Page 189 - Florida Pest Control Examinations

GOPHER GOPHER

Photo Courtesy of J.T. Eaton Co. Photo Courtesy of J.T. Eaton Co.

GOPHER GOPHER

Life Cycle
Pocket gophers reach sexual maturity in the spring following their birth.
In the northern part of their range they have 1 litter per year. In the
southern part they may have 2 litters per year. Litter sizes range from 1
to 10 but typically average 3 to 4. Average life span of gophers varies
from just over 1 year to nearly 3 years.
Actual Body Size,6”

Drawing by Andrew Schaible
GOPHER

Pocket gophers are burrowing rodents, named “pocket” because they have furlined pouches outside of
their mouth, one on each side of the face. These pockets are used for carrying food. Pocket gophers
range from about 5 to nearly 14 inches long. Adult males are larger than adult females. Their fur is
very fine, soft, and highly variable in color, which ranges from nearly black to pale brown to almost
white. Pocket gophers have a short neck and are powerfully built in the forequarters. The forepaws
are large-clawed and they also have large incisors to provide excellent gnawing and digging behavior.
Gophers have small external ears and small eyes.

They thrive in looser, fairly deep, light-textured soils with good herbage production, especially when that
vegetation has large, fleshy roots, bulbs, or tubers. Fields, parks and lawns make great habitats. Pock-
et gophers are strict herbivores, eating roots, grasses, shrubs, and trees. They feed on plants in three
ways: 1) they feed on roots that they encounter when digging; 2) occasionally they go to the surface,
venturing only a short body length or so from their tunnel opening to feed on above ground vegetation;
and 3) they pull vegetation into their tunnel from below.
Burrows are made up of a main tunnel, generally 4 to 18 inches long below and parallel to the ground
surface, with various numbers of lateral tunnels from the main one. These end at the surface with a soil
mound or sometimes only a soil plug. There are also deeper branches off the main burrow that are used
as nests and food caches. The maximum depth of some portions of a burrow may be as much as 5 or
6 feet. The diameter of a burrow is typically 3 inches. A single burrow system may contain up to 200
yards of tunnels. Typically, there is only one gopher per burrow system, except when mating occurs and
when the female is caring for her young.

Damage caused by gophers includes consumption of vegetation, destruction of underground utility
cables and irrigation pipe, and smothering of surface greenery by dirt mounds. Gophers damage trees
by stem girdling and clipping, root pruning, and root exposure caused by burrowing. Soil brought to the
surface in mounds becomes more susceptible to erosion. Gophers are a neighborhood problem, as old
tunnels will be taken over by new gophers from adjacent areas.

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