It starts with a weird noise: a squeak, a shuffle or a scratching. It may continue with a smell of either droppings, urine or decomposing animal. You may even come face-to-face with it. Whether it has fur or feathers (in Connecticut, we have a lot of both) it’s a nuisance, and it’s living in your attic, garage, shed or air ducts.
Your House Isn’t a Wildlife Refuge
While we all love animals, we don’t want wildlife critters living in our homes. They present health risks, particularly if they’re animals known to carry rabies. They bring smells, mess and even damage if they’ve been chewing on infrastructure or wiring (the latter could even cause a fire). They lower your property value, and they creep your family out. At the same time, we don’t want to hurt the animals…just evict them once and for all.
Where Are They Coming From?
Now that you’ve established that they’re in, it’s important to establish how they’re getting in. Inspect your home, both the exterior and the interior, for holes and access points. Some animals, like mice and small bats, can squeeze in through extremely tiny openings. It’s especially important to do this inspection in the fall (think November), since this is the time critters will be choosing a cozy place to over-winter, and you won’t risk trapping any helpless baby wildlife when you repair the damage. To conduct a full inspection, bring binoculars, a flashlight, a camera to document openings and animal damage…and a ladder. Animals will choose some of the most inaccessible-to-humans points to try and get into your home.
Especially important places to examine include:
- The baseline of your home, especially behind undergrowth
- The joins in the building, particularly around the rooflines
- Chimneys that are unprotected with wire
- Crumbling wood areas
What Can I Do About It?
While access points need to be blocked, make sure you’re not sealing up any holes until you are certain there are no animals inside. A good way to ensure this is by plugging suspicious openings with a light material like insulation, paper, or cloth that can be moved aside by any animal trapped inside. Once you’ve established there are no critters inside, the ingress points can be permanently blocked. If the animals are inside the house, you will likely need professional help to encourage them to move out.
Call Anderson Wildlife
At Anderson Wildlife, we use 100 percent green solutions, with no pesticides, chemicals or poisons to harm our furry little friends. Where it’s warranted and allowed by state law, we can even use traps to relocate wildlife to a new home better suited for them than yours. We’ll check traps daily to make sure we’re removing animals quickly and humanely. Contact us today at 203-758-0555 to discuss how we can make your home more livable for your family and less appealing to animals. We serve all of New Haven County, as well as Woodbury, Southington, Stratford, Bridgeport and Fairfield.
