When it comes to keeping your home safe and secure, it’s important to think about both the physical and environmental threats that could be present. While you may think of intruders and burglars as the biggest danger, there are also plenty of animals out there that can cause harm or significant damage. Here’s a list of the most notorious invasive animals you should keep away from your home, as well as some tips on how to do so:
Raccoons
Raccoons are considered one of the most common nuisance pests in the United States. They are known for digging through trash cans and gardens for food and shelter. To help keep raccoons away from your home, ensure all garbage cans have tight-fitting lids and avoid leaving pet food outside overnight. Additionally, installing motion-activated lights around your property is a great way to scare off any raccoons lurking around.
You can also take preventative measures such as cleaning up any fallen fruit or nuts in your yard, especially when raccoons are most active in the summer. You can do this by regularly pruning your trees and shrubs to ensure any overripe fruit does not end up lying around.
Opossums
Opossums can be found throughout much of North America, often taking up residence in attics or garages in search of shelter. If you’re dealing with an opossum infestation, the best way to get rid of them is by trapping them with a live trap and releasing them at least five miles away from your property line. You can also discourage them by cutting back any brush near your home that might provide cover for these critters.
Additionally, you should ensure that your home’s entry points are properly sealed to help keep opossums out – especially your garage door as this can usually be an easy access point for them. Consider having your garage door reinforced. You can do this by calling a professional garage door service provider. They will be able to make the necessary repairs or improvements to ensure that your garage door is secure from any potential pests. They will also be able to inspect your door and provide suggestions on how to best fortify it against any future intrusions.
Groundhogs
Groundhogs can cause considerable damage to lawns or gardens due to tunneling habits. To help keep groundhogs away from your property, start by blocking off any potential entry points with fencing or hardware cloth buried several inches into the ground. Additionally, keeping grass mowed low can help discourage groundhogs from wanting to take up residence on your property since they prefer tall grasses for hiding spots.
Finally, installing a motion-activated sprinkler system can help deter groundhogs from wanting to make your yard theirs. Sprinklers that shoot out jets of water at certain intervals can scare away any groundhogs that may be present and keep them away in the future.
Beavers
Beavers are large mammals known for their impressive dam-building abilities, which can lead to flooding issues if they move into lakes or rivers close to homes or other structures. To prevent this from happening, consider using predator urine, such as coyote urine, around areas where beavers have been spotted in order to scare them away without harming them directly.
You can also construct fences made of chicken wire around ponds or other water sources near your property line as a further deterrent against beavers looking for new territory to inhabit. Just make sure that the fence is at least five feet high to ensure that beavers won’t be able to climb over it.
Moles
Moles may seem harmless enough, but they can wreak havoc on lawns and gardens due to their tunneling habits which disrupt root systems and create dead patches in grassy areas where they’ve been digging underground tunnels looking for food sources like grubs or earthworms.
To help deter moles from setting up shop near your home, try spreading castor oil around problem areas since moles don’t like the smell and will stay away if it’s strong enough! Additionally, regular mowing will cut down on potential food sources which could attract moles in the first place, so make sure those blades are sharp!
Prevention is key in keeping invasive animals away from your home—the sooner you take action, the better! Make sure all trash cans have tight-fitting lids and remove any pet food left outside overnight, install motion-activated lights, cut back brush, block off entry points with fencing/hardware cloth, use predator urine, construct fences made out of chicken wire, spread castor oil, and maintain regular mowing habits to reduce potential food sources that might draw unwanted critters onto your property! These measures will go a long way toward making sure these unwelcome visitors never set up shop near you!
