Pocket gophers are rodents, medium to small in size, which burrow, spending 99% of their lifespan in underground tunnels and nests. Gophers have external cheek pouches on the outside of their mouths where they store food for their young. There are many different species of pocket gophers in North America.  They are powerful diggers, have front paws with large claws which make them the enemy of many home owners with well manicured lawns. The pocket gopher is well adapted for digging and burrowing because they mostly live underground, and when overpopulated, one of the most difficult to control.

Pocket gophers eat the roots of grass, flowers, shrubs, and even sometimes small trees. Gophers are very destructive for tree plantations. In fact, each year the Forestry Service contracts pest control professionals to manage pocket gophers in order to safeguard new tree seedlings. These animals are herbivores, loving to eat all manner of plants in yards, lawns, gardens, and flowerbeds. The burrow systems gophers dig are multi-branched and individuals tend to be territorial. During studies in California, practiced with radio collars on gophers, some gophers moved 200-300 ft per night. Just one gopher might dig up to 250 mounds per year, moving almost 4 tons of soil within a few weeks. Burrows constantly change and evolve, with some tunnels sealed off and new ones created. How a great number of tunnels and burrows are built? No one can really say but gophers cause serious damage for property owners.

Pocket gophers work year round, during the winter, the summer, even during heavy snow fall. In alfalfa fields, gophers are often watched feeding above ground. On the whole, gophers move through their tunnel system and eat the dangling roots. An simple way to figure out if a pocket gopher occupies a tunnel system is to simply dig open the tunnel. If gophers are active then they will fill in that hole, in this case, you have gophers.

Gophers are one of the most difficult to manage in the U.S. EPA approved traps and baits are for the most part used to deal with gopher infestations and their impact on the environment. Some baits include active ingredients like strychnine, diphacinone, chlorophacinone, and zinc phosphide. t. But, due to the length of the tunnel system, fumigants might not be as effective.

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