As temperatures begin to cool down, we will need to spend more time inside our warm, comfy homes, and away from the below-freezing temperatures and snow-storms outside.
Wild animals are also searching for a hideout advantage in Winter, and their focus may be your home!
Normally wild animals & pests have their own unique methods of survival. Animals & insects will burrow underground, live inside of dead trees, huddle together, and slow down their internal body processes in order to get through the Winter.
However, endless human homes to infest has provided another option of guaranteed survival for wild animals & pests to survive the Winter.
This option is YOUR home!
In today’s post we’ll be sharing with you how to keep wildlife & pests away from your home in the Winter so that you don’t have to deal with infestation or damage problems.
To watch the video version of this post complete with shocking raccoon infestation footage, click HERE now.
You can also download the pest-free podcast by clicking HERE to listen anytime at your own convenience.
Examples of Animal Infestation
What kinds of wild animals and pests will try to infest your home? This depends on where you live, the weather, and other factors such as local animal behavior.
All kinds of wildlife & pests can infest your home. Some of the most common include raccoons, skunks, squirrels, possums, mice, rats, and other small rodent-like creatures.
Some of the most common pests include flies, bees, and other little insects capable of surviving in very small places.
Most people assume that insects are completely dead over the Winter, but that’s actually not true.
Many insects will actually remain active during the Winter time. Bees, for example, will stock up during the Summer and Fall and then remain close together and move as little as possible.
Ants will live underground, and stop moving as much as normally, also using their reserves in order to survive the Winter.
Many types of wild animals don’t hibernate also, but instead have slowed internal bodily processes.
What this means is that they don’t need to eat as much, not fully hibernating but also not being fully alert and active.
Damages of Wildlife Infestation
When these creatures or pests infest your home, it can cause great damage to your health and to your home, leading to expensive repairs.
One of the biggest dangers to your health is that they can spread deadly diseases. In the case of raccoons, they can transmit raccoons, which has a 99% infection fatality rate if you don’t seek immediate medical treatment after getting bit from a rabid raccoon.
Animals & pests also cause great damages to your home. They often scratch, bite, eat, and otherwise destroy things in your home (ie. the wall, insulation, etc.).
When they have to go to the bathroom, they aren’t popping outside for that either. They go to the bathroom in between the wall, attic, in the foundation, or wherever the wild creatures are hiding.
This causes the air quality to get worse, and then that waste remains there, fusing with your home, leading to bad smells and damages to the home.
It’s important to deal with the infestation ASAP or prevent it as these damages only get exponentially more expensive & difficult to deal with as time goes on.
Preventing Infestation Before It Happens
How do we prevent animal infestation? There are 2 ways to do this.
Removing Attractants
A clean home and clean yard works magic when it comes to dealing with animal infestation.
Clutter in the yard allows hiding spaces and comfort for rodents, increasing the likelihood that they infest your home.
You should remove anything that could attract wild animals - primarily shelter & food.
If you have trash laying out in your home or outside, or your trash bin is open, OR the bags aren’t sealed properly and have a smell being released, then wild animals will be attracted to your yard and more likely to infest your home.
It’s important to make sure your trash is properly sealed and effective bags are being used.
Low-quality trash bags that aren’t properly sealed may release a bit of smell. This smell may not be enough for us to smell, but wild animals with extremely sensitive noses can pick up on it, leading them to a buffet of left-overs in your trash can and then your house!
Removing Entrances
It’s important to inspect your home and look for potential entrances and openings that would attract animals into your home.
This seems simple, but is much harder than most anticipate. You need to look very carefully - even the smallest of holes (ie. 1 inch) can be used by small rodents, and all it takes is a small crack to get an army of ants making a home inside of your home.
Some of the most common places include by the foundation, in the attic, and in the case of bird infestations, other entrances.
Even the smallest of cracks can be made bigger by a persistent wild animal. Creatures will have no problem destroying your home or roof in order to break through a small hole.
This is why it’s important to seal cracks and even the smallest of holes or indications of entrances- if a random raccoon finds it, he may decide to make it bigger.
Check out our video HERE to see shocking damages caused by raccoons in order to infest a home!
Handling Problems ASAP
IF you suspect an infestation or know you have one, it’s important to get an expert on the issue ASAP.
Dealing with it yourself could lead to more complication, bites, and increased damage to your home.
The experts can get the job done efficiently, quickly, and as effectively as possible.
We at Wildlife x Team International specialize in safe & responsible removal of wildlife & pests.
Whenever possible we return the animals to the wild safely where they belong.
We can provide a free inspection report, remove the creatures, undo the damage caused, and prevent it from happening again - guaranteed.
Contact us for a free wildlife inspection report:
855-WILDLIFE
www.wildlifexteam.com
Thanks for reading!
-Wildlife x Team International