Animal Removal Raccoons

Closeup of Racoon Face in the Mississippi gulf coast; Southern Pest Control
animal removal raccoons


Animal Removal-Freezing temperatures are a challenging time for most animals in the wild. Raccoons combat these challenges through a series of physical and behavioral adaptations that keep them fed and warm through the cold months. Raccoons are omnivores, gaining nutrients from plants, animals, eggs, insects and human items such as food from garbage cans and small livestock. This ability to use any food source serves these animals well in the winter when many types of food are scarce. They typically make up their winter diets with acorns, corn, fruit, insects, crippled waterfowl and small animals, although they will take advantage of any local food source that presents itself.

Raccoons also seek out warm dens in the winter to help protect them from the elements. They most commonly seek out hollow trees, but are opportunistic about other options. Raccoons have been known to take over the underground burrows of other animals, use caves or make dens in abandoned buildings to keep warm. They sometimes den with other raccoons as well to take advantage of the mutual body heat, especially in severe winters.

How should you keep Raccoons away from your home?

  • 1 – Seal shut all entry points into your house and attic
  • 2 – Install an exclusion barrier around the perimeter of your shed or porch
  • 3 – Keep pet food and bird seed indoors
  • 4 – Strap down the lids of your garbage cans, tightly
  • 5 – Block access to the pool or decorative pond

You need remember, repellent powders and sprays do not work, also water sprayers and sound machines will not work either. Your best solution is to have them safely trapped and removed. We at Southern Pest Control not only rid your insects and bugs. We can effectively remove any unwanted animals that are around your home. ย Please call us at 800 527-9832 if we can help.ย 

Rabbits Are They Friends or Foe?

Rabbit in yard in the Mississippi gulf coast; Southern Pest Control

 

rabbits

 

Damage from rabbits is almost always the result of their appetite for our plants. They eat flower and vegetable plants in spring and summer and the bark of fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs in the fall and winter.

There are several species of wild rabbitsโ€”most are called cottontail โ€”who, between them, live across most of North America. Cottontails like to live at the edges of open areas. In fact, they are rarely found in dense forests or open grassland.

This love of edges means they love our suburbs.ย Yards, parks, playgrounds, and office parks, often with small natural buffers in between, have lots of edges between small areas of different habitats that rabbits love.

Here today, gone tomorrow is one way to describe rabbits in suburbia.ย Given the many predators who make meals of them, their populations can rise and fall dramatically over the course of a year.ย Sometimes, by doing nothing and letting nature take its own course, the homeowner sees the same result as they might from trying to “control” rabbits.

Here are some are some tips when dealing with rabbits.

  • Make sure it is a rabbit. A deer will eat many of the same things rabbits eat. Twigs browsed by rabbits look neatly clipped but plants browsed by deer appear ragged and torn.
  • A well-built fence is probably the most effective way to protect your plants from rabbits. Two-foot high chicken wire supported by posts every six to eight feet is strong enough to keep rabbits out.ย Stake the bottom securely to the ground to prevent rabbits from pushing underneath it.
  • Movable fence panels can protect the garden right after the first planting, when damage is likely to be most severe, and go in the shed, barn, or garage the rest of the year.
  • Commercialย tree wraps or plastic tree guardsย can keep rabbits from nibbling bark. Cylinders of hardware cloth or poultry wire can work as well. These barriers should be as high as usual snow depth plus eighteen inches.ย Young trees and saplings are more vulnerable so focus on protecting them.
  • If necessary, chemical repellents can be used. Chemical repellents can protect small plots and individual plants. Just be careful not to use this on plants that people will eat.

We at Southern Pest Control hope you found this information helpful. Whether it be pest control or animal removal, we at Southern Pest Control can help. We have been in the business for over 37 years serving the Gulf Coast Area.