Best Gopher Repellents

Pocket gophers, commonly just called gophers, are burrowing rodents that get their name from the furry, external cheek pouches (or pockets) they use to carry food and materials for nesting. Pocket gophers are built for digging, tunneling life with powerfully forequarters, large-clawed front paws, and short fur that does not cake in wet dirt.

Gophers have small eyes and ears and highly sensitive facial whiskers. These whiskers assist gophers with moving around in the dark. A gopher can even close their lips behind their large incisor teeth to keep dirt from getting in their mouths when digging.

Gophers spend most of their time living solitary lives except for mating season and while raising young. They burrow underground similar to moles and can move more than a full ton of soil in one year. You can often detect a gopher mound of disturbed soil roughly 12 to 20 inches in diameter.

With moles, the mounds will usually be more circular with a “plug” more directly in the center. Gopher mounds will often be off-center with the “plug” off to one side, as well. Moles will create runs or lifted lines in the ground. Gophers, however, do not create runs. So, if you’re seeing oblong, off-centered mounds and no runs in your yard, you likely have a gopher rather than a mole problem.

Gophers can wreak havoc on yards, as a single gopher can build over 200 mounds in one year. These most often occur in early spring and early autumn. While burrowing underground, they can damage wiring, and root plants such as carrots and potatoes.

Not only can gophers damage your lawn in a big way, but they can also be a health risk. Gophers are capable of spreading hantavirus, leptospirosis, and even plague by way of fleas. They do have to potential to carry rabies, but gophers often steer clear of humans, so the risk of rabies is small. However, you should never attempt to hand-feed a gopher because of this.

Before setting out bait with poisons, determine which gopher tunnels are active by either pressing down a small section of the tunnel or by removing about a one-inch section of the tunnel’s roof. Mark these sections and check them again within 24-hours.

The tunnel is active if the flattened pathway has been raised up or if the roof is repaired. Only treat active tunnels to avoid pouring unnecessary poison in the ground where children or pets might get to it. You can mark active tunnels with small flags to keep track of areas to be treated, or that already have bait in them.

Once you eradicate gophers, continue to monitor the area on a regular basis and look for signs of reinfestation. Level all existing gopher mounds after they are gone.

It is imperative to check regularly for any gopher reinfestation because pocket gophers can easily move in from other areas, and these large rodents can create a lot of damage in a short time. If your lawn borders wildlands, vacant lots, or other spots that are a prime area for gophers, you can practically expect gophers to at least try to move back in regularly.

Be prepared to take immediate action when they do. It is far easier, cheaper, and much less time consuming to take control of one or two gophers than waiting until the population builds. At which point, these animals can cause excessive damage.