Spring is here… kind of, but soon it will come forth in full bloom and with it all the wonders of nature. Birds chirping, bees buzzing, raccoons ripping open your siding to use your home as a birthing center and squirrels scratching all hours of the day to build their new nursery for the little ones! Such is the cycle of nature as the ground thaws and life bounds forth once more.
Nature can seem inevitable; the birds will fly after all, and babies will be born. But prevention is always easier and more cost effective than correction after the fact. So let’s take a look at some tips on keeping your home’s desirability to these critters a bit more limited so they take a gander at another location!
Why Your Home?
It often seems random when nature comes calling, and sometimes it is just unhappy circumstance that placed you in the path of a critter seeking a new home. But more often than not it is a combination of the basic needs of all living creatures: Food, Water and Shelter. With the presence of these ingredients your home is ripe for occupation!
Considering Conducive Conditions
There are many things seen around a home that will provide conditions conducive to the propagation of wildlife. Often plants are the primary factor that provide shelter and an easy climbing system into a home. Ivy growing up the side of a home is stunning but for rodents those branches become an easy path onto your roof. Bushes touching the home shelters would be prey from the predators that would find a delectable dinner.
That bird/squirrel feeder you love to watch is an endless food source many animals won’t want to live far from. Chicken coops provide fresh eggs. But they also provide food for rodents who eat the seeds and a meal for raccoons eating the eggs and hens. Water features provide a key ingredient to life allowing a population to thrive without the exhausting travel to a lake or river further away.
In Conclusion
Sometimes, no matter the prep work you can still end up with a wildlife issue. The first sign of having an animal in our home is of course, seeing the animal. But often you will hear the animal or see damage to the home first. Scratching at night is typically rats or mice, scratching during the day is often squirrels. A hyper toddler running across your ceiling is most likely a raccoon and droppings on the siding is generally thanks to a bird, with pecked siding being a woodpecker. If you find insulation on the ground, look up and see if you find an opening! If there’s a lot, it’s probably a raccoon….
If you need advice or have questions on securing your home we’re always free to chat with and if you have something you want to see in a future article feel free to let us know so we can provide the information you’re seeking!
