More pest problems

For the first time in my adult life I’m going to get over my reluctance to do yard work.... steaming from dreaded teenage chore days.... and try my hand at a garden. I figure I would like some fresh oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, squash and peppers. So Friday, after I get off work, I headed down to my local nursery and sped about $100 on trees and plants. Then I ran to home depo and picked up some planting soil and fertilizers. After I got home and started digging the whole for the orange tree, my neighbor sticks his head over the fence and wants to socialize with me.... ugg i hate socializing... so I chit chat with him for a while. One of the things he mentions is that there are gophers in the area, and that most people have had problems with them. As I’m doing some general weeding and yard work I start noticing things a little different, with the new piece of information, and realize that the likely hood is more than probable that I have a major problem with the little pests. Never having dealt with the problem before, I wished I had the internet so I could research the issue. But it was not scheduled to be hooked up till Saturday, the next day. So I chose not to plant my newly acquired plants yet, fearing for their safety and wellbeing.

Saturday morning comes and I get up do some weeding and prep work to prepare for the planting of the plants. The first thing i notice is that the hole I dug for the orange tree is 3/4 the way full, and it does not look like there was a cave-in of the side wall. Upon closer examination I find two little round holes in the sides of the wall. So there is really no more doubt about having a pest problem. After weeding for an hour or so the doorbell rings and I’m thinking it is the cable guy come to set up the internet. However, it was a 10 year old local girl with a foot long lizard on her shoulder wanting to meet the new neighbors. So I let her in and Braden and Nicole go crazy over her little pet. In the course of talking to her the little pest problem comes up and she says her dad has a bunch of traps for the buggers. She jumps up and runs home. Next thing I know she’s back with her dad and a little wire contraption that he says catches gophers. I’m thinking that it can’t hurt to try it; so we shoved it into one of the new holes the gopher dug the night before. A few hours later, after the cable guy has come and gone and lunch has been devoured. I go and check the trap and sure enough we have a trapped gopher.

lol, here is a pic of the little bugger...