Signs You Have Gophers And How To Get Rid Of Them
Posted on: 25 August 2016
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If you notice that you have little furry creatures running around in your yard, you might wonder if you have moles or gophers. They can both be destructive to your lawn, cause problems, and take a lot of time to get rid of.
Signs You Have Gophers
One way that you can tell that you have gophers is if the mounds that you are seeing look like they are shaped like horseshoes or crescents. They may also have a plug of dirt that is surrounded by the arms of the mound. There may also be holes that are plugged up with dirt that you see around your yard that aren't surrounded by mounds. Those are places where the gopher has come out to feed.
Moles eat insects, and tend to stay near the surface, which is different to what gophers do. They tend to dig down much deeper than moles do and much more extensively. Gophers also are vegetarians, which means they are going to eat your garden and other plants found in your yard. While the damage may look like you have a whole lot of gophers, you probably only have one, since they are pretty territorial.
Ways to Get Rid of Gophers
You can choose to either kill the gophers or use non-lethal methods, like driving them off, or trapping them and releasing them in another area. Before you get started, there really is no one surefire way to get rid of gophers. You may have to try different ways until you find one that works, and that way may not work the next time you have gophers.
Non-Lethal
There are a few things that you can do that are non-lethal. Some of them are relatively easy. One thing you can do is to put your pet's waste products around the gopher's mounds. Cats and dogs will attack and eat gophers. So, if you leave pet waste around the holes, the gopher may think that there is a predator that is waiting for them and leave. If you don't have a pet, you can ask a friend or neighbor for a little bit of help. Another option is to plant plants that gophers don't like. Those include things like marigolds and daffodils. You might also consider planting a plant called gopher spurge, or Euphorbia Lathyris, around the areas where you see a lot of gopher activity. These things may or may not work, but they aren't going to hurt to try.
If you have gophers and you can't get rid of them yourself, you may want to try calling an extermination company like ASE Pest & Weed Supplies to see if they can give you a hand.