Gophers and our CDTs

[thatrebecca]

We've got gophers in the yard -- not talking about our two gopherus agassizii, but about the rodents. They're tunneling under and eating up the new grass we planted. Hubster and the gardener want to put poison in the tunnels. I'm concerned about the torts ingesting some. Anyone dealt with this before and have any suggestions? I presume the gophers are no threat to the torts, since they are vegetarian, but if anyone knows differently, please let me know.

 

[Tom]

I HATE gophers. They destroy all the plants that I try to grow. I would never use poisons in a yard with live animals. Just too risky in my opinion. I found a trap called the "Black Box" that works very well. I get them at OSH, but they can be ordered online too. It's made by Victor.

You have to be quick and vigilant, but these traps work. As soon as you discover a fresh mound, dig it up and find the hole. Open it up so you can put the trap in line with the tunnel. Fill in around the trap so the only light showing is the hole at the end of the trap. They will come to fill their hole back in and then, SNAP!!! You've got free snake food for the freezer. Because the snap mechanism is buried underground, your tortoises don't have access to it. You could also temporally surround the trap with cinder blocks or cover it with a wire cage of some sort if you are worried about it. I use them in my enclosures all the time with no issue.

Here's something entertaining that did NOT work.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-22814.html

 

[thatrebecca]

I HATE gophers. They destroy all the plants that I try to grow. I would never use poisons in a yard with live animals. Just too risky in my opinion. I found a trap called the "Black Box" that works very well. I get them at OSH, but they can be ordered online too. It's made by Victor.

You have to be quick and vigilant, but these traps work. As soon as you discover a fresh mound, dig it up and find the hole. Open it up so you can put the trap in line with the tunnel. Fill in around the trap so the only light showing is the hole at the end of the trap. They will come to fill their hole back in and then, SNAP!!! You've got free snake food for the freezer. Because the snap mechanism is buried underground, your tortoises don't have access to it. You could also temporally surround the trap with cinder blocks or cover it with a wire cage of some sort if you are worried about it. I use them in my enclosures all the time with no issue.

Here's something entertaining that did NOT work.
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-22814.html

As usual, Tom, you're full of good info. Thanks! We'll try the traps.

In addition to the obvious gopher hole we found a hole in the yard, I saw a hole at the edge of the torts' burrow that had strange dimensions -- it was kind of like a Coke can shape. A couple days ago I was scratching my head trying to figure how and why our torts would dig that. Now I wonder if a gopher is actually subletting the burrow at night when they're inside.

 

[Tom]

Have you got ground squirrels in your area? Sounds about right for one of their holes.

 

[thatrebecca]

Have you got ground squirrels in your area? Sounds about right for one of their holes.

We have tons of squirrels in the yard. Ever since we put in the grass and started irrigating it seems like wild animal kingdom back there.

Do torts mind when other creatures use their burrows? Could this be why I found Morticia outside her burrow after sundown the other night? We had planned to start letting the torts stay out all night July 1 or thereabouts, but with all these critters running around I'm starting to reconsider the wisdom of that.

 

[Tom]

Ground squirrels are bad dudes. My leopard tortoise breeder has a picture of one eating a hatchling like a Big Mac. They could certainly roust a smaller tortoise like yours out of a burrow and could very easily start munching on one too.

Sounds like you've got a wildlife problem there. This is a constant battle where I am. I use hav-a-heart traps for the squirrels. You've got to decide what kind of person you are now. Are you a stone cold squirrel killer? Relocation doesn't work for a wide variety of reasons, so its either your back yard, or theirs.

 

[thatrebecca]

Ground squirrels are bad dudes. My leopard tortoise breeder has a picture of one eating a hatchling like a Big Mac. They could certainly roust a smaller tortoise like yours out of a burrow and could very easily start munching on one too.

Sounds like you've got a wildlife problem there. This is a constant battle where I am. I use hav-a-heart traps for the squirrels. You've got to decide what kind of person you are now. Are you a stone cold squirrel killer? Relocation doesn't work for a wide variety of reasons, so its either your back yard, or theirs.

Oh man. I am a vegetarian who shoos flies out the window rather than swat them. But -- for any critters in the back yard who think they're getting their paws on my tortoises -- stuff's about to get real.

 

[russiantortoises=awesome]

Lol I have a russian tort!

 

[Vickie]

Sounds like you have your hands full! I am like Tom defiantly about the gophers. We are lucky that here we don't have them. However only 1/2hr from here my mother has very different soil and she has moles like you wouldn't believe. The only other things he found is to drop moth balls down in the holes however, with you torts out there I would stay away from those. On ground squirrels digging in the enclosure the one thing our neighbor did with squirrels is to have fencing over the top (which I am sure you have) over the area she didn't want them digging in. The under ground went down so far along the fence line she put brick under her fence like a foundation then below that put down rock. So either they got hit by a brick or had stones fall on them. Either way they didn't like the results and it didn't take long for them to give up.

 

[mike taylor]

We have moles and the only way I found was to shoot them with a 12 gauge. I've tried trapping them didn't work . I find a new mound and sit there when he sticks his head up boom no more mole . But i live where you can shoot guns and no body says nothing. You may have people not so happy if your shooting gophers in your yard.

Mike

 

[brianD]

Try cinch traps. They are the only thing I have found to be effective on pocket gophers and moles. They are a little expensive but they last forever.

 

[mike taylor]

Can you post a pic of these traps your talking a bout. The ones I have found are spikes that go in the ground and it is made to stab them when they go though there tunnels. They don't work.

Mike

 

[ascott]

Cats.....well, I had never seen a cat in our area ever, that is until the neighbors brought two females and cut them loose at THEIR house...yeah well, so now those two cats attracted a tom cat who then created a few more cats and so on-----uuughhhh, anyways, the positive thing is that two of the cats (mother and son) are premium huntress/hunter and squirrels and gophers never knew what hit them....I only see tall tale signs of the million abandoned holes that use to be occupied by those little ba#%tards.....I have lost many plants and have also had to dig out a brumating tort that has his entire burrow backfilled in around him by the gophers....not good.

 

[AustinASU]

Find where the gophers must re ent dig is. Dig out the section and find the two open holes then place the gopher traps in.Gophers don't like draft so they will push dirt out the whole in effort to close it.

 

[thatrebecca]

We're getting some of those black box traps today. I'll let you know how it goes. This whole owning a home/living in nature thing is a lot of work! Back in New York, all I had to do was call a landlord to kill the cat-sized rat living in my walls. On second thought, gophers aren't looking so bad...

 

[7oasty23]

We have moles and the only way I found was to shoot them with a 12 gauge. I've tried trapping them didn't work . I find a new mound and sit there when he sticks his head up boom no more mole . But i live where you can shoot guns and no body says nothing. You may have people not so happy if your shooting gophers in your yard.

Mike

I just wait til I see them digging then use a shovel to dig them up, not the as clean as a shotgun, but effective. Also most dogs will dig them up, especially hounds in my experience.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

1. Gopher purge. A plant. Euphorbia lathyrus. Seems to repel them. The milky sap makes them go away. Plant in outer perimeters or far off corners of your property away from people or kids because the sap is nasty-toxic. Seriously, stay away from the sap. It does take a little time for the repel factor to kick in but repel it does. Be patient.

2. Cats. Feral are great hunters. Adopt. Just be sure to get fixed. There are ASPCA programs that will spay/neuter feral cats for free then put work. Great workers.

3. Havaheart traps. Or ebay has some also, made in Thailand I think, for much less cost. Trap and release over yonder, away from home. Good luck to you elsewhere little gophers, bah-bye.

4. Rat Zapper if you want to kill them. At least it is instant and they do not suffer. I sincerely hope.

 

[Tom]

Can you post a pic of these traps your talking a bout. The ones I have found are spikes that go in the ground and it is made to stab them when they go though there tunnels. They don't work.

Mike

http://www.victorpest.com/store/mole-and-gopher-control/0625

 

[thatrebecca]

And the wildlife adventures continue. The last two nights there has been a huge skunk in the back yard. I hate to say it, but he's pretty darn cute. Will he be a threat to the torts?

 

[sniperstan]

I always went with the tried and true, put bricks/rocks over all mounds and stick a garden hose down one hole. Let run for about an hour.