I may attempt to murder a gopher ... I just might stoop to that level (so help me God)

[willshak]

Live Trap and relocate.

[Jim Rusling]

Give these a try:

You need to have a clear tunnel. I use a short piece of plastic hose to stuff down and make sure that it is clear. These work best on a new or recently use tunnel.

[Danny D'Amico]

Can a road flare burn without air?

[krw]

Sure. They'll burn underwater, once struck.

[SteveB]

hole with chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid,

pool bleach, industrial ammonia, etc.

my freshly wood-chipped "lawn" into dirt piles!

gif

than just using annoying chemicals!

Learn to trap them. It's simple. Get a Macabee trap, and no other brand. . The secrets are few. Put a small chain or cord on the trap so the gopher can't drag it down into the tunnel.

One, always dig into the freshest, darkest dirt pile you see. Get one of those metal Army surplus type spoons. Dig down until you find the tunnel, looking for the soft dirt and probing with the small end of the spoon, and here's secret 2. Open the tunnel up side to side so the grabbers on the trap don't hit the sides of the walls. You just have to widen the spot where your trap will go, not the whole thing. Go about 8" to 12" deep if you can. Cock the trap. Use your forefinger to push forward on the little trip flap to keep it from triggering as you slide it down into the tunnel. After placement, put the spoon in the tunnel to block the dirt you will push in there from triggering the trap. Put an orange cone on it so you can find it. It takes me 4 to 12 hours to catch one. They are active at all times, so just check it every 12 hours or so. If you don't get it, move it to the freshest pile if he has piled up another, recognizing it by the darkness of it, as he has used wet dirt from underground.

Short story, I made a

and had some very interesting experiences with it, some not so good. I am a gadget guy, but that scared me, and I dismantled it. Two guys in Canada burned up several buildings, and caused $600,000 USD damage with one. It was fun, but was dangerous around houses, and trapping works MUCH better.

Once you get the hang of it, it is easy to trap them. Do not use poison, as your dog or neighbor's cat can eat a poisoned gopher and die.

It is actually very easy. e mail me if you need more info.

Steve

[Stormin Mormon]

Yes, it has oxidizer chemicals. Saltpeter, etc. Well, the old round red ones with the black phosphorous lighter on the end, did. Not sure what's sold these days.

[SteveB]

I can see you have never been around gophers, as you call them chipmunks. The holes are big enough for a person, horse, farm animal, or dog to step into and snap a leg bone.

Steve

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm surprised you don't know that rivers have still spots.

[SteveB]

Second pic defnitely a pocket gopher. Dirt pushed up from inside, and sealed.

You got gophers. First hole may be a chipmunk hole, or even a gopher hole that he hasn't sealed up yet from the inside.

I live on a ranch in Utah, and I know gophers.

Steve

[SteveB]

One thing any hunter needs to do to be successful is to know their prey. You don't.

Gophers make blockages in their tunnel systems that they can take down or put up. Your gases may not get to the gopher, are dangerous for you and your yard, and just won't work as effectively as trapping.

Once you learn to trap, it is simple, and you will be able to catch one in 12 hours or less.

Of your methods, exhaust gas works best and is the safest, although it may kill grass and plants.

Steve

[Danny D'Amico]

Thanks for finding that. I like his simple answer. He stuck the garden hose onto the tailpipe with aluminum foil.

I could have done without the lullaby though ...

BTW, my (California emissions) car runs pretty cleanly, so, I hope the carbon dioxide does as much work as the carbon monoxide in bothering them out of the area.

[Danny D'Amico]

OK. Well, I like that idea because I don't necessarily want to kill them. I just want them to go away.

Perhaps the road-flare smoke will be distasteful to them.

[Danny D'Amico]

That's why I'm asking here ...

I can't imagine the gases being dangerous for me, outside, in the fresh air, on top of a mountain, nor can I imagine them being bad for the yard (remember, plants 'eat' carbon dioxide, and 'poop' out oxygen).

However, I *can* imagine trapping being more efficient.

The only problem with trapping, at the moment, is, (a) I don't have a trap (so I need to buy one), and (b) I think trapping kills them.

I've never done it, so, maybe there is something to that, but, on cursory inspection, plants *love* carbon dioxide. It's what they live on.

[Danny D'Amico]

This is good advice.

I read this, with interest:

Looks like they cost $8 each:

Which is less than the bottles of cholorine + ammonia + HCL I've been using to get them to go away to the neighbor's lawn. :)

[Danny D'Amico]

This has a nice howto on the Macabee:

[Danny D'Amico]

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure, after reading for the past day on this, that it's a pocket gopher. I'll try some of the remedies, starting with water and exhaust and then moving on to the trap (which I prefer not to do since I'm hopeful I can just make life miserable for him in my yard, and hope he simply moves on to the next one on his own).

This article says that only trapping really works:

[Danny D'Amico]

There are four or five areas of about 20 feet by 20 feet (roughly). Each one seems to have an infestation.

BTW, this article from UC Davis says the "feed holes" are left open:

[Stormin Mormon]

Have you considered hiring a color blind interior decorator, and use an insullation blower to blow shred wall paper into their tunnels? I'd start with green, orange, and purple.

[Frank]

I had trouble with moles and zinc phosphide based rodenticide took care of them. I see the same thing specified for gophers. The phosphide based materials slowly release phosphine gas (PH3) which is highly toxic.

[Danny D'Amico]

I am starting "nice", so, today, I turned on the water in two locations. I'm shocked that the water has been running, full force, for two hours and it hasn't even come *out* of the hole yet!

Gotta go shoppin' with my grandkids, but wow, the ground sure has a huge capacity to soak up water by the tens of gallons without spilling out of the holes.

Hole #1:

Hole #2: