That gopher has got me gophered

[jackmormon]

Anybody know of a good way to get rid of gophers? I've tried the poisons and smoke bombs, I've tried flooding them (I dumped 500 gallons down a hole one day and it never filled up), I put the lawn mower exhaust pipe in the hole for three hours, and I've even tried digging up their extensive tunnel network. The only success I've had is one that I shot with the BB gun the other day.

[Noahs ARK]

I tried all those ways to get rid of gophers, too. Then I read that gopher tunnels could be miles & miles long - who knew?

So I gave them those gopher be-gone pellets and *supposedly* they take it back to their main house, where they all chow down on it. That's what the ad said about it, but I dunno.

Haven't seen a gopher since I started using it, but it's still early in the year. I could see some any day now.

Got it at Lowes, I think.

[jackmormon]

Thanks, I'll look for those

[Noahs ARK]

Oops - forgot to tell you...

The pellets come in a round tube and they're about the size of an alka-seltzer.

[Julie]

I've been having problems with gophers too. I might end up trying those pellets. I have been afraid the cats would eat the poisoned gophers and die too and then I would end up with a bird problem.
A kid that lives on the farm in back likes to trap gophers and he trapped one out for me. I'll have to wait and see if more show up. They are the biggest pain and I have tunnels in my lawn and all over.

[Poltax]

The tablets work great, as does the wheat product that has poison in it. You can obtain any of those at your local farm store or co-op

[prairiemom]

I don't know how similar your gophers are to our pocket gophers Pocket gophers seal up their hole. The only way we can manage them is with traps. You buy these nasty-looking spring-loaded traps for $4-5 at the hardware store. You need 2 for each gopher hole. Dig out the dirt that is covering their tunnel. Dig until you find the fork in the tunnel--where it branches into two tunnels. One is a false tunnel, but since you don't know which is which, you put one trap inside each tunnel. The trap should have a chain or wire attached to it so that you can anchor it down at the mouth of the hole (we use a big 4" long nail to secure the traps.)

When the gopher senses the cold fresh air, he comes up to refill his hole and gets trapped. You come out 1-2 hrs later and voila'--dead gopher. If you come out and find the hole filled in, he managed to avoid your trap and you have to do it all over again.

Depending on how prolific they are dh can spend 1/2-1 hr a day, 2-4X/wk setting and emptying traps. We have 8 traps, so we can go after 4 holes at a time. An average week there's only 2-3 holes but sometimes there is an invasion and 5-6 will show up overnight. They are nasty creatures that--like yours--did not respond to poison pellets, flooding or gas fumes. Trapping is the only thing that controls them. We've been able to keep them isolated to small segment the property. If they go much further they could be chewing into underground electrical or phone wires.

[Poltax]

Back in the mid '60's, I made good money trapping gophers on my Grandparents ranch in the summer. My Grandmother paid .25 per tail. Then the County ditch rider would pay the same. I had about 30-40 traps running each day all summer long. I had 2 types of traps that I used. The normal bear type. Then I also had some traps that I called "The Gutter". It was about 6-8 inches long. It had some sharpened tines on the end that you would cross as you set the spring. When the gopher would go over the trap and trip it the tines would shoot up and cross each other and well you get the idea why it was called The Gutter".

When you plant the trap make sure you leave the hole open. That attracts the gopher back to the opening where your trap is. They are smart and some will get around your trap. But be patient, get creative if you need to. I actually liked to set the traps about 1 foot back from the opening in the tunnel. Then leave. The gopher would have to go over the trap to get to the opening. If you do set the traps close to a split make sure its far enough away that the gopher can not squeeze around the trap.

[Toni]

I have two vibrating . . . pegs, I guess you'd call them. Battery operated. I had a gopher hole in a garden. I put that in and it left. I understand they don't like the vibration because they can't tell if predators are out there. If I were a gopher, however, the noise would drive me to distraction - who cares about any other reason. The hum is actually pretty quiet to our ears, hearing it through the air and not the ground. No bodies to dispose of. No mangling or torturing an animal. For me, it's great!

[jackmormon]

I've seen those traps in the store and have been tempted to buy them. Instead, I was inspired to build a .25 gun that would shoot a bullet through the gopher when it trips the trap. I haven't finished it to that point yet, as of right now it is a short gun that is mounted on a tripod that can sit over the opening of a hole vertically or horizontally and then you can pull a string from a distance to discharge the bullet. As you're probably about to point out, this doesn't work so well because you can sit for hours before the gopher finds the open hole and does something about it. For obvious reasons, I'm uncomfortable using it unless I am right there attending it. It is kinda nice when nothing is going on and I can sit in the lawn chair and watch. I guess I'll have to spring some cash for the traps. What about using just one right before the fork in the tunnel?

[prairiemom]

I guess it depends on your gopher. The ones we have almost never poke their heads above ground, they fill in the hole from inside. So unless you get the trap really far into the tunnel (i.e. after the fork) you probably won't get the critter. Last year we had a whole new crop of holes pop up over night and not enough traps. So dh set one trap in each hole. He got about 2/3 of the gophers.