Intruder alert!
You might willingly invite dogs, cats, hamsters, and fish into your home, but some critters will come in uninvited. And they are not guests that you want to have in your home. Opportunistic wildlife can and will take advantage of loose siding, damaged exterior elements, and cracks and holes to make themselves at home in your attic, walls, crawlspace, and elsewhere.
And when they get in, they’ll cause destruction and risk the health and safety of your family. Here are the five critters that make the worst uninvited guests.
1. Mice and Rodents
Mice, rats, and other rodents are especially problematic houseguests. Not only is it very easy for them to get in—needing only a tiny hole to enter—but they can cause some serious damage.
Once inside, they’ll start creating paths in your insulation to get to anywhere they want to be. In doing so, they create cold pockets in the insulation which drastically reduces its effectiveness. They’ll destroy your valuable possessions if they look like good nesting materials. They’ll leave urine and feces everywhere they go, contaminating your food and home. And considering some types of rodents can carry hantavirus that can infect people, this is a serious concern for the health of your family.
Rodents will also cause costly structural damage, destroying your siding, drywall, pipes, wiring, and more—potentially leading to floods, fires, and other serious situations.
Don’t ignore a rodent problem for too long, because these critters multiply quickly. Soon, you’ll have a full-blown infestation on your hands.
2. Skunks
The biggest reason why you don’t want skunks in your home is because of their nasty odour. Have a skunk spray near or in your home, on a pet, or on a family member, and you’ll be trying to get the smell out of weeks, if not months. The smell does not get out easily and can linger for a long time. And skunks are very persistent—they’ll keep coming back again and again.
Skunks also carry disease and parasites that can be dangerous to humans, including rabies, tularemia, and leptospirosis. Skunks can also pass distemper, Aleutian disease, roundworm, and ringworm to your pets.
3. Raccoons
Raccoons are highly intelligent and adaptable animals. If they’re determined to get into your home, they’ll find a way.
If these critters find a way into your home, usually through openings in your roof or eaves, uncapped chimneys, or loose shingles, they’ll likely cause serious destruction. They’ll chew holes through wood, rip off singles, destroy vents, and nest in your insulation.
Their feces can transmit parasites to your family, including roundworm and rabies. Raccoons can also be very dangerous if cornered. They can and will attack.
4. Bats
Bats can be very quiet, and it can take several seasons before you realize these critters are living in your attic. Just because they aren’t causing a ruckus doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be evicted, though. The most common problem that comes from having a bat colony in your home is the guano. Though bats are common carriers of bat bugs and rabies, their guano can be especially dangerous because it can carry Histoplasma capsulatum. If the guano is disturbed, the Histoplasma capsulatum can go airborne, potentially leading to a respiratory illness called histoplasmosis. Histoplasmosis has been known to cause lung disease, blindness, and even death. The young and elderly are particularly vulnerable.
5. Birds
Like bats, birds in your home can go undetected for a long time. The families will start off small, but eventually, more and more will come in and, before you know it, there’s substantial damage to your home. The attic restorations and repairs you’ll need can be quite costly.
There are also many human health dangers of bird droppings, including severe diseases like histoplasmosis, candidiasis, cryptococcosis, E.coli, salmonellosis, and St. Louis encephalitis. And thanks to wind, moisture, or rodents, the feces can spread easily from one place to another.