Category Archives: Rodents

Pumpkin Spice & Fall Mice

The leaves are fading to vibrant shades of crimson, orange, and chartreuse, silently falling to the ground. The mornings are foggy and crisp, the darkness stretching each day. You’ve taken the sweaters out of their storage bins and began to wear them proudly; apple cider and pumpkin spice quite literally fill the air. The downside of all things fall, though, is that rodents are packing their bags to move into your home for the winter, too.

Why are Mice Moving into Your Home?

As we’ve previously talked about before, as temperatures drop, rodents are drawn to sources of potential food and heat. Most assuredly, they will find creative ways to enter a structure: through open windows and doors, cracks in walls, vents, pipes, you name it, and they will try it! There are some main attractants to rodents when they are seeking solace:

You haven’t kept up with landscaping maintenance.

Having plants close to buildings and failing to rake up leaves that pile against foundations are open invitations to rodents. They hide amongst the vegetation while searching for an opening, and you may never notice them. Instead, keep plants and accumulated leaves at least 2 feet away from your home, trim weeds, and never allow debris to collect against the house.
You haven’t prepared your house for the chilly weather.

If you have not inspected weather-stripping, cracks, and other areas of weakness, then you have opened your home to wayward rodents. Ensure you seal any gaps around windows and doors, even checking where you may have made repairs last season— as weather-stripping and caulking are known to crack with temperature fluctuations.
You haven’t rodent-proofed your exterior.

If you’re not checking the exterior of your home for weaknesses, then mice may be able to crawl right into your home. Have you had any home repairs or installations? Check to see if sealing around cable wires or plumbing is intact. Rodents can crawl up sewage pipes and plumbing, so seal off around the areas where these pipes enter your home. Additionally, if you have outdoor vents or intend to keep any windows open, fit them with screens to keep mice out.
You haven’t made your home inhospitable to rodents.

If you’re not placing traps in potential rodent hot spots and deploying repellents, then you’re giving mice the go-ahead to move in. Try using glue traps to monitor your attic or basement – since these traps will catch both mice and insects, they will let you know if you have a problem. Just be sure to inspect them regularly. Additionally, use natural scent repellents in pantries or drawers and ultrasonic repellents in basements, attics, and rooms with non-rodent pets.

American Red Squirrels

Small but mighty, American red squirrels are a force to be reckoned with. Red squirrels differ from other tree squirrels by their deep reddish color, territorial behavior, and their smaller body size. Weighing in at roughly 7.1–8.8 oz, they are less than 30% the size of grey squirrels. Male and female American red squirrels are actually very similar in appearance.

Their fur color can vary greatly, depending on the season and where they live. Brownish or reddish are the natural colors of the upper parts. In summer, they have a black stripe along their sides; this separates the dark upper fur from the creamy or white underbelly fur. The squirrel’s tail is often edged with white and is not as thick as other North American tree squirrels. Distinctive white bands surround their large, black eyes. This squirrel’s compact body paired with strong claws and agile back legs allow them to excel at climbing and running through trees.

Habits and Diet

Red squirrels prefer staying up in the trees; because of this, they have a relatively long lifespan of 5 to 10 years. We rarely see a red squirrel down on the ground or at bird feeders, although they can occasionally be seen running along the tops of fences. They’re much faster than the larger tree squirrels, and their movements are quick and jerky. Their diet consists of seeds from coniferous trees such as pines, cedars, spruces, and firs, but they also do well with other high-energy food, such as peanuts. They store these food items in hollowed-out pine trees where they make their dens in rural environments. In more urban areas, these squirrels will chew their way into just about anything.

Communication

Their excellent senses of sight, smell, and hearing enable them to communicate with one another easily. They often make different sounds to call to each other, making distinctive noises as warning calls when they have to defend their territory. Body signals such as tail-jerking and foot stamping, chemical signals, and different sounds like a rattling buzz are the means to alert the other members of the tribe.

Problems Associated with American Red Squirrels

These squirrels can cause a slew of issues for Northern Michigan homes and businesses by nesting inside of structures. Once this happens, it turns into a generational situation in most cases, which will continue for years until something is done.

These squirrels are extremely talented climbers; they will use anything near the home to obtain access, such as wires and trees. They will even jump off of close access points if they are not directly touching. Red squirrels will chew into homes through the ridge vent, soffit, dormers, crawlspace vent, and any other pipe or accessible gap on a home. They are even known to chew into cedar shake and log homes to obtain direct access.

The same holds as they run along power lines, which can cause problems with transformers. American red squirrels can also carry a variety of diseases such as mange, cat scratch fever, typhus, and occasionally rabies; it is essential to avoid handling these animals.

These squirrels will need to be removed. Exclusion must be performed on their entry/exit points, as well as having trees trimmed back, fecal matter removed, and continued population control methods enforced so that if/when they do come back, they can be controlled before they do more damage to a structure. Red squirrels are incredibly aggressive and territorial, so once you have managed the population in your area, the problem will likely subside until the next reproduction cycle.

Red squirrels reproduce from May until June. Some females will have a second cycle around August, depending on their location. Eradication can be a time-consuming process, sometimes taking up to a month at certain times of the year. When temperatures drop in the winter months, they tend to move around significantly less, which can further draw out the removal process. We will do a thorough inspection of the structure to create the most effective plan possible for each specific situation.

Leave It To Beaver

Property damage caused by beavers at a northern Michigan client’s home.

In recent years, beaver populations have been relatively high. This is due to a lack of extensive trapping and an abundance of food. These animals can cause considerable problems for county road commissions, private landowners, and waterfront landowners. They create these problems by tree cutting, building dams, flooding property, and blocking culverts. We most often receive calls from property owners experiencing issues due to beaver damage of trees and flooding of waterways, which interferes with land uses. This can cause devastating structural and landscaping damage if untreated.

Beaver Trapping and Removal

Beaver are especially aggressive in the late summer and fall, but do not hibernate in the winter months so a problem may persist. There is one overwhelming fact of dealing with them – you must remove all of the beaver to solve the problem. Any attempt to control these problems without removing the beaver is futile. It is possible to unplug a culvert and draw the water down with them still in place; however, in most cases, the dam will be rebuilt, and the water will flood the next day again.

Ideally, if the problems are not too extreme, an experienced trapper can remove all the beaver in the area during the licensed trapping season. Unfortunately, beaver problems often crop up well before the late fall trapping season. If the problem is pressing, a free Beaver Damage Control Permit can be obtained from the DNR. This allows the landowner to remove the beaver outside of the trapping season if there is proven damage (road washout, flooding, etc.).

Catching these animals during the offseason is more difficult; this is due to their behavior being somewhat different from what many trappers most commonly deal with. Inexperienced trappers will often create more of a problem for you in the long run. They can sometimes only catch one or two of the young beaver; this results in the rest of the colony with adults becoming much warier.

Removal Mistakes

A common mistake we hear of is landowners stating their intention to remove the beaver by shooting them. Research indicates the average colony is about five animals. Anyone trying to shoot all the beaver in a colony one time will quickly find that is impossible. The most likely scenario is that one or two of the young may be vulnerable to shooting; the rest of the colony will become completely nocturnal. Shooting these animals is not easy since there is very little visible when they are swimming. Shooting should only be a last resort for wildlife professionals.

In years past, conservation officers and fire officers would blast beaver dams out with dynamite. Times have changed, and dams are not blasted anymore. Another danger of blasting the dams is the likelihood of washing out downstream roads, culverts, and stream crossings. When a large dam (some up over six feet high) is suddenly breached, a large head of water rushes downstream. Anyone who intends to breach a beaver dam should keep in mind that it can do considerable damage downstream; it is important to scout out any potential crossings downstream ahead of time. The danger of washout is even greater if there is a significant gradient downstream.

Successful Removal

As stated, if downstream stream crossings are a concern for removing a large head of water, the dam can typically be removed gradually. The best practice is to remove a section of the upper portion of the dam and then let the water flow out down to the level cleared overnight. The next day another part of the dam can be removed, which allows the entire impoundment of water behind the dam to drain more gradually, hopefully avoiding any downstream water damage. If the impoundment behind the dam is vast, greater care needs to be taken breaching the dam. When removing a large dam, great care should be taken only to remove just enough of the dam. This will relieve some of the water pressure over several days.

One thing to remember is the easiest way to minimize beaver problems in Northern Michigan is not to create an ideal habitat next to stream crossings. Of course, beaver are in the rodent family, and they are incredibly prolific. If a suitable food habitat is present near water, landowners will likely have decades of reoccurring problems. The only long-term solution to minimize beaver problems outside of trapping is converting nearshore stream habitat to conifer that beaver don’t utilize for food.

We specialize in the trapping and removal of these animals, so call us to set up an inspection today!

Squirrels: Rats With Better Outfits

Squirrels, some of nature’s cheekiest creatures. We can agree that they are furry, cute, and quite entertaining to watch; however, these animals are rodents and ultimately cause health and safety issues for property owners. Squirrels can cause extensive structural damage to homes and other buildings, ruin crops, even harm other animals by raiding bird’s nests for eggs and chicks. Their droppings spread salmonella and can make humans sick. Our great state of Michigan has six species: the Eastern Chipmunk, Flying, Red, Grey, Fox, and the Thirteen-lined Ground. Proper identification is key in eradicating a squirrel issue, and there are many traits that distinguish one species from another. Apart from damaging crops and threatening bird populations, each species has specific tendencies when taking over a property or structure.

Eastern Chipmunk

Unlike other species, Chipmunk tend to stay on the ground. These squirrels do not use trees or wires for access into a structure. They prefer to exploit an open gap at the base of the structure or chew in through the garage door seal. Once inside they will begin to rummage through things, looking for bird seed or other food storage in the garage. They also chew on wires in the garage or on a car. Chipmunks are carnivorous and known to raid bird nests for eggs and chicks. Chipmunks are typically not hard to control, unlike Red, Grey, and Flying Squirrels.

Flying Squirrel

The most carnivorous, these squirrels are nocturnal and are rarely seen during the day. Flying Squirrels can be very loud in attics; they can also be mistook for a larger animals, such as a raccoon. They enter homes through holes in the soffit, window and door frames, and can chew holes in siding. Flying Squirrels can have multiple den sites; a reason some homeowners believe the problem is gone for good after not hearing any movement for awhile. It is best to trap double digits before declaring the problem eradicated.

Red Squirrel

Nicknamed “red devils” these squirrels nest inside structures and are one of Northern Michigan’s most common problems. Once this happens, it will typically turn into a generational situation and continue for years until something is done. Red Squirrels are excellent climbers; they will use anything close to the home to obtain access to a structure. Red Squirrels will even jump off close access points if nothing is touching! They will chew into the home through the ridge vent, soffit, dormer, crawl space vent, or any other pipe or open gap on a home. Red Squirrels are even known to chew into cedar sided and log homes to obtain direct access.

Grey Squirrel

Grey Squirrels do not tend to chew into structures as much as other species, but they do tend to exploit pre-existing gaps. Once inside, they begin to nest and reproduce, however it is to be noted that Grey Squirrels have multiple den sites and will live elsewhere when not reproducing. Northern Michigan does not see as big of an issue with Grey Squirrels as it does with other species, but they can still cause a disturbance once inside. Like the Eastern Chipmunk, Grey Squirrels are known to be nest-raiders and will consume bird eggs and chicks.

Fox Squirrel

The Fox Squirrel spends more time on the ground than other squirrels and is most active during the day. They enjoy raiding birdhouses to eat eggs and hatchlings but also invade bird feeders, attics, sheds, and garages.

Thirteen-Lined Ground

It is extremely rare to find the Thirteen-Lined Ground squirrel inside of structures. Rather than chewing inside, these squirrels will do their damage outside in the yard. They cause problems with erosion, tear up gardens, and create burrows and holes around the property.

Despite all of their differences, the best method for eradication is by trapping, removing, and maintaining by a licensed wildlife professional. We pride ourselves in staying on the cutting-edge of this type of trapping and have recently implemented new technology that allows customers to get a never-before-seen view of our work. The Arlo camera provides us with a live feed whenever movement is detected in an infested space— we share the videos with the customer which is both an extremely effective tool, but a bonus other trappers do not provide (but more on the Arlo later!). If you are hearing noises in your attic or walls, seeing new or larger than usual holes on the exterior of a structure, or seeing squirrels ransacking your bird feeders, please give us a call.