AAA Wildlife Control

Imagine You Are A Raccoon: Week 5 (Sorry for the delay in this story, the Spring season has been very busy for all of us. We will pick up where we left off!) A weekly series by Brad Gates, B.Sc. Stay tuned each Wednesday for the continuation of this story!... With winter having taking hold, all the food that you were accustomed to during the warmer times of the year is now buried under a layer of snow or frozen solid. Instinct tells you to sleep away the cold nights inside your den, instead of wasting valuable energy searching for non-existing food sources. Unlike your cousin the black bear you are not hibernating but rather having a good long nap awaiting a break in the cold temperatures. Provided you have accumulated enough body fat, you can extend your sleep for up to one month.

Raccoons have two very distinctive features, which are their black mask and their ringed tail with 5-8 rings on it. These features make them very recognizable!

What Great Hearing You Have Mother squirrels are extremely maternal, when they hear their babies crying they come running FAST! When born, baby squirrels are deaf and blind. Their hearing will develop around the 3 week mark, which is sooner than their vision. It is not until approximately week 4 that their eyes will open and their fur will start growing making them look more like a squirrel.... Once fully developed, squirrels have an excellent sense of hearing. When their babies cry out for them, they will come running from over 2 blocks away. In comparison to humans, squirrels can hear a frequency range that is 2 and a half times greater than ours and can hear a higher frequency than we can. This makes sense as baby squirrels vocalize by emitting a very high pitched cry.

Squirrel Central! We have been busy removing lots of litters of squirrels over the past two weeks. Typically at this time of year, we would be seeing quite a few litters of raccoons but it seems there are a lot more squirrel litters than raccoons at this time. This picture was taken of the baby squirrels inside our heated reunion jug. All babies were relocated by their mother.

Is It Normal To See A Raccoon Out During The Day? During the past few weeks we have been receiving calls from a few worried residents that have seen raccoons out during the day. Most people believe that the raccoon must be sick or injured to be seen during daylight hours but that is not always the case. This raccoon had been hanging around this townhouse complex for a few days, finding different locations to sleep each day. Upon approaching the raccoon, he started climbing ...up the pole to the roof top, indicating that he was completely healthy and not injured in any way. We proceeded back down our ladder and let him be. It is non entirely uncommon for raccoons to be out during the day if their night time foraging takes them far away from their den. Mother raccoons will also leave the den during the day on occasion to get away from their babies for some much needed sleep. Our recommendation is to keep an eye on the raccoon if it is on your property such as on your deck or in your backyard. It is more than likely that they will move on at night fall.

Imagine You Are A Raccoon: Week 8 A weekly series by Brad Gates, B.Sc. Stay tuned each Wednesday for the continuation of this story! Spring is quickly approaching and along with it, renewed food supplies. You find yourself getting increasingly hungry. You notice changes taking place within your body. Your belly is becoming more and more distended making walking and climbing difficult and tiresome. You also do not understand why movements in your stomach area are increasing i...n intensity. Sharp pains in your abdomen force you to lie down in your attic den site. The birthing process has begun. One by one the babies emerge in their embryonic sack. As they appear you ever so carefully use your eye-teeth to break open the sack, lapping up the liquid content and ingesting the sack. You proceed to clean the kits by licking at their fur. By the end of this process six new baby raccoons have been born. For these newcomers it is a dark and silent environment as they are born blind, deaf and hairless and will remain so for approximately three weeks.

How Often Is Your Roof Top Inspected? In our Canadian climate roofs are exposed to a wide variety of weather conditions. Strong winds, freezing and hot temperatures, heavy rain and snow all take their toll. Furthermore, animals looking for den sites will break off shingles resulting in exposing roof boards to the elements. Conducting a minimum of two inspections per year will reveal areas where the roof repair is needed, thereby avoiding water damage and potential mold. Wildl...ife has the innate ability to locate and exploit areas where damage went undetected and water has caused the rotting of roof and fascia boards. In this context, eavestroughs need to be cleaned before winter sets in to assure unimpeded water flow away from the building. Twenty percent of all wildlife entry holes are created where water from clogged eavestroughs has caused the fascia board and overhang to deteriorate.

Can Animals Get Underneath Porches, Decks and Sheds? Skunks, incapable of climbing, dig under structures that sit directly on the ground. While raccoons prefer to live in attics from the fall to early summer, they may move to ground level structures when the attic spaces over heat. To prevent wildlife from getting under a structure requires digging a trench around the entire perimeter, fastening galvanized screen in an L shape configuration and then back-filling the trenc...h. This photo was taken after installing our screen to prevent the skunks re-entry underneath the deck. If you look to the right of the picture you can see our galvanized screen secured to the side of the deck.

I Have Been Seeing Lots Of Wildlife Around My Home - Is Food Easily Accessible? When wildlife is drawn to continuously available food sources, there are noticeable repercussions to contend with. Increasing numbers of wildlife will migrate into the immediate area to live off the available food. Wanting to stay in close proximity to food they look to establish den sites nearby. With an increase in animal populations in the immediate area, more intrusions into buildings can be... expected. Occupants should be advised not to feed wildlife since it attracts raccoons, squirrels, skunks, birds, rats and mice. Of even greater concern are the documented cases where the feeding of one species has attracted another species, such as coyotes. Not to be neglected, green bins, garbage cans and dumpsters containing food refuse must be locked shut or kept indoors until the morning of garbage pickup. This mother raccoon not only took advantage of the food source but also thought the large recycling bin would be a perfect den site for her and her babies. Thank you to this homeowner for being observant and realizing the mother and babies were living inside the bin. This photo was taken as the babies were feeding.

COUNTDOWN TO BABY SEASON: Necessary Measures To Reach Baby Raccoons The timing when we see babies differs slightly each year depending on the temperature we experienced throughout the winter. Generally, the annual January thaw occurs in mid to late January, which would signal raccoons that it is time to mate. Toronto had various mild spells in December and early January which could have prompted raccoons to mate earlier than usual. If raccoons had mated back in December, they... could be giving birth now as the gestation period of a raccoon is approximately 62 days. During baby season, we sometimes need to go to great lengths to reach the babies. In some cases we need to cut an access hole in the customers ceiling or wall to collect the baby raccoons. We typically use this as a last resort when the babies can not be accessed from the attic. As seen in the picture, immediately after collecting her babies from the ceiling space, this mother raccoon peered out of the hole we cut in the ceiling. This hole would then be closed to prevent the mother from gaining access into the living space of the home. The babies are then taken to the roof and placed in one of our heated reunion boxes. One by one, the mother will relocate her babies one by one to an pre-established alternate den site. It is less expensive to remove wildlife before the babies are born. Call us today!

One Eye? No Problem Wildlife never ceases to amaze me! During my 35 years in the wildlife industry I have come across a hand full of raccoons that had certain disabilities. I have seen a few three-legged raccoons, some with only one eye and even a completely blind mother raccoon with babies. This raccoon was found on a porch last week. As our technician got closer to investigate, he noticed that this raccoon had only one eye! The raccoon did not appear to be injured in any ot...her way, he was in great physical shape and had chosen to sleep in a safe location. This is something we see quite often at this time of year as male raccoons are constantly searching for females to mate with. So how do these raccoons adapt so quickly with a disability and not only survive but also thrive? Blind / One Eye: When a raccoon looses a sense such as their sight or a portion of it, their animal instinct kicks in and they immediately know what to do. They start relying on their other senses to survive. For example, raccoons have very sensitive hands with long fingers, toes and nails. Only humans and other primates have similar numbers of receptor cells found in their hands. Suzanne MacDonald from York University stated they can get an image of what an object is without even looking at it, so the raccoons actually see with their hands. Lost Limb: I researched and found a National Geographic article on the topic. The article stated, It turns out that quadrupeds, the scientific term for four-legged animals, are far more resilient than humans when it comes to losing a limb. In some cases, the lack of a leg amounts to little more than a mild inconvenience. Why? Because animals have a variety of coping mechanisms that allow them to thrive on three legs (Annie Roth, 2018). When a quadruped loses a leg, the animal can keep its balance by taking a tripod stance and still distribute their weight evenly. Animals will bounce back surprisingly quickly, especially when compared to the recovery time a human would take from loosing a limb. Raccoons are great problem solvers that adapt easily to new environments and objectives. A change to their physical being such as loosing a limb or loosing their sight, may not be as big of a challenge to a raccoon as we may think.

"Can’t I Just Use A Repellent To Get The Animals To Leave?" Over my 35 years as a wildlife professional I have seen all kinds of DIY attempts by homeowners to drive animals out of their attic. Our customers have placed everything from mothballs, lights, blaring radios, ultrasonic sound devices, ammonia soaked rags and even coyote urine in their attic. After unsuccessfully trying one or a few of these methods, we get the call. Mothballs: Wildlife do not vacate an attic that ha...Continue reading