How can I get rid of gophers in a non-lethal way?

Question

Gophers or ground squirrels are common pests in North America, that can destroy the fruits of your hard labour. They create extensive underground tunnels and are mostly active at night. A typical gopher infested yard looks like this with mounds of mud and dirt piled up at the entrances to the tunnels.

What would be a good way to get rid of the gophers in a non-lethal way? I know that there are professionals who do come out, lay traps and kill them or you could buy some rodent poison at the local Home Depot/any gardening store. I'd like to know if there are alternatives to these because a) the first option can be expensive and b) I don't want to end up with a bunch of dead animals in my yard when I have no clue how/where to dispose them.

Answer 1

I originally posted this as an answer to this question on Home Improvement:

I have a friend who swears by Euphorbia Lathyrus (he calls it Mole Purge). It has naturalized itself in his back yard and in flowerbeds at the front of his house, and the only places I've seen molehills are at the extreme edges of the front of his lot.

I've also never seen any dead gophers or moles in his yard, so I believe it's acting as a repellent instead of poisoning them, and as I noted in the comments there, he hasn't had problems with his dogs chewing it.

Answer 2

I don't think that reason (a) has to be expensive. I picked up a pack of two gopher traps at the local hardware store for less than $10 and they are pretty simple to set and are more effective than poisons and bombs (since you absolutely know if you got one or not).

That being said (b) is a real concern, but if you have a larger plot of land like me, they can be disposed of far from your home and are usually taken care of by other critters within a day or two.

Answer 3

In addition to the answers above, my local gardening center had the following suggestions which are really simple solutions

1. Gophers aren't fond of strong smells. So dumping some coffee grounds in their tunnels should drive them away. Also, the dryer sheets (fabric softeners, I think) which are strongly scented should do the trick.
2. This is useful for people with indoor cats as pets. The suggestion is to put used cat litter in their tunnels and fresh mounds. Gophers, being rodents are natural prey for cats and the scent of a cat in the litter is enough to scare them away.

Both of these should serve as good alternatives to using traps/poison, but as Randy points out, traps are pretty cheap (I had just assumed they might not be)

Answer 4

Below are a couple more suggestions:

1. Attract natural predators, especially birds of prey might be another option worth investigating a little more:

   • Attract hawks and owls into their area, by putting up a perch (roost) in the middle of the area. A simple cross beam "T" six or more feet off the ground will give those birds of prey a convenient platform to hunt from.

2. To prevent gophers (and other burrowing, tunneling pests) entering an area, a "low" level fence that is sunk (buried) into the ground 2ft (600mm) makes a very effective barrier:

   • If using a metal mesh type fence, spacing between wires should be no bigger than ½inch (12.5mm).