Gopher invasion- help!

pjlippert

pjlippert

Cathlete
I know, the Caddyshack song is going through your head right now... but a gopher or two or 10 have taken up residence under my front yard lawn and they continue to add on without ven any permits! :p

The thought of killing them grosses me out but the damage to my lawn is becoming extensive.

Help!
Pam
 
We had a family of Gophers living in our back woods. It ate everything, leaving only the stems of flowers and vegetables.

Dh tried have a heart trap, but we're we live if you get caught relocating an animal you would be fined $1000.00. :eek:

We ended up smoking them out. I hated doing it, but it seemed the only way. My kids started giving them names like they were pets. We told our youngest that they (gophers) found a nicer back yard to live in.

Good luck!
 
We have a huge gopher problem in our area. We use traps. DH has figured out you need to check them quite often and move them around -- those gophers cover a lot of ground, and if they've moved on, you need to relocate the traps. We ended up ordering some on-line because even though they look similar, the ones at Home Depot don't work as well. If you want a link I'll ask him.
 
Hi Elaine,

You would get fined for moving them?!?! :eek:. So, where do you get the smoke bombs? Home depot? There is plenty of room for these critters to live on the properties... leave my grass alone!! Now I see why Bill Murray went after them with such a vengance! :p

Thanks!
Pam
 
Okay, so I sent an email out to our neighborhood group and apparently a LOT of people are being invaded!! Sooo, one of them has tried flooding the holes with water, another used a flare from the car and watched carefully, then followed with water to make sure their property didn't catch on fire- hence igniting the rest of properties in this heavily wooded area!

Still need more ideas, folks! I'm feeling like beginning to channel Bill Murray!

Pam
 
One way to deal with them that doesn't involve killing them is to use a repellant (there are some plants that act as natural repellants. Do a search and you can find out more) or a device that creates a sound that annoys the moles (I've seen some that look like small propellers, that you stake into the ground). Natural gardening catalogs (or online) are one place to look.

This looks like some good info (from a university extension site):
http://ohioline.osu.edu/w-fact/0011.html
 
A few years ago, my dad trapped his bothersome gopher and then drove it 5 miles down the road, across a bridge that goes over route 95, and then released him at the golf course (what better place-right). Three days goes by, and my mom is sitting at her kitchen table reading the paper when she catches site of a critter skittering up the middle of the road. That gopher never stopped running until it hopped right back into its original hole. We wonder if it went back over the bridge or dodged 8 lines of highway to get back. They are pretty cute-if they're not eating your garden.
 
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