The Gopher

The plains pocket gopher, Geomys Brarius, resides in Iowa. Stocky medium sized, burrowing rodent is named so for the external cheek pouches or pockets it uses to carry food to it cache.

The plains pocket gopher is commonly confused with groundhogs, ground squirrels, chipmunks, moles and shrews.

An adult pocket gopher averages 10-12 inches long and weighs about a pound. Its front end is very short with large clawed front feet and large teeth used to dig with. Its mouth closes behind its teeth to keep out dirt. Their top teeth grow 9 inches a year while the bottom teeth grow 18 inches a year.

Pocket Gophers live solitary lives except when breeding, Feb.-March-April and rearing young, April-May-June. One to thirteen young may be born with three to five typical. Dispersal of young is generally done by late July. Gophers do not hibernate but continue to live on food caches through frozen months.

Heaviest mound building is in fall and second heaviest is in spring. One gopher may move one ton or more of dirt a year. One gopher may typically build one to four mounds a day.