Gopher Prevention Gopher Trapping Gopher Treatments

Gopher Prevention Gopher Trapping Gopher Treatments

Prevention

Prevention is always the best form of pest control, but where gophers are the pest in question, this can be difficult.

Plant choices

Because gophers prefer vegetation, and roots in particular, and because there does not seem to be any one type of root they prefer overwhelmingly, there is not much in the way of plant choice that will work to keep them from coming into your lawn.

Soil types

Gophers do not tunnel in black land soil, so I suppose excavating your lawn and filling it with black land soil might work, but that might be a little severe. Moving to a black land prairie is another option. Covering your lawn with concrete and painting it green is another possibility.

Exclusion

Because gophers spend most of their time underground, and their primary form of movement is through tunnels, normal means of excluding a pest or predator will not work. There are exclusion methods that will work, like building an underground fence at least 3 feet deep, with a 90 degree angle at the bottom turned toward the outside of the lawn, or mesh products installed just beneath the surface covering the entire lawn area. These methods of exclusion are the only known forms of prevention.

Trapping

Trapping is the most effective way of dealing with gophers after prevention. Trapping will not rid your yard of gophers forever, but it will guarantee that the particular gopher you just caught will not be back!

Gopher trapping tips

• You will need gopher traps, which can be purchased from farm and ranch supply stores, or online.
• Attach a stake or flag to a wire or chain, and the other end to the trap in a way that will not interfere with it’s operation. You need the stake and the wire or chain, to keep any trapped gophers from stealing your traps.
• You will need to probe about a foot or two away from the mound. all the way around the mound until you feel the probe hit a void. You will know you have hit a void, by the sudden lack of resistance.
• The tunnel you need is the same one exposed above ground, but will take a circuitous route, because the gophers want to make it difficult for any predators.
• When you find the void, dig around until you find one tunnel entering the hole and one exiting it. You will need to put a trap in both ends of the tunnel, because you have no way of knowing whether the gopher is entering, or exiting.
• Set the traps, according to the manufacturers instructions, and carefully place the trap inside the tunnel with the “flap” at the hole end of the tunnel, and part way inside the tunnel, it should not be forced. Traps should be placed in both tunnel openings, and the stakes set in solid ground outside the hole.
• If the trap part has you puzzled, it will all be clear when you see the device. The traps themselves can cause some minor injury if you are not careful. Do yourself a favor, wear heavy gloves!
• If you have a lot of territory to cover, buy several pairs of traps, and set them all, maybe you will trap one in the first one by the time you set the last one.
• When you catch one, make sure you wear gloves when you remove it from the trap. These creatures eat tough roots for a living, and you don't need one to latch onto an exposed finger.
• The hardest part, is figuring out how to deal with the gopher once it is trapped, especially if it is still alive. This is, as I said, not an activity for the squeamish, and if you are faint hearted, you might want to leave the trapping to someone else. Dispatch any living animals in the most humane way possible. I have never found a pleasant way to accomplish this. If you find a way, let me know!
• Be sure to remove all traps if any children or pets will be playing in the vicinity, and of course you will want to cover the holes when you are done.

Gopher trap "tripped"

Gopher trap in the ready position

Treatments

There are many treatment types, most of them are useless. There is every manner of old wives tale concoction recommended by every manner of neighbor, friend, relative, and old wife.

There is one form of gopher treatment that works fairly consistently. That is, grain laced with strychnine. The place to apply the grain, is safely underground in the gopher tunnels. The best method of delivery for a home lawn is with a probe type instrument which has a reservoir of grain at the top, a "T" handle, and a long rod through which the grain flows into a hole at the bottom of the probe. It is a simpler process than you might think, and will be evident when you see the equipment.

Gopher grain applicator

Gopher probe tip with grain opening

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