As we age, we realize that we eventually want to retire. However, no one wants to scrimp and scrap through retirement years, so we often go to a financial planner to help develop a savings and investment strategy. The strategic plan goal is to help us navigate our remaining working years so we can enjoy a comfortable retirement.
When you have a continual problem, you need a strategy to guide you so you can resolve or manage the issue. Wild animals are a natural part of our world, and since we have expanded into their living areas, there can be a real struggle between them and us, necessitating the need for wildlife control.
If wild animals are on your property or have taken up residence inside your crawl space, attic, or garage, you need rodent control in Rochester from RodentX Wildlife Control. We are a locally owned and operated company that focuses not only on wildlife removal but also on fixing the damage they cause and preventing a future intrusion on your property. We are your one-stop source for remediating a wildlife issue in your home.
Because we know there is a mystery around the term "wildlife," we wrote this article to help you better understand the problem and to help you deter a future invasion once we end the current one. So, please keep reading to learn more.
Recognizing Common Nuisance Wildlife: Identifying The Culprit
Wildlife is undomesticated animals that live in an area; these animals often existed in a location before human intrusion, and they do not depend on us for survival.
These animals surround our community, and you may encounter the following wildlife on your Rochester property:
- Bats
- Birds (woodpeckers, pigeons, etc.)
- Groundhogs
- Opossums
- Raccoons
- Skunks
- Squirrels
- Woodchucks
So you can better identify what animal is invading your property, we will briefly examine each one.
About 40 bat species live in the United States, nine live in New York State, and during the winter months, three species migrate south for warmer air. These tan, black, or brown flying mammals have a 2 3/16 to 7 1/2 inch hairy body, depending upon the species. Bats are active at night; during the day, they roost upside down in caves, trees, and when they invade homes, the attic.
Any undomesticated bird is considered wildlife; while we don't have the space to examine each one, the problematic birds for most Rochester homeowners are pigeons, woodpeckers, and sparrows. Pigeons have gray, white, and black bodies with two black bars on the wing feathers and a broad black band on the tail. Another distinguishing feature is their red feet. These avians create nests in barns, warehouses, under eaves, and on the ledges.
There are over 20 sparrow species in New York State, with the house sparrow being the most prominent. Sparrows feed as they hop on the ground. They create nests inside tree cavities, holes in buildings, gutters, and where they can find a covered niche. There are nine woodpecker species in our state. As one might expect, these birds have long, pointed beaks and have various colors on their bodies.
Opossums are unique because they are marsupials (i.e., they carry their young in a pouch). These nocturnal animals are about the size of a cat and have a white or gray body. Opossums have long, pointed faces with hairless, round ears and scaly, rat-like tails. They are excellent swimmers and climbers.
Raccoons are gray and black mammals with 2 to 3-foot-long bodies. These animals appear to wear a mask due to the black rings around their eyes; they also have black rings around their tails. If they find an entry point, they live underneath porches and chimneys.
Another animal that is the size of a house cat is the skunk. Skunks are recognizable by the white "V" stripe running down their glossy black fur and the white line between the eyes. Skunks sometimes create dens underneath decks, porches, and wood and rock piles.
Squirrels are wildlife rodents with two constantly growing upper and lower incisor teeth and a large, bushy tail. The squirrel family in New York includes tree, gray, red, fox, and flying squirrels. Although they prefer to stay outdoors, significant weather changes sometimes cause them to seek refuge in the attic area of a house.
Woodchucks, known as whistle pigs, are also in the squirrel family and have a body length of 16 to 20 inches (including the tail). They also have ever-growing incisor teeth, which they use to chew through roots as they burrow through the soil.
RodentX Wildlife Control offers professional wildlife removal in Rochester. We will remove these animals humanely and safely from your property.
Property Damage And Wildlife: Understand The Costly Consequences
Wildlife removal is necessary because these animals cause physical and health damage when they enter Rochester homes. Because squirrels need to chew constantly to keep their incisor teeth manageable, they will gnaw through electrical wiring, which can spark house fires. The destruction of wiring may also result in internet outages, and in a day and age when many people work from home, this can cost time and money. Lastly, they may cause a short circuit that can destroy the electronics in appliances.
When raccoons enter homes, they, too, cause damage to wiring, insulation, wood, and shingles. Opossums also harm insulation as well as the ductwork in the crawl space. Woodchucks don't enter homes but destroy gardens and landscaping by killing shrubs and flowers as they chew through roots while creating their tunnels. They may also create tripping hazards by the nest hole openings in the lawn. Opossums also cause fall risks from digging in the yard.
Other wild animals on our list can cause significant health problems. For example, raccoons account for nearly 30% of all wildlife rabies cases. In addition to rabies, a bite or scratch from a raccoon may expose you to baylisascaris (roundworm), leptospirosis, giardiasis, salmonellosis, or an E. coli infection. Opossums rarely carry rabies, but they spread some of these same diseases.
Although rabies and bats are synonymous in the minds of many, they rarely spread that disease, but their droppings (guano) transmit histoplasmosis. (Pigeons are also dispatchers of histoplasmosis.) When bats infest an attic, particles from their guano become airborne and circulate through the home. Parasites such as bat mites and bat bugs are hitchhikers on bats and can spread throughout a home. Because bats are relatively quiet and are active at night, an infestation may grow unnoticed in the attic, and the build-up of guano can cause roofs to cave in.
In addition to histoplasmosis, pigeons carry cryptococcosis, psittacosis, toxoplasmosis, and salmonellosis. Furthermore, their droppings can damage structures and statues and cause a slip-and-fall hazard.
RodentX Wildlife Control is a wildlife control company that protects your home from unwanted wild intruders.
Effective Strategies To Deter Nuisance Wildlife: Preventing Encounters
Once RodentX Wildlife Control removes the wild animals from your Rochester property, you do not want them to return.
We recommend the following for wildlife and pest control:
- Keep outdoor and indoor garbage containers closed
- Remove rotting fruit and dead trees from the property
- Prune tree branches and shrubs away from the structure
- Clear away overgrowth, rock and woodpiles, and other debris
- Provide proper drainage to ditches, low-lying areas, and gutters
- Locate bird feeders on poles away from the house or trees
- Treat the yard for grubs, a favorite food of raccoons and other wildlife
- Close gaps in the foundation or along the roof line with steel wool, metal, or mortar
- Install a spark arrester on the chimney
- Place wire mesh screens over the attic and crawl space vents
- Use motion-activated sprinklers
Wild animals enter Rochester properties and houses, searching for food, water, and shelter. Maintaining a clean and dry property will deter them from staying on the property and reduce the possibility that they will attempt to enter the home.
RodentX Wildlife Control is a dedicated wildlife control service. When we inspect your location, a trained technician can provide additional tips to keep wildlife away from and out of your property.
Professional Wildlife Control Services: Why Hiring Experts Matters
Congratulations! You probably found this article because you typed "wildlife exterminator near me" and found RodentX Wildlife Control. Unlike other companies with a wildlife service as an add-on to traditional pest control services, we are focused solely on wildlife removal. When you partner with us, you have a company with trained wildlife technicians guided by a founder with over a decade of wildlife control experience.
We will dispatch an experienced technician to your Rochester home to inspect the property for wildlife signs. We can determine the problematic wildlife species, entry points, attractants, hot spots, and damage caused by the wild animals. Using the data we gather, we create a custom, humane method to remove the animals from your Rochester property. In addition to wildlife removal, we perform exclusion work to prevent a future infestation. Because wildlife inside a home presents a health hazard to the occupants, we sanitize the infested area with hospital-grade products to prevent the spread of disease. Contact us today to learn more about our residential and commercial wildlife control services in Rochester.
What Our Customers Are Saying
