A cat can do wonders. My cats hunt them rather successfully; while I was working in garden, my one cat caught two13-striped ground squirrels in my garden in about an hour.
If that is not an option, then rat traps, really extra large mouse traps baited with peanut butter or cheese gets them.
i’m not sure of gopher’s and ground hogs are the same thing, but my parents have giant holes in their yard from ground hogs. apparently putting fox urine near the holes will make them go away
If you put in flower beds, the golfers will give up and go to a REAL golf course…oh, you said gophers, sorry, my mistake. Well, mole poison in the holes sometimes works. They are probably after the grubs under your sod. Get rid of the grubs, the gophers usually go away. The chewing gum thing doesn’t work. That’s another urban legend/old wives tale that sounds humane, but has no basis in fact.
unchewed. Supposedly they eat it, it swells in their gut, they can’t defecate, and die of intestinal impaction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. It’s a waste of good chewing gum.
Poison or traps are the only SURE way to rid your yard of these disgusting little disease carrying rodents. Trap and kill, of course; releasing them means they’ll just come back, or make a nuisance in someone else’s yard.
insects do have meat, ask anyone who eats insects on a regular basis. Three pounds of ants is probably twice the protein of three pounds of gopher meat. Now you’re just splitting hairs. I’m done here.
@Judi It is absolutely real. You can find dozens of crazy guys (It’s always guys!) using and abusing the equipment. The device is called Rodenator. It uses 3% propane with air to blow the critters to kingdom come. Costs about $2000 with a remote control ignition device “for safety”!
I don’t have one. Sure would be fun to try next July 4th.
I read all the posts and decided to call a pro rodent service! They said they use strictnyne AND tablets that release gasses in the golphers burrows. They only charge $175 and it’s worth it NOT to have to deal with those traps.
Thanks everyone for your feedback.
Get a beagle or some kind of hound. They hunt instinctively (meaning no training) and love to do their job. I have two 3 year old beagle mixes, was visiting my parents and came outside to find a dead groundhog in the yard, and my female hound looking very guilty….