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Milk snakes (see picture below) occasionally wander into the
basement or house due to the same reasons. They can fit through a small
opening as well. I have found milk snakes to be a little more ornery
than garter snakes. A garter snake you can usually grab with a gloved
hand, and gently place it outside, seal up the opening and you're done.
A milk snake may not be so easy to grab. Always wear gloves when
handling any reptile as they may have salmonella bacteria on their skin
just waiting to enter your digestive tract. Then you will be sick for a
few days with 'food poisoning', or worse. Not to mention that if you try
to grab one, it will most likely try to bite you. Their bite is not
venomous, but I will not say that it is always harmless either.
Squirrels in the attic
Raccoons generally start causing problems when they move into a
structure. Living inside an attic is common. Although, I have found them
in basements, crawlspaces, chimneys, and garages. There can be odors,
risk of disease, and damage to interior ceilings. Chimney dwelling
raccoons will make a lot of noise, especially when the young are
present. If the flue damper is open in your fireplace, you just may come
face to face with one in your living room also.
REMEDIATION: Once they are living in a structure, raccoons should be
removed and the structure sealed up. Cage traps are used to remove them,
and then the exclusion/repairs can be done. Chimney dwelling raccoons
can be prevented from ever moving in just by installing a chimney cap on
each chimney. Sometimes, both chimney dwelling and attic dwelling
raccoons will leave once their young are old enough to walk and climb on
their own, generally by mid-summer. Precautions must be taken to prevent
their return the next fall, however, or they may move back in when the
weather gets cold again. I have seen where they will tear off several
shingles attempting to get back into an attic that they previously
occupied.
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Orlando Squirrel Removal
ll squirrels will eat mainly nuts, fruits, berries, and seeds. Gray
squirrels have been known to eat baby nesting birds as well. The only
other squirrel that is carnivorous is the flying Squirrel, which is
rarely seen because it is nocturnal.
DAMAGE: All rodents gnaw. Gray squirrels cause damage just by their
chewing. They will chew into attics, and, once inside, can do extensive
damage to wiring.
click
here for photos
They can fall into chimneys and end up in your fireplace, or, if the
damper is open, they may end up running around your house. Occasionally,
I have found them nesting in a garage as well. Normally, you will hear
gray squirrels up inside the attic, or running in the soffits in the
early morning (around sunrise), and, again, later in the day (from 4PM
till dark). They are generally quiet at night. Red squirrels, and flying
Squirrels will be heard scampering around at night. Red Squirrels are
more prevalent around conifer (evergreen) trees, whereas you generally
find gray squirrels around hardwoods. Both red squirrels and gray
squirrels prefer to enter your house from a tree that is close enough to
gain access to the roof, but sometimes they will climb a deck or a porch
to gain entry to the house, or cross a utility wire. Flying Squirrels
can "fly" (or, more accurately glide) from trees as far away as 50
meters or so, depending on the height of the trees. They land on the
roof and scamper inside. Chipmunks generally enter from ground level.
Chipmunks (our species is the Eastern chipmunk) are also known as ground
squirrels.
REMEDIATION: All squirrels have to leave the building in order to find
food. Just a note here, chipmunks will generally enter at the basement
or crawl space level of the house, as they nest underground. You can
wait till they leave, and then close up the holes. The problems with
this method is that between March-May, and July-October, you may trap
the young ones inside causing them to die and odors, flies, etc. will be
the result. Another problem is that sometimes they will just chew in
somewhere else. I believe that the animals causing the problem should
always be removed, and then the holes sealed up to prevent others from
infesting the structure. We remove them with cage traps and then the
entry holes need to be sealed up to prevent new infestations. This is
the method I generally use. I remove all the squirrels, then either
close up the openings (at additional cost), or if you have a carpenter
or handyman who can do it, then you can opt to do it that way. Just
removing the squirrels, and leaving the access holes open is NOT
considered to be the complete solution. On older houses, sometimes the
repairs can get very expensive.
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