My husband and I recently purchased our first home just east of Tijeras. It has a beautiful yard and plenty of gardening space. Our problem is gophers and how to get rid of them. I bought a gopher trap, but I would like to know if there is a way to tell how many gophers could be in our yard. Problems with gophers are common in New Mexico, but according to the wildlife experts, moles do not inhabit New Mexico.
Moles eat underground insects and only cause problems by their tunnels and soil disruption.
Gophers, on the other hand, eat plant roots and other underground parts of plant. They do significant damage to our fruit and landscape plants. Regarding the number of gophers causing your problem, it is probably fewer than you think. Gophers do not like other gophers and will fight to the death if there is an invader in the tunnels. I have been told that only six to eight gophers can inhabit a single acre.