What Do Gophers Eat?

Gophers eat roots and underground plant parts constantly as they tunnel through soil searching for food. They favor plants from the poppy family including California poppies and other flowering plants. Bulbs, tubers, and rhizomes of various plants provide dense nutrition for growth and energy. Grasses like needle grasses, bent grass, and agropyron form the foundation of their diet year-round. Gophers pull entire plants down into their tunnels to eat roots and store them for later consumption. Root vegetables, even wild ones, attract gophers to particular areas and keep them feeding. They eat the underground storage parts of plants because these contain concentrated energy and nutrients. While digging, gophers consume roots right from the soil as they move through their tunnel networks. Visit /wildlife to learn about other burrowing animals and their feeding habits.

Gopher diets shift dramatically with the seasons as different plants grow, flower, and produce seeds. Spring brings fresh, tender shoots and new growth that gophers eagerly eat and seek out. Summer offers more abundant vegetation both underground and above ground in various environments. In fall, gophers focus on collecting and storing seeds and roots for winter survival. Winter is the hardest season because fresh plants are scarce and gophers depend on stored food caches. Late winter and early spring before new growth starts are difficult feeding times when stored food runs low. Flowering plants like sunflowers produce seeds gophers eat and cache in their tunnel system for later. The timing of plant flowering and seed production varies by location, affecting when gophers have certain foods available. Gophers that live in wetter areas experience different seasonal patterns than those in drier regions.

Gophers in Wyoming encounter different plants than those in Wisconsin or Washington due to regional variation. Western prairies support needle grass and various wildflowers that form gopher diets there. Eastern gophers in Wisconsin have access to different grass species and woodland plants specific to that region. Check /wildlife/wyoming/gopher for details about gophers in prairie habitats. Northwestern gophers in Washington live in damper soils with different plant communities and species. Tarweeds and other drought-resistant plants grow in California and western areas providing food. Each region has unique plants that gophers have adapted to eating and preferring. Soil type affects which plants grow and which plant parts gophers can reach and obtain. Climate and rainfall patterns determine what vegetation is available in each area throughout the year.

Gophers are famous for tunnel digging and use their tunnels to collect food for storage and consumption. As they dig through soil, they eat roots and seeds they encounter along their path. Gophers collect aboveground plants and pull them into tunnels to eat roots and leaves efficiently. They create pantries in certain tunnel sections where they store food for winter and spring months. Some gophers create storage areas with hundreds of plant pieces dried and ready to eat. They cache seeds, dried plant parts, and roots to eat when fresh food is unavailable later. Small pockets in tunnels store collected food safely away from predators and weather. Gophers work constantly to maintain and expand their tunnel systems seeking more food sources. Each tunnel network can extend 100 meters or more, creating more opportunities to find food. The digging itself provides food as gophers consume roots while working underground.

Mother gophers nurse their babies underground in special nesting chambers lined with soft material. Young gophers stay in the nest for about a month before becoming independent. Once they start eating solid food, baby gophers eat plants their mothers bring to the nest. Young gophers gradually begin digging small tunnels and learning to find their own food. They eat the same plants adults do but in smaller amounts appropriate to their size. Learning to dig effectively takes practice and young gophers make mistakes initially. Juvenile gophers stay with mothers briefly before being forced out to find their own territory. Once independent, young gophers must find food and dig their own tunnel systems immediately to survive. The first winter is dangerous because young gophers need to store enough food to survive until spring arrives.

Gophers sometimes move into yards where gardeners grow vegetables and flowers offering easy access to food. They eat carrot roots, potatoes, and other vegetable roots they find underground in gardens. Tulips, daffodils, and other bulbs in gardens are favorite targets that gophers seek out. Ornamental plants with edible bulbs attract gophers to established gardens and landscaping. They eat through garden beds and lawns, following plant roots to locate more food sources. Some people try to keep gophers away using fencing or garden barriers and underground protection. Raised garden beds with deep sides can reduce gopher access to prized plants. Poisoning or trapping gophers is sometimes necessary where populations become too large. However, gophers eat many wild plants and do not need human gardens to survive. Protecting specific plants is practical, but gophers will always prefer wild areas with less disturbance and more space. Learn more at /wildlife/wisconsin/gopher for information about gophers in eastern states.

Gophers are vegetarian burrowers, unlike shrews and moles that eat insects and worms primarily. Ground squirrels also eat seeds and underground plant parts, but they spend more time above ground foraging. Voles also dig tunnels and eat plants, and they compete with gophers for similar foods in shared habitats. Pocket gophers are different from true gophers but have similar diets and behaviors. All of these burrowing animals affect soil structure and vegetation in grasslands and gardens significantly. Rabbits eat many of the same plants gophers do, but rabbits eat aboveground leaves more than gophers do. Deer also browse the same vegetation but cannot dig like gophers can and stay above ground. Earthworms and soil insects live in similar habitats but eat different food and play different roles. The tunnel systems gophers create change soil structure and affect drainage, which impacts all plants in the area. Check /wildlife/washington/gopher for comparisons with other wildlife in the Pacific Northwest.