The Most Common Pest Animals in Fall

As the season changes from summer to fall, the behavior of wildlife adapts. There are only a few nuisance animals that are true hibernators. So most of the animals that cause a problem can continue to be a pest through winter.

1. Raccoons: these animals stand around a foot tall and normally weigh between 10-50 pounds. They have a visible black mask on their face and their bushy tail is covered in alternating black and gray rings.
2. Squirrels: These rodents may be anywhere from 12 to 25 inches long. They are small but muscular with sharp claws. Their coloration varies; they can be seen in shades of black, gray, red, and brown. Squirrel fur is short, thick, and bushiest along the tail. Oftentimes, their underbellies will differ in color from the coats on their backs.
3. Opossums: These mammals are about the size of a cat. They have a pointed face with a narrow snout, small eyes, and a long, hairless, prehensile tail that acts as a fifth limb, allowing them to climb well. Opossums are covered in grayish-white fur and have more teeth than any other mammal in the United States.
4.  Rats: The most common rats in the United States are Norway rats (also known as the “brown rat,” “house rat,” “sewer rat” and “wharf rat”). They have bald ears, black eyes, a blunt nose, a brown or gray body, and a tail smaller than the body. Norway rats are about 16 inches in length, including their tails.
5. Mice: The house mouse is the most common type of mouse in populated areas. They are small, slender rodents with large ears, sensitive noses and small eyes. Their fur is typically dusty brown or dull gray on top, with lighter shades along the chin and stomach. Rodents have hairless tails that are long and scaly, and their feet are well-equipped for grasping, burrowing, and climbing.

Squirrels on the Roof and in the Attic

Squirrels are one of the most active nuisance animals during the fall. Squirrels can have two litters during the year– one in the spring and the other in the fall. Female squirrels are looking for safe places to create a nest to give birth and safely raise their young. Attics, roofs, and walls are perfect places for squirrel nests.

Squirrels typically enter homes through the roof making their way into the attic. When inside homes, squirrels will eat most foodstuffs they can gain access to, including garbage and various food scraps.

Squirrels use their muscular builds and sharp claws and teeth to cause a lot of damage to the interior and exterior of a house. They often use their powerful teeth to gnaw on wooden support beams, fascia, soffits, eaves, gable end vents, and other areas located around and above the roofline. This behavior can go from costly to dangerous when they gnaw on electrical wires, which could potentially lead to a house fire.

Nuisance Raccoons in the Fall

Raccoons may look a bit small but they are exceptionally strong and can exploit exterior weaknesses in homes, to gain access inside. Most commonly, they will attempt to enter through the roof by using their strength to rip up shingles to enter the attic, but they have also been known to come in by tearing through soffits, vents, and more. Once inside, raccoons most commonly nest in attics, chimneys, walls, basements and crawl spaces. Be careful opening your outdoor trash containers; raccoons can be found inside them, feasting on trash and food scraps.

Raccoons are very strong and intelligent, equipped with thumb-like digits on their paws, allowing them to create more damage than a homeowner might expect. They can rip up a wide variety of materials inside and outside your home. As autumn comes around and the weather cools, raccoons sense the temperature change and seek out a warm, safe place to nest. If they identify your home as an optimal place to spend the winter, they may attempt to enter it through various areas until they find one that works out for them; they possess the strength, intelligence, and tenacity to keep trying until they succeed.

Rat Infestations during Autumn

Rats can be found in many places throughout the home, including the basement, the attic, the ceiling, crawl spaces, walls, and more. A rat’s particular taste can depend on the food that is easily accessible in its natural ecosystem, but inside the home, they tend to gravitate toward cereals, grains, pet food, crumbs of all kinds, and much more.

Rats have strong teeth and jaws, allowing them to chew through many things inside a house, including wood, vinyl, thin metals, wood, plastic, and more. They are also known to chew through cables and wires, potentially starting detrimental electrical fires in a home.

Mice Problems in the House

Mice traveling around your home and food supply can cause the spread of unpleasant diseases. They are known to urinate and defecate in all areas of the home they frequent. As with other mammals in the home, mice commonly chew on just about anything they can access, including wires and cables.

With mice being so small, the opportunities are almost endless as to where a mouse can enter. Mice may try to enter your home through screen doors that don’t properly latch or have tears in their mesh, openings along the roof line and crawl spaces. Once inside, they are known to live in various areas of the house, including attics,  inside walls, kitchens, and crawl spaces. Mice feed at least 20 times each day and will sample just about any available food they can find, so be on the lookout for food that has been nibbled at and discarded in your kitchen or pantry.

Opossums in the Yard and the Attic

Opossums can be found in quite a few places in and around the home. Inside the house, you can often find them living in your attic. Outside the house, you can find them on your roof, under your deck, in a shed or even under your house. These omnivores are opportunistic scavengers; they will feast on a wide variety of foods. Their natural diets include insects, ticks, small rodents, frogs, birds, frogs, birds and berries. When on your property, they tend to eat vegetables, fruits, garbage, bird seed, pet food, meat and more; as the weather cools, they tend to prefer meat-based meals, over bugs and vegetables.

To avoid confrontation, they will play dead so predators leave them alone. Opossums are opportunistic and don’t typically cause physical damage to enter a home but they will use an opening to gain entrance if they find one. When inside or around a home, they can spread diseases like tuberculosis, spotted fever and more, in addition to carrying ticks and other parasites.

How to Prevent Nuisance Wildlife in the Fall

These animals share common reasons for entering homes as autumn comes around and the weather gets cold. They come inside in hopes of accessing a warm and safe environment for them to live in or a safe play to raise their young.

The best way to keep animals from being attracted to your home is to keep the area surrounding your home as unattractive to them as possible.

Some things you can do to ensure that include:

Raking leaves & mowing the lawn: small animals thrive in unkempt yards and lawns; if they get comfortable spending time in and around your yard, they may get more and more tempted to approach the house and try to find a way inside. In autumn, homeowners should be sure to regularly rake the leaves off their lawn and consistently mow their grass, so their yards do not get overgrown and covered with leaves, providing ample opportunity for animal encroachment. Additionally, it is recommended to keep wood/brush piles organized and off the ground if possible.

Keeping food away from your house: bird feeders that drop bird seed to the ground are known to attract various critters to your yard and home; you may want to consider getting rid of your bird feeders if you encounter animal issues in and around your home. Pet owners should be sure to keep all pet food inside, so as not to attract unwanted critters. Additionally, many animals are fine with eating garbage and food scraps, so outdoor trash cans and bins should be sealed and secured.