Man, they are defensive out your way. I have a black pine that acts like that, but our wild gophers here are dog tame from the get go. We just pick them up off the ground and they don't even try to bite. We made fun of one of our new girls for picking up a calm gopher with tongs. We were like, "What are you doing??? Just pick it up!"
That is funny about the water. I bucket soak them before release. Great minds...