Around Nevada
Conditions vary across the state. Choose your city below, then describe what’s happening around your home or business.
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Local gopher information
Gopher control in Nevada
Learn what to look for around your property, explore your city, and ask about an inspection or a quote.
Gophers in Nevada: what to know
What to note
Where you see gophers, how long it has been going on, and anything you’ve already tried are the most useful details to mention.
A useful next step
Ask about an inspection, what treatment would involve, and whether follow-up visits are included. You don’t need to identify the problem yourself before getting in touch.
Local research
Gophers in Nevada: what the public record shows
Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which gophers actually live in Nevada, when they are busiest, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.
Classified as nongame wildlife and not specifically protected; landowners can control them on their property
Legal status in Nevada
Extension notes pesticides and fumigants for gopher control are regulated and some are restricted-use products requiring permits.
University of Nevada, Reno ExtensionOrder through the Nevada Department of Agriculture order form
Strychnine access
Nevada routes strychnine gopher bait through the state agriculture department rather than open retail.
University of Nevada, Reno ExtensionLate fall through early winter, when gopher numbers are lowest
Best control timing
Hitting the population at its annual low means fewer animals to remove and slower reinvasion.
University of Nevada, Reno ExtensionGopher species recorded in Nevada
- Botta's pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae) — Most widespread of California's five species; also in disjunct southwest Oregon populations.
- Northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) — Smallest and most widespread western species; all of eastern Washington and Oregon east of the Cascades.
- Townsend's pocket gopher (Thomomys townsendii) — Malheur and Owyhee river valleys in Oregon.
When gophers are busiest in Nevada
Control is timed to late fall and early winter when populations bottom out.
Irrigation lines and drip systems are a major damage category in Nevada.
Rules that apply in Nevada
For context, nationally
- 14 species in 3 genera (Thomomys, Geomys, Pappogeomys) — Pocket gopher species in the U.S.. Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management
- 200 to 2,000 square feet — Botta's pocket gopher burrow system. UC IPM (University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources)
Sources: University of Nevada, Reno Extension; Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management; Pest Notes: Pocket Gophers; Living with wildlife: Pocket gophers; Pocket gophers. Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources
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