Have you been troubled by Gophers causing huge damage to fruits, trees, and plants in your garden? Worry not. I will provide a step-by-step guide on How to get rid of Gophers with gasoline in this article.
Gophers can be admittedly a nuisance for home and garden owners. Like voles and mice, they dig their homes underground. It can weaken the patios and the walking areas, eventually breaking or cracking the soil.
Garden owners search for lethal and non-lethal methods to kill gophers and other animals that damage their houses and surroundings. There are chemicals, gases, other pesticides, and gardening professionals that are needed to get rid of such chaos-creating animals.
About Gophers
Gophers are small creatures that are burrowing rodents of the Gyomidae family. They are mostly known for their tunneling activities and ability to destroy farms and gardens. Mostly the gophers have brown colored fur that matches the color of the soil. The main feature that they have is their large cheek pouches.
All gophers create a network of tunnel systems that provides them with protection and food. The tunnels are identified by small piles of loose soil and an opening on top. Depending on the species and local conditions, gophers breed according to their annual breeding season. Reading further, you will learn about the ways by which you get rid of them as they are very trouble-causing creatures.
How Gasoline Works to Get Rid of Gophers?
Gophers usually come after dark to look for fruits and vegetables. To get rid of them, you can use a method called Pressurized Exhaust Rodent Control (PERC). Since gophers tend to hide under the tunnels when they get a hint of gas, you must be very careful and quick when using this method.
Here are some of the steps to follow while using this method:
- Step 1: Connect the hose from the gasoline bucket to the gophers’ tunnel
- Step 2: Push the hose downwards and make sure that the gas remains in the hole
- Step 3: Ensure no extra openings or holes connect to the gophers’ tunnel. If you see any, seal them first.
- Step 4: Release the gas and let it enter the tunnel.
What Can Be The Pros And Cons of Gasoline When Used in Gardens?
There are both advantages and disadvantages to using gasoline. Here are a few of them. Read on to know if it’s something you want to use.
Pros
- Gasoline is available easily
- It is a cheaper method compared to other methods
Cons
- Gasoline harms the environment – other welcomed rodents or animals like squirrels once they contact gasoline-contaminated plants.
- While using gasoline to remove the gophers, no use of fire should be there.
- Gasoline affects other wildlife, plants, trees, and creatures as well.
Apart from gasoline, other gases like AMDRO Gopher Gasser and The Giant Destroyer Super Gasser are great repellents for your garden.
Risks And Dangers of Using Gasoline
You have to be very careful while using gasoline. It causes headaches, dizziness, vomiting, nausea, and throat, stomach, and mouth irritation.
If gasoline comes in contact with your skin, it can lead to rashes, itching, and skin swelling.
The use of gasoline leads to air pollution. It can cause irritation in the eyes. Also, if inhaled in large quantities, it can damage your lungs and the nervous system. In extreme cases it can be fatal.
Burning gasoline and diesel fuels create by products like nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, formaldehyde, and benzene which can be harmful for living beings.
If, for any reason, there is leakage of gasoline, the water in private wells can get contaminated. Municipal water treatment removes the traces of water. But if there are private wells, it can more harmful if the water is not filtered.
Gasoline can kill other plants, trees, and animals. If your pet comes in contact with soil contaminated with gasoline, it can prove disastrous.
Alternative Methods For Getting Rid of Gophers
These cute little critters are very dangerous as they carry mites, fleas, ticks, and lice like wild rodents that often pass to your pets when they spend time in your garden. They brutally destroy crops and fields by digging underground. Gophers often reproduce, making it difficult for home and garden owners to escape from their existence.
As mentioned earlier, gasoline can be very harmful to the environment. So it’s better that we adopt more natural methods to eliminate gophers. We will discuss a few of them in this section. Read on to know more.
- Use castor oil, peppermint oil, or dryer sheets and place them near the gophers’ holes to bring them out. Repeat this process until they’re finally gone.
- One of the easiest and least involved ways is placing live traps. You must bait it with green veggies, fruits, or peanut butter.
- Some battery-powered rodent repellents release an ultrasonic sound. This helps remove many local creatures that make homes in your lawns and gardens. However, these repellents are usually expensive.
- Plants like rosemary, lavender, geranium, daffodils, iris, thyme, sage, and catmint act as repellants to rodents like gophers.
- Some natural obstructions like fish oil, coffee grounds, and Tabasco sauce can be placed near the holes of the gophers. These products irritate rodents.
Here are some tips to permanently eliminate gophers:
- Use of other gases such as AMDRO Gopher Gasser and The Giant Destroyer Super Gasser.
- AMDRO Gopher Gasser can be used in lawns and gardens to eliminate gophers and other rodents like moles, ground squirrels, skunks, and Norway rats. It prevents pests from damaging plants and underground wires.
- The Giant Destroyer Super Gasser works the same as AMDRO Gopher Gasser. But it releases poisonous gases into the gophers’ tunnels, eventually killing the creatures.
- You can get smoke bombs to smoke the gophers out. It, however, damages the soil, so try to avoid adopting such a method.
- Poison them in the traps. Poisoning can harm your pets as well as other natural creatures. So make sure to take necessary precautions before using it.
FAQs
Ans: Gasoline isn’t the most effective of getting rid of gophers. You can instead use other methods like planting natural repellents. It’s always advisable to consult a professional before you undertake the task.
Ans: You can permanently eliminate gophers by controlling their food source, spraying liquid repellents all over their burrows, using barriers, using trenches, etc.
Ans: Pest control professionals use trapping, baiting, fumigation, burrow flooding, and exclusion barriers.
Ans: While you search the internet, you will come up with many suggestions like scattering coffee grounds, using your pets’ remains, etc.
Ans: Hire a pest management company so that you can immediately take precautions as soon as you see gophers populating your garden.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed both lethal and non-lethal ways to eliminate gophers. The alternative and the more natural methods we have mentioned here can eliminate gophers, yet not be environmentally harmful.
Hope this article has provided all the information you need to eliminate gophers. If you think we missed any points that need to be incorporated into the article, mention them in the comments below. We would be more than happy to incorporate them.