How to Keep Spring Wildlife Out of Your Home

How to Keep Spring Wildlife Out of Your Home

The weather is still a bit chilly, but spring is just around the corner and that means more wildlife will be out and about. Just because they left your attic alone this past winter doesn’t mean they won’t be attracted to it for the springtime. This is the time of year they will be searching for shelter to bear and rear their young. They are well-adapted to urban life and will typically be attracted to homes to find a safe place to settle down. Let’s go over which animals it’s time to keep an eye out for:

  • Raccoons: Raccoons are not aggressive towards people; however, they will attack if they feel cornered. They are known as scavengers and will mostly hunt for food at night. Being highly intelligent helps them to find their way into your attic, chimney, or under decks.
  • Opossums: They begin breeding as early as January and will usually produce 2 liters a year. These nocturnal creatures are not aggressive but will hiss and show their teeth when scared. Opossums can cause damage if they enter your house, typically your attic.
  • Skunks: These easy-to-spot (and smell) critters emerge form hibernation and become more active in the spring. They will usually give birth to their first litter in early to mid-spring. Skunks can cause damage to your home by burrowing under buildings.

Wildlife Prevention

Most wildlife creatures are generally harmless but can be problematic if they get inside your home. Wildlife control begins with prevention. Here are some handy tips:

  • Keep windows locked and screened
  • Clean gutters to prevent water pooling and potential nesting sites
  • Trim tree branches and shrubs away from your home
  • Block off any openings under porches, decks, patios, and garages with wire mesh or chicken wire
  • Keep garbage stored in tightly sealed trashcans or use cans that latch close

If you suspect a problem with wildlife or other pests, give your local wildlife control company a call today for a free inspection!

Common Wildlife Problems in Pompano Beach

Common Wildlife Problems in Pompano Beach

Pompano Beach Pest Control: Wildlife Exclusion

Wildlife creatures can be cute from afar, but once they’ve invaded our homes, they quickly become a nuisance! While wildlife typically invade homes in the winter, they are still highly active in the summer, as well, searching for food and water sources. Check out our list of common wildlife creatures in Pompano Beach and how you can prevent them.

Rats

Active year-round, rats are excellent climbers and will adapt to human environments. They often seek out undisturbed areas such as attics, basements, and crawlspaces. For survival, these rodents will need a food source and will look in your home for grains, nuts, fruits, seeds, and vegetables. Harmful to humans, rats are known to contaminate food, cause fire hazards by chewing wires, and leave their droppings that can lead to disease.

Opossums

During the summer, opossums are actively hunting for food for their young. During the day, these pests will hide in trees until the evening arrives. As nocturnal pests, opossums look for their food source primarily at night. Opossums will scour your trashcans for nuts, fruits, grains, and even insects.

Raccoons

Raccoons give birth to their young during the summer and, like opossums, they are actively looking for food for their babies. While raccoons prefer wooded areas to inhabit with trees, water, and vegetation, they can be found in human areas too. They often seek out shelter in our attics, barns, and sheds. Raccoons are also nocturnal, searching for food at night. These creatures eat fruits, nuts, seeds, fish, and even snakes. Raccoons can become a nuisance if they find their way onto our property, often knocking over garbage cans or destroying gardens.

Preventing wildlife starts with the preventative measures put in place around your home. Consider utilizing these do-it-yourself wildlife control tips:

  • Keep garbage stored in tightly sealed trash containers
  • Remove any food source outside, including your pet food bowls
  • Seal any open holes or gaps found in garages, windows, or exterior doors
  • Contact your local Pompano Beach pest control company to assess your wildlife issue, provide a treatment plan, and recommend wildlife exclusion options.

 

Request a Free Wildlife Control Analysis

Preparing for Fall Wildlife

Preparing for Fall Wildlife

Fall is just around the corner! While we are all eager for that brisk fall breeze to arrive, we know that as the temperatures get cooler, certain wildlife creatures will be more active during the fall season. Wildlife such as squirrels, mice, opossums, and rats are just a few that will start to look indoors for a warm habitat and food source. Before the fall season arrives, every homeowner should start wildlife control preparations early to help prevent these animal intruders from getting inside.

Wildlife animals are constantly in search of food and water to survive. Animals such as opossums and rats often look to garbage cans to find food, making a huge mess in the process. To keep them from scavenging through your trash cans, make sure your garbage isn’t overflowing. Keep your exterior garbage cans secure by locking and sealing the lids overnight.

Raccoons, squirrels, and birds will easily sneak into open gaps or holes leading right into your home. Screen attic vents and openings in chimneys can provide them with ideal openings. Ensure that the vents and chimneys are fully screened and sealed off. Likewise, check around the exterior of your home for any gaps or holes leading inside. Rats and mice only need a small opening to get inside, so ensuring that you’ve sealed any openings can help eliminate the chance of infestation.

Your yard is the first thing that wildlife creatures will enter. Keeping your yard well-maintained can help to prevent these pests from inhabiting. Make sure to clean up leaf piles, brush, and debris throughout the yard. When cleaning up the piles, put them in sealed waste bags and store them in the garage until garbage day. Trim your tree limbs or branches away from your roofline as animals, such as squirrels, will use them as a guide to enter inside the home.

Preventing wildlife from entering your property can be difficult but possible. If you’ve noticed more wildlife creatures than usual, consider calling your professional wildlife control company. These wildlife exclusion experts will inspect your home, identify entry points, safely remove infested animals, and prevent them from entering in the future!

Preventing Common Wildlife

Preventing Common Wildlife

It’s true – many wildlife creatures invade and infest homes during the colder months of the year. However, there are still plenty of pests that are active and looking for a place to inhabit. Knowing which types are prevalent this season and how to prevent them can help you protect your home and family.

Snakes

As coldblooded animals, snakes get their energy from the sun. Because of this, snakes are more active during the warmer months as they require more energy to mate. You’ll typically see snakes out in the early morning and late evenings to avoid the high heat of midday. When they aren’t out, snakes like to hide out in cool, dark places such as underneath rocks and decks. You could also find them hiding out in your basement if they’ve gained access.

To keep nuisance pests from infesting your property it’s important to keep your lawn neat and clean. Clean up any yard clutter, such as piles of leaves and wood. Keep your grass mowed to eliminate coverage and trim bushes and hedges regularly. Always check your garage, garage doors, windows, and exterior doors for gaps and seal any openings.

Opossums

During the spring and summer, opossum females care for their young, meaning they are more active in searching for food to nourish them with. These animals are nocturnal and search for food at night. During the day, possums will hide in trees where they will stay until the evening. While they eat unwanted pests such as snails, cockroaches, spiders, and rats, they also eat garbage, fruit, grass, and roadkill.

To prevent opossums, keeping food from being left out outside your house is crucial. Make sure you bring in pet food and water from outside. Pick up any fruit that might have fallen from trees, including tossing out the rotten ones. It’s equally important to keep your garage doors, pet doors, or unscreened windows closed during the night.

Rats

Rats are active year-round, but the warmer weather provides them with more sources of food. These rodents can reproduce very quickly and controlling them can become difficult once they’ve infested. Rats will typically make burrows before wintertime, building these under buildings, concrete slabs, around lakes and ponds, and even near the garbage. These wildlife creatures can be a risk to humans as they can contaminate food, chew wires causing fire hazards, and their urine and feces can cause health concerns.

Taking necessary precautions before you start seeing rats is the key to preventing them. Check around the exterior of your home and seal up any cracks, crevices, and holes found in the foundation or siding. Remove clutter throughout your garages and storage areas, along with using plastic storage instead of cardboard. Keep your kitchen clean from any crumbs and spills and take your trash out regularly.

If you’ve taken the necessary steps to prevent these common wildlife but are still seeing them, it might be time to call your local pest control company. They’ll be able to assess the wildlife issue and provide you with the best wildlife control and wildlife exclusion options.

Wildlife: Leaving a Mess Behind

Wildlife: Leaving a Mess Behind

It’s minutes before you have to run out the door and make your commute to work. You make your coffee and look out the window, only to see last night’s dinner scattered throughout your yard! Unfortunately, your garbage has been rummaged through all night by a couple of wildlife pests. Two popular animals that are known to forage through trashcans and dumpsters for food are raccoons and opossums.  

Raccoons, known for their distinctive black mask coloring on their faces, can range from just under 2 feet long to over 3 feet long. These animals are considered nocturnal and are rarely seen by humans. Be aware, though, spotting a raccoon during the day can be a possible sign they have rabies or other abnormal conditions. 

Raccoons are scavengers, looking for food wherever they can find it, often foraging in trashcans and dumpsters. These skillful creatures can easily use their paws to open doors and lids to look for food. While they are omnivores, they prefer fruits and nuts over meat. Because they are creatures of habit, once these animals find a food source at your home, they will keep coming back until the food source is gone. 

Another animal you’ll catch roaming around your trashcans is the opossum. Grey in color, opossums can range from 14” long to over 3 feet long, with their tails making up 50 percent of their total body length! These animals also tend to live near wet areas such as swamps and marshes. 

While opossums are omnivores, they prefer insects and carrion over fruits and vegetables. As highly skilled climbers, you’ll find these creatures in trees, staying up there for as long as they can. They are also slow movers so don’t expect them to make a quick getaway! Opossums are generally not aggressive, though they will play dead if they are threatened.

Here are some tips to help prevent wildlife from rummaging through your garbage.

  • Seal any garbage cans and compost bins at night.
  • Use locking lids on trashcans if possible or place a weight on top to keep the lids closed.
  • Keep the outside of your home well-lit at night as opossums and raccoons will shy away from the lights.
  • Spray a mixture of half ammonia and half water on your trashcans or soak rags in the mixture and scatter them around your property; this smell will repel these pests. 
  • If wildlife constantly returns, consider contacted a licensed pest control company who can provide you with a thorough evaluation and wildlife control plan.

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