Problems Caused by Gophers
Sometimes the best decision you can make when it comes to pest control is to find out what problems, exactly, you can expect when you find a specific pest taking up residence in your home or garden. In some cases you might find that you really don’t mind the “pest” at all.
Analysis of the situation is a big part of the integrated pest control management approach. It’s good to know what you can expect so you can make the decision about whether or not to call your local pest control company to take care of a pest. One common complaint is leveled at the gopher. I am sure that we all agree that in some cases gophers can indeed be pests, but let’s take a look at what exactly they do that is detrimental.
* Wreck the aesthetic appeal of lawns. If you are a person who loves a perfectly symmectrical, green lawn, then gophers spell trouble. These furry rodents love to push up dirt above the grass line as they make their complex burrow systems, and if the colony really grows then you could end up with a lot of little hills dotting your front yard.
* Can cost you a lot of money in terms of damaged wiring and sprinkler systems. As rodents, gophers are supplied with very powerful jaws and big teeth. There is a good chance that the creation of their underground colonies will result in some damage to any wiring you have placed under your yard, and if you have an underground sprinkling system this can be pretty expensive to replace.
* Damage to trees. Again, the chewing habits of these critters can wreak havoc on root systems, causing your trees to die off.
* Bye, bye, garden! The number one problem with gophers is that they can be absolutely lethal in any garden, big or small. In fact the larger your garden, the bigger your gopher problem is likely going to be. They are have very diverse tastes and will munch on pretty much any vegetable that they can find. Like all rodents, they don’t really seem to get full very quickly, and a family of gophers can wreak havoc on even large garden plots very quickly.
* Smell. Gophers themselves don’t particularly like strong smells, so when gophers die their family members tend to push them to unused tunnels or to the outside. If you have a lot of gophers around you might be dealing with a lot of dead ones, and the smell can really concentrate.
Fortunately, gophers are not known for carrying diseases (as mentioned above, they are fairly clean animals). Their scat is contained in the burrows, and they are not overly messy. If you do decide to exterminate, keep the smell factor in mind; killing a whole colony could result in some powerful decomposition, so consult with a pest control company first.