If you’ve ever turned your ankle in a gopher hole, you know that these animal pests can be hazardous as well as make your lawn look unsightly. In addition, these rodents can also cause problems beneath the foundation of your home and other structures on your property. Therefore, it’s important to be proactive about managing you rodent-related issues as part of your overall lawn management plan. Read on for more information about dealing with specific animal threats:
Ridding your lawn of gophers
Typically, you can identify the presence of gophers living in the soil beneath your lawn by the large holes that provide access to their burrows. These tend to be open holes that are fairly easy to spot. Unfortunately, spotting a gopher hole doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s inhabited. As burrowing species go, gophers are known for abandoning their burrows, so disturb the ground as little as possible when setting traps. For the most part lethal traps found at any lawn and garden store are the most effective way to rid your lawn of gophers, but be careful that children and pets don’t accidently get caught in the traps.
Getting rid of moles
Unlike gophers, moles don’t create open access holes to their burrows. You may not even know that moles are living under your lawn until your run over their burrows with a lawn mower. If you see patches or mounds of loose dirt, it’s time to take measures to get rid of moles. Because moles are small sightless rodents, the best way to get rid of them is to use a sonic device that makes it very uncomfortable for moles to live in the area where the sound is generated. You can even find sonic mole repellers that run on solar energy at a lawn and garden store near you.
How to manage rats and mice
As you might expect, rats and mice are some of the most difficult lawn pests to manage. If you set traps or poison out for them, do so along edgings and walkways where they are most likely to travel. Of course, if you have pets and children that play in your lawn make sure they don’t get caught in the traps or have access to the poisons. For a more natural approach, you can also use fox and bobcat scent to scare away rats – just be sure that it keeps working over time. Rats and associated vermin are very intelligent, and at some point may realize that there are no foxes or bobcats around to be afraid of.
Rodents and other lawn pests can carry disease and cause all kinds of property damage – especially to your lawn. If they get into your home, they can cause everything from electrical wiring faults to chewed walls. If you see signs of rodents on your lawn, take action right away to get rid of them. For the most part, you should be able to manage this with traps, baits, and repellents. However, if you have a serious rodent problem, it might be time to call the exterminator.
