🚀 go-pugleaf

Bill wrote:
> I live in Bay area, San Francisco. I found that my front yard 
> has a
> lot of small holes. Everytime I fill them up, they will pop up
> somewhere else. I don't know what kind of creatures they are
> (gophers?). I just want to get rid of them.
>
> Do you know a way not too messy (i.e., don't want to see dead
> animals everywhere) to get rid of them?
>
> My house is on a raised foundation just like other old houses 
> in
> this area. Will they do any damage to the foundation or any 
> piping
> underneath? Thanks for your help.

They are most likely moles.  Moles eat grubs in the soil.  They 
will not harm your foundation or any pipes buried in the soil.

-- 

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5 

"Bill" <bill@nospamland.com> wrote in message 
news:tJqdnV6D-Oe4YKveRVn-gQ@comcast.com...
>I live in Bay area, San Francisco. I found that my front yard has a lot of 
>small holes. Everytime I fill them up, they will pop up somewhere else. I 
>don't know what kind of creatures they are (gophers?). I just want to get 
>rid of them.
>
> Do you know a way not too messy (i.e., don't want to see dead animals 
> everywhere) to get rid of them?


There are a few traps for gophers/moles, but most of them are a pain to use, 
and then there is the hassle of having to retrieve the trap and dispose of 
the contents. I prefer to use bait. And in Washington state, they are, or 
were illegal to use.

Mole bait is this gel that supposedly looks like a grub or slug, gopher bait 
is usually a block or pellets. You rarely see poisoned rodents, the poison 
causes the rodent to die of internal bleeding, so they usually go back to 
their nest to rest.

These are the two brand's you'll most likely see at home depot or orchard 
supply.

http://www.tomcatbrand.com/molegopher.html
http://www.victorpest.com/store/dept.asp?dept%5Fid=10

You used to be able to buy poison gas smoke bombs, which worked with 
questionable reliability, but product liability issues got rid of them from 
most stores. You would cover up all the holes you could find, shove a smoke 
bomb down a hole or two, light it, then cover those up too, with the hope 
that the poison smoke would gas the gopher. The problem with it was that by 
the time you got all the holes covered up, the gopher had plugged up the 
tunnels, so you never actually gassed them.

Bill,

Whatever is digging around, they are part of the natural system. These 
mammals are plowing the earth while you sleep.
Plant something they like to eat in the areas you want them to dig and lead 
them away from favorites.
Gophers and moles are harmless and never over populate. When food gets 
scarce they move on.

Nature will eventually decompose your carcass too.

If you must, there is a gopher plant which repels burrowing mammals. It is a 
lovely plant, dark green and is hardy in California.

Later



 

On Sat, 29 Oct 2005 05:53:25 GMT, Dotting Doyler <Noaddress@dubous.org> wrote:
> Gophers and moles are harmless and never over populate. When food gets 
> scarce they move on.

Nonsense.

As a natural system they WILL ALWAYS overpopulate when food is
plentiful.  When food gets scarce they die of starvation.  THAT IS THE
NATURAL CYCLE.

rabbits, gophers, moles, squirrels, coyotes, wolves, snakes, mice, deer,
people, and etc.  all go thru those cycles.

As for gophers in the lawn and garden I've had some success trying one
or both of traps and poison bait.  The rodenator looks like loads of fun
though.  :)   Even more fun now that I'm battling a gopher that is
turning my front garden into the appearance of a minefield.  :(

sdb

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