Gophers, homeowners fighting for every yard

Pocket gophers have been tearing up yards in Lithia Ridge for a while. Some try to whack 'em. Others have called truce.

VALRICO - Sunrise is still a few minutes away, but John Stokely is too agitated to sleep.

Prowling the perimeter of his yard in the pre-dawn stillness, Stokely is on the lookout for his sworn enemy: a six-inch, chubby-cheeked gopher.

His yard has been torn apart. And Stokely, wielding a baseball bat, is out for revenge.

"I used to try really hard to get rid of them," Stokely says, eyeing the mounds of dirt beside the holes they dig. "I have tried putting dog poop, water and poison peanuts down their tunnels, but the little guys just came to the surface and spit the peanuts back at me."

Stokely says he'd be fine with the gophers if they simply left his yard intact.

But until they do, he says ruefully: "I hope they all die a horrible, miserable death!"

Stokely's real-life game of Whack-A-Mole is only one method some Valrico residents are trying as they look to rid themselves of their furry fiends.

The pocket gophers - so named for the external cheek pouches in which they store food and nesting materials - are built for digging, from their large-clawed paws to sensitive whiskers that help them see in the dark.

The critters have vexed about 10 households in Lithia Ridge for a while, leaving mounds of dirt above ground and tunnels underneath.

"Some people have their sinkholes," said resident Dave Townsend. "Our yard will probably collapse into the gophers' tunnels someday."

Sandy Townsend, Dave's wife, says their presence is both entertaining and frustrating.

"We have lived here seven years and they have always been here," she said. "Just about every morning, we have a new mound of fresh dirt. It appears that they tunnel under the street to get back and forth."

Sandy and her husband, Dave, share a "live and let live" attitude toward the gophers. They in no way want to harm the rodents - in fact, Dave even recycles the fresh dirt they leave behind.

"I collect and use the soil they mound up as potting soil," he says. "It's good topsoil that they have loosened up."

Some neighbors aren't as tolerant.

Townsend says she's seen neighbors try some pretty devious methods of extermination.

"I saw one man with a pitchfork," she chuckled, "but I don't think he had any luck. Smoke bombs have also been tried."

One morning, Townsend was out walking her dogs when she noticed a neighbor's van parked on the grass.

"The owner had taped what looked like a vacuum hose to the tailpipe and with the motor running was pushing the other end of the hose into a tunnel," she said. "I guess he was hoping to gas them out."

A number of residents, including the Townsends, have tried more humane methods, such as frightening the gophers away with strong-smelling substances, such as dog poop.

"I thought it would scare them away, since dogs are a predator, but it didn't seem to have any effect," she said. "Some neighbors have used shavings from Irish Spring soap, but that didn't help either."

There aren't many pest extermination services willing to tackle pocket gophers because it can take many tries to find active tunnels and they find it isn't cost effective. But the Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension Service says it's legal for anyone with a gopher problem to trap them.

Traps can be purchased at many feed stores - they usually run about $18 to $26.

"The most difficult part of trapping the gophers is finding the tunnels," said Ed Carrow, owner of Critter Control of Tampa Bay in Tampa. "When you place the trap in a tunnel, make sure you tie off the trap. A stake aboveground wired to the trap ensures that you'll find the trap again."

Gophers can also be excluded from small areas with underground fencing made from half-inch galvanized hardware cloth. If the barrier is extended at least 2-feet underground and 6-inches above ground, most gophers will be kept at bay.

Carrow, who has 15 years of gopher eradication under his belt, said you can't use poison bait on most wildlife in Florida. Stokely tried mole poison, which is legal.

"Moles are an exception to that law, but mole poison bait does not work for gophers," Carrow said. "This really only leaves the traps."

Lithia Ridge residents have more or less accepted the gophers as neighbors, and the gophers have more or less accepted the terms of their continued existence.

Sandy Townsend says the critters tend to stay in the strip of lawn between the street and the sidewalk. Her two dogs patrol the back yard, sending a clear signal that that area is off-limits.

"Stay in the strip, and we'll leave you alone," she says.

- Staff writer Jay Cridlin contributed to this report.

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