Pest Library

Characteristics

Gophers are also known as pocket gophers. Hence the name pocket gophers because of their pockets on their cheeks that allows them to carry food and nesting materials back in their burrows.

Pocket gophers are often mistaken as moles because they almost have the same burrowing activities, however, gophers are larger and they have cheek pockets, which moles do not have. They are 8 to 13 inches in length and may weigh up to 1 pound. Gophers have long, yellowish incisor teeth that can easily be seen even with their mouth closed. They have poor eyesight, but have other great senses to help them with. They are light brown to almost black in color, and have a short, hairless tail.

Habitat

Gophers live in a burrow system that are 3 to 6 feet below the ground. These burrows can be found in old fields, golf courses, farms, hayfields, and the likes. Their preferred places are areas that can provide them great spaces for tunnelling and easy access to food. They will prefer areas that contain underground root since they are herbivores.

These amazing diggers can create tunnels that have a nest chamber, food cache chamber, and other needed chambers that are connected to each other. Their burrows are always changing with old burrows closing while creating new ones. They can create as much as 500 feet long tunnels, 300 soil mounds, and move as much as 4 to 5 tons of soil per a year.

Behavior

Pocket gophers are known for having cheek pouches that they use for storing their food in, and are also known for their great excavation and tunnelling skills. They also leave soil mounds as a proof that they have been excavating. To dig their burrows, this animal will use its claws and teeth to move the unnecessary soil away from their burrow.

Food

Gophers feed on roots that they can find while tunnelling, They can also feed on other plant materials such as grasses, shrubs and trees, forbs, ground vegetation. But, they love to feed on alfalfa, clover, and dandelion, dock, and bluegrass roots.

Life Cycle

Females can only produce one litter a year and may have an average of 3 to 5 young. Their gestation period last for 18 to 19 days. Once the young gophers are born, they will be taken care by their motherfor one and a half month, then they will also leave their home and create their own burrows. They have an average lifespan of three years, if the conditions are favorable to them.

Other Information and Tips

Although pocket gophers do not pose any health threats to humans, they can still create great damage to lawns. To stop them from entering your yard or garden, make sure that your area does not have the food that they need. You can also build barriers that are 18 inches deep to prevent them from tunnelling.

In the case, where they are already burrowing, a good solution is to trap them. However, while you can trap as many gophers as you can, other gophers may just occupy the vacated lot as long as their food supply is abundant.

Photo: Gopher - Mammoth Lakes by Airwolfhound, used under CC BY-SA 2.0 / resized from original