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sgtsquid

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Since there is already a gardening thread here, I thought this should be ok here since it is related. If not, mods are welcome to move it to an off topic forum.

Gophers are out of control on my property and I have had limited success trapping them. I'm just about ready to just summon the spirit of Carl Spackler and use black powder, but that stuff is expensive and hard to get here in Cali. Does anyone here have any tips for gophers? As many as there are around here, some recipes may be in order too. I'm in Norcal with hard rocky clay soil, if that matters.
 
Antonio Ferraioli said:
You need to find all the holes...all of them. Sulpher will drive them out. Get a bunch of road flares. Light them up and stick them in all the holes and cover up the holes with board, put some weight on them..
Click to expand...
this.
Or, find the holes and seal all but one. take a propane source such as a weed burner and without lighting let the gas fill the tunnels.
call up your least favorite brother in law and have him stick a lit match in the last hole.
when he grows back all his hair and is done with the skin grafting, invite him over for a gopher on a stick barbeque and swim in your new pool.
https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...4622060B7C291C44F5224622060B7C291C4&FORM=VIRE
 
deerstalkert said:
this.
Or, find the holes and seal all but one. take a propane source such as a weed burner and without lighting let the gas fill the tunnels.
call up your least favorite brother in law and have him stick a lit match in the last hole.
when he grows back all his hair and is done with the skin grafting, invite him over for a gopher on a stick barbeque and swim in your new pool.
https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...4622060B7C291C44F5224622060B7C291C4&FORM=VIRE
Click to expand...
That's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! If it wasn't over $2000 I would already have one on order. I was wondering if that thing is legal in California, but apparently the company is IN California!
 
The Crisco Kid said:
We used carbide and water down the holes and lit it off with a match. Can't buy carbide anywhere that I know of these days. Carbide and water release acetylene.
Click to expand...
If there was a giggling Beavis emoji that would be my reaction to this! I happen to have some carbide that I bought on line a few years ago after getting a really nice old carbide lamp in a local antique shop. There are places that sell it on line, but it can be expensive and the weight of the whole package cannot exceed 1 pound. Welding supply stores might carry it but I haven't checked. I might try this. Wish me luck, and if you don't hear from me after tomorrow you will know why.
 
I used to live 7 miles behind Alligator, Ms. at the end of a dead end gravel road. We had rats as big as small dogs burrowing under our pump house and out buildings. We stomped closed all the openings except one at each building and then stuck a piece of flexible exhaust pipe onto my truck exhaust pipe and inserted it into the open hole. After packing dirt around it for a good seal we let the truck idle for about 30 minutes. I don’t have any idea how many we killed but I do know how many flies we saw swarming around the buildings trying to find where the wonderful smell of rotting flesh was coming from. It took several days but the smell finally went away. Oughta work on gophers too.
 
Well, I'm still alive. Unfortunately, so are the gophers.

I tried the carbide and water in the burrow, one opening branching into two tunnels, and got a satisfying "thump" when I lit it. I thought I probably killed whatever was in there, but later this afternoon, I saw dirt flying out of one of the tunnels! That little $*#! was plugging the opening! By the time I could get a gun it had already finished plugging the opening and was gone. A little while later I found the the other burrow plugged with dirt. I went ahead and dug out both openings, and set traps in one. The other one, I got my portable air compressor and some cayenne pepper. A spoonful of pepper inside the entrance to that tunnel, and I stuck the air hose inside and let it blast for about a minute. My thinking is area denial, Make their whole tunnel network uninhabitable, and they will be driven to the surface where they will be vulnerable to predators.

The problem with gas or smoke is that their sense of smell is very sensitive, and as soon as the smell something off they will seal off a section of tunnel before the gas or smoke reaches dangerous levels. I'm wondering if a nitrogen purge would work. No smell, just a little breeze. As their oxygen gets displaced, they go to sleep and don't wake up again. I'm thinking dry ice could also work.
 
I'm not about to spend 2 grand on killing gophers, no matter how fun and awesome it might be. I heard a lot of people recommending a gopher Hawk trap, and it actually worked. A lot easier to set up than the wire traps I was using. I have to admit, if money was not a problem I would go for one of the fuel air explosive gadgets. Those things are just... so beautiful🥹
 

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