Mother Nature doesn’t sleep in winter. She might slow down as the mercury drops but winter wildlife is resilient and active critters still need to eat. If you’re encountering problems with wildlife near your home or business, hiring a wildlife removal company may be your best option.
Dealing with wild animals can be tricky. It can be even trickier when it’s cold or snowy out. We cover some of the irksome animals that persist all year long and why we’re experts at wildlife removal in every season, especially winter.
What Animals are Active in the Winter?
There are plenty of wildlife pests that remain active during the winter months. Their behaviors may change to adapt from the spring and summer months, but that doesn’t mean they’re not causing trouble around your property.
Here are a few “off-season” wildlife pests to look out for:
- Squirrels are a nuisance all year-round. They get into attics and crawl spaces, dig in gardens, chew electrical wires and nest in inconvenient places. Winter is no exception. In the fall they hide caches of food around your yard and in your gardens and planters. In cold lean times they will uncover those reserves causing potential damage to your flower beds, bulbs and landscaping. They also scavenge for food in garbage cans and dumpsters leaving an unpleasant mess in their bushy-tailed wake.
- Rabbits don’t hibernate or store their food. That means they’re in your yard foraging all winter. Rabbits are ground feeders who uncover twigs and leaves. In winter they also eat bark and branches. Rabbits can do significant damage to bushes and shrubs during winter when other food sources aren’t available. They also leave their calling card in the form of small pellets. During the spring thaw, this can be an unpleasant mess in your yard.
- Racoons slow down in winter. They don’t hibernate but they do spend much of their time curled up together in logs, stumps or under your porch. While their metabolism slows, they still need to eat periodically. They will seek out easy sources of food like your garbage cans. They might also see your chimney as an opportunity to warm up.
- Deer change their behaviors in winter. They become social animals and create deer yards with others. The herd will choose an area with abundant food and collectively tramples down the snow so that they are able to escape predators. Depending where deer create these yards, they can do significant damage to your property, especially if you own a farm or orchard.
- Skunks don’t hibernate in the winter. However, they often retreat in their dens during extremely cold weather. So, even when temperatures drop, you are not safe from a potential skunk encounter.
Hiring a Wildlife Control Company During Winter Time
Now you know which animals are active in the winter—each of which has a knack for distributing trash in your yard, leaving waste in your garden or living in your chimney. Luckily, wildlife control can help prevent these things.
Not only does Varment Guard remove nuisance wildlife, we also offer long-term solutions to make sure the problem doesn’t reoccur. Hiring an expert who understands wild animal behavior and knows how to safely and humanely remove them will make life easier for you and the animals in question. Here are five things Varment Guard can do to keep your property wildlife-free this winter:
- Trapping. We use safe and effective live traps to remove animals.Trapping. We use safe and effective live traps to remove animals.
- Exclusion. We look at ways to keep animals wild and away from your home or business.
- Habitat modification and cultural control. We study animal behavior as a means of control.
- Structural damage repair. We repair damage to prevent wildlife from returning.
- Repellent and prevention. We use the latest and safest wildlife deterrents.
Our trained professionals use safe and humane methods of animal control to ensure that your wildlife problem is fully addressed. We are thorough at every step from identification to removal to cleanup and prevention. We take pride in solving your wildlife challenges while also keeping animals safe.
Don’t Let Winter Wildlife Leave You Out in the Cold
Whether you’ve got a specific pest problem you need solved or you’d like to be prepared with long-term preventive solutions, we can help. Don’t let critters invade your winter wonderland, contact Varment Guard today.
