Gophers have 41 different species spread across northern and Central America. With just 6-8 inches of body length and 200gm to 1Kg max weight, they are a real threat to your property. These burrowing rodents are famous for their tunneling activities which they use effectively to destroy farms, gardens, yards, and lawns.
Check out below some natural ways to get rid of them.
Natural Ways to Repel Gopher
No-Kill Traps To Capture Gophers
No-kill traps are an effective way to capture gophers instead of killing them. These traps can mostly be effective in small areas where only a few gophers exist. You can use these no-kill traps gophers alive and leave them at some far place open field, never returning.
Therefore, single-door mesh-wired traps can effectively capture these rodents alive. These cages have a sensitive trigger installed that immediately captures anything that touches it. Furthermore, the internal structure of the trap even keeps the captured creature from harming himself once inside. The spring door barricades both in and out and do not let any animal get stuck once trapped.
You may even use the black hole gopher trap with a cylindrical design that resembles their tunnel shape. You can easily install them underground as a joint between their tunnels. The trap design can easily deceive a gopher who, without noticing it, can easily fall into the trap. These traps require only 7″ of operating space and have steel cables installed. Once the gopher tries to pass through the wire, it will snare down and capture him in its cylindrical-shaped trap.
Flooding Gopher Holes To Repel.
Flooding in gopher holes is a dis-proven repellent process that does not work well as you may think. It does not repel them in the way you may have heard about it. What happens in flooding is you can mainly push too much water inside gopher holes, thinking they may die or retreat due to it. Sadly, it does not work that way. It will damage the lawn and grass with the solid underneath that area. This will make it easier for a rodent to tunnel from one place to another more easily.
It may temporarily repel them if too many are underneath your lawn or garden. But that, too, cannot be said with absolute certainty. They only retreat from their burrows until the water goes away. Once that happens, they happily return to their positions like before. Therefore, we recommend looking for any other natural way to repel them instead of wasting time with this ineffective trick.
Oils and Scents To Deter Those Gophers
Oils and scents are very effective in naturally repelling gophers. Since they have a weak sense of sight, they must rely heavily on their smelling sense. Some odors are unpleasant for gophers, forcing them to leave their tunnels. So, spilling different oils will like make it can be beneficial in repelling gophers. These oils have a sharp smell, making it unappealing for gophers to stay in the same area for longer.
You can use lavender, fish, rosemary, Iris, peppermint oil, and most importantly, Castor oil. Castor oil is the most effective oil to repel gophers. However, it has a terrible taste and disgusting smells that gophers hate too much. In addition, if you continuously spill castor oil in their mounds, it will become unbearable for them to withstand, thus forcing them to leave for elsewhere.
Plants As a Natural Deterrent.
Like oils, few plants can work as a natural and safe repellent for gophers. Gophers usually make fresh fruits and vegetable roots like apples, lettuce, alfalfa, carrot sticks, and, most importantly, peanuts. If you have all these natural foods grown in your lawn or garden, they are more likely to attract gophers. They love to attack the tubers and roots of these fruits and vegetables, trees, or seeds and make them the main source of their food.
Therefore, you can install repellent plants like Euphorbia lathyris, Marigold, Salvia, Oleander, and crown imperials. All these plants contain poison in their roots that can kill or repel gophers once they taste or smell them underground. Similarly, humans don’t like to eat onion or garlic raw. Gophers dislike them the same way due to their pungent smell and taste. Their continuous interaction with these plants can force them to retreat. You can place these plants where you suspect gophers or around their mounds and even create a fence boundary to protect them.
Barn Owl Nesting Boxes Can Scare Gophers.
Another natural and effective way to repel gophers is to install a barn owl nest box. These owls will attack or scare gophers, forcing them to retreat. However, it might not work as effectively and quickly as you expect. The results will become evident over time. On an estimate, a small family of these barn owls can kill around 1000 gophers a year as they are severe enemies to them.
Therefore, install their nest boxes and encourage these barn owls to take residence near your farm or lawn. You must ensure that there should be plenty of gophers in your area to keep these owls busy on their hunt. Otherwise, it may only be worthwhile if they lose their interest due to less supply of gophers.
Conclusion
Getting rid of gophers is crucial for your family and pets’ safety. These burrowing rodents are clever enough to hide in underground tunnels for days. You can use the above natural repellents to force them to retreat without any side effects. However, ensure your pets or family members do not go near their traps as it may cause harm to them as well. It may be a worthy solution to call a professional instead to handle the situation if things still don’t work out well with these repellents.
Jennifer Mornard is the owner of a backyard farm in Calaveras County. She keeps her garden pest-free by using organic and inorganic methods and keeping it clean. She also tests pest control products to keep snakes, gophers, and other pests away.
Jennifer has worked and study reptiles around the globe including Africa, Asia, Australia and in the open prairies, grasslands deserts in USA. It is her mission to provide a solution for reptiles, manly snakes, and human beings to co-exist. Her goal is to educate people so they can prevent the unpleasant experience of snakes and humans crossing paths in people homes and properties.
Gopher Spurge