Gopher damage and management

Pocket gophers are among the most destructive garden pests in western North America -- they can destroy a bed of perennials overnight by pulling plants underground from below. Unlike moles, gophers eat vegetation. Unlike voles, their tunneling system is entirely subsurface and their mounds are.

Pocket gophers are among the most destructive garden pests in western North America — they can destroy a bed of perennials overnight by pulling plants underground from below. Unlike moles, gophers eat vegetation. Unlike voles, their tunneling system is entirely subsurface and their mounds are distinctive.

Eastern gardeners generally do not encounter pocket gophers. Per UC IPM, pocket gophers of the genus Thomomys (pocket gophers, western species), Geomys (eastern-range pocket gophers), and Cratogeomys are native to the plains and western states. The Botta's pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae) is the primary species in California and the Southwest.

What is a pocket gopher?

Per UC IPM, pocket gophers are stout-bodied rodents, 6–12 inches long, with powerful front claws, small eyes and ears, and prominent incisor teeth. "Pocket" refers to the fur-lined external cheek pouches they use to carry food underground, not to their burrows. They live almost entirely underground and are rarely seen.