Remote control Gopher Chaser/taser

Ok all you tech savvy's on ATS. My yard is being terrorized by gophers. In the last 4 months I have lost 3 fig trees, 5 full size aloe vera plants, 3 roses bushes, and 2 acres of land that looks like a battle ground with holes every where due to gophers. I have tried the electronic noise makers, the gopher pellets, setting up traps in each hole (which is the most successful but these things breed faster than I can kill them), flooding the holes with water, sulphur bombs, running a hose from my cars exhaust pipe into the holes, finding snakes and putting them into the holes, and well Im out of ideas.

I want to invent a small rodent size remote control vehicle that has a camera and light that can go down these gopher holes and have a stun gun attached to it with a couple million volts to zap the heck out of these things. Maybe something that can shoot or explode or exterminate these bastards. Anyone have any ideas or suggestion where I can start to make something like this?

I've seen video's of a device called the Rodenator :



This seems to be the most successful but I don't want to have swat team coming to my house in full gear, and Is expensive!!

reply to post by Alchemst7


If you are in a rural setting, you can apply all the aforementioned items along with a varmint rifle. Think of it as target practice. These critters cause all sorts of damage as I am sure you are aware.

But the rodentator does look fun.

PETA will be hunting me down with pitch forks and torches for sharing this...

I'd heard an invention on a radio show a few years ago and found it quite effective. It isn't nice or pretty....but then, neither is the thought of electrocuting them or blowing them up. So, I take it killing them is not your shortcoming.

The radio host coined it the "Chipper Dipper" (as in Chipmunk) and as names go.. well.. That's what he called it and we'll leave it at that.

Take a 5 gallon bucket, fill it 1/3rd with water and then dump enough sunflower seeds across the top of the water to leave a dry layer on top. From above, no water! It looks like a solid surface to jump right down to and steal some sunflower seeds. Actually... it's like the roach motel for furry rodents. They check in....but 2/3rds of a bucket with sheer plastic walls doesn't leave much for a way out...and the water? Just deep enough to do the dirty work.

It isn't pretty, as I said...and I'm not sure if the bait and scale of the container might not need a little adjustment for the size of critter you're after..but I got a half a dozen squirrels before I stopped and figured I'd done enough to solve the problems causing me physical damage and expensive issues around my property.

Pest control isn't for the faint of heart, no doubt..but it sounds like you're at the end of your rope and I've been there....I hope this helps you as much as it did me.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I have a few squirrels in the area but they are not as troublsome as the gophers. I will definitely try that trick in the summer time when the squirrels are more active. Thanks

reply to post by TDawgRex


These gophers are always under ground. very rarely do they pop up. Maybe they are moles but look like gophers.

reply to post by Alchemst7


There is always one way to tell. Moles are small, not much bigger than Hamsters. Gophers are fairly large...as far as rodents go in todays age. Sniping Gophers is always a game of patience.

Gophers tend to be bigger than moles. Gophers do emerge from underground from time to time. Moles don't.
Moles are much easier to take care of, you use a mole gun. For gophers, best bet is to trap them..
There are several types and sizes of gopher trap. I had a tough time trapping gophers last summer, and found that I was using the wrong type of trap - my gophers were too big!

If this is the type of trap you're using:


Try switching it for one of these... You'll need to dog more, but they work better for bigger gophers:

The problem you'll have with your underground, remote-controlled gopher terminator robot, is that it'll never get neaar a gopher. Gophers -like most underground creatures- are very sensitive to sounds, vibrations, light, and human smells. Not to mention, I don't think your radio signal will penetrate the ground.

Its not a chaser you want, because as mentioned by other posters, the critters have very sensitive hearing and sensory capacity.

I reckon what you should do is this:

First, run over the affected area with a Ground Penetrating Radar unit. Set correctly, this will allow you to discover the extent of the underground tunnels the little buggers have dug in your property. With these tunnels, and crucially the access points identified and mapped, you can go about planning the termination of your critter issues.

I would recommend incendiary attack. You need to rig some flammable gas delivery system for each seperate tunneled out area, and flood each one with burnable gas. Ignite it, and cook the wee buggers out. If you are worried about some escaping via the exit points, just put a lawn mower over every exit, and fire them up. If this proves an unreasonable solution, then what you could do instead, is this:

Before you begin your fuel air destruction, get some pals to run around planting small thermobaric explosives in all your gopher holes, with cameras attatched to them, wirelessly sending to a laptop that one of your buddies controls. While you are burning them out, your buddy can monitor the cameras, and remotely detonate the explosives if one of the little buggers should come running out with his butt on fire.

An alternative to the above suggestions, would be to mask up and then flood each tunnel system with a gas containing lethal levels of the toxin nicotene, which is one of the most violent toxins known to man, and has been used in pest control for an awful long time.