Category Archives: Rodent

Animal in the Wall, Rodent, Squirrels

Going Nuts

Leave a comment

I am losing my freaking mind trying to control the squirrel problem I have in both my backyard and attic.  This is the second spring that we’ve had a genuine issue with the little rats, before then they just came and went, never bothering us a bit.  So what changed? Why, after so many years of peace and harmony between my family and the squirrels, did they overtake our attic?  Walnuts.  When my wife and I first bought this house 12 years ago, we decided to leave our mark on the property and boost the environment by planting two walnut trees in the backyard. Obviously, without the knowledge that the native tree roamers (squirrels), would someday use it to cause chaos in our lives.

Do I sound like I’m being dramatic? I promise I’m not; if you had squirrels inviting themselves to hoard inside of your attic, you would react this exact same way.  It was only a couple of years ago that the walnut trees starting actually producing nuts and seeds, and that’s right around when we started to experience the squirrel problem.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t have been cursed with JUST the squirrels, but soon thereafter a major windstorm hit, undoing soffit, shingles, rain gutters, you name it.  The access points the squirrels had to the house were innumerable, and we just couldn’t keep up.  Before long, we started finding walnuts, apricot seeds, and other various plants tucked inside insulation and corners of the attic.  We did our best to seal everything off, but when the squirrels returned this spring, it was obvious we missed something.

We have been trying our hardest to stay on top of this, we just want to go back to the good old days of looking at the squirrels – not watching them invade our house through unseen holes.  I have tried everything I can think of, and obviously I’m not the mountain man that my wife thought she married, because so far these squirrels have been outsmarting my every move.  I need some outside help, and the sooner the better.  We just want our house back.

Gophers, Rodent, Wild Animal

A Mound of Problems

Leave a comment

I have a major rock chuck problem in the field behind my house, and it’s starting to creep up into my back lawn.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there were gophers or ground squirrels too, but I know that the rock chuck is for sure because we’ve caught him on the security camera on three separate occasions, running through the yard.  There are also large holes dotting the perimeter of our property, and scattered throughout the field.  The smaller holes I would attribute to a smaller rodent like gophers or ground squirrels, which is still a problem that I’d like to have solved since there’s nothing quite as irksome as working for years to have beautiful landscaping only to have it ruined by overrated rats.

I know that to an outsider of our situation, taking care of the rock chucks in a field might seem unnecessary or even extreme, but I’m not going to let this situation escalate any further out of my control than it already is.  Last month, our best horse had to be put down because of a broken leg.  Can you guess how she broke it? If you guessed that she was running and got her foot caught in a large rock chuck hole then you would be the winner.  My concern for this rock chuck problem was already heightened because of that, but when last week my daughter sprained her ankle from tripping in one of the holes I drew the line.  I will not have my children, animals, or anyone else for that matter, put at risk by something that I could get a handle on if I put the time in.

The issue is that I’m not a good enough shot to wipe the rock chucks out myself, my husband isn’t home early enough to try, and neither of us have any of the necessary licensing to be able to use conobear traps (kill traps).  And besides that, I wouldn’t want to set a trap that powerful up in my field with my horses running around; there’s been enough damage as it is.  I’m looking for other solutions and someone with the proper paperwork to act on those solutions.  I just need to solve this rock chuck problem, and hopefully the gopher/ground squirrel problems, as soon as possible.

Animal in the Wall, Mice, Rodent

Cinderella’s Little Homewreckers

Leave a comment

We’ve got a serious mouse problem in our kitchen, and no matter what we do we can’t seem to catch all of them.  It’s been happening for the last four or five months and is driving me bipity-bopity bonkers.  It started out small, where we would just see little black mouse turds here and there on the kitchen floor so we set out a couple traps to see what would happen.  We only caught one, but we figured the problem was solved, since it seemed so small in the first place, but we were wrong.  It only escalated from there.

Even though immediately following the capture of the first mouse things died down, not long after they picked up rapidly.  Before we knew it, there were piles of mouse droppings all over the kitchen and even inside the pantry and washroom.  Then after that, the mice started to chew through bags and boxes inside of the pantry, meaning in the time-span of this mouse problem, quite a bit of our food storage could have been contaminated.  I have two young children, and I won’t even risk feeding them something that could harbor sickness from these rodents.

After we first discovered them in the pantry, we bought 20 more traps and set them up all over the house (but mostly in the kitchen).  We’ve caught 12 mice now, but are still seeing signs of activity.  At this point, this mouse problem is the biggest stressor in my life and so this is my cry for help.  I know my husband wants to fight this battle himself, but I can’t deal with it anymore, I’m calling in the special ops!  Professionals are coming in tomorrow and bringing the arsenal with them, it’s still possible for me to live happily ever after – mouse free!

Animal in the Wall, Rodent, Squirrels

Squirrels Gone Wild

Leave a comment

The squirrels in my backyard are nutty – if you can ignore the stupid pun I just made and finish this story, you’ll see I’m being serious. About a month ago, three squirrels showed up in my backyard out of nowhere.  At first I wasn’t necessarily worried about it considering they are squirrels and they do live outside and my backyard is indeed, outside.  Why would anyone be scared of three, harmless squirrels? Well, it turns out that geese are not the only demon possessed animals in the world.  Squirrels also land in the category of unpredictably evil beasts that you can never trust.

Why am I so passionate about my vehement hatred for these squirrels? Let me just tell you.  THEY ARE VICIOUS!  They moved in to the overhang of my porch, and when I try to go outside, they hiss and basically run down the wall at my face.  So far they haven’t actually attacked me, but its close enough!  They will also bite and scratch through my screen door; in one month I’ve already had to replace it, and I don’t doubt I’ll have to do it again soon!  Considering that it is spring time, I’m very worried that they’re going to multiply and then I won’t just have adult squirrels in my backyard, but their baby demon spawn as well.

Basically, I need a solution that’s more environmentally friendly than my .22 because I’m getting closer and closer to that point every day.  I’m especially worried because in two weeks my nephews are coming to stay with me while their parents are out of town and I don’t want them to go home telling stories about the psychotic squirrels in my backyard.  I just want this problem solved ASAP.  If I can’t find someone else to take care of them for me, I’m just going to have to do it myself.  The only crazy animal allowed on my property is me!

Animal in the Wall, Mice, Rodent

Living with a Litterbug

Leave a comment

I’ve got a major mouse problem, it’s not an Australia in the summer kind of major, but for a small 3 bedroom townhouse – it’s major. I have never had a problem with mice before, I mean yeah one here and there over my entire lifetime, but never 5 in one week. I’m trying to get rid of them on my own but every time I set a trap I catch a new one, and then when I turn around another is running across the floor into the wall. I think my house might be infested and I can’t deal with that alone! I need help from someone who knows what they’re doing and doesn’t cry every time they have to pick them up. I’m a vegetarian, so killing animals is not my thing, but I have to do what I have to do I guess.
I wish I could say that I had no clue why this was happening, but I know EXACTLY who to blame for this disaster that I’m currently living in. I’m a junior in college and I rent this townhouse with two other girls – actually, it’s currently just one other girl. The girl that USED to sleep in the room next to mine was evicted two weeks ago because she was practically a hoarder and was destroying the room. The owners told me and my roommate that if we’d be willing to clean up what she left behind and get the room back in order, we could have a month or two rent free – depending on the size of the mess. Well, guess where we found the mouse problem. DING DING DING! There are four holes in the walls in the room, and that’s where we are catching every single mouse.
So far, we haven’t seen any outside of the one bedroom, but with the crazy amount that we’ve been catching, I’m afraid our mouse problem is getting out of hand. Everyone is collectively trying to get rid of these things and looking for help. I’m not going to lie, having someone else kill the mice for me isn’t my only motive in looking for a professional (though it is a big one). I’m also hoping that maybe, I can get another month off of rent if I can solve this problem for good. And I mean, obviously I can’t keep living in a house with a mouse infestation, so I’m hoping that they’ll clear out so I can keep living here. Finding good housing in college is hard enough.

Rodent, Wild Animal

What the Hole?

Leave a comment

I discovered rock chucks under my house this morning, so a big happy birthday to me! It has been quite the day, I woke up to a delicious pancake breakfast from my sweet daughters with strawberries and orange juice!  My boss told me I could come in to work later, and my husband had dinner reservations for that evening; it really seemed like my 35th birthday was going to be my best birthday yet.  Except that when I went to get into my car for work, I went out the side door and as I stepped off the concrete pad, my foot went into a hole my very fresh, very hot coffee went all over me.

One trip to the ER later, I’m home with a sprained ankle, first-degree burns on my hand and wrist, and no idea where the hole outside my door came from.  But, since my kids are at school and my husband left for work I’ve had plenty of time to look it up.  I found an article that talked about woodchucks and skunks, but since I’ve never smelled any kind of skunk spray I focused on the woodchucks, which are small gopher-like creatures.  They definitely don’t seem like they could make a hole the size of the one I fell into so I kept digging, and there it was: yellow-bellied marmots, also known as rock chucks, and it looks like one (or possible more) of these rock chucks is under my house.

I’m a lot of things, but a wildlife removal specialist is not one of them, and contrary to what my husband might tell you, he’s not that great of a shot so it seems like I’m going to have to hire someone to come trap this thing.  Having it dig around down there is definitely not a good thing, I read that if their tunnels get extensive enough, they could cause foundational damage or undermine driveways and sidewalks!  How crazy is that!  If falling into a hole was what it had to take to get this rock chuck out from under my house is what it took to stop it before major damage, then I guess it’s not that awful.  Besides, I got the day off, and it’s still my birthday.

Rodent, Voles

One Sick Puppy

Leave a comment

We have voles in our backyard and it’s pretty clear that we’re not going to be able to solve this problem on our own.  This isn’t the first year we’ve had problems with them, either.  Two years ago is when we first discovered them, we searched the internet for at home solutions but it never really got serious enough that we worried about them; it was just a few holes and trails here and there, nothing we couldn’t live with.  We pretty much just ignored them and figured they’d die off once winter hit and we wouldn’t have problems the next spring at all.  Yeah, apparently that’s not how that works.

Last April as the snow melted, we found 10 times as many vole trails cutting through our grass! I was shocked, I couldn’t believe the vole problem could’ve gotten that out of hand, especially when it had been as cold as it was.  That was when we really started looking for a solution to the madness, we wanted to stop the voles in our yard before our yard was destroyed so we took to the internet and tried just about everything we could on our own. You name it, we probably tried it, flooding the tunnels? Yep.  Not watering anything at all and trying to dry them out? That one too.  Electrosonic Yard Spikes? You can bet on it.  Since we had dogs running around, we were doing our best to avoid poisons or sprays that could hurt them, but eventually we tried those too.

All summer we tried whatever we could get our hands on to get rid of the voles in our yard, until eventually my husband came home with a bucket of Lord knows what with the slogan of “Whatever it is, we can kill it”. Why did I think it was a good idea? Probably mad vole disease, but I let him lay it out.  We did our best to keep an eye on the areas we treated and make sure the dogs didn’t go near them, but one afternoon our youngest pup got into a big patch of poisoned grass and (being a dog) she couldn’t resist trying some.  She was so sick for weeks, I was terrified she was going to die, but luckily she pulled through.  All I know is this year, I’m not letting my husband put any kind of poison ANYWHERE in my lawn.  I want a professional, someone that knows what they’re doing and how to do it right.

Rodent, Snakes

Suggestions for Rodent and Snake Control

Leave a comment

History of Control: While controlling snakes on properties, we also often remove many field mice, and a much greater number of deer mice which are known to carry the Haunta Virus.  These deer mice not only pose a possible threat to people that come into contact with them or their urine and feces (this can happen while sweeping, mowing the lawn, and leaf-blowing), but they, along with the field mice, are also drawing snakes to the property.

 

Snake Prevention – Levels of Control

  • Insects are drawn from the dry, mountainous terrain to lush, moist landscape
  • Spiders are drawn to those insects that are drawn to lush, moist landscape
  • Voles are drawn to lush, green landscapes – drawn out of, or moving from, dry desert environments to feed on insects, spiders, and moist plant roots
  • Field and Deer Mice are drawn to moist landscape to feed on bugs, insects, spiders, moths, etc.
  • Rats are drawn to moist landscapes to feed on bugs, insects, spiders, etc.
  • Snakes are drawn to moist landscapes to feed off of insects, voles, and mice; they are also drawn to shaded areas provided by plants, concrete cavities, and cracks in rock walls
  • Habitat can be controlled by increasing the heights of bushes and trees and decreasing the length of grass and shrubbery
  • Perimeter Control: a barrier can be created around the perimeter of the property and can help to prevent snakes and rodents from entering the property; however, setting traps around the barrier perimeter would also be a more organized, first-level form of control
  • Home Control: includes installing traps and kill-boxes around the home; however, perimeter control would be a more successful and effective form of control.

 

Explanation: As we control insect, rodent, rat, mice, and vole populations and habitats, it will help to prevent snakes from being drawn to the property to feed

 

Animal in the Wall, Rat, Rats, Rodent

Dirty Rat

Leave a comment

We’ve tried everything to get rid of the raccoons in the attic, but at this point it seems impossible.  They’ve been there for what, a couple of months now?  I can’t pinpoint an exact time because we actually didn’t know they were there until a month or so ago, which is when we first saw the mother raccoon go into the attic.  Before that, we just heard the occasional bumps and creaks that we gave the old house credit for.  We would have been none the wiser if our neighbor’s cat hadn’t gotten into a tiff with the raccoon, leaving us to investigate the commotion and catch the raccoon crawling through a gap in the soffit.

After that we listened carefully to the sounds from above the ceiling, and it became fairly clear to us that there was more than just one raccoon in the attic, she had babies, so we started to do our research.  Anything we could think of we looked up: how to get rid of raccoons in the attic, trapping raccoons, the most effective raccoon removal methods; all of it.  After we made a list of possible solutions, we started to check them off one at a time.  We turned the lights on in the attic, we started playing loud music during the day when we were gone, we set traps outside where we thought we might catch the mother, and we even put ammonia soaked rags up there with a fan to blow the smell around.  We took every step possible, and we thought it had worked.

Not long after we had started harassing the raccoons, I saw the mother leave the attic with what looked like a baby in her mouth. We were ecstatic! After we celebrated for a minute, my husband went out and sealed off the gap we saw her entering and exiting through.  We went to bed happy that night, thinking all was well.  Of course, happy endings are for fairy tales and the next night the raccoon came back, tore the soffit open again, and has been hiding out there for the last 4 days (she hasn’t left once).  We can’t hear any babies anymore, but we don’t know what she’s doing up there and we have nothing left to try.  Please, we need some serious help to get rid of the raccoon in our attic, I can’t keep doing this.

Rodent, Voles

Dangerous Tunnels

Leave a comment

I have a severe vole problem in my yard.  Last week was warm and small holes started to melt in the snowing exposing the grass beneath.  I was surprised to see that the patches of grass were split into sections of green, healthy grass, and yellow, dead paths.  It wasn’t in just one spot either, it was in a few so I dug up some of the snow to investigate and they were everywhere!  Trails of dead grass snaking across my yard.  I had never heard of animals that did that until I Googled the things I was seeing and found out that it was a common sign of voles (a small, mouse-like creature).

I did some research on why they would have suddenly moved to my yard, and I guess they look for areas with a lot of water.  I’m guessing that the snow we got this winter is what brought them around.  But since I can’t control the weather, I need help controlling the voles. They burrow through the ground, consuming the roots of grass, flowers, even trees!  They kill off all the vegetation and not only that, but they can spread a dangerous disease called the Hantavirus through their feces.

A couple of days ago, the vole problem got worse.  It’s not just the trails, but things started to sink into the ground where the trails are dug.   I was walking across the stone pavers in my garden and a couple of them sunk into holes in the ground.  I’m worried that someone will fall into one of the tunnels when they’re walking across my yard and get seriously injured.  I need some help; I didn’t even know these animals existed until a week ago, I have no idea how to get rid of them.