Pocket Gophers

Solitary rodents. The only time the Pocket Gopher is not in its tunnel system alone is when it is mating or caring for its young, which is a very short period of their life.

Identifying Characteristics

• Medium-sized rodents
• Range from 6 to 14 inches long
• Can weigh up to 1 lb.
• Small eyes and ears
• White paws
• Whiskers
• Range in light brown to dark in color
• Long tails
• Flat head
• Stocky body
• Large front paws and claws
• 4 large incisor teeth

Occupy the Western Hemisphere, with the exception to the Southeastern Pocket Gopher (pappogeomys)

3-5 years

Wide variety of soil types and conditions. Gophers like to live in the greatest densities friable with light-textured soils with good herbage production.

Subsoil. A tunneling lifestyle is key to survival for the Pocket Gopher and they live their entire life subsoil. Gophers are rarely often seen from the surface and away from an entrance to their burrow system.

• Herbivorous
• Like to feed on grasses, succulent vegetation, shrubs, trees, alfalfa, dandelions, seedings, etc. Year-round, roots are a major food source for gophers. They utilize ground vegetation mostly during the growing season, when plants are green and succulent
• Gophers do not drink water. They acquire it from the vegetation they consume

No. Pocket Gophers are active all year.

May have 1-2 litters per year, averaging 3-6 per litter.

“Horse-shoe shaped, fan-shaped, crescent-shaped”

• Main burrow is 4 to 18 inches below and parallel to the ground surface with many lateral burrows that run off from it
• Lateral burrows end at the surface with a soil mound/plug
• Deeper branches off of the main burrow used as nests and food caches

• Yards, lawns, and gardens
• Crops
• Ornamental plants
• Vines
• Shrubs
• Trees
• Mounds interfere with mowing equipment
• Water lines/irrigation systems
• Cause soil erosion
• Ruin aesthetics of well-kept turf (ie golf courses)
• AND MORE!