Pocket gophers are fossorial rodents that spend nearly all their lives below ground. They are almost entirely herbivorous, meaning their diet is composed overwhelmingly of plants. These animals, named for their external, fur-lined cheek pouches, are constantly tunneling to find and harvest vegetation. This need for food drives their destructive tunneling activity, making them a significant concern for gardeners and agricultural areas.
The Gopher Diet: A Root-Based Menu
The vast majority of a pocket gopher’s diet consists of subterranean plant structures like roots, tubers, bulbs, and rhizomes. These underground components serve as high-calorie storage organs for plants, making them highly attractive food sources. As a burrowing herbivore, the gopher requires a substantial caloric intake to fuel its continuous excavation and tunneling activities. Roots provide the concentrated energy needed to sustain this high-demand lifestyle.
Gophers use their powerful claws and large, ever-growing incisor teeth to chew through tough roots and soil, enabling them to harvest food directly from their tunnels. They often clip the roots of a plant and then pull the entire structure downward into their burrow system for consumption. While above-ground stems and leaves are occasionally consumed, the bulk of the damage remains focused on the nutrient-rich structures beneath the soil surface. They utilize their cheek pouches to transport gathered plant material back to underground food caches, ensuring a supply is available even when fresh foraging is difficult.
Signs of Feeding Activity and Plant Damage
The most obvious visual evidence of gopher presence is the characteristic dirt mound that appears overnight. Unlike the circular, volcano-shaped mounds created by moles, gopher mounds are typically fan-shaped or crescent-shaped, with a plugged hole visible on one side. These mounds represent the excess soil discarded during the construction of their extensive tunnel networks.
Above ground, the most telling sign of gopher feeding is the sudden disappearance or wilting of a plant. A shrub, flower, or vegetable may appear healthy one day and be completely collapsed or missing the next. If a plant is gently pulled, the roots often feel cleanly severed just below the surface, indicating the gopher has pruned it from below. Shallow tunnels just beneath the soil may also collapse under foot, creating unexpected sunken areas in the lawn or garden path.
Plant Selection Strategies for Gopher-Prone Areas
Gardeners can strategically minimize gopher damage by planting species that these rodents naturally tend to avoid. Gophers are often deterred by plants with strong, pungent odors, a bitter or toxic taste, or tough, fibrous root systems. Placing these less-palatable plants near more vulnerable species can help reduce foraging in that area.
Specific bulbs, such as daffodils (Narcissus), and certain ornamental alliums, are often bypassed due to their inherent toxicity. Similarly, plants with strong aromatic qualities, including herbs like rosemary, lavender, and catmint, are generally less desirable to gophers. Selecting robust, woody-rooted shrubs or plants known for their acrid sap, such as gopher spurge (Euphorbia lathyris), can be a successful long-term strategy for landscaping in areas with active gopher populations.