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DianaT
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Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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Blanca, while it is the Spanish name for mole, many people around here refer to gophers as topos.
We tried everything including smoke bombs and one person before suggested chewing gum. We decided that we then had happy gophers, kicked back
floating on water while smoking and chewing gum! And because of the the dogs, poison was not on the list.
Traps---the only thing that has worked and they need to be set very carefully to take up the entire diameter of the hole or the gopher digs around it.
Carrots and peanut butter seem to work. Biggest problem is that sometimes the gopher is trapped, but not dead when we pull the trap up.
Also the mother of a friend who takes care of our place while we are gone was visiting from San Ignacio. While our friend was watering, her mother
enticed a gopher to pop up from his hole, and whacked him with a shovel!
At this time, there seems to be no gophers---- I guess they decided to move south. 
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DENNIS
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Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DianaT
While our friend was watering, her mother enticed a gopher to pop up from his hole, and whacked him with a shovel!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0n8N98mpes
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Cypress
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Location: on the bayou
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Mood: undecided
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Gophers? Moles? Ground squirrels? It all depends upon which critter you're talking about? They might be one and the same? And they might sprout wings
and fly! But there's a way to do away with any and all of 'em.
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Lindalou
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Location: Punta Banda Baja
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I had a big 3 legged black cat who would lay in wait for hours at a gopher hole, he would kill them and leave them on the patio for me as a gift. They
were as big as he was. Wish I still had that black cat!
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thebajarunner
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Posts: 3687
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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Traps or cats- the only solution
Forget the poison (you might get more than you wished for) gas, propane bombs, water hoses, stink bombs, etc.
The only way you know you got 'em is to haul them out and look at their little yellow teeth. Otherwise, all the remedies in the world only serve to
make you feel better- not assure you of success.
And, if you are buying (or delivering) traps, be sure to bring the box type (either the old wood ones- the greenies were the best- or the plastic
Black Hole) and also bring some wire snapper type (we call them belly poppers)
Some critters just get wise to one type of trap, but alternating types will bring great success.
My yellow Lab catches a couple each year, but cats can be really effective.
But forget all that other "stuff" Confirmed kills are the only way to go.
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Bob H
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Or, you could build a "squirrel launcher" .... it might also work on gophers too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Ya6z-NlDo&feature=fvsr
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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Gypsy Jan
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Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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Rescue a Feral Half-Starved Great Dane
No joke.
After we brought him home, he was getting regular meals from us, but dedicated his time in the garden to hunting and killing the gophers.
We no longer have a gopher problem and I was relieved to not resort to poisons.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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blanca...we have topos too on occasion but I tell ya...the juicy fruit chewing gum...prechewed worked for us! Ahem....but I sure would like one of
those black boxes if you get someone to bring em down for you...send em up on the CFE express!!!!
they WILL eat the roots of some plants...they are picky though...they love those daisy looking things Diane was talking about and can disappear full
grown plants down the hole in a jiffy.
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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by shari
they WILL eat the roots of some plants...they are picky though...they love those daisy looking things Diane was talking about and can disappear full
grown plants down the hole in a jiffy. |
If we can train them to only eat those plants, send them all this way!
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Mula
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Location: San Nicolas y Lopez Mateos
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Topo caught by my neighbor in Lopez last fall.
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Marc
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mcfez
We have them here at the farm...............the way we rid em is to put the water hose down the tunnel and leave the flow going til the water backs
out of the tunnel opening.
These tunnels can run 30 - 40 feet! |
That's how my dad did it. I spent my childhood helping him offing the critters.
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dtutko1
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As a seasonal Baja resident and Avid gardener I was getting frustrated with gofers eating my plants. Especially my papayas. I now plant using a cage
made of small gage chicken wire. My raised beds for veges have have this wire as a base. Works so far.
Dorado Don
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mcfez
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Registered: 12-2-2009
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Marc
| Quote: | Originally posted by mcfez
We have them here at the farm...............the way we rid em is to put the water hose down the tunnel and leave the flow going til the water backs
out of the tunnel opening.
These tunnels can run 30 - 40 feet! |
That's how my dad did it. I spent my childhood helping him offing the critters. |
My Grandpa ......I learn it from him! Tried the traps and all that......but other animals are libel to get to the other devices/poisons first.
I have a article on this at my Blog
http://thenatomasfarm.blogspot.com/2012_02_05_archive.html
It's in the mid section
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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Osprey
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Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Long ago in Mexico there were men who traveled the country, from village to village, trapping Tuza's for a small fee. When the first Tuzero was seen
walking into town with his traps the word would go out and the whole town would line up for his visits. Those who can, nowdays, grow herbs and small
veggies in tables about a meter and a half off the ground to protect them from pests of all kinds.
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BajaBlanca
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pardon my ignorance...but does flooding the tunnels drown them ? get the to move on ?
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paul r
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...blanca, the "black box" works!... only thing is, they're only sold state side... good luck...
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Udo
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This I got from a farmer in the Kansas area...drop a road flare in one of the holes. The gasses will kill them.
The other benefit is that you will be able to see where the other holes are by following the smoke trail.
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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mrfatboy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaBlanca
pardon my ignorance...but does flooding the tunnels drown them ? get the to move on ? |
I would think it all depend how big their tunnel system is. My gophers had quite the extensive underground network and always had a place to escape
to. That's why I resorted to the black box.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mrfatboy
I would think it all depend how big their tunnel system is. My gophers had quite the extensive underground network and always had a place to escape
to. That's why I resorted to the black box. |
Yeah...the little guys are the Viet Cong of the garden.
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Mexitron
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Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
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| Quote: | Originally posted by RichnLinda
I had a big 3 legged black cat who would lay in wait for hours at a gopher hole, he would kill them and leave them on the patio for me as a gift. They
were as big as he was. Wish I still had that black cat! |
Ditto on the cats---want to rent our cat "Mitchell"?  Slightly feral cat from
Marfa, TX---grew up eating all kinds of critters.
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