What Do Gophers Eat?

Understanding gopher diet helps explain why they target your lawn and garden.

Pocket gophers are herbivores that feed primarily on plant roots, bulbs, and tubers they encounter while tunneling underground. This feeding behavior is what makes them so destructive — they eat plants from below, causing them to wilt and die without any visible above-ground pest activity until the damage is done.

FAVORITE FOODS

WHY IRRIGATED PROPERTIES ATTRACT GOPHERS

Southern California's dry climate means irrigated properties stand out as oases of plant growth. Lawns, gardens, and landscaped areas with regular watering support lush root systems that gophers seek. Properties near open space or hillsides are especially vulnerable as gophers move from natural habitat into maintained yards.

SIGNS OF GOPHER FEEDING DAMAGE

Because gophers feed underground, signs of damage are often indirect. Look for plants that wilt or die suddenly, fan-shaped soil mounds near affected plants, and soft or sunken areas in the lawn where tunnel systems have collapsed. Drip irrigation lines that stop working may have been chewed through underground.

STOPPING GOPHER DAMAGE

The most effective way to stop gopher feeding damage is professional trapping. Rodent Guys uses chemical-free methods to remove active gophers with a 60-day guarantee — if activity returns, we come back at no charge.

Roots and Underground Plant Parts

The majority of a pocket gopher's diet consists of plant roots, bulbs, corms, and tubers encountered during tunneling. Gophers are generalist herbivores — they eat the roots of grasses, ornamental plants, vegetables, and trees indiscriminately. This is why gopher damage often appears as plants dying with no visible above-ground cause: the root system has been severed or consumed underground. Newly planted trees and shrubs are particularly vulnerable because their root systems are shallow and easy to access.

Above-Ground Foraging

Gophers occasionally forage above ground, particularly at dusk and dawn. They pull entire plants into their tunnels by the roots, and will emerge briefly to clip low-growing vegetation near tunnel entrances. This above-ground foraging is most visible in garden beds where plants disappear overnight — pulled down from below rather than eaten from above.

Irrigation Systems as a Water Source

Gophers do not drink water the way surface animals do — they obtain most of their moisture from the plant material they eat. However, gopher tunneling frequently damages drip irrigation lines and mainline pipe. The damage is incidental to tunneling rather than intentional, but the result is significant — severed lines, system failures, and the secondary effect of over-watering creating attractive conditions for further gopher activity.

Plants Gophers Tend to Avoid

Gophers tend to avoid plants with strong scents like lavender, rosemary, and gopher spurge, as well as plants with toxic root compounds. However, avoidance is inconsistent — individual gopher behavior varies, and a hungry gopher will eat plants it would otherwise pass on. Physical barriers and professional trapping remain more reliable control methods than plant selection alone.