What's the best way to get rid of gophers / moles?

YOUR ARE IN LUCK. As a MASTER GARDENER for the univ of Calif coop extension for over 15 years, I am know as Dr Death. I've have sent more buck tooth fuzz balls to gopher heaven the any man in San Diego County. My first time kill rate is 98.5% on my first trap'n attempt.

1st, poison bait... 25 % kill rate. They only work in the colder season when there isn't much for the fuzz balls to eat. Face it, given the choice of a big, fat juicy root or some dried out poison grain, what would you eat? Also, for the poison to work, they have to eat it at least 5 days in a row for it to do it's job. If Mr Gopher eats it only a few time, all you get is a sick, and smarter gopher.

Trap'n is the only way to make sure you nail the bas****. But the real secrete has nothing to go with traps. The secrete is to cave in and or backfill as much of his tunnel as possible. Just because you nailed uncle jim doesn't end your problem. Because as soon as uncle jim gets nailed, cousin leroy next door move right into jim's old condo. You can have plant problems for years and never know you have gophers. If they have nice little empty tunnels waiting for 'um, they don't have to dig new ones. No digging, no mounds & you think you have no gophers. Also by caving in their tunnel, you can see when you do have activity and can nip it right away. Also the fewer tunnels, the harder it is for them to make babies. Except for mating, they like to live alone in their own tunnels. If the females and males are kept farther apart... you get the idea.

Best traps are the "Black Hole" traps you can find at most Home Depots, etc. This fellow in San Diego came up with the idea back in the mid 1980's. Got tired of pulling theguts out of the spear traps. He built it out of some 4inch PVC pipe. Simple idea that worked. He brought several over to the county farm advisor's office & several of us Master Gardeners took home to try them out. They worked great. His son made a million dollars off the design. Always buy 'um in pairs, one for each direction of the tunnel. No bait needed, but some old timerswear rubbing a bit of garlic on the trap is a sure way to get um. I've nailed thousands without the garlic, so i really don't think it matters?

Get yourself a long piece of steel rebar & bend up one end like a walking cane. Rap some cloth around the handle part so you don't get any blisters on your palm. You now have a great gopher "prod". You use that to poke around the ground feeling for tunnels. Believe me you'll know when you find one. Best place to start is inbetween two mounds, They seldom push soil out their main tunnel, but push it out on either side of the main tunnel. Set the traps via the easy instructions on the box & go have a beer. Between 1 to 12 hours later you'll have reason to have another. No more bloody spears to deal with. The trap is designed so yo never touch the fuzz ball. You just release the trap over the trash can & the late uncle jim just falls into the trash. Then the hard part begins. Use your probe and follow that tunnel. Back fill with soil or cave in as much as you can find. the more the better.

Each spring i used to give a full day, hands on class to homeowners on gopher control for the univ of calif. The class was limited to 50 people but swelled to over 100. So I started giving for each year. Many former students drop by to brag about their sucess. One 74 year old lady went home after my class and caught 14 gophers in that summer. If she can do it so can you. It's not as hard as it seems. It's actually more brain work the brawn. Gopher damage to crops & landscape in the state of calif each year top 3 Billion dollars. That was Billion, with a B.

I type with only one finger, so i tend to make mistakes with speed. But the spel checker is down again as usual & i'm tired of waiting for it everyday, so forgive my typos.

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I have heard it all. Egg shells, chewing gum, banana peelings, flooding, peppers, human hair, Soap and bacon grease, humane urine, chemical pellets and even smoke. Sorry, but it’s all worthless. You’re going to have to get rid of them and do so aggressively. For best and quickest results, use the spring traps (I saw some at Wall-Mart last week). Place them over the "runs" that you see thought your yard. Then the moles go through, it triggers the trap and you'll have one. Be sure to re-set the trap for another.

Poison peanuts/wheat also work, but results are slower. These are made by the W. R. Sweeney Company. I have also, if you have the time, walk on the mound that is left when they dig & just wait. Soon, you will see them going through the tunnel by raising the dirt again. Quickly dig them up w/a shovel. You have to move fast to get them this way. Odds are good; you won't be able to kill them fast enough.

Until you solve the real problem, you will continue to have moles. They are in you yard because there is an abundance of Grubs there. Just like another animal, they have selected your yard for the abundance of food there. You can treat your yard with a Bayer product, Merit or a Scotts product , Grub EX. It is a granular product that spreads on the lawn much like you would spread fertilizer. A product that has Bifenthrin, sometimes called Talstar as an active ingredient in it will also work well. Another possibility is to add nematodes to your yard. The nematodes can be found at most of your Mom and Pop garden centers, and feed on Grubs. Another product many people have had success with (myself included) is Milky Spore. To treat the lawn, just put a spoon full at 3 foot by 3 foot. Milky Spore lasts for many years. Understand, it will only kill the grub in its larva stage and will not harm the existing grubs. These are much more organic approaches, but as is normally the case with organic solutions, results will be slower. Rid your yard of the Grubs and your mole problem will not be resurfacing.

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I have to say, I have tried everything on a 8 acres plot. I can usually trap about 8-10 a week with the cinch flag traps, but they come back because the tunnel is set up for the neighboring farms. What I do twice a year is rent a kennel out of all the dogs in the neighborhood, area. The Rodenator will blow them up inside the tunnel and destroy the tunnel for any neighboring pest. Of the 20 or so methods i have tired, this seems to be the only one that will stop them completely. I just fear, kids or horses will fall into these massive holes, so please repair after each use. Also, please be respectful of farm animals that will be scared of a shotgun sound. You never want to be that guy.

new approach - use carbon monoxide from car exhaust. access the gopher's tunnel network by locating a gopher mound with fresh dirt the gopher has recently pushed up. either dig the fresh dirt away with something like a large screwdriver to access the tunnel or use a hose and stick it in the fresh dirt, poke it around with the water running. you will know when the tunnel has been opened because the water will drain into the tunnel. put one end of a hose in the exhaust of your car and the other down the hole. place a rag around the hose in the exhaust to force the exhaust gasses into the hose. seal the other end of the hose down the hole by putting some dirt around it. run the car for around 20 minutes, then remove the hose and seal the tunnel by covering with dirt. I've found this approach to be very effective and humane. The carbon monoxide causes the gophers to fall asleep before they go to gopher heaven.

Now your gonna think i'm jokeing but when I was in high school my girlfriends mother had the same problem and she put exlax chocolate squares in all the holes and tunnles! She said that got rid of them! This is not a murderous method so much as it is a revengful one!, it will get them to crap in thier nest and make them leave!

Or I Know some one who had a Rabbit problem, and they put a small transistor radio in the hole and played rock music, it made the rabbitts run like hell, since you have a ghopher problem, i would use the song "Im Allright" from caddy shack, that'll get the lil F@#&!*S dancing and you and your buddies will have a better shot!

Making them think that a predator is around works well, take fresh dog poop and put it in the holes, this will scare them off or you could buy a case of bud and drink the whole thing then run around pissing in all the holes, this is just as effective but a bit more entertaining and less disgusting!

and if all else fails my husband runs a constuction equiptment rental compay and he can hook you up with that back hoe you were taking about!

God luck and try to have fun!

Gophers you will need to shot or trap as you are doing. Moles you will need to get rid of the grubs and other underground food they are feeding on. This is the least expensive way as you are just spining your wheels trying to trap them. Grub control for 4 acres will cost you less than $500.00

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Try the Pool Of Death .Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it half full with water. Add a few peanuts(in shells) and some sunflower seeds.Use a 1x4 as a ramp to the top of the bucket ,and rub a small amount of peanut butter as an attractant on the ramp.They will jump in for the bait, but they can only swim for so long.