To achieve a long term solution it is critical to keep them out after you get them out. Animal proofing is key. 

Roof / Soffit Intersections are areas where two different roof lines intersect. This design feature on a house is inherently structurally weak making it extremely easy for raccoons, squirrels and birds to gain entry into the attic. Where raccoons will simply push up with their back and dislodge a piece of the aluminum soffit to enter the attic, squirrels and birds will often squeeze into an opening that already exists.

The only 100% protection against raccoons and squirrels entering the attic through a roof / soffit intersection is to reinforce all these areas with our galvanized screen. 

To prevent wildlife from re-entering your home or business, animal proofing is the solution. This long-lasting approach avoids future removal and repair expenses. After humanely removing raccoons, skunks, squirrels, starlings, pigeons, bats and other wildlife from your home or business, Gates Wildlife Control will secure the point of entry and guarantee that the animals will not re-enter that area for a period of one year.

Unfortunately, the evicted animals are not so quick to move to a new location because they have already invested a lot of time and effort in making your house their home. The animals carefully chose this location because it is safe from predators and because of its close proximity to food and water. Furthermore, considerable time has already been spent renovating your attic to construct the perfect den site. Also, some animals store considerable amounts food in their den and they are not easily persuading to move on and leave it behind.

After we have removed the animals they are more than determined to get back in. To prevent this from happening it is extremely important to protect every known entry point for wildlife. Wildlife proofing is necessary to achieve a long term solution. 

Why do squirrels gather food for winter?

At this time of year you may notice squirrels gathering nuts and other food sources in preparation for the fast approaching winter months.

Squirrels can’t find enough food every day during the winter, and they’d starve to death if they didn’t make appropriate preparations. That means stashing food in their den's such as attics to make it through the winter.

Gray squirrels particular approach to food is called “scatter hoarding”. Squirrels will bury their nuts where the frost can’t reach them, normally at least an inch beneath the surface. 

How do squirrels find their nuts?

Squirrels use a combination of clues to find their nuts again later. First, the caching is not random. A particular place will have been chosen – under a big oak, for example – and remembered. Several squirrels may also use the same patch, which increases the probability that they will find stored nuts simply by chance.

When a squirrel returns weeks later, it peers at the ground, looking for disturbed soil and sniffing to detect a nutty smell. This multi-sense inspection focuses digging on the spots most likely to yield a nut. 

BUT there are many that are missed, which develop into new trees, benefiting future generations.

There are many factors contributing to high efficiency of forest regeneration by grey squirrels. 

The first factor in the grey squirrels' success in forest regeneration is the huge amount of tree seeds they bury. Research has shown that grey squirrels store 96.9% of their seeds in this way (Goheen & Swihart 2003). Scientists also managed to establish that about 30% of the buried seeds will never be recovered by grey squirrels. These buried and unrecovered seeds are the basis for the future forest regeneration.

These babies were the oldest babies we had seen so far in April 2022. He was around 4-5 weeks old, which means they would have been born in February.

They were living inside a playhouse in a backyard with their mother. The customer’s kids couldn’t use the playhouse since the raccoon had taken up residence.

We were able to document the removal of these babies.

You can watch the video on our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi1vwf762tY

This baby was discovered on March 29th 2022. He was living inside of a parapet drain with his mother and siblings.

We were able to document the removal of these babies.

You can watch the video on our YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW1DrSRHceY

This job was an interesting one! These baby raccoons were in an area that was not accessible from inside the attic which required us to cut through the roof to gain access to them. We were able to accurately find the exact spot the babies were, and cut a hole into the roof to gather the babies.

They were fast asleep when we found them!

These baby squirrels were living inside of 2nd floor wall with their mother. The homeowner had witnessed the mother moving her babies inside his house while on a work call one day.

We had the opportunity to film this job and posted it on YouTube.

Check out the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB3yQa-btDQ

This past Spring was busy for all of us at Gates Wildlife. Each year we are able to witness the beautiful creation of life firsthand. The maternal mothers and their babies that we interact with continue to teach us something new each year. We are honoured to work so closely with them and to document our adventures.