Safe, Fast, and Effective Gopher Control for Your Yard
Are there crescent-shaped dirt mounds in the yard? Plants mysteriously damaged? Dirt tunnels through your grass?
When gophers dig through your property, they cause costly damage and create safety hazards. Critter Control provides fast and reliable gopher control solutions to protect your lawn and garden.
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How Do I Know if a Gopher is in My Yard?
Signs of a gopher infestation include:
- Mounds of dirt are created as they tunnel underground.
- Raised ridges that run the length of their tunnels.
- Soft or sinking feeling when walking on your lawn as the dirt below your feet has been hollowed out.
- Damaged and dead plantings with yellowing and wilted foliage because their roots have been eaten.
- Gopher sightings, as these rodents are not nocturnal like most of their rodent relatives.
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- Gopher in Burrow
Why Are Gophers in the Yard?
Yards are a perfect habitat for gophers.
- Healthy, loose soil that’s easy to dig through
- Foraging for food like flowers, vegetables, and sometimes seeds
Gopher Damage and Gopher Holes
Digging gophers cause more problems than just an unsightly lawn.
- Vegetation Damage: Gophers eating roots as they tunnel will cause serious vegetation damage. Your lawn will begin to have yellow runways that mimic their tunnel routes. Flowers and vegetables will turn yellow and die as their roots have been eaten.
- Tree Damage: Gophers clip the roots of trees and shrubs, making it harder for them to survive and thrive.
- Tunneling in Lawns: The ground above their tunnels will become soft and collapsible under your feet.
- Erosion & Drainage: Gopher tunnels weaken the soil structure, causing erosion, uneven ground, and water drainage issues.
- Underground Utilities and Cables: Underground cables, electric lines, and pipes can be damaged, disrupting services.
- Structural Damage: Tunnels dug beneath driveways, paths, sheds, and house foundations can cause structural weaknesses and upheaval.
- Safety Hazards: The holes pose a tripping hazard to people and pets.
- Parasites: Gophers carry parasites such as ticks, fleas, and lice.
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- gopher damage to tulips
How We Get Rid of Gophers
Our proven process:
– Inspection & Identification
– Trapping & Removal
– Exclusion & Repairs
– Sanitation & Restoration
Why Choose Critter Control?
40+ Years of Gopher Control Expertise
☑Licenses & Insured Wildlife Removal Professionals
☑Safe, Humane, & Environmentally Responsible Methods
☑100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee
Gopher Control Near You
Don’t let gopher damage your lawn any longer.
Critter Control is ready to help — fast, safely, and humanely.
Call 1-800-274-8837 for Immediate Gopher Removal Services.
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Adult pocket gophers generally measure between five and 14 inches in length and weigh about a pound. These medium-sized rodents have brownish fur and get their name from the pocket-like pouches in their cheeks, which they use to carry food and nest materials. Gophers are built for burrowing and living underground, with long claws on their front feet, small eyes and ears, and sensitive whiskers that help with navigation. Their sparsely furred tails are also highly sensitive and useful for guiding the burrowing rodents through the darkness of subterranean soil.
Gophers live in underground burrows. They prefer to make their burrows in areas of loose, sandy soil where the surrounding plant growth acts as both food and cover. Lawns and crop fields are, therefore, ideal nesting sites for pocket gophers. In addition to their attraction to well-groomed home lawns, gophers inhabit alfalfa fields, cemeteries, golf courses, hayfields, and roadsides. They like to live alone except when raising their offspring, which are cared for exclusively by the mother.
Gophers are herbivores (plant eaters). Their diet consists of roots, tubers, bulbs, grasses, vegetables, and forbs (broad-leafed plants). During the winter, when food is scarce, they eat from the stockpile they saved up in summer but will eat tree bark and the stems of shrubs when necessary.
Gophers are attracted to well-aerated soil, a healthy lawn, and plentiful garden beds. Alfalfa and broad-leafed lawn weeds are some of their favorite foods.
Gophers are not interested in gaining entry to or building their dens in homes, but they do love yards with healthy lawns and plenty of vegetation.
Like any wild animal, gophers can become aggressive when cornered or attacked, but they are not usually dangerous. They do carry parasites that can spread disease.
Gophers can cause significant property damage if left unchecked. Some of the damage they leave behind is highly displeasing to the eye. Their extensive burrowing and tunneling can ruin lawns, while their feeding habits can destroy gardens and flowerbeds. They sometimes damage water lines and sprinkler systems with their digging and gnawing, and their tunnels can disrupt the flow of irrigation water, which results in soil erosion.
Effective gopher pest control involves making your yard less attractive to these pests. Use gopher-resistant plants in your garden beds. Gophers do not like daffodils, marigolds, rosemary, and lavender. Gophers also don’t like the taste or odor of garlic, castor oil, and pepper. Eliminate piles of debris, fallen fruit, and overgrown shrubs that provide cover for gophers. An effective gopher exclusion includes the installation of underground barriers around gardens and other potential food sources. Introducing a natural predator by putting up a nesting box for owls can be a good way to deter gophers, too. Critter control specialists can help put together a plan for gopher prevention and exclusion.
Setting traps and using deterrents may help you get rid of gophers. However, because gophers are quite clever and because you never know where in their tunnels they are, trapping is a frustrating activity that can take a lot of time and wear out your patience. Your best bet is to hire a professional gopher removal service, Critter Control.
Trapping and deterrents may help you get rid of gophers, but your best bet is to hire professional gopher control services. At Critter Control, we put our 40 years of experience to work for you. Our team of certified wildlife specialists can take care of gopher problems safely and professionally.