With spring not far away, gophers will soon be emerging from winter hibernation.
And if this year is anything like the previous few, it could be a challenge managing the pesky rodents, also known as Richardson ground squirrels.
“Probably the most effective and the longest lasting approach is preventing ground squirrel damage from occurring in the first place,” said John Bourne, a vertebrate pest specialist with Alberta Agriculture.
“Control through prevention is much less work and far less costly in the long run than dealing with the alternative.”
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Prevention means keeping gophers out of specific crop land and forage fields, which stops them from gaining a foothold and establishing a colony that will be much more difficult to manage later.
“It’s the juvenile ground squirrels that need to be managed,” Bourne said.
“They’re the ones who colonize cropland soon after leaving the natal colony in late summer.”
Bourne said that more than half of all juvenile males and nearly as many females perish from predation, misadventure, starvation and other forms of natural attrition before reaching their first year of life.
“Since there are no repellents, barrier devices or scare deterrents to keep invading rodents out, the only option is to remove the rodents with traps or fumigants such as the new product Exit, or by using poison baits,” he said.
Exit is a combination of mustard powder and foaming agent that kills by blocking an animal’s respiratory system. Each tunnel must be treated.
Bourne said it is possible to protect cropland from invading rodents, but the chance of success is directly proportional to the effort made to monitor fields for rodents and remove the initial invaders.
Several baits perform reasonably well if gophers have become established. Most baits are available at farm retail outlets.
Standard products include pre-mixed strychnine products, Rozol, which is an anti-coagulant concentrate, and Burrow Oat Bait, which is a ready-to-use zinc phosphide.
Although single dose or acute baits such as strychnine are still considered the most effective, other baits that contain anti-coagulants or zinc phosphide have shown great potential in controlling ground squirrels.
In Alberta, rural municipalities, counties and municipal districts will have the option to buy a pre-mixed fresh-made strychnine grain bait similar to the product available to farmers for the past three years, he said.
“The Nu-Gro Corp. has made arrangements to manufacture and fresh deliver the pre-mixed strychnine product to municipalities for immediate pick-up.”
