Why do gophers make mounds

However, they will not typically create numerous mounds like gophers. Moles build raised ridges or surface tunnels, usually between inches deep. Both gophers and moles can cause damage to your yard if you allow them to stay and habituate.

Even though gophers are solitary animals, one gopher can build over dirt plugs mounds in one year. If your garden is covered in holes, you may just have one busy gopher on your hands.

Gophers can also destroy underground utility cables or piping, eat rooted plants and contribute to soil erosion. Moles are rarely seen by humans and can go undetected until their tunneling activity becomes apparent.

They feed primarily on insects and earthworms and rarely on plants or vegetables. However, mole tunneling can disturb grass and plant roots, ultimately stunting growth. As the weather warms up and winter turns into spring, you may start to notice an increase in gopher activity.

Besides the holes that gophers can burrow in your yard, they can also be a nuisance by chowing down on some of your plants. You may be wondering, what plants do gophers eat? This bait generally contains 0. Baits containing 2.

As with strychnine, these baits are lethal after a single feeding. Multiple-feed anticoagulants chlorophacinone and diphacinone are available as well. When using anticoagulant baits, you'll need to apply a large amount of bait—about 10 times the amount needed when using strychnine baits, perhaps requiring multiple applications—so enough will be available for multiple feedings.

Although generally less effective than strychnine baits, anticoagulant baits are less toxic after ingestion of a single dose, and have an antidote available. As such, they are preferred in areas where children and pets might be present.

When using either type of bait, be sure to follow all label directions and precautions. Be sure to clean up any bait spilled aboveground, as it could be hazardous to desirable wildlife and pets. It is important to remember that bait application for gophers is only allowed directly within burrow systems; above ground application is illegal and ineffective and may expose pets and nontarget wildlife to poison bait.

Bait application should not be made in gardens with root vegetables as these vegetables could come into direct contact with the bait and expose people to the pesticide.

After placing the bait in the main tunnel, close the probe hole with sod, rocks, or some other material that excludes light while preventing dirt from falling on the bait. Several bait placements within a burrow system will increase success. Tamp down or clear existing mounds so you can distinguish new activity. If new mounds appear more than 2 days after strychnine or zinc phosphide baiting or 7 to 10 days after using anticoagulant baits, you'll need to rebait or try trapping.

If gophers have infested a large area, use a hand-held bait applicator to speed treatment. Bait applicators are a combination probe and bait reservoir. Once you have located a tunnel using the probe, a trigger releases a measured amount of bait into the tunnel. Applicators are often used only with strychnine or zinc phosphide bait, given that the applicators only dispense a small quantity of bait at a time. Fumigation with smoke or gas cartridges usually isn't effective, because gophers quickly seal off their burrow when they detect smoke or gas.

However, fumigation with aluminum phosphide, a restricted-use application requiring a state license, is effective at controlling gopher populations.

Licensed pest control operators have access to aluminum phosphide, so if trapping and baiting aren't effective, you may consider hiring a professional. Be aware that new regulations greatly restrict the use of aluminum phosphide in residential areas. Applications can only be made within burrow systems located more than feet from any building where humans, domestic animals, or both are or may potentially be found.

Within residential areas, aluminum phosphide can only be applied in parks and athletic fields. As such, it likely won't be available for use on most residential properties. In , pressurized exhaust machines were approved for use against burrowing rodents in California. As their name implies, these devices generate exhaust rich in carbon monoxide. This exhaust is injected into the burrow system, asphyxiating the gopher. However, the machines are expensive and are likely only practical for individuals involved in large-scale gopher management.

Pocket gophers can easily withstand normal garden or home landscape irrigation, but you can sometimes use flooding to force them from their burrows, enabling you to use a shovel or a dog to kill the rodent. Gas explosive devices are also available, but they are only somewhat effective at controlling gopher populations. These devices ignite a mixture of propane and oxygen in the burrow system. This concussive force kills the gopher and destroys the burrow system. Be sure to exercise caution when using these devices because of the potential for unintended damage to property, injury to users and bystanders, potential for starting fires in dry environments, and destruction of turf.

Be aware that these devices are quite loud, making them unsuita-ble in residential areas. Other approaches tend to be significantly more effective. No repellents have proven effective at protecting gardens or other plantings from pocket gophers.

Plants such as gopher purge, Euphorbia lathyrus, castor bean, Ricinus communis, and garlic have been suggested as repellents, but research has not substantiated these claims. Although many devices designed to frighten pocket gophers are commercially available—including vibrating stakes, ultrasonic devices, and wind-powered pinwheels—these rodents don't frighten easily, probably because of their repeated exposure to noise and vibrations from sprinklers, lawnmowers, vehicles, and people moving about.

Another ineffective control method is placing chewing gum or laxatives in burrows in hopes of killing gophers. Once you have controlled pocket gophers, monitor the area on a regular basis for reinfestation. Level all existing mounds after the control program, and clean away weeds and garden debris, so you can easily see fresh mounds.

It is important to check regularly for reinfestation, because pocket gophers can move in from other areas, and damage can reoccur in a short time. If your property borders wildlands, vacant lots, or other areas that serve as a source of gophers, you can expect gophers to reinvade regularly.

Be prepared to take immediate control action when they do. It is easier, cheaper, and less time consuming to control one or two gophers than to wait until the population builds up to the point where they cause excessive damage. Pocket gophers. Wild Mammals of North America, 2nd ed.

YouTube also has several good instructional videos on setting a gopher trap and locating the tunnels with a probe. Another common way to rid your site of gophers is to feed them a poison bait. Most gopher baits are single feed baits and should only be used underground as they can be very toxic to pets and children.

Because it is not common for the gopher to come above ground, there is little risk for secondary poisoning to wildlife with gopher baits. Always place pocket gopher bait in the main underground tunnel, not the lateral tunnels. More: These common garden plants are poisonous to you and your pets. More: Spray now to be sure to have peaches this summer.

More: Master Gardeners: Hire a good arborist for tree issues. Pocket gophers heads are small and flattened, with small ears and eyes. Gophers are solitary animals except when breeding or rearing young.

Gophers are active year round, but are the most visibly active in the spring and fall when the soil is of the ideal moisture content for digging. Gophers can create up to 70 mounds per month in ideal soil.