A Business Born Out of a Gopher Problem

Editor’s note: BurrowRX has become a popular tool for pest management professionals who offer gopher management. The company was founded by Joe Asciutto, a former firefighter who launched the company after seeking a solution to gophers that were wreaking havoc on his property. BurrowRX recently recounted its history, some of which is recounted below.

In the mid-1980s, Joe Ascuitto bought a home on an acre of land just outside of San Diego, Calif. He liked the idea of getting away from city congestion after a long shift as a firefighter and enjoying the peace and quiet at his home on a large lot. Unfortunately, he quickly met some unwelcomed guests. A ton of gophers were wreaking havoc on Ascuitto property and much of the neighborhood. The seller of the property had warned him about the problem, but Joe clearly underestimated it.

Ascuitto tried a variety of products and management strategies with marginal success. He began researching other treatment strategies, which led him to the use of pumping exhaust fumes from an internal combustion engine into the tunnels, allowing the carbon monoxide to kill the rodents inside their tunnel systems.

Ascuitto knew it was impractical to try to hook a hose up to the exhaust on his car, so he researched other ways of doing it. All that problem solving and idea gathering also proved to be the start of a journey to develop the innovative burrowing rodent control systems that thousands of pest management professionals (PMPs) are now using today – BurrowRx.

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