Monthly Archives: March 2021

Spring Lawn Damage

Many homeowners spend painstakingly long hours perfecting their lawn and landscaping. To much shock, they may wake up one morning to find the property in disarray— the ground having been clearly dug into in multiple spots. Just what caused all of this damage? The culprit you may not expect, skunks!

example of skunk damage in woods

Why Skunks Dig in the Ground

Skunks typically dig in search of food or shelter. Where there are huge chunks of grass that seem to be pulled right out of the earth, the skunks have likely been harvesting grubs that lie beneath the surface. They pull the grass to get to grubs found just below the first layer of soil. A single skunk can cause significant property damage, but an entire family of skunks ransacking for grubs can rack up quite the landscaping bill.

Other Issues

Skunks damage lawns and damage the home, trying to find a place to burrow. Obviously, they are most notorious for spraying household pets, but skunks can also carry diseases and bite if trapped. This is especially true if their first defense mechanism, spraying, don’t allow them to escape. Bites and droppings in the yard can cause diseases, which can then spread to your family.

How to Tell if Skunks are the Culprit

It’s important to note that skunks aren’t the only culprits of lawn damage, so how can you tell if they are the problem? Spotting a skunk would obviously tell you this, but if the homeowner doesn’t see the skunk in their yard, they must look for other tell-tale signs. The stench of nearby skunk spray would fall under this category. But what if you’re 0/2 for skunk signs? If there are visible tracks, comparing them to skunk tracks can help you properly identify them. Your best bet is to contact a licensed pest control specialist for proper identification and trapping.

Removing Skunks from the Yard

Those who have had their property damaged by skunks will likely want to know how to prevent it from happening again. One of the most sure-fire ways to deter skunks is by using light. Skunks are nocturnal, so a motion-activated floodlight may work to scare them away. Spraying predator urine around the property is also said to discourage skunks from the area. However, even the most valiant of DIY eradication efforts often come up shorthanded. Calling a professional is most often the last resort when it really should be first. Trapping or coming into physical contact with the skunk must be done by a professional. This ensures they are properly taken care of. In terms of relocation, it must be done by a professional as well. In some states, it is illegal for a homeowner to trap and release wildlife on their own.

Keep Skunks Out of the Yard

Once the skunks have been eradicated, the homeowner may want to take preventative measures to ensure the skunks will not return and further damage their property. The most effective way to do this is by making sure the yard is correctly cared for so you won’t find any grubs under the grass. Another way is to consider fencing off parts or all of the yard. This has the benefit of keeping all sorts of other animals off of the property as well.

Despite how much time and care you put into your lawn and landscaping, skunks can (and will) wreck it if grubs are available. They’ll often return and bring friends. If you’ve noticed damage to your lawn and you suspect it is because of skunks, contact Hogarth’s Pest Control & Wildlife Removal to help you solve this issue once and for all.

Mosquito Season

We haven’t talked about mosquitos for some time. This is kind of ironic, considering mosquito treatments have always been one of our main ticket items. We’ve braved the storms of West Nile and Zika, laying your fears to rest. But lately, we hardly ever discuss mosquitos with you or even post about them at all. Spring is mightily attempting to conquer winter here in Northern Michigan, which means lots of scenic walks through the forest, as pictured.

What appears to be a picturesque scene to the untrained eye is nothing but a breeding ground in the eyes of a pest control technician. Something you may not know about mosquitos is how they breed. Mosquitos breed in any body of standing water; this includes, but is not limited to:

Flower pots.
Bogs, marshes, and ponds
Puddles.
Birdbaths.
Rainwater barrels.
Empty tires or debris – these can fill up with rainwater.
Ditches.
Untended yards.

Many customers call with one goal in mind: the eradication and prevention of a mosquito problem in the yard. We treat mosquitos a few ways, whatever is best for the situation and customer. However, it is important to rid your yard of any listed above (that you’re able to) in order for treatments to be most effective. To prevent the buzz of unpleasant swarms of mosquitoes around your home, you must understand one simple rule about their breeding and life cycle. The more you disrupt their breeding cycle, the fewer mosquitoes will be around to bite and annoy you. To control mosquitoes on your property, it’s important to know how they reproduce and systematically destroy potential breeding sites near your home. If there are no satisfactory places to lay eggs, the mosquitoes must look elsewhere, meaning you should see fewer of the insects around your home.

Mosquito Breeding Cycle

Each mosquito species has different breeding habits, but most need to lay their eggs near water – usually in still water. Female mosquitoes produce 100-300 eggs at one time, and the eggs typically hatch into mosquito larvae within 48 hours. For about a week, the larva transforms into a pupa, finally emerging as an adult mosquito in about two days. Within two weeks, you have an entirely new generation of mosquitoes ready to begin the cycle again.

On the bright side, mosquitos do not breed year-round. They only become active and produce when temperatures steadily stay 50° or above. Depending on the species, temperatures less than this kills them or drives them into hibernation. For most of the US states, mosquitoes are only a concern in the warm summer months. If you live somewhere with high temperatures year-round, or even early springs, you may experience a long mosquito season.

How to Eliminate Breeding Grounds

Here are several ways you can eliminate places for mosquitoes to lay their eggs:

Good pond pest control. If you have a pond or a body of water on your property, odds are you are unable to move it. You can, however, make it a less desirable mosquito haven by adding mosquito fish. One fish can eat more than 200 mosquito larvae in just one hour! Another option is to introduce bacteria known as BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis) to kill any larvae in your pond.
Cover rainwater barrels. Keep your rainwater barrels covered with a (very fine) mesh fabric to prevent mosquitoes from getting through. You can also keep the barrel completely covered when rain isn’t forecasted as a more permanent measure. If covering isn’t an option, empty your barrels within 24 hours of rain. This is before larvae will have a chance to hatch.
Pump your birdbath. Birdbaths are most often filled with still water— but you can introduce a small pump to keep the water flowing. If, for some reason, this keeps the birds away (it shouldn’t), it truly is best to schedule the daily replacement of the water. It sounds extreme, but it will keep mosquitoes from successfully breeding.
Eliminate debris on your property. Frequent cleanup of empty containers or surfaces where still water can collect eliminates potential breeding grounds. Regular lawn maintenance can also mean trimming back other plant life so mosquitoes can’t hide.
Take a good look at the garden. Flowerpots, garden ornaments, and even paving stones often collect water and become a mosquito breeding ground. Encourage good drainage for potted plants. This will not only improve the health of your plants but also prevents mosquitoes. For garden ornaments, look for hollow pieces with small drilled holes to allow water to drain away.

The Easter Bunny

In the United States, Easter Sunday celebrations often go hand-in-hand with the Easter Bunny. Young children leave their baskets to see what kinds of special fillers the mythical creature has left. Like Santa Claus as the figurehead of Christmas, the elusive figure has no apparent connections to the post-Lenten holy day. So why then has the Easter Bunny become so prevalently symbolic in our modern-day celebrations?

How is a bunny related to Easter?

Stories say that the Easter Bunny’s origins stem from early pagan celebrations, namely, the vernal equinox. Pagans would celebrate the renewal of life, as well as the goddess of dawn and fertility, each spring. They would often represent this goddess, Eostre, by an egg or the hare. As Christianity spread its roots throughout Europe, celebrations around the vernal equinox may have merged with the observance of Christ’s resurrection. This is because they both occur around the same time each year. Over time, missionaries were said to have blended pagan traditions with Christian holidays to make transitions smoother. It’s a possibility that the resurrection of Christ and the celebrations of Eostre were united.

The earliest evidence of a more recognizable Easter Bunny dates back to the seventeenth century as it is first mentioned in German writings. This bunny, called “Oschter Haws” or in English, Easter hare, would lay a nest of colorful eggs for good children.

Is the Easter bunny real?

There is no single bunny that once was the iconic hare; history says the legendary egg-laying rabbit came to America by German immigrants in the 1700s. Children would make nests for the Oschter Haws to leave behind its eggs. As immigration increased, the tradition spread into the U.S., where the hare’s gifts eventually became chocolates and candies, and the nests became baskets. Chocolate bunnies also originated in Germany, where they began making pastries for the fabled hare in the 1800s.

Why not the Easter Chicken?

The hare and the egg became one with the spring holiday because of roots in pagan faith representing rebirth and fertility. It seems more possible that these two images merged into the egg-laying rabbit of German folklore instead of a far more practical, and actually egg-laying, chicken.

Regardless of who’s laying the eggs, eggs are the main Easter image that has come to represent Jesus’s resurrection. A possible reason for actually decorating eggs is to prepping them for consumption on Easter morning once Lenten fasting is over.

Whether it was pagan or Christian associations with the rabbit that ultimately influenced the Germans, the world may never know. But one thing is sure: The Easter Bunny will continue to bring joy and excitement to children across the country every Easter Sunday.

Rabbit Control & Prevention

Learn how to keep the neighborhood rabbit out of your garden this spring with these tips.

Why We Keep Rabbits Out

Anyone who tills soil regards the rabbit as more than a cute addition to the carrot patch. This long-eared mammal possesses a voracious appetite for various fresh vegetation— perennials, annuals, woody plants, vegetables, and fruit. The menu of rabbit favorites is so ridiculously long it’s easier to list the foods they don’t enjoy.

As if that isn’t enough, rabbits also reproduce at excessively high rates, hence the phrase “multiplying like rabbits”. This is why allowing them to hang around may quickly become a total garden infestation and destruction. Their numbers skyrocket at three litters of six babies each per year in the north and up to as many as six litters of three babies each year in the south. In the north, the first litter appears in March but is year-round elsewhere. Their gestation period is a mere 29 days.

Your backyard bunny’s main concern is to eat without being eaten, which is a difficult task given that more than two dozen predatory species relish rabbits. Because of this, nibbling your marigolds is not a carefree picnic but, in fact, a potentially life-threatening mission. However, if the neighborhood Peter Cottontail can squeeze through a hole in your garden fence, it will be able to munch safely.

How to Prevent Rabbits

The most effective way to keep rabbits out of the garden is to start using the plants they don’t like early in the spring and then be consistent throughout the growing season.

First and foremost, it’s best to keep rabbits from crossing into the garden, to begin with. Many historical remedies rely on spreading various substances around the garden’s perimeter, i.e., human hair, dried blood, or dried blood meal. If you sprinkle dried blood on the soil around all your plants as early in the season as you can, and repeat after heavy rain. Note: If you have dogs, it’s probably best to avoid this method because they will likely be attracted to the scent and potentially dig up your garden.
Don’t solely rely on repellents. The most effective way of keeping out rabbits is chicken wire fencing. Install a fence that is 4 feet high and bury it 6 inches deep. Bend the fence’s top foot away from the garden similarly to a security fence so that they are unable to climb or jump over it. For fresh bulbs, try securing a cage or dome of chicken wire over the beds.
Rabbits prefer to not leave their shelters, so if you reduce the possible rabbit homes around your yard this will help deter them. Brushing away piles of brush and leaves, and filling in abandoned burrows are also means of prevention. Hopefully, if a rabbit doesn’t have a place to live, it won’t stay long. Rabbits will also breed much more efficiently if they have a suitable habitat available—all the more reason to provide nothing!

What Do Rabbits Dislike?

According to rabbit experts, rabbits have plant preferences based on taste, nutritional value, the presence of poison or prickles, and ease of availability. Their food tastes can also vary by season and even region, so not all plants work for all rabbit species. Do your research, and then tend plants that your local rabbits don’t find very tasty.

Rabbits tend to avoid a few of the same plants as Japanese beetles and deer.

If you’d like to control all these critters, choose plants such as:

Lilac bushes
Daffodils
Lavender
Marigolds
Forsythia
Snapdragons
Zinnias

These will likely help to reduce your rabbit population. Obviously, these are not is not a guaranteed solution, as hungry rabbits will eat almost anything. However, filling your garden with these plants might make your garden less appetizing than another one.

If all else fails, calling a wildlife professional at Hogarth’s Pest Control is always a great option. We are skilled in trapping and relocating sometimes required for rabbit control. If you are experiencing an unrelenting issue with rabbits in your garden this spring, don’t hesitate to reach out today!