The Chipmunks

So, Alvin, Theodore, Simon as well as a host of their women folk have moved into the house (well actually under it). I’ve always found chipmunks adorable, although, I am still not 100 percent sure if these are actually chipmunks or ground squirrels or if there is a difference.
Whatever they are, I think they are cute. They are also highly destructive. Last week I came home and discovered they had made a slide out of the planter my rose bush is in. They dug a huge hole and came out the bottom. It looked like it was probably fun if you were a chipmunk, but my rose bush was not appreciative. They are also living in the down spouts of the gutters, which fascinates my dog, Batman and causes him to want to destroy the downspouts to get to the critters. And, they are digging holes in the flower beds. Plus, I think they may have opened a condominium in the crawl space as I woke up on Saturday to discover Batman had managed to take up two of the floor register covers and was trying to stick his nose into opening.
In some online research I discovered they can be fairly destructive and they carry fleas. Curt wants to throw poison or gas down the holes. All I can think of is the cute little guy who likes to sit on top of my rose planter and twitch his nose at me. I can’t kill him.
There are plenty of products on the market that say they ‘encourage’ pests and rodents to move on without resorting to killing. I could also live trap them, but then I would have to find them new homes.
I made a trip to the local mega hardware store. There I found shelf upon shelf of traps, glues, poisons, etc. and a small assortment of non lethal contraptions. I bought one that I thought sounded good. It was designed for ground burrowing ‘pests’ and emitted a noise they would find ‘disturbing.’ Unfortunately, when I set it up last night, I found the noise disturbing. Somehow I thought it would be noise only the ground squirrels would hear. Instead, neighbors all around me can hear it. It is not possible to sit out on the porch in the evening enjoying a glass of wine with this blaring noise.
I also bought Critter Away. The smell is supposed to be disagreeable and if an animal tastes food sprayed with this stuff, it is supposed to taste bad. So, I sprayed it all around the holes the chipmunks had made, as well as around the downspouts and the perimeter of the house. When I went back inside, I discovered I should have made sure all the windows were closed. Whew, this stuff stinks. Batman asked to go to the backyard.
I kept looking outside to see if any chipmunks were packing their bags and exiting, but I never saw anything.
I thought about letting Batman into the crawlspace and letting him chase them a few days in a row to see if that convinces them to move. I could put Ginger, the cat, down there too. My luck, the ground squirrels would be ferocious and would scare my animals. That’s the kind of pets I have.
If anyone knows of a way to convince ground squirrels to move on that does not require killing them, let me know.