Victor 0625 The BlackBox Gopher Trap

by Victor

Product Features

• Traps Gophers effectively - easy to set and easy to use
• Safe and non-toxic
• Durable, weather resistant construction
• Clean, quick kill
• No Poisons and no gases

Product Details

See the User Guide [PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 18.9 x 13.3 x 9.4 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000FBMFDO
• Item model number: 0625
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #440 in Patio, Lawn & Garden (See Top 100 in Patio, Lawn & Garden)
  • #22 in Patio, Lawn & Garden > Pest Control > Traps

Product Description

Traps Gophers effectively - easy to set and easy to use. Safe and non-toxic. Durable, weather resistant construction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little nuisances quickly losing their fascination, July 19, 2010

By 

neurotome "neurotome" (San Luis Obispo, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Victor 0625 The BlackBox Gopher Trap (Lawn & Patio)

A Gopher can be cute - for about 1 minute. Then, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard says, "This little nuisance is quickly losing its fascination." And if you're INFESTED, you'll soon agree with him - and me.

A friend recommended these gopher traps. She ran down the litany - castor oil repellant, ultrasonic noise repellers, underground bait, above-ground bait, gas bombs - everything she'd tried - and she recommended the Black Box trap as the only sure solution. I went out and bought one the very same day, and dug down near a fresh mound, tracking the lateral tunnel back to the main one, and wrinkling my nose at the smell of castor oil (which, incidentally, served only to double the gophers' efforts; they completely ignored it.) I set the trap, placed it in the tunnel, covered it back over with sod, and went to work. When I came home the trap was full - of fat, dead gopher.

Broken in the middle, the gopher's limp body gave no evidence of struggle. The powerful spring action of the Black Box had snapped his spine and led to a bloodless, speedy demise. It was a bit of a pain to get his nasty, flaccid corpse out of the trap and into the trash without touching him, made worse by the mild guilt I felt at having participated in the slaughter of one of my peaceful backyard friends.

Yes, guilt. Seriously. If you're all about PETA - if you're into ethical coexistence - you know this trap isn't going to be for you. This is a murderous, fiendish device. Imagine one day a giant hand reached down out of the heavens, snapped your spine, and hurled you to the ground, squeezing the life out of you until you perished, in agony and ultimately alone. Justice? Not served. Fair play? Out the window. Cruelty? In abundance.

But you know what else? I'm going to come over to your house, all you PETA folks, and mock your ugly, lumpy, mounded, holey lawn; because you will have an ugly lawn, bearing evidence of the nefarious depredations of order Rodentiae. And you will not get any food out of that organic garden you're tending with worm tea and organic compost, because the gophers will eat the roots and destroy all of your crops. And you will have fat, organically raised gophers; and skinny, malnourished vegan kids.

The rest of you? Go get you two or three of these Black Boxes. Then, start the body count.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 40+ years of Success!, August 11, 2010

By 

GOT "GOT" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Victor 0625 The BlackBox Gopher Trap (Lawn & Patio)

My dad started selling these traps in the 1950s. They originally were a treated wood but eventually they would get chewed on by gophers (revenge motivated), stolen by fox, or decayed by weather (forgotten for months). They sold for $3 each or so much a case. In our area a bounty was paid for the tail (today its at $3 each). I had at one time 12 traps and made some good money trapping gophers. Over the years, I've trapped hundreds of the little bastxxs. Why the hatred? Pocket gophers will eat your garden alive, drop 8' Norway pines, ruin your lawn and destroy underground electric wires. What's worse, if you let them be, the fox and badgers will come in to get them and then you'll see what real dirt moving and destruction means. A war zone!

This new plastic version works as well and doesn't get damaged by weather but costs significantly more than other open trap types. However, they work better than any other trap I've used as they are easy to set, no wounded gophers (never seen a live one yet)and will get the gopher 4 out of 5 times. That said, here's some observations:

1. To find a gopher run, take a pointed steel rod (I have one with a cross handle on the top and a stepping bar on one side toward the bottom). Go around the outside of the latest gopher mound inserting the rod 6-12" into the ground and about 12" apart. When the rod "falls" through the ground after initial insertion, you've found the tunnel. Take a square head spade and dig a square hole , flat bottom, with the tunnel at either or both ends. (Use two traps or seal one tunnel if your in the middle of a run). Butt the set trap up tight against the tunnel. Lightly cover the top of the trap with dirt (grass over the tiny gaps where the metal parts enter the trap, then dirt). Not too much as it will eventually interfer with the spring strength. Leave the hole open at the end (I've caught many gophers with the air hole closed too, especially if the trap is in a runway - tunnel going both ways).

2. You may catch the gopher fairly quick but I leave traps overnight before moving them. If the trap doesn't get tripped after a day, there is a 90% chance its plugged with dirt. If full of dirt, reset. However, each time its plugged, the chance of trapping the gopher (they get smarter each time) is significantly reduced. After plugged twice, your chance of catching him there is near zero. Move the trap to another portion of their maze and try again.

3. Wear old, worn gloves so you leave no scent. I've never washed a trap after a dead gopher though.

4. To remove a dead gopher, take the box trap, turn it on end over the garbage, hold the spring bar down and shake hard. The gopher will pop out. (A little messy but it works in rural areas...Take the dead gopher and fling him in the middle of the yard. I've never had a gopher still there the next day as many, many other animals love gophers for a decent meal. Is this green or what??)

5. Don't settle for just one gopher. I always reset the trap into the same hole and its 50/50 you'll catch another. If you think you have them all, remove the trap and leave the tunnel open. If it fills back up after a day, there's more in the maze.

6. Gophers love easy digging so they will follow easy digging directions. Unfortunately underground electric wire make for easy digging and a gopher will follow the wire. For some reason (revenge again?) they will chew on the plastic wire coating as the enjoy the easy digging. Weeks or months later when a wire nick corrodes and when the lights go off, you'll know they were busy.

7. If you have fox, coyote or badgers in the area, stake your trap down with chain and an anchor. If not, a predator will gladly remove the dead gopher but unfortunately with your trap. And you'll never see the trap again.

8. With minimal care (flag so you don't forget where your traps are and anchor when necessary)these traps will last almost forever. I'm still using an original wood box trap from the 1960s. All beat up but still catches gophers.

If catching gophers with minimal effort is the goal, you can't go wrong with this proven box design. Good hunting!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 100% kill rate, April 4, 2009

By 

Sunset Slacker (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Victor 0625 The BlackBox Gopher Trap (Lawn & Patio)

I had struggled with gas bombs, flooding & metal traps. These work....in time. I'm far too impatient & frustated by seeing my yard destroyed while gophers out smart the above methods. The Victor black box has been great! I have a 100% kill rate for the last 2 weeks and generally get my gopher within 4 hrs of placing the trap. Also, you can see if the trap has been tripped without disturbing the trap. Unlike the metal jaw style trap, where I had to trip it when pulling it out of the hole (because most of the time I had nothing.) I put a little bit of carrot in the bait hole in the back of the box & so far, I'm very happy.
This trap appears more humane in terms of a rapid kill (snaps the spine) & it less messy as the gopher doesn't have any wounds to deal with. It's worth the money. There is no way you are going to lose this thing underground either.