rodents b gone

March 1, 2004 9:03 AM

If you have a gopher problem that rivals caddyshack, and you like to blow shit up, the rodenator is probably the tool you need. Check out the videos to see the cutting edge technology that rivals a 12 year old bully with too many firecrackers. I'd feign PETA-style shock and horror but it's almost comical how this tool does its job.
posted by mathowie (35 comments total)

The one video showed a rather large flame shooting back at the operator. Looks dangerous. Haven't these people heard of the bucket of water and baseball bat method? Or better yet, just get a dog.
posted by orange swan at 9:13 AM on March 1, 2004

That is Pure Evil. I'm buying one today!
posted by JeffK at 9:14 AM on March 1, 2004

Disgusting. And very dangerous-looking.
posted by agregoli at 9:18 AM on March 1, 2004

Wow. I suppose a .22 was just too difficult?
posted by dejah420 at 9:18 AM on March 1, 2004

And me without a spoon!
posted by terrapin at 9:31 AM on March 1, 2004

Also good for keeping pets from hiding in spots you can't reach...
posted by KnitWit at 9:35 AM on March 1, 2004

I'd feign PETA-style shock and horror but it's almost comical how this tool does its job.

Some of us don't have to feign our dismay. Any device that kills an animal with fire is cruel. I don't see the humor for anyone other than, say, middle school pyromaniacs.
posted by squirrel at 9:36 AM on March 1, 2004

Sure, that tool looks like fun, but is it really front page fodder?! Now, throw in a gratuitous link to Tigershack, and you've really got something...
posted by insomnia_lj at 9:40 AM on March 1, 2004

And what's with the "stuffed gopher" thing? It's on the site Matt linked, it's in the Tiger Woods commercial... Am I missing something?
posted by JollyWanker at 9:43 AM on March 1, 2004

heh. if you get a cat and tie some old cans to it's tail (this is the hard bit because if you just grab one on the street they can get pissy and scratch) with a piece of string then shout it keeps running because of the noise. that's pretty funny too.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:45 AM on March 1, 2004

Oh, and here is a direct link so that you can download Tigershack goodness...
posted by insomnia_lj at 9:48 AM on March 1, 2004

Am I missing something?

Yes, you probably have never seen the cult classic movie Caddyshack.

[BTW, don't bother with the rest of the crap sequels. The original is the only one remotely worth watching]
posted by terrapin at 9:50 AM on March 1, 2004

It's interesting that anyone with a foreign accent immediately has some credibility in the realm of rodenticide.
posted by mert at 9:53 AM on March 1, 2004

"what's with the "stuffed gopher" thing? Am I missing something?"

I'd say so. You're missing an important source of cultural reference!

It would be like appreciating Daisy Dukes without referencing the cultural records...
posted by insomnia_lj at 9:55 AM on March 1, 2004

Any device that kills an animal with fire is cruel. I don't see the humor for anyone other than, say, middle school pyromaniacs.

but then, your handle is squirrel. [get him!!!!!]
posted by quonsar at 10:07 AM on March 1, 2004

I'd prefer a golfinator.
posted by sgt.serenity at 10:34 AM on March 1, 2004

Where I work, one of my responsibilities is safety. Gophers and moles are a major hassle for us. On an athletic field, these holes can and do cause a variety of injuries, and with a lot of fields, it is impossible to keep up with a regimen of filling in the holes and raking the surface smooth again.

Although my daughter is aghast and wants me to try to institute a relocation program, we have concluded that the only way to control them is to try to kill them. They are remarkable persistent and I have a lot of respect for them, as ironic as that sounds.

We have tried, with limited success:

1. Carbon monoxide, as in exhausting a lawnmower or other gasoline-powered implement into the burrow. The construction of the burrows seems to defeat this.

2. Various poison baits. There are envionmental problems, plus problems with non-target impact, i. e. dogs digging into the burrows and getting into this bait. And BTW, a "canine-enhanced gopher borrow" is more of a problem than a solution.

3. Every "better gopher trap" that has come along. They just do not seem to work, and invariable the manufacturers or vendors point to our poor "technique" rather than the fact that their products to not catch gophers.

4. I have looked into ferrets and barn owls as 'biological control' but each of these strategies has problems. You would need to have a domestic ferret on the verge of starvation before they would go after a gopher, and with owls, well in an urban setting it is diffucult to get them to 'move in.'

5. We are trying a device called a Giant Destroyer, which looks like an M80 and when lit, emits a sulfur gas which is supposed to displace the oxygen in the burrows and suffocate the gophers. Whether this will work better than carbon monoxide is unclear as of yet.

6. Sonic devices may work in a small yard, but you would have to employ like 50 of them in a field to the the coverage you need for effective control, and have tripping hazards along with a lot of battery replacement time.

7. We have looked into the Rodenator, but the combustive nature of this technique gives us caution, around a school, so for now we have decided against it.

8. One of the most effective controls I know about is a home-made device incorporating a shotgun shell. When tripped, either the buckshot pre-composts the gopher or the shock kills them. Again, around a public athletic field where lots of people have access. . .. nope. .

One more fun fact. . if you have a mound that is symmetrical and conical, like, say Mt. Fuji, you have a mole, and if you have a mound that looks like Mt. Saint Helens after the eruption, you have a gopher.
posted by Danf at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2004

Just what I need to go up on my wall next to my Jarvis Lung Gun.
posted by loquacious at 10:46 AM on March 1, 2004

If you've ever tried to get rid of gophers or groundhogs, you would realize that this method is more humane than most methods. The rodenator doesn't kill with fire, but instantly with a concussive shockwave. A rite of passage with my grandfather was helping him with one of the enemy, he was a dedicated gardener, which entailed pulling the animal out of the hole with the trap stuck on a limb and braining the animal with an iron bar. Conibear traps are better because the often kill in an instant unlike leg traps, but they can't be used in many situations. Flooding only works in certain soils and there is always an escape tunnel. Gassing is impractical and can be inhumane in large networks. Once, Gramps used excelsior and smoke bombs, but it only burned down a row of hemlocks. Bonus points to those who can tell me what excelsior is without lookup. Would he have liked the idea of the rodenator? You bet! But we probably would have built our own ala underground potato gun. Darwin's law hasn't gotten me yet. BANG! Whoa!
posted by roboto at 11:00 AM on March 1, 2004

When used with the Rodenator Pro, a precise mixture of 3% propane and 97% oxygen is injected into the tunnel for a predetermined amount of time. When this gas mixture is detonated by the Rodenator Pro, the gasses rapidly expand inside the tunnel, creating a underground shockwave that eliminates the animal within the tunnel and collapses the tunnel system of some burrowing species.

Man, I've been waiting for an gas-based extermination device that makes its own mass grave. German engineering is soooooo twentieth century.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 11:05 AM on March 1, 2004

Excelsior is an old packing material, no?
posted by Samizdata at 11:40 AM on March 1, 2004

This is all well and good, as long as the varmints haven't damaged any underground natural gas lines. BOOM!
posted by jpoulos at 11:42 AM on March 1, 2004

Not too practical for a golf course. Sure, the gopher is dead, but then you've got all that turf repair to do.
posted by yesster at 11:43 AM on March 1, 2004

Judging from the videos, the Rodinator is gonna be a little hard to market to guys who are sensitive about damage to their lawns. And the obvious Tiger Woods vs. the gophers video would be Tiger waiting for a gopher to pop up out of a hole, then swinging his golf club whacking its head off. Go fer it, Tiger.
posted by Termite at 11:50 AM on March 1, 2004

Saw this on TechTV last night as well. Good stuff as gophers are pests and this does kill them in a humane way AND collapses their tunnels pretty well too.

Yesster, they'd rather repair the course once after killing the gophers rather than do it every day as part of their daily chores. And it might even save them from litigation from some dude snapping his leg in another gopher hole.
posted by fenriq at 12:32 PM on March 1, 2004

Yes, excelsior is wood shavings used for packing back in the day. Very flammable.

A better approach would be to remotely detonate with a safe controller like a model rocket. The videos are hilarious but the chances of standing on a part of burrow are high. Who wants a rock embedded in their kiester? BANG! Whoa!
posted by roboto at 12:45 PM on March 1, 2004

There's always The Prarie Dog Solution...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 1:10 PM on March 1, 2004

Good stuff as gophers are pests

Little fuckers had MONTHS to complain about the plans for the golf course.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 1:11 PM on March 1, 2004

Looks like a good way to get your 'nads blowed by flying rock shrapnel. Other than that it's pretty interesting to watch the video in a "Napalm Bombing" kind of way...
posted by aaronscool at 1:30 PM on March 1, 2004

There's always The Prarie Dog Solution...

Well the architecture of gopher burrows, I as understand it, makes this solution impossible.
posted by Danf at 1:46 PM on March 1, 2004

Ogre: Saw that machine on the History Channel. They had video from inside the machine, which was great. You just see this furball fly into a big foam thing, then gently fall onto a pillow and walk away. Looked like a great solution. (And rather humane, since they are apparently unharmed by the vacuum and are relocated instead of killed.)
posted by mzanatta at 2:30 PM on March 1, 2004

found a Dog-Gone suck.dog .mov link on CNN
posted by roboto at 5:54 PM on March 1, 2004

Fark.com wouldn't take your post, eh matt?
posted by fold_and_mutilate at 10:57 PM on March 1, 2004

As cruel as it sounds, that looks like fun.
posted by dg at 3:54 AM on March 2, 2004

Now if we only made a gopher vac large enough to suck in people, we could sell rides.... we'd be millionaires!
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 7:40 AM on March 2, 2004