Please note: this page contains reviews and opinions sent in by Berkeley Parents Net subscribers. Your own experience may be different. Please always check references before hiring!

There is an imbedded drainage pipe in the up-sloping hill behind our house. The hill collects rain water and the pipes (drilled into the hill when the houses were built) directs the water into the underground pipe which then goes to sewer.

Gopher (an army of gophers?) invaded the area and dug up absolutely everything. Now water does not go into pipes any longer but comes out springing from under ground in very many places, including going towards our house.

To fight the gopher, we tried poison, gas, sonic devices, traps, everything we could read about. The gopher stays, digs new holes, creating new water springs in random places.

We are at a loss - we are guessing the underground pipes are clogged by gopher activity (soil? rocks?) so water finds alternative ways. We tried talking to EBMUD but since all this is on a private property, they said it's our own problem.

We're so scared the underground tunnels and water springs will crack our foundation, destroy our house.

What should we do? Can we do it on our own or must it be a major engineering project? If we need an expert, what kind of an expert?

Please help! Maria

We also used garlic tablets from another company called www.gardeners.com. They also sell castor oil which apparently repells moles and gophers and is the most cost effective product. They also have Shake Away for $19.95.

We used the garlic oil from shake a way once and the garlic tablets from gardeners.com once. The next day the gopher disappeared; we have only had gophers twice in the last year. One gopher can make many tunnels and they are solitary animals. You probably have only 1 gopher.

Gopher traps are another option. Let me know if you want info on that; we did not need to try the traps. JUDY

I have seen the previous posts about rodent control and exterminators but nothing specifically about gophers or moles.We have some gophers or moles ripping up our lawn and would like some advice in getting rid of them or services we can call. Judy

We just moved to a home with a beautiful wooded backyard. It is being overrun by gophers or some other burrowing pest. We tried the sulphur bombs. No luck. Any advice? We have a dog and child, so we want the solution to be non- toxic, with minimal damage to the soil and landscape. Thanks.

After many years of professional gardening, this is the first time I've had to deal with the problem of moles burrowing through a newly planted parking strip. How have people dealt with moles in the garden? I am loathe to kill them - but are there alternatives? Thanks in advance. Jadwiga