How to get rid of pocket gophers

The use of barriers to block access by pocket gophers to sensitive areas is practical only for small plots and/or high value crops. Install a solid metal barrier or ¼-inch wire mesh 24 to 36 inches below ground with an additional six-inch wing bent at 90 degrees away from the area you wish to protect.

Traps are the most effective at killing gophers when placed in main tunnels which are typically used by gophers several times a day. To identify an active tunnel, use a shovel to dig it open. If the tunnel is repaired within a day or two, you’ll know the tunnel is an active tunnel. Check the traps once or twice a day.

Plants that repel gophers: Other plants can be used to repel gophers, such as gopher spurge (Euphorbia lathyris), crown imperials, lavender, rosemary, salvia, catmint, oleander and marigolds. Try planting a border around your flower beds or vegetable garden with these.

Gophers can be active at all hours of the day and don’t hibernate during the winter, so they are active all year-round.

Start by planting natural gopher-repellent plants such as natal plum, lavender, salvia, catmint, oleander, penstemons, rhaphiolepis, rosemary, and/or strawberries. If you tend to a flower or vegetable garden, dig a trench around the plot and bury a wire mesh screen (hardware cloth) in it to prevent burrowing.

They are eaten by animals that are able to follow them into burrows, such as weasels and snakes. Canines and badgers dig them out of the ground, and if pocket gophers leave their tunnels, owls and hawks are happy to snatch them up.

GOPHER CONTROL

Some have reported that the use of chewing gum or chocolate laxatives will kill gophers, but Rex Marsh, vertebrate pest control specialist at UC Davis, fed these treats to gophers in captivity and found that most simply developed a sweet tooth.

Flooding Gophers Out of the Yard

Flooding is a non-lethal way to get rid of gophers. To drive out gophers, you should flood the tunnels quickly and dramatically. Prepare a row of five-gallon buckets of water and get some helpers to pour them all down the gopher holes at the same time.

To protect yourself and your pets, dispose of dead gopher by wearing gloves, double bag it, and dispose of it in the garbage.

GOPHER CONTROL

Some have reported that the use of chewing gum or chocolate laxatives will eliminate gophers, but Rex Marsh, vertebrate pest control specialist at UC Davis, fed these treats to gophers in captivity and found that most simply developed a sweet tooth.

These holes allow for the gopher to feed without being any further than a body’s length from the entrance – limiting the time on the surface and decreasing the chance of becoming prey. The quality of the soil and the depth of the tunnels are important to the survival of this mammal.

Gophers are active during the day and are fossorial, which means they live most of their lives underground. They eat, forage, sleep and have their babies underground. They do all of this alone, though. Gophers are not social creatures, at least with their own kind.

A good indicator of gopher activity is the opening of the holes. If a hole is plugged with fluffy, fresh dirt that typically means a gopher is inside and still digging. Otherwise, the burrow system has likely been vacated. Moles create cone-shaped mounds about 2 inches in diameter on the surface.

Moles and gophers like to move right into gardens, farms and golf courses (or, really, anywhere the soil is good) to dig tunnels. Nice yards create an opportunity for moles and gophers to build extensive runways below ground, tunneling around in search of food.

Expose the entrance to the lateral tunnel that leads down to the gopher’s main tunnel a foot below ground level. Insert foul-smelling repellents such as used cat litter or a rag soaked with human urine into a tin can with both ends removed.

Mothballs contain the toxic chemical napthalene and disturb the Gophers with their odor. Mothballs can be put inside a cloth and placed inside the tunnels. Once they sniff the naphthalene inside the mothballs, they will quickly leave.

Pocket gophers live in a burrow system that can cover an area that is 200 to 2,000 square feet. The burrows are about 2½ to 3½ inches in diameter. Feeding burrows are usually 6 to 12 inches below ground, and the nest and food storage chamber can be as deep as 6 feet, depending on soil type.

Gophers breed only once or twice a year, typically in the spring. Female gophers give birth to three or four young per litter after a gestation period of less than three weeks. The young develop rapidly and by five weeks are weaned and ready to establish their own burrows.

Although they attempt to flee when threatened, they may attack other animals, including cats and humans, and can inflict serious bites with their long, sharp teeth. Depending on the species and local conditions, pocket gophers may have a specific annual breeding season, or may breed repeatedly through the year.

Since gophers spend so much of their time underground, interaction with humans is limited. Still, they will bite when they feel cornered or scared. Their teeth are not particularly sharp, but the pests can still break the skin. Gopher bite sites may swell and appear red or bruised.