My four cats are useless!

I saw one deer in my neighborhood last year but none since.

I am reluctant to use poison. Is there a trap that would do the job?

Thanks

The first choice is to trap. By snaring the gopher I am assured it will not return. But, there are circumstances which preclude trapping. The run being in a most awkward spot or space would be one reason. After probing the run and finding a decent spot to set the traps, I use a post hole digger to make a small clean hole. I prefer the Vicktor traps. I sometimes spray them with cooking oil to free up the action. Wearing clean cotton gloves, I rub the traps with carrot and then place carrot, green beans, peas or lettuce between the traps. The traps are affixed to a light chain which is linked to a piece of rebar staked in the ground. Slide one trap into each side of the run you've opened. Cover the hole with a piece of black plastic topped with stiff cardboard or plywood and then dirt. Make sure all edges are sealed so no light gets in.

Leave the traps for at least 24 hours. If you don't get the gopher, rebait the traps and try again. Then if you don't have any luck, go to plan B.

If in a garden, plan B will be ammonia. I use a pump sprayer with an on/off switch on the wand. I put in what I think I'll need of unscented ammonia, open the run and pushing the wand as far into the run as it will go, spray about half a quart in each direction. I don't know if the ammonia actually kills the gophers or if it simply makes the run smell so bad the gophers no longer use it. Activity comes to a halt. After a week or so I may go back in and destroy the run.

If not in a garden, I'll try poison. I'll open the run behind a mound using a spade. Then I use a spoon with a 14 inch extension on the handle and place a teaspoon of poison pellets as far into the run as I can. Then I ball some newspaper and close the run and then fill in the hole. An alternative is to probe the run with a sharpened rebar and drop poison into the run. I've had better results opening the run and placing the poison inside.

Everything has exceptions. Normally a run that you've trapped a gopher in will not be reused for several months. If you're overrun with the little buggers, spray some ammonia into the run after catching one. I've also wetted the ground around a newly planted fruit tree with diluted Pinesol. That also was effective for a couple of months.

Hope this helps.

Bob
Central Arizona

I'm not an expert when it comes to animals, but when I first made my house...we'd see 1 or two gophers and thought they looked cute. Small, fat...and they looked funny. I guess our passiveness gave them the idea that the land was available for starting families. In 10 years, the situation got completely out of control. It was like a terrorist network all over my land. We had close to 20 groundhogs/gophers, big and small...with holes all over my house...under my propane tank, on hills, near drainage pipes, near my shed, under my shed...it was crazy.

I tried zinc phosphide poison...something the pest managament said is really toxic and would work...nothing happened. I tried the fumagator stuff...nothing happened. I even closed the holed with some dirt and gravel...it still didn't happen. I started scaring them then. I drove my car...all over their holes...i scared them...by shooting blanks at them, by making noises...I was like a madman. hehe.

I finally decided that it was either them or me. So I got a .22 rifle...and tried. But embarassingly...as an amateur...i couldnt get them. Finally...it worked with the shotgun. I would lie in my car....and drive near their holes and wait for them.... Within a week...i eliminated six of them. And for 2 weeks...we had all these eagles and vulture type birds (really scary looking) going at the remains. Though I didnt get them all, just six...that was enough to give the other 15 or so the message...I havent had a problem since.

What I do have a problem now is with another animal...i dont't know if its rats, or moles...because all over my property, I see these small mound like tunnels...they are just around 4 inches in circumference...and u can feel them when you walk on them...they are very superficial....but they've destroyed my grass. It's not just in one area....but atleast 4-5 acres worth. I don't know what animals does this? I know they are tunnels...but whatever the animal is...it cant be more than 5 inches wide.

Happy hunting!

Lisa :)

good luck....

ps...my population of ground squirrels has recently exploded...gardening is fraught with challenges...but the bright side is that the hawks are spending much more time close in. spectacular creatures!

I am about to plant some crepe myrtle trees and was told by the local nursery to use the premade gopher baskets. My concern is that holes in the gopher baskets (~3/4 inch) are too small for the tree roots and the roots will eventually be constricted by the wire. The baskets will eventually rust away, but I don't know what the life span on the baskets is.

Does anyone have any experience or comments with this?

Thanks in advance,
Scott

Finally, get those critters out of your yard, or at least where you want to protect plantings. See my post for my method,

This method is only effective if your land is flat.

Bosou

Ok now here is the question part. After I trap and kill the little bugger I usually toss the carcass away. Then about 6 weeks later, another gopher comes in and reclaims the tunnels of the previous gopher. It is pretty much like clock work. Would leaving the carcass in the tunnel to rot prevent or delay any reinfestation of existing tunnels? My thinking is that if they smell another dead gopher in the tunnel already rotting away, they may just stay out. Any thoughts?

I have lost 50 grape vines, a dozen fruit trees, and most maddening of all 3 huge artichoke plants that had an ultra sonic gopher chaser canister right in the middle of each.

My suggestion is to rotate methods. One week trap, next week poison, next week drown. Hopefully you won't find the gopher super highway where no amount of water will fill that tunnel. I still have gophers, just not as many at any one time.

If I could become a gopher trainer and teach the little buggers to dig, ie cultivate, around the good plants, and eat only the weeds I could become famous.

Good luck with your endeavors.

My backyard is riddled with holes and I twist my ankle alot when my foot finds a hidden hole. And sometimes I come into a secluded part of the yard to find a huge mound of dirt. I don't have any plants on my property and I maintain my yard (consisting of mostly weeds). The grounds are horrible to the eye's and I want to beautify it but can't until I get this under control.

I've read all the blogs online here and I'm confused on what really to use. I'm willing to do the suggestion for a solution that leads to the permanent removal of these thngs.

This morning I saw no new activity in my front or back yard, so hopefully no more gophers will come to use the existing tunnels. Just in case, I’ll try to flood the system again, hoping that some of the main tunnels will collapse with the water. That is my story (so far).

Someone told me that Coyote Urine works better, Anyone tried that?

Johnjon - you have moles! When you see the tunnels as small ridges just under the surface and no big mounds, those are moles. In my experience, moles are "smarter" or harder to catch than gophers. I finally resorted to poison after nothing else worked. I could never trap them.

Locust - I don't like to kill animals either but if you leave the carcass out it will definitely get eaten by some predator - bird, cat, dog.... But if you leave it in the tunnel it does seem to deter others. If you want to try to live with the gophers try surrounding the beds with plants they don't like or using the "Gopher wire" from Pleasant Valley (other stuff rusts away quickly). And keep collapsing the tunnels out to the edges of where they come in and put garlic, ammonia, or something to deter them. The reason you hear such hatred from many posters is that after your prize and loved plants get destroyed over and over you develop a bit of a different attitude about these critters. If you're trying to live off of your land and they keep eating your food it does, unfortunately, become more of an "us versus them" attitude. We have killed off many of the gopher's natural enemies and they have over-populated in many areas. I tried bringing in local, native snakes, but they are scared of the people and disappear.

Gophers eat plant roots. Artichokes are one of their favorites. There are plants that repel them like gopher weed and other Euphorbias, onions, garlic - smelly plants and many of the "deer proof" bulbs. Look on the web for more.

Moles eat bugs, worms, grubs. They don't eat the plant roots but the bugs are usually around the plants and the moles will dig thru the roots to get to the bugs. Sometimes getting rid of grubs in your lawn will cut down on the mole problem.

Yes, traps seem to be the most effective but you have to follow a few simple rules.
1) Never touch the trap with your hands - they can smell you and it repels them. I use old, very dirty gloves.
2) Set the trap into a new, active tunnel (if not sure, put a shovel into the tunnel and see if it is redug later).
3) Carefully dig a chunk of soil out of the tunnel area and set the trap end directly into the tunnel, baited with greens, carrot, etc. Then carefully cover the area again with dirt and something so that the light can't penetrate (sometimes they will not use a tunnel where they can see light).

By the way, I love the dog idea for large, unplanted areas.