Pocket gophers, Thomomys species, often simply called gophers, are burrowing rodents that get their name from the fur-lined, external cheek pouches, or pockets, they use for carrying food and nesting materials. Pocket gophers are well equipped for a digging, tunneling lifestyle with their powerfully built forequarters; large-clawed front paws; fine, short fur that doesn't cake in wet soils; small eyes and ears; and highly sensitive facial whiskers that assist with moving about in the dark.
A gopher's lips are also unusually adapted for their lifestyle; they can close them behind their four large incisor teeth to keep dirt out of their mouths when using their teeth for digging. Five species of pocket gophers are found in California, with Botta's pocket gopher, T. Depending on the species, they are 6 to 10 inches long including the short tail. Gophers typically remain underground in their burrow system, although you'll sometimes see them feeding at the edge of an open burrow, pushing dirt out of a burrow, or moving to a new area.
Mounds of fresh soil are the best sign of a gopher's presence. Gophers form mounds as they dig tunnels and push the loose dirt to the surface. Typically, mounds are crescent- or horse-shoe-shaped when viewed from above. The hole, which is off to one side of the mound, is usually plugged. Mole mounds are sometimes mistaken for gopher mounds. Mole mounds, however, are more circular and have a plug in the middle that might not be distinct; in profile they are volcano-shaped. Unlike gophers, moles commonly make feeding burrows just beneath the surface, leaving a raised ridge to mark their path, in addition to building deeper "main" burrows.
One gopher can create several mounds in a day. In nonirrigated areas, mound building is most pronounced during winter or spring when the soil is moist and easy to dig. In irrigated areas such as lawns, flower beds, and gardens, digging conditions are usually optimal year-round, and mounds can appear at any time.
In snowy regions, gophers create burrows in the snow, resulting in long, earthen cores on the surface when the snow melts. Pocket gophers live in a burrow system that can cover an area that is to 2, square feet.
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 seal the openings to the burrow system with earthen plugs. Short, sloping lateral tunnels connect the main burrow system to the surface; gophers create these while pushing dirt to the surface to construct the main tunnel. Gophers don't hibernate and are active year-round, even though you might not see any fresh mounding.
They can also be active at all hours of the day and night. Gophers usually live alone within their burrow system, except when females are caring for their young or during breeding season. Gopher densities can be as high as 60 or more per acre in irrigated alfalfa fields or in vineyards.
Gophers reach sexual maturity at about 1 year of age and can live up to 3 years. In nonirrigated areas, breeding usually occurs in late winter and early spring, resulting in 1 litter per year; in irrigated sites, gophers can produce up to 3 litters per year. Litters usually average 5 to 6 young. Pocket gophers are herbivorous and feed on a wide variety of vegetation, but generally prefer herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees.
Gophers use their sense of smell to locate food. Most commonly they feed on roots and fleshy portions of plants they encounter while digging. However, they sometimes feed aboveground, venturing only a body length or so from their tunnel opening. Burrow openings used in this manner are called " feed holes. Pocket gophers often invade yards and gardens, feeding on many garden crops, ornamental plants, vines, shrubs, and trees.
A single gopher moving down a garden row can inflict considerable damage in a very short time by pulling entire plants into their tunnel from below. In snow-covered regions, gophers can feed on bark called girdling several feet up a tree by burrowing through the snow, although most girdling damage to trunks and large roots occurs belowground. Gophers also gnaw and damage flexible plastic water lines and irrigation systems, particularly those types used for drip irrigation.
Their tunnels can divert and carry off irrigation water, which leads to soil erosion. Mounds on lawns interfere with mowing equipment and ruin the aesthetics of well-kept turfgrass.
A trapping license is not required for gopher removal. They can be controlled at any time and in any legal manner. To successfully control gophers, the sooner you detect their presence and take control measures the better. Most people control gophers in lawns, gardens, or small orchards by trapping, by using poison baits or both.
Underground fencing might be justified for valuable ornamental shrubs or landscape trees. This will help keep gophers from digging around the fencing boundary. Also, extend the fencing at least 1 foot aboveground to deter gophers moving overland. Use galvanized or stainless steel wire to extend the life of the fencing.
This method is not perfect, because persistent gophers can burrow below the wire and the wire can restrict and damage root growth of trees. You can protect small areas such as flower beds by complete underground screening of the bed's sides and bottoms.
When constructing raised vegetable or flower beds, underlay the soil with mesh wire to exclude gophers. To protect individual plants, install wire baskets, which you can make at home or buy commercially, at the same time you are putting the plants into the ground. Choose baskets large enough to allow for the roots to grow for several years. Deter gophers by placing 6 to 8 inches of coarse gravel 1 inch or more in diameter around underground flexible sprinkler lines or utility cables.
Successful trapping, baiting, and burrow fumigation require accurate location of the gopher's main burrow. To locate the burrow, you need to use a gopher probe. Probes can come in many shapes and sizes, but essentially need to be long and durable enough to allow the user to identify gopher tunnel systems through 4 to 12 inches of hard soil.
An enlarged tip that is wider than the shaft of the probe can be a useful design feature that increases the ease of locating burrows. However, many people use long screwdrivers to find tunnel systems.
To find burrows, first locate areas of recent gopher activity based on fresh mounds of dark, moist soil. Fresh mounds that are visible aboveground are the plugged openings of lateral tunnels. You can find the main burrow by probing about 4 to 12 inches from the plug side of the mound; it is usually located 4 to 12 inches deep. When the probe penetrates the gopher's burrow, there will be a sudden, noticeable drop of about 2 inches.
You might have to probe repeatedly to locate the gopher's main burrow, but your skill will improve with experience. Because the gopher might not revisit lateral tunnels, trapping and baiting them is not as successful as in the main burrow. Learn how to locate fresh mounds and gopher burrows in this video called " Finding Gopher Tunnel Systems.
The soil tilled up by gophers can damage or break parts of farming machinery as it passes over mounds of churned-up earth. In fact, horseshoe-shaped mounds of dirt are indicators of gopher activity nearby.
Gophers may gnaw into utility cables, sprinkler systems, and plastic water lines to maintain their rapidly-growing teeth or to get a drink from your water supply. This is a more difficult kind of impact to assess because it is hidden from view.
No specific odors or noises are associated with this species, though they will signal danger or threats to fellow gophers nearby with a whistling sound. However, this is not an everyday action for them.
If you are looking for signs of activity, focus on burrows, crop damage, and movement of soil. Where Should I Look for Signs of Gophers Though this small mammal lives much of its life underground, it does leave clues above the surface. The damage it can bring to crops and plants is one indicator.
But also look for ground-level changes. As a gopher builds its burrow, it claws at the dirt and leaves the freshly dug, displaced earth in a fan-shaped mound. You may need to drive multiple times into the soil to find the main burrow, but your skill will improve with practice. How Extensive are Gopher Burrows? Simply put, gophers are determined diggers.
This leads to tunnels branching off the main. The burrow system is complex and may even carry up to yards of tunnels. Seasonal Behavior Gophers do not hibernate. Even though their activity decreases when temperatures plunge — and during summer heat — they continue to build mounds. Mound-building activity usually reaches its peak in spring and fall, as the temperatures are more moderate and gophers are at their most energetic.
Farmers and gardeners should pay special attention to their land as the mounds may break or impair mechanized equipment. As noted before, the months from late winter through spring will drive population growth thanks to the breeding season. The young leave the burrow during summer once they have reached a large enough size to care for themselves.
Trying to get rid of gophers for good? Wire mesh or hardware cloth perimeter fences can keep out gophers so long as they extend at least one foot under the ground.
You can also curve the bottom part of the fence so that it is parallel with the surface of the ground. This tactic will also keep out other burrowing animals, such as groundhogs, moles and voles. Mulch around your plants to prevent gophers from pulling them underground or eating their tops. The mulch makes it harder for these animals to dig through, and they are also known to dislike the smell and taste.
Gravel creates a similar barrier when poured around yards or even mixed into dirt within a perimeter. Baskets made out of netted material that fit into the ground allow bulbs or young plants to sit in the dirt without being vulnerable to gophers.
Step 2: Raised Plant Beds Raised plant beds offer your plants the room they need to grow while making them less susceptible to gopher invasions.
Planters are available at many hardware and lawn care stores, or you could easily make them yourself out of plywood. Step 3: Introducing Natural Predators Unlike some other wildlife, gophers are too small to be a danger to cats and dogs. Most likely, your pets will chase the gopher off as they to catch or play with it. The smell of their fur and urine alone may even be enough to make the gopher avoid your yard. But because gophers can harbor diseases, fleas, and ticks, always monitor household pets as they go inside and check for signs of bites or parasites.
Gophers mainly enjoy feeding on the roots of plants, which they access by burrowing under loose dirt. Though they mainly move about underground through tunnels, they will also come onto the ground occasionally to feed on some tops of plants. All this can cause you an enormous pest problem once a gopher makes its way into your yard. Treatment Methods Gophers can easily be confused with moles, their similar ground-dwelling cousin.
Yet moles and gophers have very different habits and diets. Telltale signs of gophers include dying plants that may even be falling over or missing leaves. As gophers burrow, they kick dirt onto the surface at an angle. This gives their dirt mounds a crescent shape.
They always plug their holes after using them to feed and before moving on to their next meal. These plugs are one of the distinct ways to tell that the pest ravaging your yard is a gopher rather than a mole or groundhog. Instead, try reducing the amount of plants in your vegetable garden or making them harder to access. Trim back bushes and shrubbery, and pick up any ripe fruit or vegetables as they fall to the ground. Gophers will still feed on their favorite part of the plant — the roots — but they may be less likely to venture into your yard in the first place.
Gophers need loose soil in order to easily dig through a yard. Try to pack down your soil as much as possible and make it harder to move through. Lawn rollers are easy to use, allowing you to walk along your entire property while packing down the dirt.
Trapping Traps are one of the best ways to get rid of isolated creatures like gophers. To be sure, measure the burrow holes around your yard. Their diameter will give you a good indication of the size of your nuisance animal. Live traps will usually work with one-way doors or doors that snap closed once they are triggered.
Set the trap according to the instructions. Take special care to avoid triggering it while your fingers are inside, especially if it operates by a spring mechanism. If you have handled wildlife before, take the usual proper precautions before releasing the gopher:. How To Get Rid of Gophers. HOW TO:. Identify Inspect Treat Prevent When to call a professional. Gophers are medium-sized rodents. They are larger than mice, but typically smaller than rats at around 5 to 14 inches They weigh a few hundred grams 1 lb.
A few species of Central American gophers reach almost 1 kilogram 2. Gophers also have four large incisors, which continue to grow throughout the gopher's life.
Gophers can close their lips behind them; this keeps the dirt out while they dig. A gopher's stout body is built for digging. They have small ears and eyes, and no distinct neck. Their legs are short and powerful end, and their broad feet have large claws. Gophers are found in North and Central America, preferably in areas with loose, sandy soil. They make their homes in burrows that consist of many tunnels. These tunnels have various uses, depending on their size.
Shallow tunnels are used for foraging and deep tunnels are used for nesting, food storage and latrines, according to the ADW. Tunnels can reach to 2, square feet 61 to square meters , with the nest and food storage chamber up to 6 f 1.
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