Getting ready to go Caddyshack !

I have been plauged with a number of gophers this spring , succeeded in nailing a number of them by either flooding or trapping but two are currently laughing at me . They are on extreme ends of my property (4 acres ) so I am sure it is different ones . In the past I had tried poisons but do not like the idea of the poisons possibly being consumed by others , the ideas I have seen , mothballs , hair , peppermint oil , and so on seem to be wives tales according to the consenus of most of what I have seen .

One type of device I found on the internet impressed me and would give me a great deal of satisfaction in using would be the Rodenator ;

http://www.rodenator.com/

or the Varmitgetter

http://www.varmitgetter.com/

There is a number of video clips on youtube of these things in use . Blowing these critters up would be fun after the torment that they have caused me but alas my budget at present does not allow me the luxury of such a toy . It would seem that they would discourage reinfestations as they destroy (collapse) the tunnel system but I am concerned about what destruction might be wrought to plants close by/in the concussion zone .

I came across a site from my home state , one of the university cooperative extension services ;

http://ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/gopher/experimentaldevice.html

Here they talk of an experimental device that they contrived , it does not seem too complicated , comprised of a 5 gallon bucket and a cooling fan utilizing highway safety flares as the actual killing agent . I have/had tried the "gopher gas cartridges" finding them to be expensive , short burn time, often burying the cartridge when trying to backfill/cover the entrance hole . burying the cartridge would nullify its effect because that would extinguish it or hamper the dispersal of the gas .

Now with this experimental device at the article linked to above seems a little more pro-active to me . It would push/direct the gas/fumes deep into the tunnel with a positive air flow . As mentioned in above article highway safety flares have not been certified for this use but believe that they do give off hot toxic fumes . With the entrance hole opened , an ignited flare placed in . the upside down bucket with fan attached then placed over the hole/burning flare . Sounds good enough to me to want to try on these critters laughing at me .

Plastic 5 gallon buckets I have around here in abundance , if you do not have one a lot of hardware stores do charging 5 to 6 dollars for them . I found what I feel to be an appropriate fan at Radio shack ;

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102825

I chose the 120 volt version , they do have a 12 volt version but I did not want to drag/maintain a car battery for this purpose so fan was $25 plus tax .

The fan only comes with two short lead wires so a plug has to be installed , in my case I just cut the elitric cord off a dead appliance and will use that splicing the wires with either electrical tape or wire nuts .

A thre pack of 15 minute highway safety flares was $6 , I bough four packs , that will give me 12 flares ( 3 hours of burn time )

The gogper gas cartridges I have seen 6 to $9 for multi packs .

So I am putting this device together , wish me luck .

Now anyone here have sure fire methods for eliminating/trapping ravenous rabbits . I have no aversions to helping them along to the next world , thier little carcases make for good buzzard snacks.