f you've got critters calling your house home, it's time to call a pro
Gennifer Biggs
Jun 08, 2009
SOURCE: Her Times
Much to my kitten's chagrin, our neighborhood is overrun with chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits and skunks. While she doesn't like the idea of anything traipsing around her yard -- their presence noted by chattering teeth and a whipping tail -- I don't like the idea of those little furry critters taking up residence in my attic. The yard they can have; inside my house is another story.
So far, I've been lucky -- I have a tightly sealed attic, screened vents, and no fireplace where curious raccoons and squirrels can seek shelter. But what if you aren't so fortunate? Everyone has heard of friends chasing bats out of the house with tennis rackets and skunks making themselves at home in window wells.
Well, my first bit of advice is easy: Don't handle wild animals on your own. They can carry diseases such as rabies, and, frankly, funny as it may be, no one needs a great "the-day-I-got-bit-by-a-raccoon" story to tell over a cold one at the Plymouth.
So, what should you do if some critter decides to move in?
I called Paul Kaiser, a licensed wildlife control agent based in Erie to find out. Paul has been in the business of wrangling wildlife for nearly three decades. He's a member of the National Wildlife Control Operators Association, and he is armed with a lifetime of advice about protecting your home so that you never need his services.
Paul has removed everything from bats to skunks, raccoons to snakes, woodchucks to opossums, and most critters in between. He is licensed by the states of Pennsylvania and New York and is dedicated to both protecting his clients and the animals.
"You should always call a professional," stresses Paul, who stopped by my house to talk about how homeowners can safeguard their home from wildlife. The reasons go beyond safety (you have almost no way to tell if a bat, raccoon or other animal is carrying rabies) to legalities. Certain animals must be euthanized if trapped, others must be let go, and many are protected by law, which means if you kill it, you face a hefty fine.
"People think they will trap it, and just take it out to the city limits and let it go," says Paul. "They do a disservice to the animal, first of all, and then 90 percent of the time, that animal just moves into another house."
Paul says people often call him when they have discovered they have a house guest, and his first step is suit up from head to toe in protective gear, including a face mask, to protect himself. He then checks the residence, looking for telltale signs of an inhabitant, such as paths through insulation, fecal matter, chewed wires and holes in the inhabited space through which the animal could have gained access. From there, he provides an estimate to the homeowner, and the process of trapping begins.
How to avoid wild house guests
His advice for avoiding that entire situation starts with your yard.
- Clean up the yard, secure your garbage cans (better yet, put them in the garage), empty your bird feeders and make sure your grill is clean. The scent of any kind of food only draws more animals to your yard.
- Walk around the house, looking for any 4 openings that animals can squeeze through. Think you don't have any openings big enough? Paul says bats can fit through a ¼-inch hole, and most raccoons and other larger animals can go through any space their head will fit through (much like my kitten). So, if your fist will fit, they can likely slip in through that space.
- Look for holes in your screens, gaps around the fireplace, as well as loose fascia and soffit (soffit is the flat, ventilated panels that line the eaves while fascia is the trim securing the soffit). Also, don't forget your dryer vent. I'll be replacing mine this week with a louver version (about $14) so nothing can shimmy up the open vent and into the basement.
Once you've inspected the outside of the house, move inside.
- Check your attic, as you did the outside of your home, for holes. If you don't have screens inside your attic vents, invest in a 4-inch by 25-foot roll of screen; it will cost you only a few dollars, and a staple gun to secure it, which will run less than $20.
- Make sure your fireplace is capped, and call a tree trimming service to get overhanging branches away from your roof. A tree branch leading to a chimney is an open invitation to a critter looking for a cozy place to build a nest.
- After you've looked for the obvious holes, grab a flashlight and check every tiny corner of the rafters. Remember, the most common bats in our area are little brown and large brown bats, neither of which is all that big (I didn't know that before; Paul is a great teacher!). A small brown bat, wings tucked in, is about the size of a hamster, so if you have a little guest, and he is sleeping in a corner of your rafters, he would be easy to walk right past.
- Paul also suggests looking for the same things he would -- fecal matter and chewed wiring being the most easy to see. If you find some, call for help. Don't try to handle a furry friend in the attic on your own.
What to do if you have a wild critter in the house
The bottom line? Call a pro. Wildlife is not something to mess with yourself (and, remember, you could end up in trouble with the law).
Paul warns against "home remedies" for driving pests away, as well as chemicals and poisons. "I often trap animals right next to those things; they just don't work," he said.
A professional will come with experience, knowledge about the habits and dangers associated with each kind of animal, and should be both licensed and insured. Paul recommends you ask one important question of any professional you are considering for a wildlife control job: How often do you check your traps? By law, they must either check the traps or ask you to look at them every 24 hours.
How much does it cost?
Well, that's a tricky question. Paul says there is there's no standard pricing, since every animal control situation is different. He will, however, give you an estimate after assessing your particular situation.
Education is key
Paul says he works diligently to educate homeowners about wildlife. "Just like you teach your children not to talk to strangers, you should teach them not to touch animals," he stresses.
Not that he doesn't like animals. In fact, Paul has a great deal of respect for them, even taking the step to use carbon monoxide euthanizing equipment to dispatch trapped animals that must be destroyed by law, such as woodchucks, opossums, skunks, raccoons and feral dogs and cats. Other animals, such as mink, fox, squirrels, beavers, weasels, turtles, birds and snakes can be released into the wild.
So, before you need to call Paul, take an afternoon to check your attic and basement, and around the outside of the house for evidence that wildlife may be calling your house their home. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go tighten up some screening in the attic.
