Your lawn and garden are your outdoor sanctuaries. Whether you’re grilling dinner, entertaining friends, or simply relaxing after a long day, your outdoor space should be a haven.
Unfortunately, the presence of even a few gophers is enough to transform that peaceful space into a nightmare. With their unsightly holes and the damage they do to plants, gophers can quickly wreak havoc on landscaping.
Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of gophers and reclaim your property. Here at Calibugs’s Pest Management, our team has helped thousands of Coachella Valley Bay Area residents deal with their gopher problems once and for all, so we know how to get rid of these pesky rodents.
In this post, we’ll share our top gopher control tips and help you understand which is best for you.
What are Gophers?
Gophers are small, furry rodents that grow to 5-14 inches in length and can weigh a pound or more. Like mice and voles, gophers are built to dig. They have external, fur-lined cheek pouches that extend to the shoulders and are used to store and transport food.
Their four large incisors grow throughout the gopher’s life and are perfect for chewing through tough, woody plants. To dig as efficiently as possible, gophers can close their lips behind those incisors to keep the dirt out of their mouths while moving quickly through the ground. Their small ears and eyes and short, powerful bodies travel efficiently through tunnels while their broad feet and sharp claws work like shovels to move soil.
Gophers may be found all across California, however, they favor regions with loose, sandy soil. When they settle in a new location, they dig a maze of burrows and tunnels in which to live, reproduce, and store food.
How to identify Gopher Damage in Your Yard and Garden
It’s easy to tell where gophers live. As they dig tunnels, they push excess soil to the surface, which creates long mounds that are easily visible in a lawn or garden.
However, the presence of mounds alone isn’t enough to identify gophers since moles also make mounds.
Here’s the easiest way to determine whether the mounds you’re seeing are the work of gophers or moles
When gophers make a mound, they push the dirt out so it creates a fan pattern. Moles, on the other hand, create neat, conical mounds. Additionally, gophers plug the entry holes into their tunnels. If you look closely, you’ll probably be able to see the plugs sitting on the top of a mound.
Finally, gophers break up the soil as they dig their tunnels, creating fine, sifted soil. Moles move soil in large clumps and only create a tunnel entrance every six feet or so, while gophers create a tight-knit group of tunnels and holes near one another.
Gophers are active during the day, and they do not hibernate, so the presence of gophers in your yard or garden will be relatively easy to spot.
How do Professionals Get Rid of Gophers?
Depending on the severity of the gopher infestation, a professional pest management company like Calibugs will offer a mixture of no-kill methods and conventional options, including the following:
Trapping
Calibugs pest control specialists will find gopher tunnels, expose a small section of them, and install professional-grade stainless steel traps within. We’ll cover the trap, flag it, and come back in a few days to remove the gophers and re-set the traps.
Carbon monoxide gopher removal
If trapping gophers is a concern, our trained techs can inject carbon monoxide into the gopher holes. This method satisfies Healthy Schools Act requirements and is an excellent solution for daycare centers and schools.
Annual gopher removal
Since gopher infestation can be a recurring problem, Calibugs also offers a yearly gopher removal program, within which technical services the property every month, and adjusting the gopher removal approach accordingly to ensure your yard stays beautiful and gopher-free.
Dealing with Gophers in the Coachella Valley Bay Area? We’re Here to Help!
Nobody wants to deal with a destructive, frustrating gopher infestation. Fortunately, Calibugs – Termite & Pest Control is here for you. Our team helps residential and commercial properties in California resolve gopher infestations once and for all and reclaim their outdoor spaces. We also work with parks and large facilities to eradicate gophers in an eco-conscious way.