Control of field rodents in California (1949) (20504121250)

Title: Control of field rodents in California
Identifier: controloffieldro139stor (find matches)
Year: 1949 (1940s)
Authors: Storer, Tracy I. (Tracy Irwin), 1889-1973
Subjects: Rodents; Mammals; Rodents
Publisher: Berkeley, Calif. : College of Agriculture, University of California
Contributing Library: University of California, Davis Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: University of California, Davis Libraries



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closed with earth that does not rise above the adjacent ground surface. Gophers dig deeper tunnels in connec- tion with their nests, and may dig short, steeply pitched "sumps," possibly to drain adjacent tunnels. The nest is usu- ally in a chamber about 8 inches in diam- eter ; it is constructed of fibers of grasses and other plants, shredded like fine ex- celsior. Food is often stored beside the nest or in other enlarged chambers of the tunnel system. The burrow system of a pocket gopher may be many yards in length (fig. 12). Ordinarily each system is inhabited by a single gopher, although young may re- main in the tunnel occupied by the mother for a time after leaving the nest. The sys- tems of adjacent gophers may be con- nected, but connecting tunnels and even portions of the workings of a single ani- mal are often plugged firmly with earth. When a gopher is trapped out of a tunnel system another animal may later move in and occupy that system. Moles or mice occasionally use gopher burrows. Pocket gophers are active throughout the year (even in mountain areas, where they work beneath the snow and put the sur- plus earth in tunnels in the snow), and fresh workings may be found in any month. Surface activity is less on dry
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Fig. 12. Plan of the burrow system of a pocket gopher, excavated at Davis. (27)