Warning signs that groundhog activity is trouble for your home

The cracking of the foundation is a pretty obvious (and ominous) clue.

"Basements that have a musty smell, even if there's no water, could be a sign that the burrow has created a hole for water to sit close to the foundation wall," said Ryann Brier, a real estate agent in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She also observes that if you're going to sell your home any time soon, potential buyers may be scared off if they see signs of a groundhog living under your front porch.

Brier also says that if a groundhog does sabotage your home, don't expect insurance to save you. Most homeowners' policies won't pay for wreckage done by a rodent. Still, groundhog-caused home destruction is pretty rare, said Luke Jacobus. He is an Indiana University biology professor and entomologist, and while he studies bugs, Jacobus has become an unofficial groundhog expert. Groundhogs live in close proximity to his house and his parents' home, and he volunteers at a historic cemetery populated with them.

"Most of the time I don't worry about it," Jacobus said. "If you're not concerned about the unsightliness, most of the time, it's not a problem. The likelihood that your whole house is going to fall down is pretty low." (A gravestone marker, he says, is another story.)

Reeder agrees that a groundhog harming your home is unlikely, but it can happen in "extreme instances."

Tips for convincing a groundhog to leaveIt won't be easy, according to Nicole Carpenter, president of Black Pest Prevention, in North Carolina. Like most extermination services, Black Pest handles insects and rodents, like mice and rats, and not burrowing mammals.

"If groundhogs are in your yard, it means two things. You have easy food for them to eat and a safe place for them to burrow and live," Carpenter said.

She said that even if you remove food sources "like fallen fruit, trash bins and pet food, the chance it will really make them want to leave is low because they can easily travel farther to eat while living in the same burrows."

She said that when a groundhog is out of the burrow, foraging for food, you may want to attempt to block the entrance. She said you'll need to "fill the hole with soil, secure it with hardware cloth, and weigh it down with rocks or even stake it into the ground. Groundhogs can reopen burrows if they are not properly secured."

If you're looking at a hole but unsure whether a groundhog resides there, Brier suggests stuffing it with newspaper. "If you come back a few days later, and the paper is still there, you can fill the hole because the burrow is likely abandoned," she said.

If you feel like you need to take some drastic action, what sort of step to take is still going to be tricky. Whether you plan to trap the groundhog and relocate it, or go into the burrow, shovels a-blazing (nobody is recommending this), each state regulates a groundhog's removal. You may be required to hire a professional to trap or kill a groundhog. You may not be allowed to relocate the groundhog (which means it'll be euthanized), or if you can relocate it, you may have to within your own county and first secure permission from a landowner to put it on their property.

That may not work, anyway. "They have an excellent homing instinct. They will try to return to their original burrow," Jacobus said.

You'll want to check with your state's natural resources department and see what is allowed and what isn't.

Tips for co-living with a groundhog

Assuming you aren't worried about a groundhog damaging your home, Reeder and Jacobus suggest that everyone may be better off if you just let nature be.

"They can be a joy to watch, especially when their young kits emerge from the burrow," Reeder said.

She said that groundhogs live three to six years in the wild, and that sometimes one of the offspring will continue to live where their mother did - and may dig new tunnels.

You will have a lot of chances to take photos of the groundhog to put on your social media feed.

In any case, trying to displace them can backfire. Jacobus said that at his parents' house, they tried filling the burrow with dirt.

"They dug it all back out, and we have a worse problem now from what we had before," Jacobus said. "It's a bigger mess, and there's a bigger hole than there was before."

And there may come a day when you miss your groundhog. When the burrow is empty, sometimes other animals move in. "You could get a skunk," Jacobus said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Groundhogs are invading my yard. Now what?

Reporting by Geoff Williams, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 8:53 AM.