If you suspect you have gophers in your yard, you will want to understand what damage they can cause and how to get rid of them. Gophers spend their whole lives underground and can cause extensive damage to your lawn and plantings.

Gophers are clever critters and part of the rodent family. They are small, with brown fur that matches the soil they love to tunnel through. Their most unique features are their large, fur-lined cheek pouches, which can be turned inside out for emptying and cleaning, and their lips, which can close behind their incisor teeth so they can loosen soil without getting dirt in their mouths.

Gophers are smart rodents and can be difficult to get rid of. It takes the right approach and persistence to eliminate them from your property. When looking out at a lawn with mounds of dirt, it may not be easy to distinguish between a gopher or mole problem. It will take a Critter Control specialist to identify which pest is on your property.

How Do I Know if a Gopher is in My Yard?

Nice lawns make the perfect habitat for gophers. They love healthy, loose soil, so the better your lawn looks to you, the better it appears to a gopher. Gophers love garden vegetables, bulbs, and other roots. Their primary way of foraging for food is to eat through plant and lawn roots as they build their tunnels. They leave the soil denuded as they destroy the plant life above them. One gopher will consume 60% of its body weight every day. This process can destroy the ecosystem beneath your lawn.

Signs of a gopher infestation include:

    • Mounds of dirt 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.

Moles vs. Gophers

Although moles and gophers can damage lawns and gardens with tunneling and foraging, their diets can identify them. Moles are insectivores. Unlike gophers, which are herbivores and feed on plants, moles are interested in eating the worms, grubs, and other insects found in the soil. So, while they might damage and uproot plants as they tunnel, they are not eating them.

Gophers vs. Groundhogs

Both gophers and groundhogs have brownish fur and large front teeth that help them dig. Groundhogs are larger and stouter. Although both are tunnel-creating rodents and herbivores, groundhogs are surface eaters that graze on grasses, clover, dandelions, and fruits and vegetables. Gophers feed on the parts of the plant that are underground, such as roots and tubers.

Gopher Damage and Gopher Holes

While you may never actually see one, a gopher’s damage can be considerable. Luckily, they are loners and quite territorial, so unless you have a family on your property, there may likely be only one of them to remove.

The unsightly gopher mounds and gopher holes made are just the visible damage. The tunnels they create and the vegetation they kill are at the heart of the problem:

    • 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.

Getting Rid of Gophers

Extensive tunneling crossing throughout your lawn makes it nearly impossible to know exactly where a gopher is. Because of the damage they create, the best way to get rid of gophers is to call a Critter Control specialist who will arrive with the right tools and training to trap and remove the gophers humanely instead of through gopher extermination. Their gopher control specialists know how to locate these pests within their labyrinth system of tunnels. Once gopher removal is complete, homeowners can focus on Critter Control’s exclusion and restoration 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.

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