Why Are Gophers Attracted To My Tucson Yard?

If you have strange mounds of dirt showing up in your yard, you may have gophers burrowing underneath the ground. While these small mammals do have some redeeming qualities, they can wreak havoc on your entire yard and landscaping. For effective gopher control methods, you should engage the services of a Tucson pest control company as soon as possible.

What Are Gophers?

Pocket gophers in Tucson, typically just called gophers, are small mammals, measuring about 9½ inches long and weighing one to two pounds. They live underground, only coming out of their 30 to 200-foot-long burrows to dump out dirt or go after a particularly tasty plant. The only way you know they're in your yard is from the mounds of dirt they leave behind. If they're causing problems for you, call a professional pest control company for pocket gopher control.

What Kind Of Damage Can Gophers Cause?

Gophers can cause a variety of damage in Tucson yards, including:

• Tripping hazards from the horseshoe-shaped mounds of dirt they leave on the surface.
• Damaged lawn mowers or farming equipment from running over these mounds of dirt.
• Decimated gardens, with carrots, radishes, lettuces, roots, and prickly pears, carried off to storage "rooms" in gophers' burrows.
• Gnawed-through utility wires and pipes since gophers' front teeth can grow up to 14 inches per year – they gnaw on a variety of materials to keep them short. 

If you start seeing this kind of damage in your yard, call a professional gopher pest control company immediately to eradicate these pests from your yard.

What Attracts Gophers To A Yard?

Plentiful food and water attract gophers to a yard. If you have a garden you're particularly proud of, it can be like a beacon to a gopher. A lush, green lawn can attract gophers, too. They're also attracted by soil composition. If the dirt in your yard is sandy and easy to move around, gophers might be moving in. At the first sign of gophers in your yard, contact a professional for gopher control in Tucson.

What Is The Best Way To Get Rid Of Gophers?

The best way not to have gophers in your yard is never to attract them in the first place. There are rumors about plants that repel gophers, but those are just plants gophers don't enjoy eating. Even planting a ring of them around your garden won't keep gophers from simply burrowing deeper to get to your garden.

You can protect your Tucson home and garden by first digging down deep and putting a layer of hardware cloth or one-inch chicken wire below your garden bed. Fold it upward to form a fence at least two feet high above the ground so gophers won't climb over it. You can do the same with raised flower beds as you build them.

If you're planting young trees, you can do the same, but make sure you install chicken wire to allow the trees' roots to grow. Again, use one-inch chicken wire, going a couple of feet below the depth you're planting the tree, going up at least two feet above ground level. 

Gophers aren't protected animals in Arizona, so you're allowed to trap them on private property. So if you want to do some DIY gopher control, that's the best method to get rid of them. Of course, then you have dead gophers on your hands. They aren't known to carry disease, but they can have fleas and mites that you'd rather not deal with. It's important not to handle dead gophers with your bare hands or bury them in places where your dog may dig them up.

The best means of gopher control is to call in the professionals from Conquistador Pest & Termite. Our pest management professionals have years of experience dealing with Tucson rodents like gophers. We offer free estimates, so give us a call today. We conquer what bugs you!