Knowing what you should not do if you encounter wildlife in your home or even sometimes in nature is just as important as knowing what to do. This information will help save you or an animal a lot of trouble, and maybe even save both your lives. Do you know what to do if you encounter wildlife in your home? Should you pick it up? Is it at all dangerous? It really all depends on many factors , but these suggestions are meant as a guideline only. Always remember “safety first“, and “when in doubt, call us out!”
Here are the top 10 things you should avoid if you encounter wildlife in your home
1. Avoid touching the animal
Of course this advice need not be heeded 100% of the time, but when in doubt, follow your instincts. If something is telling you that leaving a particular animal alone and call a wildlife removal company for help, then go with your gut. In many situations it’s generally OK to touch an animal to some degree, i.e. holding a bat with gloves on while bringing it outside, but we cannot stress enough that unless the animal is obviously in need of your help, you can’t go wrong letting it alone until wildlife experts arrive.
2. Avoid removing the animal yourself
Similar to point number 1, this point has its exceptions too. It’s obvious that some homeowners can put together a plan to remove a wild raccoon or squirrel from an attic, but there are some crucial points to consider if you’re thinking about dealing with wildlife issue yourself.
Crucial points to consider:
- do you have the ability to accurately pin-point all potential entry points into your home?
- are you able to implement re-entry prevention methods?
- are you aware of the times and seasons that wildlife are by law permitted to be removed or relocated?
- are you able to remove the animal without separating it from it’s babies?
- can you decontaminate your attic after various infestations?
- are you able to replace/replenish your attic insulation in case of damage?
If you are not able to answer yes to the above questions and do the work, statistics have shown the animal will make another attempt at getting back into their nest or den site; probably within the next day. If they have babies, they have a lot invested in their nest or den site and getting back in for them is a priority. Removal and prevention has to be done humanely, almost to a scientific plan and in the right order order so stress on the animal is minimized and the transition is rather seamless.
3. Avoid using animal traps
People buy animal traps assuming they will end up saving a lot of money on wildlife control and for the short term they’re right, however the facts are. that it’s a) inhumane and b) the long term results can be quite unattractive. We recently posted an article on the subject of using traps and to make a long story short, controlling wildlife issues with traps can be detrimental to the mother, her babies, and to your home as a whole. The advice any experienced wildlife removal company will give you is to avoid using traps on your own in the first place. The long-term detrimentals are not worth the time and money.
4. Depending on the animal, avoid engaging it
If you were to ask us, we would probably suggest that you don’t engage any wild animal you come into contact with in or around your home (again we understand there are always exceptions). One main reason for this is because of the potential for contracting rabies, but another is because of the risk of being attacked. Most of the wild animals we come into contact with in our homes like squirrels, raccoons and mice generally won’t act or become aggressive, but there are times they may.
There are other animals which can pose a real threat to the safety of all family members – these include coyotes and foxes and wildcats. Although it’s rare to see one of the latter creatures around your home (they very rarely enter homes), if you see one in your back yard, you’ll want to stay inside and call your local animal control company. It’s always better to be safe than sorry over a simple piece of advice.
5. If you do engage, avoid doing so without gloves
This is pretty much self explanatory but if for any reason you absolutely must engage an animal, make sure to put on a thick pair of gloves. Wearing a thick pair of gloves will keep the animal from penetrating into your skin if one happens to bite you. This will save you from possibly contracting a deadly disease.
6. Avoid cornering the animal
If for some reason you have to engage the animal, or have encountered it while doing your own business in your home or outside, do your best not to make sudden movements that may seem to be an attempt at cornering the animal. When an animal like a squirrel or raccoon feels they are in danger, and feel cornered, they tend to act out in self-defense. If you’ve encountered such an animal, and have decided to stay away from it until you can call professional wildlife removal experts in, keep calm and walk away from the animal slowly.
If you do so in this manner, the animal will feel less threatened and will be less inclined to strike. The animals that are more inclined to attack if they feel threatened or cornered are squirrels, raccoons, skunks, opossums and snakes. Mice will usually only scurry away and if they are picked up by a human may attempt to bite your fingers but generally won’t do as much bodily harm as the other animals mentioned.
7. Avoid feeding the wild animals
It may seem like a good idea to feed wild animals you’ve found in your attic, however the opposite is true. Generally, animals can and do always find food on their own, however feeding them doesn’t help your situation – it actually makes it worse. The idea is to keep yourself at a very safe distance and not entice the wild animal to come looking for food in the near future; the next day for instance. If you start feeding the animal because you feel sorry for it, you just may find yourself encountering the animal in your home.
The bottom line is, if the animal senses that you’re a reliable source of food and it’s generally friendly, it may make attempts at obtaining more food from you. Until a wildlife removal company arrives to take care of the problem, you want it to stay where it is or come and go from its den site as usual. You don’t want it thinking it can get more food from you and start wandering into common areas of your home.
8. Avoid accidentally locking the animal in your attic or walls
Some home owners believe a surefire way to rid themselves of a wildlife issue is by locking the animal in their attic or walls and disabling them from getting out or in. For starters, if a wild animal like a squirrel or raccoon finds itself locked in their den site, it won’t lie down and die. It will make every effort to get back out and if that involves creating more damage it won’t hesitate to do so.
The additional damage to your home will only become more costly, and if it does die, you will still have to deal with the damage it created while it was alive, along with the odour it leaves behind after it has passed. A dead animal in a home owners walls or attic doesn’t simply go away with time; even if it’s dead it has to be removed quite promptly.
9. Avoid doing the cleanup yourself
This tip also depends on the type of animal harbouring in your home but it is generally advised to let wildlife removal experts take care of the cleanup and sanitation process. Wildlife feces and urine can not only be dangerous to touch and/or inhale, but if not cleaned up properly, it can cause more damage and become much more of a concern than you would imagine. A reputable wildlife control company usually has all the necessary resources available to properly clean and sanitize a den site and should be called if an attic cleanup is necessary.
There is one thing you can do however; if you’ve found the urine is dripping through your attic into your home common areas, you can place on top of the urine some paper towels to soak up the excess. If you decide to take part in any cleanup yourself, we strongly advise that you wear protective gloves and a facial mask. By doing so at the very least, you will be protected from any bacteria and disease that could be picked up and spread to other areas of your home.
10. Don’t hesitate to call the experts
Once you discover wild animals in your walls or attic, it’s best to get them removed as soon as possible. Over the years, many of our clients have regretfully decided to wait long periods of time before they called in a wildlife control company, and the end result of the delay was typically having to deal with a slew of damage in their walls or attic. Here is an example of the amount of damage that was done by a squirrel that was left in an attic for ten years; here is another example of a home that wasn’t properly protected from mice and ended up costing the home owner over ten thousand dollars – that’s a hefty bill to pay but the surefire way of ensuring extensive damage doesn’t occur is by calling the experts in as soon as you encounter the animal.