Wild animals are searching for the best places to hide out in order to escape the weather, predators, and mate with each other.
In the wild this can take place inside of trees, by building a small structure, or by digging underground.
However, in our modern jungles some wild animals have discovered how to infest our homes and properties, for their gain and to our detriment through property damages and risk of disease or attack.
In today’s post we will be covering the common places animals & pests like to infest, and what to do if it happens.
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The Real Cost of Infestation
Wild animals and insects looking for an edge in the wild will turn to our homes as a potential place to hideout and create a shelter. This is great for them, but very bad for your property.
The damages can add up quickly. Wild animals & insects can chew through the walls, damage circuits, risk spreading diseases, and they also leave waste, which can degrade the building quality as well as contaminate the air quality, leading some people to think they have allergies, when really there’s just a ton of dead animal waste in the vents of their home.
The longer that an infestation goes on, the more expensive the removal and restoration can be.
It’s important to stay alert, identify a potential infestation, and get it handled as soon as possible in order to limit the losses and preserve the value of your home or property.
Common Infestation Locations
The attic - Hiding out in the attic is a very common place for birds or small animals that can climb the sides of your home, such as a raccoon. If you have a tree hanging over your house, it also allows small animals to climb up the tree and then jump onto your home.
Even if you don’t think that you have an attic, you may have little spaces above your top most floor in your home or your property barely large enough for small animals to enter.
Furthermore, some small animals such as rats or raccoons can be very persistent in creating entrances to these places. It’s not uncommon to find that a raccoon has turned what was once an extremely small, unnoticeable hole into a hole in the roof large enough for the creature to fit in and hide out.
Between the walls or floors - small animals love hanging out in between the walls, but unfortunately they often get caught there, die, and then this leads to a terrible smell, damage, and costly repairs.
Possums, raccoons, skunks, and all kinds of other creatures can find ways to enter in between the walls or floors. A small hole to you can be made bigger by rodents such as rats or mice.
These entrances can also be found outside. If you ever hear strange sounds in your home, it’s probably not a ghost - it’s probably a small critter or insect that found its way into a secret part of your home.
In between the walls or floors can be dangerous as well because of electrical wiring that may be there. In the case of rodents chewing, this can even be a fire hazard!
Underneath The Home - sometimes creatures can dig little holes that go under the foundation of your home. This again is not easily noticeable from the outside, but can lead to damages to your home and encourage future infestation somewhere inside of your home with the creatures living literally under your house.
In The Yard - It’s a good idea to reduce yard clutter, otherwise it may encourage small animals to hide out in the yard and begin infesting and using it as a hiding place from predators.
Animals infesting somewhere in your yard are much less of a problem and usually something that you can deal with on your own. Keep in mind to deal with this as soon as possible, as the more exposure a wild animal gets near your home, the more tempted they will be to actually infest your home!
Anywhere Secret In The Home - Believe it or not there are often all kinds of “secret” spots inside of the home that are covered up for design purposes or because there wasn’t really a purpose for it.
These “secret spaces” are often too small to even be relevant for a human, but they can be like little mansions for little critters looking for somewhere to nest and live.
Awareness
The most important thing is being aware of whether or not there is a problem and promptly dealing with it if it is the case.
As mentioned before, infestation costs grow exponentially, so it’s best to handle the problem before it can grow into something big.
If you have even the slightest inkling that there might be creatures infesting your home or area, then you should call an expert immediately.
It’s very easy to miss the small hints and clues that experts are trained to identify easily. A tiny hole the size of a penny on the outside of your home could be easily missed by you, but an expert could identify it and realize that rats have been infesting your home for years, for example!
What To Do If Your Home Gets Infested
If you know that your home is infested or suspect it, give us a call at 855-WILDLIFE or visit www.wildlifexteam.com for more information.
We will diagnose the full extent of the problem, capture the animals, safely & ethically return them to the wild, restore any damage that was caused, and then add preventive measures plus a guarantee so you can be confident this will not happen again.
Again just call 855-WILDLIFE or visit www.wildlifexteam.com to get your free inspection report now!
Thanks!
-Wildlife x Team International