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

I don't know what caused all these holes, but, they are scattered every two feet on my lawn in all directions!

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Reply to
Danny D'Amico
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I give up on trying to flood them out! I noticed today, that the hole I flooded was filled in with chips. I'm not sure if the wind did that, or if animals did.

I didn't see any new gopher holes, but, silly me, I didn't tramp down all the gopher mounds, so, I can't really tell.

So, today, I bought some poison and traps:

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And, I raked over all the gopher mounds on part of the lawn:

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If any new mounds show up, the poison & traps will go in next!

*BTW, do gophers cross a driveway?*

I have been treating one side of the driveway only; but I have gophers on both sides.

Do they cross the driveway? Or, are those separate burrows?

Reply to
Danny D'Amico

This was several years ago. It was a flex tube about an inch diameter, with a sort of cup at the end to go over the exhaust pipe. Many small engines like Briggs and Stratton lawn mowers, the exhaust goes through 1/2 pipe thread. It would be possible to unscrew the muffler, and screw some iron pipe on. Would be noisy, but that might help the general effect.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Stuff to cram in, and light on fire? I wonder if, some wet day, you might cram in some dry sawdust. Light that on fire, and push in combustion air with a shop vac. Dunno if that would help, but it might be fun to try. Road flare and back fill could do some thing.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I think I've given up on the "novel" ways to get 'em. I really just wanted them to go away.

I bought the Mcabee trap, so, if any pop up on the lawn where I had flooded them, I'll put the trap in and let you know what happens.

At the moment, I have tramped down all the gopher mounds, so, if there is any activity in the flooded areas, I'll probably know by tomorrow.

Reply to
Danny D'Amico

Yeah. After spending about $30 or $40 on noxious chemicals, and who knows what it costs for 10,000 gallons of well water to be pumped, plus possibly damaging the steps and retaining walls (from the water pressure), I now realize why the $9 *reusable* trap is the way to go.

I have the trap ready just in case I see any gopher mounds tomorrow, as I tramped them all down and raked them over for an hour today, so, anything that shows up tomorrow is fresh (and would mean the flooding failed anyway).

Reply to
Danny D'Amico

Let's hope it's not a fish because I was shocked that the two little

20x20 foot areas that I flooded each absorbed about 5,000 gallons of water without even showing a drop at the surface!

The ground has an amazing capacity to soak up water! (Of course, it has only rained once since about May.)

In California, when it rains, it pours; so I wonder how the gopher keeps dry when it rains for a week?

Reply to
Danny D'Amico

Trouble is, addlepated gopher wanders out of burrow, is eaten by family dog or neighbor's cat, and now you have a situation on your hands. Learn to trap. Use Macabees, and trust me, you will get them, and catch new ones before they make too much of a mess. Just put the trap at the freshest dirt, and like you said, rake off the dirt so you can see the fresh stuff, and that identifies the active tunnel. They will make several, one for food storage, one for breeding and raising young, and alternatives for escape routes, and further food gathering when the roots are ready to be eaten.

It's a pain, but once you learn how to trap, you will get them in a day or three, they don't make a mess all over, and for some reason, other ones stay out of the yard, and it's a long time inbetween. Maybe they smell the tunnels of the removed gopher, and think there's one there, and respect its territory?

Watch it with the poison. You might have more than a dead gopher in your yard in the morning.

Steve, King of SW Utah pocket gopher stalkers, Great Poohbah and Mucketymuck of Gopher Assassins of Utah Lodge #1847.

Reply to
SteveB

Very logical and very smart. That would cost a lot to fix or replace.

Reply to
SteveB

Looks like a railroad flare to me, just shorter. I have also used the cheap smoke bombs sold at 4th of July and New Years. Those work, too. Just use them on the freshest dirt mound, and seal afterward. The chemicals in them create their own oxygen, and they won't go out underground. They will leave a stain on the grass, tho.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Damn, Bubba! I hope that "retaining" wall still "retains". You had to do some damage or weakening.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Google pocket gopher. That is what you got, and you got more than one.

Reply to
SteveB

Yea. Flooding them out isn't such a hot idea after all.

Turns out just *buying* the Mcabee trap scared them away! I checked the two 20'x20' "lawns" today (separated by a walkway) and there were *no new gopher holes*.

Wow. All I did was buy a trap, and the gophers went away.

Maybe the water trick *does work*; but still, it's not all that efficient, in that you're risking far more damage, and you're consuming 10,000 gallons of water & electricity to pump it all out of the ground.

Anyway, I have other "lawns" (separated by a driveway), so, I will still get a chance to use that trap after all.

The one good thing about the trap, especially since gophers tend to be solitary creatures (when not breeding), is that it would be concrete when they're caught.

At the moment, I'm *thinking* that the water made them go away, but, I won't know for another couple of days.

Meanwhile, I'll put the trap in use on another "lawn".

Reply to
Danny D'Amico

Not worried about the "grass" as I haven't watered these lawns since about May when the last good rains came through from the Pacific Ocean! :)

My plan is to get rid of the gopher, and then cover the "lawn" with wood chips. Seems to me that the gopher should go away if I take all the roots from the plants away; but I don't know my enemy all that well yet, so, I can't say that for sure.

Reply to
Danny D'Amico

Yeah. It was literally flowing out of the base of the retaining wall, where there was concrete on concrete.

I wonder if it's good (or bad) for the roots to flood things like that; but, more intriguing is how the gopher manages to stay dry in the winter when it rains for weeks on end here in California.

The ground must be sopping wet three feet deep from the rains.

Reply to
Danny D'Amico

Dunno. But, I've belated learned the way to go is either to put rodenticide in there (no more hugging 'dem critters); or, to put the Mcabee trap (it hugs them for you).

Once I'm sure the rodent is gone, I can then continue on with covering all my "lawns" with wood chips:

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Reply to
Danny D'Amico

This is a good point.

Especially since the rodenticide I bought is the type that kills on first eating, but takes a while, so they eat a super-lethal dose.

Reply to
Danny D'Amico

Not familiar with that, Oren. I'm going Friday. Where is it? It was weird in Mexico, going along, and seeing how they would do a floor at a time, leaving the rebar sticking up for the next floor, IF they got the money ever to do another floor. And it was very common to see. You can see all sorts of improvised construction methods in Mexico, some hilarious, some ingenious.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

I told you they were good.

I have had them vacate after running a huge amount of water into them. Seems like I either killed them, or just made it inconvenient for them so they moved. Then I had to fill in all the holes the water made, and found places where it washed out a lot of fill, and that concerned me.

Believe me, if you learn how to use that trap, it works very well. Just make the hole wide enough and tall enough. It has to be wide enough for the springs to extend, and tall enough so you can push it down the tunnel a ways with your finger on the back of the trigger so that you don't set it off setting it. I haven't got caught by one, but by the look of some of the gophers I have caught, it looks like it hurts big time.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Seems to work for moles, too. $20. Probably scared them away...it is a nasty looking machine. ;o)

Reply to
Norminn

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