Gopher Control: How to Find, Trap and Block Pocket Gophers

Fresh piles of dirt keep appearing in your lawn or garden, a young tree suddenly wilts, or a row of vegetables tips over with the roots chewed off. If you live in the western or central US, a pocket gopher is a likely suspect. Gophers spend nearly their whole lives underground, so you will probably never see one. This guide shows you how to confirm the problem, find the tunnel and choose between trapping and barriers.

How to identify pocket gophers

Pocket gophers are burrowing rodents named for the fur-lined pouches on the outside of their cheeks, which they use to carry food and nesting material. They have a stocky build, powerful front legs with long claws, small eyes and ears and a short, sparsely haired tail. Their lips close behind the front teeth, so they can gnaw through soil without getting a mouthful of dirt. Fur color varies and usually matches the local soil.

Most gophers are 6 to 10 inches long, though the full range across species runs from about 5 to 14 inches, and males are larger than females.

The shape comes from how they dig. Gophers come up to the surface at an angle, so the soil fans out to one side. Mole mounds are round and cone-shaped. If you see raised ridges and round hills, our mole control guide is the better fit.

Where pocket gophers live

There are 14 pocket gopher species in the US. They are common across the West and the central plains:

• Plains pocket gopher: the central plains, from the Canadian border south through Texas and Louisiana.
• Botta’s pocket gopher: most of the southern half of the western US, and the most widespread gopher in California.
• Northern pocket gopher: most of the northwestern US.
• Southeastern pocket gopher: northern and central Florida, southern Georgia and southeastern Alabama, where people sometimes call them “salamanders.”

Several other species have smaller ranges in the Southwest, the southern plains and the far West. None of these ranges reach the Northeast, so dirt mounds there are more likely from moles.

Signs of gophers and the damage they do

• Fresh mounds of moist, dark soil, often in a cluster or a line.
• Plants that wilt or die suddenly, or pull out of the ground with roots chewed away.
• Gnawed bark on young trees. In snowy areas, gophers tunneling through snow can girdle trunks several feet up.
• Chewed irrigation lines and sprinkler tubing.
• Earth tubes (“casts”) on the surface in spring in snowy areas, left from tunneling under the snow.

Gophers feed on roots and bulbs from inside the tunnel, and they sometimes pull whole plants down into the burrow.

How to get rid of pocket gophers, step by step

1. Find the main tunnel with a probe

Traps work only in the burrow itself, so you need to find it.

1. Pick a fresh mound with moist soil and locate the plug, the small circle or depression of soil on one side.
2. Use a gopher probe or a long screwdriver. Push it into the ground 4 to 12 inches out from the plugged side.
3. When the probe drops suddenly about 2 inches, you have hit the tunnel. The main burrow is usually 4 to 12 inches deep.
4. If you miss, keep probing in a circle around the plug. It may take a few tries.

2. Set traps in pairs

Lethal traps are the most common choice for home yards. UC IPM and the ICWDM describe two-pronged pincer traps and choker-style box traps as standard tools. PVC tube cage traps also exist.

• Dig down to the tunnel and open it so you can set a trap facing each direction.
• Stake each trap with wire or chain so an animal or predator cannot drag it away.
• You can cover the hole to block light or leave it open; research found little difference between open and closed sets. A piece of plywood over the hole keeps kids and pets away.
• Bait and human scent do not seem to matter, according to UC Davis research cited by UC IPM.
• Check traps often. If nothing is caught in 1 to 2 days, move the traps to another fresh mound.

Spring and fall, when gophers are pushing up new mounds, are the best times to trap.

3. Protect plants with wire baskets

When you plant trees or shrubs where gophers are active, set the root ball in a wire basket.

• Use 3/4-inch wire mesh.
• Make the basket big enough for the roots to keep growing.
• For trees that need only temporary protection, UC IPM suggests light-gauge, non-galvanized wire, which rusts and breaks down after several years.
• Line the bottom of raised beds with mesh wire before you fill them.

4. Build an underground barrier for small areas

A buried fence can protect a flower bed or vegetable plot. Fencing a whole property this way is rarely practical.

Persistent gophers can still dig beneath a barrier, and wire can crowd roots, so check it now and then. To protect sprinkler lines and buried cables, surround them with 6 to 8 inches of coarse gravel or run them through pipe more than 3 inches across, which gophers cannot open their jaws wide enough to bite.

Skip the smoke bombs and gadgets. Gas cartridges rarely work because gophers seal off their tunnels fast. UC IPM reports that vibrating stakes, ultrasonic devices, pinwheels, chewing gum and laxatives do not work. Repellent plants like gopher purge and castor bean are unproven, and some are poisonous.

Legal notes

Pocket gophers generally are not protected by federal or state law. California classes them as nongame mammals that you can control at any time by legal methods, without a trapping license.

There are exceptions:

• Protected subspecies. Four subspecies of the Mazama pocket gopher in Thurston and Pierce counties, Washington, are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. If you live there, contact the US Fish and Wildlife Service or the state wildlife agency before you trap.
• Trap rules. Trapping rules can differ by state. Check with your state wildlife agency before you buy a trap.
• Baits and fumigants. Some gopher baits are restricted-use pesticides, and rules differ by state. In California, the fumigant aluminum phosphide requires a state license and cannot be used within 100 feet of a building where people or pets are or may be. This site does not recommend poison baits for homeowners. If you are considering any pesticide, read our guide to using pesticides safely and follow the label.

When to call a professional

One or two gophers in a home garden are a manageable DIY job if you are willing to probe, dig and check traps every day. Get help when:

• You have mounds across a large lawn, pasture, orchard or vineyard.
• Gophers keep coming back from neighboring open land.
• They are chewing irrigation lines or buried cables.
• You live where a protected subspecies may be present.
• You would rather not handle lethal traps.

What a pro visit usually involves: confirming gophers (not moles or ground squirrels), probing for the main runs, setting and checking traps over several days, and advice on barriers for new plantings. On large sites, licensed operators may use tools homeowners usually do not, such as restricted-use fumigants or pressurized exhaust machines, which are costly and mainly practical for large areas.

Questions to ask: Are you licensed for this work in this state? Will you trap, bait or fumigate, and why? How many return visits are included? What do you do to keep pets and children away from traps or baits? How do you handle gophers that move in from next door?

Our guide to choosing a pest control company has a full checklist, and what affects pest control costs helps you compare quotes. For other yard animals, start at the nuisance wildlife hub or the lawn and garden section.

Gopher questions

Will flooding the tunnels force them out? Normal watering does not bother gophers. Flooding can sometimes force one out of its burrow, but you still have to deal with the animal once it surfaces, so trapping is usually simpler.

How many gophers do I have? Usually fewer than you think. Gophers live alone in their burrow systems except when breeding or raising young, so a cluster of mounds is often the work of one animal.

Do gophers hibernate? No. They stay active all year, and in snowy areas they tunnel through the snow.