Humans tend to think of themselves as separate from the environment. In reality, the only thing separating most people from the great outdoors is a relatively thin carapace of wood and drywall. While your home probably feels safe and secure from the elements, animals can also recognize and exploit these qualities. A single encroachment can cause a cascade of increasingly troublesome pests to inhabit your home, which is why it is important that you contact wildlife removal services as soon as you recognize a problem.
How Animals Find Living Spaces
A fundamental principle of animal behaviour is that animals tend to take the path of least resistance. Critters prefer any activity that takes little energy over one that requires significant effort. Certain activities, such as burrowing, searching, or gathering items, require a large energy investment and can place animals in danger from nearby predators.
One way animals minimize their energy expenditure is by using dens that other animals have already worked hard to create. In the wild, for example, wolves burrow deep underground to create spaces for their pups. Once the pups are reared, however, wolves abandon these holes, leaving them available to other creatures like foxes or coyotes. In more urban areas, the best real estate for animals is located directly in and around human habitations.
How Wildlife Issues Can Escalate
As homes are generally well insulated from the outdoors, the first animals to find large enough entrances are often the smallest. Mice and other small rodents are excellent at squeezing themselves into small spaces and chewing holes into various surfaces to create convenient paths. Once a tiny animal has created a living space in your home, the way is opened for increasingly larger species to follow suit.
Larger species have no problem throwing their weight around. Rats, for example, can easily force out a colony of mice, while in turn raccoons can displace the rats to dig out a more spacious den. Because this process often continues moving up the food chain, homeowners who detect a critter intrusion must take action to prevent further damage as soon as possible.
What You Can Do
As a homeowner, the best thing you can do to protect your home is to be vigilant in monitoring your property. If you notice mouse droppings, holes in otherwise secure food containers, or disturbed household surfaces, take immediate action to seal up compromised spaces. If an infestation has been allowed to persist for some time, you will likely be unable to successfully seal off your home on your own. At this point, you should contact wildlife removal services. At Skedaddle Wildlife Control, we have extensive experience locating hidden entryways invisible to the average homeowner.
Though it can seem like overkill to contact a service over a mouse or rat problem, doing so is almost always worthwhile in the end. If you are worried about the cost of hired help, consider that addressing a minor critter intrusion is likely to cost far less in the long run than dealing with a major one.
The Importance of Ethical Wildlife Removal Services
Many wildlife control organizations rely on poisons and traps. However, these methods can be a considerable health risk to pets and humans, as they tend to leave carcasses and toxins around your house. Ethical removal services are compassionate to animals and can address the root of your problem with no collateral damage.
A busy homeowner may be tempted to simply wait for a mouse or rat problem to go away. Unfortunately, this is not how things are likely to play out. Over time, infestations are far more likely to get worse, not better. If you have detected a critter intrusion in your home, contact Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control for speedy, ethical, and effective animal control services.