Your lawn is the perfect place for your family to relax, have fun, and enjoy a little fresh air. However, a barbecue or a game of catch might be difficult when you have gophers on your property. One wrong step could cause someone to twist an ankle, and nobody wants to share their space with giant rodents. The professionals at O’Connor Pest Control want to help you reclaim your backyard, so they’ve put together this quick guide on how to get gophers to go away.
How Can I Tell If I Have Gophers?
Gophers are most active during the day. Therefore, they should be easy to spot on your property. Nonetheless, they’re tricky little pests, and they may hide when they think someone’s nearby. Even if you can’t see the gophers themselves, their burrows will usually give them away. Gophers leave large mounds of dirt at the entrance of each tunnel, and these mounds are typically less than seven feet apart from each other.
What Attracts Gophers to Your Property?
Like all animals, gophers need food and shelter to survive. By living alongside humans, gophers can more easily avoid badgers, coyotes, snakes, and other deadly predators. Gophers love eating the roots of grass and other plants. Thus, if you have a nice lawn with quality soil, then your backyard will be prime real estate for a gopher infestation. However, gophers aren’t the most difficult pest to get rid of, so you don’t have to share your yard with them forever.
How To Get Rid of Gophers
Once you figure out if you have a gopher infestation, it then comes down to getting rid of them. Different methods to stop a gopher infestation can include:
- Barrier Fencing
- Castor Oil
- Humane Traps
- Ultrasonic Repellents
Barrier Fencing
A barrier fence is a very effective method for rodent control. It can keep gophers out by making it very difficult for them to navigate your landscape, but installing a fence system will take a lot of work. For a fence to be effective, it must extend at least two feet underground and one foot aboveground, so you will have to dig some pretty deep trenches. Galvanized materials are your best option. Otherwise, your fence may quickly rot or corrode. You can place your fence around the entire yard. However, if you don’t want to put in that much backbreaking labor, then you can just put fences around your garden and important plants.
Castor Oil
Gophers hate castor oil, so you should spread it near their burrows and favorite food sources. This substance causes gastrointestinal distress in gophers, so they will soon relocate if they consume it. If you decide to use a commercial repellent, then you should look for one with castor oil as the main ingredient. Luckily, the stuff is non-toxic, so it’s an excellent way to get rid of rodents without harming local pets or wildlife. If you don’t like the idea of spreading castor oil around your property, then you can always try chili sauce, peppermint, and other fragrant spices. These substances are also irritating to gophers and may cause them to abandon their burrows.
Humane Traps
When used alongside castor oil, ultrasonic repellents, and other methods, humane traps can quickly get rid of your gopher problem without spilling a drop of blood. You should bait your traps with tasty vegetables and leave them near burrows and food sources. Once a gopher goes for the bait, it will be unable to escape, and you can safely relocate it. Because humane traps prevent gophers from finding food and water, you should check them every day so that any trapped gophers don’t starve to death.
Ultrasonic Repellents
An ultrasonic repellent system works by emitting a high-frequency noise to irritate animals enough for them to leave. While this gopher control method will get most gophers to leave their holes, they might just relocate to another section of your property. Therefore, ultrasonic repellents are best used in conjunction with humane traps and other methods.
What About Dogs, Poisons, and Kill Traps?
Poisons and kill traps may be tempting, but they run the risk of harming wildlife, pets, and children. While gophers don’t carry rabies, you still don’t want to unleash your dogs on them. They will scratch and bite to defend themselves, likely resulting in an expensive trip to the veterinarian’s office. Although killing rodents may solve your problem at the moment, it doesn’t do anything to prevent them from coming back, so violence should only be a last resort.
Professional Gopher Control
Gophers can be a real pain in the neck, but they’re not impossible to get rid of. With the right combination of traps, barriers, and repellents, you can quickly evict your unwelcome guests. However, gophers are stubborn, and finding the right approach may prove difficult. You shouldn’t have to deal with this problem alone. Thankfully, O’Connor Pest Control boasts the best rodent control California has to offer, and they want to help. With their tools and expertise, they’ll make your gopher problem disappear in no time, so you should reach out to them today for a free estimate.