Gopher Repellent

Repellents are largely ineffective when it comes to controlling gophers.


In our many years of experience we have found that although many gopher repellents are available, none are very effective.  It is not hard to find claims that fox urine, chemical combinations or sonic devices will act as gopher repellents, but we have found that the best way to handle a gopher situation is to trap the animals.

Gophers typically remain underground, eating roots and grubs below the surface.  Sprinkling chemicals or fox urine on the surface does little to deter their underground activities.  For a gopher repellent to be truly effective it would have to be applied underground, no easy task.  Trapping, however, is very effective and is quite simple. 

We use a variety of traps for gophers, all of them kill traps.  Live traps are just not very effective for this rodent.  Our body-gripping traps grab the animal and kill it instantly.  One the trap is sprung we remove the body and reset the trap until the animals are gone.

Sometimes people feel averse to trapping small furry animals, but the only other gopher repellent I can think of is to keep a live fox, weasel, coyote or bobcat on site.  These predators eagerly eat gophers and will be happy to take care of an oversized population.  Obviously, this solution is rife with other complications.  But if you think about it, having gophers on your property is attractive to these wild animals and can bring them to your property in search of a meal.

We recommend hiring an experienced professional trapper to remove gophers.  They are the best gopher repellent of all.