Any gopher solutions?

Wow, so keep the exterminator's phone # handy is what you're telling me.

You can kill them yourself too if you want to take the time to do it. I don't like the idea of killing animals, but for some reason hiring a hit man to do it for me doesn't feel as bad!

I don't think I can do it myself, I'm a real wimp that way... except slugs, there are lots here and I've gotten used to snipping them in half with my scissors.... or giving the kids some salt to pour on them. But, that is way different than a real critter.

Darn grasshoppers, too! I can crush those suckers without compunction now. Don't ever grab one of those big ones without heavy gloves, though, their legs are painful!

No kidding gophers can be a hazard. Found a hole right in the middle of the path today. It's a continuation of a tunnel they made last spring that caused the top step on our path to the pond collapse. DH kept saying it was erosion and I didn't believe it. The year before, they took down a huge native mallow and when I dug up the stump (actually, I just yanked it out), I found tunnels all over the place. He should know by now I'm going to be right! lol

hellnzn - I think you scored a hit with that gopher! Congrats! You-1, gopher-0. I like to think that you saved the world from the head of a large family tree of gophers!

Gophers are active as they begin mating mid-winter and then as long as the ground is not dry in their burrowing areas. As their young ones leave the nest they move about briefly. By summer heat they are pretty well burrowed in from the heat unless they have to forage.

They will migrate to new turf at night.

One benefit we (Gopher hunters) have is that they are most active when the ground is damp enough for us to dig into their burrows to do them damage!

One of our closest neighbors and friends for many years is an animal rights person. She "kings exes" snails, gophers, and neighborhood coyotes from "animals with rights" in our neighborhood. lol

She saw a rogue coyote destroy a neighbors small dog by jumping a 6' fence in broad daylight. This changed her mind about coyotes in the neighborhood. She wanted to hire a trapper to kill this animal and declared that the critter had no rights. It happened in seconds! Within a couple of months her own dog was maimed and had to be put down (same rogue coyote). A year ago the same rogue and his pack engaged our one-year old Border Collie male 'Patch'. WRONG! Patch survived with two contusions on his neck (one was about the size of a mans fist) and we nor anybody we know has seen the rogue coyote that had terrorized the community for 2 years. (Estimate the rogue killed over 60 dogs). I think Patch damaged him so bad that he (the rogue) became bait for other coyotes.

We don't see any stray cats in our rural area. Small dogs aren't at all safe. Depending on size of the pet, there may be two great predators in CA rural areas. 1. Coyotes, 2. Birds of prey Eagles and Hawks. Kittens are fairest of all targets for Hawks. 23 years ago whenever we came here we occasionally had visits from Bobcats. These wary animals kept the cottontails under control. The house tracts 2 miles to the west of us have run away the beautiful Bobcats. Now we have dozens of cottontails that I will not hurt, but I wish they would eat stuff down on the river and leave us alone. I have to protect everything from them whenever we are in a drought.

I care for the wildlife in this area. I hope the coyotes move on though. The rogue was one that had been orphaned as a pup and injured with a dysfunctional hind leg. He had been cared for by a well-meaning hermit that lived nearby on a secluded 7acre preserve that he owned for 65 years. The gentleman hermit died after caring for the coyote and removing the coyote's natural fear of man. Because the coyote was left to roam and provided food by the hermit he had only a small fear of man. Whenever the old guy died the coyote had no source of food except neighborhood dogs. He was on a rampage killing dogs in the area. Nobody would help, the county, the Feds, nobody. So our pets are protected. I have a fully covered kennel. Whenever we go away s the dogs are in the kennel and a neighbor feeds and waters and cares for them. The rogue as disappeared, but there are still packs of coyotes. We will start hearing them in a couple of months with the new pups out hunting.

People at work used to dump kittens with us before we learned we couldn't even put them out for a few minutes to play, and leave them alone for a couple of minutes. Hawks would be waiting for that moment in nearby trees. We discovered this after the kittens were 'lost' one day. Living in CA country or outlying suburbs near the country requires adaptation for city dwellers.

Our last place was a ranchito in the San Bernardino Mountains. There we had CA. Brown Bears, Deer, as an occasional Mountain Lion. Strangely, seldom any coyotes. Very few gophers, they don't like rocky soil in the mountains.

So far this season we have found fresh evidence of only 3 gophers on our 2 acres. These 3 seem to have disappeared after baiting a month or so ago. I am certain its only the beginning. We will see more of this later.

Dont read this paragraph if you like gophers I don't know how many gophers the female border 'Rose' has decimated this winter. Our neighbor reports that she sees her lying in wait when one stick its heads above the ground and grabs it, then throws it into the air and when it come down the other 2 dogs and her compete to grab. and that gopher is dust! We see a few places in the open un-landscaped areas where there are 2 week old mounds, but no fresh ones since the last rains.

Its sure changed since that first year 24 years ago when the sons and I accounted for the death of over 90 gophers on these 2 acres (at that time we only trapped and baited on 1/2 acre).



bob :>)

Stories like yours, Bob, especially the final paragraph in your latest post, always make me laugh when I remember cmerrick's post further up in this thread, insisting that gophers are solitary creatures with an exclusive territory exceeding 1/3 of an acre.

I finally bit the bullet and started using gopher-proof cages for my newest roses. So far, I have planted about 170 of them in cages, and only 2 have died, presumably from causes not related to gophers. I plant the cages with about three inches of the wire above the ground and then fold the tops over and inward, to keep the gophers from entering the cages from above. The cost of the cages seemed staggering at first, but it's only a fraction of the cost of the roses I would lose otherwise.

Bob, fantastic - I had to read your post twice ! So much wildlife, we see deer, lots of skunks, rabbits & coyote occasionally here - but nothing compared to your area.

Zuzu,
Good for you! Rose cages are a reality in gopher world!

Our rose garden is long gone. I put it in the first year and didn't cage them. I knew better, but was just lazy.

over the next several years I lined one 200' fence with climbing rose. Carol (wife) loves roses and we are xerophyte landscaped. I put the roses in 18" deep X 12" diameter home-made rabbit wire baskets with about 5" above ground. It has worked well. We've not lost any of them to gophers in 17 years.

Red,
I am condensing many years of time in these stories. Cottontails are our biggest concern at present. They multiply in the winter when there is plenty of grass for forage. Then in summer when everything is dry they come into the gardens and begin eating young leaves on and succulents.

Dogs won't stop these night feeders. They aren't hungry enough to kill cottontails, so they consider them their daytime playmates. They get their exercise chasing them.

My next door neighbor lived here for 67 years before he died last month. He told wonderful tales of the game in this area. We have rescued several kinds of birds here and nursed them to health. Its amazing how hard it is to get help quickly whenever you have a baby Falcon that needs care. So we have rescued them, brought them to adults, gave them a couple of weeks of protected flight area to get their wings, and released them. "Jimmy" our latest Falcon (now in the neighborhood) often flies to sit on a telephone pole in the back screams to be fed right on schedule just like he did when he was a small bird in a cage at his old feeding time. He won't take food we offer. So maybe he just likes to stay in practice screaming.

bob

oh fantastic ! We have a falcon that hangs around - love to see him. And rarely a couple of quail land and walk around - love watching them. Mostly we have goldfinch, house finch, robins, stellar jays, woodpeckers and those darling Anna's hummingbirds. I have feeders everywhere, definitely the "weird bird lady" of the neighborhood.

lol @ Screaming Jimmy! .. The cottontails - I wanted to start a vegetable garden, that's probably extremely difficult, then.

I see holes again so we have not killed it, it is wet ground and may be a family but they are going away from the bait. My neighbors said it will usually get worse before better sometimes but they said they will come back and retreat for free. I hope it is soon. It is nearer to my new lasagna bed now. grrr.

Die pig, die.

Hey I did not poison it but I caught it in my black trap. Yeah. I caught the second one above ground again. This time I put an alfalfa cube in the big hole(the feax hole) and then put a strip of tree bark on it's back with some dirt on it so the gopher would feel dirt and another alfalfa cube in the back of the bark, laid the trap over it, covered it with a black plastic garbage can lid and caught it the next day. It had molassis in the cube so I thought it would stay longer than the other fresh bate I used that was rotting.

Yeah, Dawn! Congratulations! Garbage can lid sounds like an easy way to block the light, too.

Kathleen

Thanks Kathleen, I was despirate and the good thing about the lid is that it is easy to take the mound dirt and sprinkle it around the lid if there is a spot that needs to be covered for the light not to get in. Saved me from digging up more grass.

Congratulations ! I've been wondering if you had any luck, the lid was a great idea.

Thanks. It took it's toll in damage before the evil one was killed.

I was just watching Gardening By the Yard, and he had a guy on there today talking about controlling gophers. He had a couple suggestions I hadn't heard before (although chances are they're back in this huge thread somewhere!). He said they don't like the smell of chili powder or pine disinfectant, so if you put a bit of either one of those down their tunnel then they'll abandon it (make sure the pine disinfectant actually has pine oil in it, not just piney fragrance). Of course he also suggested the vibrating thingies which I know don't work so who knows!

Well I can say that in the areas where my last remaining roses were, that the gophers didn't get a couple of years ago, I dug around and under the rest of the roses and put chili powder and chili seeds and black pepper in there and so far no more loss of roses. Now I plant all new plantings except mediterreanean plants with atleast pepper which is cheap. Even if it rains it should kick it up in their face while digging

I'm sorry if I'm repeating information (I haven't read all the 300 posts!) but I found THE best solution is....to get a gopher-killing-dog!!!
My garden was destroyed by *&^%&^%$*^& gophers while I was gone on holidays for 3 weeks...when we got back, our dog scared them all away and they are gonners!
Now whenever I hear some suspicious noise in the yard...I look at him and say "get them!" and he does! ; )

I had a gopher sniffer and he would dig up my yard and gnaw at my plants trying to get the darn thing. I have seen the terriers though go mad, flinging vermin right and left. lol

Totally true....now I don't have gopher holes, I have dog holes! lol

I've heard the Jack Russells are good gopher dogs...but I have to wonder what they'd dig up when there's no gophers around! I prefer my Sheltie who generally knows better than to even set paw in the garden!

My friend Chris had JR and they were perfectly happy to get rats, gophers and mice and never had any desire to dig at any plants. Her Rottys did that too. It was groase as she had 40 acres and gophers and rats were flying through the air with broken necks. ohhhh yuck, but so good!!!

I'm hunting for a Border, Norfolk, Norwich or Cairn Terrier for just this purpose. I think the Border is my favorite choice because they aren't quite so rambunctious but love those burrowing critters. I've seen Dachshunds and Jack Russels dig just for the sake of digging, but never the others. They are only interested if there's something moving down there. You need to get them young though so you can train them not to go for above-ground animals, like your cat for instance.

My shar peis love to go after the scratching they hear and they are always smelling the ground like a hound and when they latch on to a smell and a sound, it's on. I just hate the digging after them, they dig but never catch. I think they need to be able to open their mouths wider.

I was browsing through this really really long thread and came across a solution for you all....

I could rent my datschund out by the hour! :o) . He is not normally allowed in my garden area, but the first mole hole I see... I let him loose and he is the only sure fire method I have found so far. He doesnt always catch them, but he must scare them cause everytime I let him loose...the gophers disappear for a while. He does less damage in one hour than a gopher does in one day :o) he doesnt care about the plants... literally! He unfortunately has dug up a few in the process, but save the rest of them by chasing off those gophers :o)

AnjL

lol I may have to drive up to Freemont and rent a weeny dog.

he has a hot dog costume too...just for your amusement while he's de-gophering your yard :o) LOL

Do you have some pics? I'd love to see him in his hot dog costume chasing gophers!

pictures yes, and one preferably with a big fat ugly brown gopher in his/her mouth. (I specify because One time I trapped one that was so cute and cream colored like a guinne pig.)

I want to see the weenie dog , too ! lol

I will have to dig up a picture of him in his costume... I think its on my other puter.... but I will post it... he only wore it one year.... my teacup poodle wore a skunk outfit and didnt get any attention at all (much to his dismay) and the weenie dog... he got all the attention! LOL!

I'm turning him loose in my yard this weekend....to get him into shape :o) LOL!

I think I've made a really exciting discovery for the rose growers on this thread, and I don't know why it took me so long to figure it out.

I've been recommending the Canadian rose nurseries to people for years because the roses I buy from Canada grow into huge and healthy bushes. I buy them from Pickering, Hortico, and Palatine, all of which graft their roses onto Multiflora rootstock.

Okay, here comes the exciting part: I've lost hundreds and hundreds of roses to gophers through the years, but not one of those roses was grafted onto Multiflora. Gophers apparently love own-root roses and roses grafted onto Dr. Huey rootstock, but not Multiflora. Before I started planting my roses in cages, the gophers would demolish almost every rose in a rose bed. I only noticed recently that the ones they didn't attack came from Canada. Sometimes the gophers only nibble on own-root and "Huey-grafted" roses, and those do recover eventually, but it happens year after year and they never grow to the proper size.

I also suspect that gophers dislike Fortuniana rootstock as much as the Multiflora. I only have about 10 roses grafted onto Fortuniana, but they also are large, healthy, and undisturbed, even when the non-Fortuniana roses around them start disappearing.

Wow Zuzu. I have no idea about those types of rootstock, never thought I needed to know about how it is grafted, but I may have to think differently. Sounds so exciting, did you tell the rose forum?

Besides my pepper and chili seeds that I plant roses with now, I also buy cheap large cans of jalapenos and use the juice and the peppers in a blender and apply around all those plants and water as usual. I have a gopher or two and they show activity all around the area and have not touched even one of the plants there YET.

I didn't tell the rose forum yet. I had to tell the people in this thread first. We are the true victims of the gophers. Most of the people in the rose forum don't even know what a gopher is.

Great news about the jalapenos.

That IS really cool, Zuzu! It's also the kind of thing that I probably never would have thought of..lol....I've been lucky with the wire, no losses, but I sure would like to get rid of the wire..Do you think we could graft absolutely everything onto multiflora rootstock???? Figs, tomato plants??!

So when you buy roses here in the local rose nursery, can we get this or must we go to Canada. I realize that my jalapeno thing is a tempory solution until you can catch or kill it, but I thought it was worth mentioning since I see the darn thing is not dead after 2 months and it has not killed a thing yet. Your thing is a real genius noteworthy thing we can work with.

No, Dawn, I don't think any of the local nurseries would have roses grafted on Multiflora. The rootstock of choice in California and everyplace else in the United States but Florida is Dr. Huey. Florida uses Fortuniana, so if you ever bought grafted roses from Merrygro when it was still in business, you have some of those.

Your best bet would be to plant the local stuff in cages and order your other roses on line from a Canadian nursery. You don't really have to go to Canada. In fact, you probably wouldn't be able to bring anything back in from Canada because you don't have a fancy nursery certificate.

Oh, Sherry, figs grafted onto Multiflora. What a dream that would be. Fig trees don't last 15 minutes in Sebastopol before the roots are chewed to bits. I wonder if Hortico sells grafted fig trees.

This is truly worthy of some scientific study...I mean, really, there must be a substance in the multiflora that the gophers don't like. If that could be reproduced and used as a systemic against gophers, someone could get mucho rich. I'd invest in it and I'd certainly buy it. We could probably get enough people from DG alone to front the study..lol.....

I think I'm really on to something here, Sherry. I just pulled up all of my invoices from Hortico, Pickering, and Palatine from the last three years. I bought about 250 roses from those three nurseries and every single rose is still alive (with the exception of three that died of causes other than gophers), even though scores of roses that were planted in the same beds are gone, gone, gone.

And they're huge in comparison with most of my other roses. The only other roses that are as large are in locations where they've somehow escaped the notice of gophers for decades.

Here's my Delany Sisters from Hortico, which I planted bare-root just two years ago, in April 2006. The two cats are posing sweetly near it to give you a sense of perspective. I actually was taking a picture of the cats, so this isn't even the whole Delany Sisters bush. There's more of it on top and to the left of the frame.

Gosh dang girl you need to zip up your secret and be a greedy rich chick now and hope we don't tell anyone. giggling !