As a Connecticut homeowner, you probably spend a lot of time and money to protect your house from storm damage and drafts, but you might not think about wildlife unless a problem arises. It’s common for animals to seek refuge inside people’s homes. These are some of the issues you should be concerned about and what to do if wild animals invite themselves into your house.
Why Animals Move into Connecticut Homes
In the fall and winter, when temperatures plummet, wild animals seek places that are warm and protected from rain, snow, and wind. The attic inside a house can be an ideal place for a winter home. It can also be a safe location to give birth and raise young in the first weeks or months of their lives.
How Wildlife Can Damage Your Home
The amount of property damage that animals cause can be staggering. Species such as squirrels, raccoons, opossum, birds, and bats squeeze through small openings to enter houses.
Once wild animals get inside, they often chew through drywall, insulation, wood supporting structures, boxes, and clothes searching for food or materials they can use to build nests. Species such as squirrels are known for chewing through electrical wires, which can create a fire hazard.
Wildlife also leave waste behind, which can cause an unpleasant odor. In some cases, wild animals even enter the spaces between walls. If an animal can’t escape and dies inside a wall, the smell of decomposition can permeate the entire house.
Signs of a Wildlife Problem
When animals move into an attic, the homeowners are often unaware of their presence for weeks, or even months. Residents might not enter the attic often and therefore might not see signs of damage, or they might overlook other evidence of an issue.
If one or more wild animals are living in your attic, you might hear scratching, the sound of small feet running around, or cries from babies. When you go upstairs to investigate, you might see footprints or waste on the floor, as well as damage and destruction that the animals have left in their wake.
How to Deal with Wildlife in Your Attic
If you have a problem with animals in your house, don’t try to handle it yourself. You might get hurt, or an animal might panic, run or fly away from you, and cause even more damage in the attic.
Anderson Wildlife Control has a highly experienced team who can exclude raccoons, squirrels, groundhogs, opossum, bats, birds, and other nuisance animals. We use safe, humane, and environmentally friendly methods. Contact us today to learn more.
