Pests
Gophers do eat grass as part of their diet, but they primarily consume roots, tubers, and bulbs, with grass making up only about 10-20% of their meals. Their burrowing habits often damage lawns even when they aren’t actively grazing.
Gophers actually prefer the hidden treasures beneath your lawn—roots, tubers, and bulbs pack more energy for their underground lifestyle. While they’ll nibble on grass, especially during dry spells, their real damage comes from tunneling, which aerates soil but also uproots plants and creates unsightly mounds. 🌱 The irony?
Their burrowing can make your lawn look like it’s being eaten even when they’re not actively grazing.
Think of them as nature’s underground plumbers—efficient at creating drainage but also at turning your carefully manicured yard into a maze of destruction. The key to protecting your lawn isn’t just deterring them from eating grass, but stopping them from turning it into a gopher highway in the first place.
💡 In This Article
- Gopher Diet Breakdown: Grass vs Underground Plants
- Protecting Your Lawn from Gopher Damage
Gopher diet breakdown: grass vs underground plants
The real secret to a gopher's diet lies in their underground lifestyle. These rodents evolved to thrive in soil-rich environments where roots, tubers, and bulbs provide concentrated energy. Underground plants contain 30-50% more carbohydrates than grass, making them the perfect fuel source for their high-energy burrowing activities.
A gopher's teeth are perfectly adapted for gnawing through tough root structures, while their front paws can dig with remarkable speed—up to 15 feet per hour in ideal conditions.
Grass only becomes a significant part of their diet during dry seasons when underground food sources become scarce. The protein content in grass (around 5-10% dry weight) is actually lower than in roots (which can reach 15-20% dry weight), but gophers will still consume it when necessary.
Their burrowing creates perfect conditions for grass regrowth by aerating the soil, which is why you might see patches of grass recover after gopher activity—even while other plants suffer from root damage.
Here's where things get interesting: gophers don't graze like rabbits or deer. They take small, precise bites from plants at ground level, often leaving the rest intact.
Their real lawn destruction comes from their tunneling habits—each gopher maintains a network of tunnels that can extend 100-300 feet per acre, creating a complex underground system that weakens plant roots and creates unsightly mounds when they emerge. 🌱
The seasonal variation in their diet explains why you might see different damage patterns. In spring and early summer, when roots are plentiful, you'll notice more tunneling activity.
During late summer and fall, when grass becomes drier and less nutritious, gophers may increase their grass consumption—but they'll still prefer roots when available. This explains why some lawns show patchy damage while others have extensive tunneling without visible grazing.
What most people don't realize is how gophers' diet affects their behavior. The high-carb underground diet gives them the energy needed for their extensive burrowing systems. A single gopher can create enough tunnels to support 10-15 pounds of plant material per month during peak activity.
This explains why you might see gopher damage even in well-maintained lawns—they're not just eating grass, they're actively modifying the soil structure to access their preferred food sources.
Interestingly, gophers have been observed to cache food in their burrows, creating personal pantries of roots and tubers. This behavior explains why you might find multiple entry points to a single burrow system—each serving a different purpose in their underground ecosystem.
The diversity of their diet actually makes them more resilient than many people realize, which is why they're so difficult to completely eradicate from lawns. 💫