Gopher Traps

There are many gopher traps available for the removal of gophers, which sounds like goffer, around homes and other living areas. There aren’t very many gopher traps available on the market, however, gophers are similar in size and build as some other small pests and traps for those animals, such as moles or rats, can be useful for gophers as well.

Gophers are primarily burrowing creatures. They can be problematic for landscapes and can also cause damaged to submerged tubes and wiring. This can affect homes because some of the electrical wiring or cable wiring could be damaged by gophers. Also, gopher tunnels and activities could affect or damage water and other pipes that are located underground. Gopher holes can also be devastating for flower and vegetable gardens as gophers will have little regard for small plants or seeds that have been recently planted. Moles are similar in nature to gophers so very often pest removal companies will also offer products geared towards mole control as well.

For most people, the killing of gophers is not actually necessary. Gophers can be deterred from areas in ways that do not involve killing them. However, there are also methods of killing gophers. For frustrated home or farm owners, there are some “traditional” methods that have little chance of success. One of those is to try and drown the gophers by placing a hose into one of their holes and hoping that this will drown them eventually. This is rarely successful as gophers are prepared for onslaughts of water and do not set up their underground living spaces below or at the same level as the tunnels – they are in fact above the tunnels. Therefore, water in the tunnel would not affect the gophers in the least. Other methods include blowing them up by pouring gasoline in their burrows and setting that on fire, but this method can be dangerous and is usually not as effective as it is damaging to property and perhaps even to the person who set it up. Some will attach tubes to car exhaust pipes and attempt to asphyxiate gophers with exhaust fumes, but this is also not particularly successful.

The more successful methods are traps and poisons. These methods of critter control are much safer and effective than the methods listed above. There are specialized gopher traps available on the market such as Macabee gopher traps. There are box traps which generally create some sort of dark tunnel-like space for the trap which makes the area more inviting to the gopher. Rat traps can also be used, though it can be difficult to set a traditional rat trap inside of a gopher tunnel. The Macabee trap is a trap that has been in production since about 1900 and has hardly changed since then. It is extremely effective though can seem a little more difficult to set than box or tunnel traps that are commercially sold today. It is placed directly into a gopher hole.

Gopher poisons can also be set directly inside of their tunnels. These poisons are designed to be attractive to gophers though they can sometimes be accidentally ingested by other animals so it is advisable to use other methods if the area is populated by livestock, pets, or other animals and people who should not be eating the poison. One of the key elements of setting gopher traps or poisons is to make sure to find the most-used tunnel. It is possible, with a small degree of observation, to tell which tunnel is the main tunnel for a gopher burrow. This tunnel will yield the best results with traps or poisons since it gets the most traffic. Gophers may sometimes build tunnels that they rarely or never use for whatever reason, so setting a trap in any gopher hole is not necessarily going to mean that gophers will be caught or poisoned.

If at all possible, the very best way to prevent or eliminate gophers is through natural methods of prevention. This refers to the process of integrating natural gopher predators into the area where the gophers are living. Having animals such as hawks, snakes, owls, cats, and certain types of dogs can be all that is necessary to make a gopher population find a safer place to live. All of these animals will catch and kill gophers, though some household cats and dogs may not be as inclined to kill the animals as much as they are interested in chasing or playing with them. The other methods are poison bait, traps, gassers, and pest eliminating professionals. These options are best if the natural predators are impossible to introduce or are not providing an adequate deterrent for the gophers to leave.

Choosing whether to use traps, poison, gassers, or professional help can often have to do with the type of terrain you are dealing with. For smaller areas, traps are extremely effective and should be all that is necessary. For larger areas with several acres of land poisons are a better bet. There are gopher poisons that are toxic for household animals but there are also gopher poisons that generally will not hurt pets but are extremely deadly for gophers. Gassers are also useful for smallish areas but are not always effective. Professionals will chose one of these methods based on the population and the area, and often will simply use gopher traps.