• A Red Squirrel’s gestation period is 36 to 40 days long. One litter can vary from 1 to 8 young.
• Baby squirrels are called pinkies because they are hairless and their skin is pink in colour when born. 
• They are deaf and blind when born. Baby Red Squirrel’s eyes typically don’t open until 27 days of age.
• At one to two weeks their skin will begin to gain colouration as their fur starts to come in. 
• Red Squirrels aren’t always a full red colour, they can have a grey-brown or a rusty red colour to them.
• Red Squirrel’s tails measure only about 10cm.
• Red Squirrels don’t hibernate throughout the winter.
• Although significantly smaller in size, Red Squirrels, in my opinion, are much more destructive than Raccoons or Grey Squirrels.
• Red Squirrels store an abundance of pine cones and black walnuts in the attic. This means they can stay inside the attic for prolonged periods of time during the colder months without ever leaving.
• Red Squirrels love to burrow into the insulation where all your electrical wires are normally hidden to raccoons and the larger Grey Squirrels.
• By tunnelling into the insulation, they create holes, causing easy passage for the buildings heat to escape through the insulation. This would result higher electrical bills for heat in the winter and for air conditioning in the summer.

Imagine You Are A Raccoon: Week 4

A weekly series by Brad Gates, B.Sc. Stay tuned each Wednesday for the continuation of this story!

October has now arrived and your two den sites are firmly established. Your focus shifts to finding enough food to increase the protective layer of fat which you will need to survive the winter. With most of the summer food already harvested, your diet must change. You become more dependent on your acute sense of touch to locate nourishment. A fair amount of time foraging is spent on neighbourhood lawns. You use your paws to press the grass against the ground until you feel the slightest movement within the soil. When movement is detected you begin to easily turn the grass upside down, since the roots of the grass have been chewed off by the food you are after.

One by one you pick up the “C” shaped grub known as the June Bug larvae. These ever so tasty morsels provide you with an excellent source of protein. You will of course never understand that your search for grubs and the resulting “rotor tiller” like damage to well manicured lawns is most upsetting for the property owner. On the other hand, the property owner will never appreciate the fact that your activities are merely pointing out that unless the grub infestation is dealt with, the grass would die regardless.

Gates Wildlife Technician Blake was performing a routine check of a customers attic when he came across this rather large, dormant Paper Wasp Nest. Paper Wasps will build their nests in meadows or fields but prefer to nest under an overhang such as the eaves of a roof. These wasps must have found an entry into the attic and preferred to be more protected from the elements. 

Paper Wasps gather fibres from dead wood and plant stems, which they mix with saliva and use to construct water-resistant nests made of grey or brown papery material. Their nests generally do not cause any structural damage to buildings. 

It is best to leave these wasps alone if they are present in an area where they will not come in contact with people. Paper wasps do not present a danger unless the nest is disturbed, but if provoked they are aggressive and will defend their nest. The best time to remove a Paper Wasp Nest is during the winter because these wasps will not return to the same nesting site the following year and leave the nest after the first frost of the year.

One benefit to having a Paper Wasp Nest near your home presents itself if you have a garden nearby. They are predators of residential and agricultural pests, making them especially valuable near vegetable gardens, where they provide natural and free control of herbivorous caterpillars.

Unfortunately Gates Wildlife does not deal with wasps or any other insects.

Interesting Facts About Raccoons

• Male raccoons are polygamous and will mate with several females in succession. In contrast, female raccoons are monogamous and will only mate with one male and will not tolerate other males after mating has occurred.
• The gestation period of a raccoon is approximately 62 days.
• Female raccoons will typically give birth to 1 to 7 offspring. Although 4 to 5 is more common we have seen up to 11 babies in one litter before. 
• The eyes of a baby raccoon typically open at 21 days of age. 
• Once baby raccoons are around 6 weeks, they will start exploring inside the attic. Although it is not their intent to be destructive, it is a fact that these animals cause damage that often goes undetected. With all their curiosity and activity, they pack down the insulation and chew on any drywall, wood or wiring that they can get their teeth on.
• Being nocturnal, noises are most frequently heard at night but raccoons can also be active in the attic during the day, especially in the spring when the babies are born. 
• Weighing between 5 to 26 kg (11 to 57 lb.) they can make quite a bit of noise. It is common to hear heavy walking and thumping in the attic.
• For the first three weeks, the eyes and ears of a baby raccoon remains closed and when they are bothered or hungry they vocalize. The mother raccoon often has her babies in the attic above the master bedroom as it is the quietest place in the house during the day.

COUNTDOWN TO BABY SEASON: Crying Sounds Coming From The Attic - Soon!

Once baby raccoons are born, there will be a lot of chittering noise emanating from the attic. A lot of our customers describe the noise of a crying baby raccoon as sounding like multiple birds chirping at one time. They make a high-pitch chirping noise when they feel bothered or are hungry. While the crying noise will occur primarily at night when the mother raccoon goes out for food, it can also occur throughout the day. Surprisingly the mother will place her babies above the master bedroom,  keeping you awake and worrying about the damage.

Female raccoons will typically give birth to 1 to 7 offspring. Although 4 to 5 is more common,  we have seen 11 babies in one litter before.

Call our office if you suspect any wildlife activity at your home at (416) 750-9453 for a FREE no obligation on-site estimate!

There’s No Use Crying Over Spilt Paint….Or Is There?

A can of white paint was stored at the side of the house with the lid not being firmly attached. Curiosity got the better of passing raccoons. Using their nibble fingers, they  managed to remove the lid and of course decided to dip their paws in the paint!

Which way did they end up going? We will never know!

Imagine You Are A Raccoon: Week 3

A weekly series by Brad Gates, B.Sc. Stay tuned each Wednesday for the continuation of this story!

The very next day you instinctively look for a secondary home as a place to escape to, should the attic den site ever become unsafe. Luckily, after a few more nights of searching you come across an uncapped chimney on a building nearby. Clambering down the sooty inside of the chimney reminds you of the hollow tree den site you once occupied in the forest. Moving to this concrete jungle has served you well, especially when you consider the existence of many potential den sites and the availability of food during most of the year. 

As in some of the chimneys you have previously explored, you discover the dried out carcass of a squirrel on top of the fireplace damper. You are not sure how this happens, but if the truth be told, squirrels mistakenly jump into uncapped chimneys in search of nesting sites. Once they fall to the bottom, shear panic sets in as numerous attempts to climb up the smooth chimney walls fail. If their efforts to escape go undetected by the occupants of the building, the squirrels will starve to death within 4 to 6 days.

Bats must find a winter roost where they can maintain a body temperature at a few degrees above freezing. Choosing the perfect location to hibernate can be critical for their survival. If the roost temperature goes below zero they will freeze to death. And if temperatures get too warm they will use up their fat reserves too quickly and starve to death.

In order for the bats to stay in the hibernating state, called Torpor, they need to maintain their body temperature at approximately 3 degrees Celsius. When it gets too warm or too cold outside, they tend to move within the walls of the house to find a location that is 3 degrees Celsius. Due to the cold snap we had in Toronto last week, bats were on the move. This bat wasn't able to stay in its hibernating state and ended up finding its way into the living space of the home.

Finding a bat inside your house is typically a sign that there is a colony of bats living inside the attic. Sometimes when bats try to venture through the entry hole to the outside, they loose their footing and loose their way. While searching for a way out they occasionally end up in an unfinished part of the basement. 

Please note: If a bat is found inside a house during the winter months do not release it outside, it will not survive. Call a local wildlife rehabilitator and they will care for it until the spring. Saving the life of every single bat is critical as their numbers are rapidly declining. In fact, the little brown bat is now on Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry's Endangered List.

By Brad Gates, B.Sc.

Brad Gates is the owner and president of AAA Gates Wildlife Control. He has over 35 years experience in the humane wildlife removal and prevention industry.

COUNTDOWN TO BABY SEASON: “Is Having Squirrels Living In Your Attic So Bad?”

Over the years I have had plenty of customers relieved to hear that they have squirrels, rather than raccoons, in the attic. It makes sense why they feel having a smaller critter in the attic would mean less damage, right?

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Squirrels can be every bit as destructive, if not more destructive than raccoons. Squirrels are rodents and are habitual chewers, meaning that their front teeth are always growing and they must continuously chew on anything and everything to grind those teeth down. I have seen extensive damage to attic spaces over the years, including damage to insulation, electrical wires, drywall and even to the wood structure of the home.

In my opinion, the most destructive animal to have inside your home is the small Red Squirrel. The reason is Red Squirrels love to burrow into the insulation where all your electrical wires are normally hidden to raccoons and the larger Grey Squirrels. By tunnelling into the insulation, they create holes, causing easy passage for the buildings heat to escape through the insulation. This would result higher electrical bills for heat in the winter and for air conditioning in the summer. 

Another reason for the increase in damage caused by Red Squirrels is because they store an abundance of pine cones and black walnuts in the attic. This means they can stay inside the attic for prolonged periods of time during the colder months without ever leaving. We have had customers open walls during a renovation and have thousands of pine cones pour onto the floor. With no reason to leave the attic they are spending 10 times more time in the attic than a typical Grey squirrel would. More time to cause damage.

It is very important to deal with a wildlife intrusion quickly to prevent them from doing further damage to your home. It is also less expensive to remove wildlife before the babies are born. 

Call Gates Wildlife today 1.877.750.9453 to receive your no obligation, on-site free estimate.

This is very unusual and unsafe for a contractor to vent a 2nd floor dryer vertically through the attic to a roof vent. We see dryer vents from time to time that have this amount of lint build up. It is more typical for a dryer, at any level of the house, to be vented horizontally out the exterior wall. There is less resistance for air and un-filtered lint to find its way out of the vent pipe when the dryer is vented horizontally.

The dryer is designed to exhaust the heat and moisture while the dryer is drying. If the heat and moisture cannot get out of the dryer then it has to work harder and heat builds up in the dryer and vent which can lead to a fire. Statistics show that clogged dryer vents are the number one cause of house fires.

The first sign that you might have a clog is when your dryer stops drying your clothes in one cycle. Another sign is if the clothes seem unusually hot to the touch after a drying cycle or if excessive heat is noticed in the room where the dryer is located.

Be sure to have your dryer vent inspected often and if required, have the lint cleaned out. It is also important to remove the lint from the dryer filter after each laundry load to prevent build up in the vent pipe.

Scratching! Chewing! Banging! Thumping! Chattering!

Regardless of the type of noise, you have animals in your attic. The first thought most homeowners have is to try and determine what animal is causing the noise. Is it possible to determine what kind of critter is living in your attic based on the type of noise they make? For the most part, yes.

The time of day you hear the noise and the combination of the different types of noises they make will provide some clues.

Raccoons: Being nocturnal, noises are most frequently heard at night but raccoons can also be active in the attic during the day, especially in the spring when the babies are born. Weighing between 5 to 26 kg (11 to 57 lb.) they can make quite a bit of noise. It is common to hear heavy walking and thumping. Homeowners have described the sounds to be similar to the moving of furniture. Very distinctive is the loud chattering noise the baby raccoons make. For the first three weeks their eyes and ears remain closed and when they are bothered or hungry they vocalize. The mother raccoon often has her babies above the master bedroom as it is the quietest place in the house during the day.

Squirrels: Being diurnal, mostly daytime noise is heard especially at dawn and dusk. But don’t rule out noises during mid day and nighttime as not being squirrels. They move quickly so quick scampering across the ceiling will be heard. A squirrels front teeth are constantly growing therefore it is common to hear them chewing on wood, drywall and wires. From outside the home running sounds in the soffits can be heard. Baby squirrels usually do not vocalize unless they are in distress. Therefore it is not possible to determine if you have squirrels by listening for the sounds the babies make. Hearing multiple animals quickly moving in the attic would mean that the babies have now grown-up and are now moving about in the attic. At this point they need to be removed immediately because the amount of damage caused to the house at this stage of their life is exponential.

Mice: Being nocturnal, nighttime noises are heard, caused by the chewing of mice. Mouse noises are almost always quite localized, homeowners will point at the ceiling and say “I hear it there.” This is the main difference between the noise caused by mice compared to that from raccoons and squirrels.  Because they are so light weight they cannot be heard moving on top of the insulation in the attic. They tend to nest beneath the insulation, directly on the drywall and being rodents they constantly chew on their surroundings. In the dead of night the chewing sounds caused by mice can be perceived as the noise caused by raccoons and squirrel.

It is important to keep in mind that the acoustics of your home, the thickness of walls, presence or lack of insulation can have more of a bearing on the volume of noise than the size of the animal. We often get called out to remove what the homeowner thinks is a raccoon when it turns out to be mouse activity. 

Regardless of what animal is living in your attic it is never a good idea to let them live there. While it is not their intent to cause damage the fact is, they do. They can chew on your wires, defecate in your attic, destroy your insulation, create odours, carry diseases and cause water damage and allergies. I love all animals and would never use fear tactics as a means of convincing someone to remove animals. But after 35 years of witnessing all that they are capable of doing, I feel strongly that they have no place in our homes.

By Brad Gates, B.Sc.

Brad Gates is the owner and president of AAA Gates Wildlife Control. He has over 35 years experience in the humane wildlife removal and prevention industry.

Imagine You Are A Raccoon: Week 2 

A weekly series by Brad Gates, B.Sc. Stay tuned each Wednesday for the continuation of this story!

Undaunted by the perils of urban life you continue to search for a place you can call home. Standing on a roof you can smell the warm attic air escaping from a plastic roof vent. You grasp the lid of a vent with your front paw and with some force you pull it off. Using your claws you make a large enough hole in the light weight screen under the lid to climb through. Nervously you proceed to climb down the attic joists.

All senses are on full alert as you attempt to detect the menacing presence of another raccoon or a human. Stepping down on the fibreglass insulated attic floor you began to investigate every nook and cranny. Suddenly, you repeatedly hear and feel dull thuds from beneath your feet. Quietly you walk away dismissing the noises as being a non-threatening one. By the time daylight arrives you are sure that no other raccoon had claimed this attic. After clearing the attic fibreglass insulation from the drywall floor of the attic you can, at last, settle down and fall asleep in a corner.

Before wildlife inhabit an attic, most electrical wires are buried under the insulation. This is because during the construction phase of a home, the electrical wiring in the ceiling is installed prior to the home being insulated. Once the animals have managed to make their way into the attic, their movement on top of the insulation packs it down, revealing the wiring.

Once baby raccoons are around 6 weeks, they will start exploring inside the attic. Although it is not their intent to be destructive, it is a fact that these animals cause damage that often goes undetected. With all their curiosity and activity, they pack down the insulation and chew on any drywall, wood or wiring that they can get their teeth on.

Rodents such as squirrels are habitual chewers, which means their teeth are constantly growing, therefore they must chew to grind down their teeth. When inside your attic, they will chew on almost anything they can get access to including your wires.

I always tell my customers that a first sign that they might have an electrical issue from the wildlife is that a light switch will stop functioning.

It is less expensive to remove wildlife before the babies are born. Call now 1.877.750.9453 to receive your no obligation, free estimate!

By Brad Gates, B.Sc.

Brad Gates is the owner and president of AAA Gates Wildlife Control. He has over 35 years experience in the humane wildlife removal and prevention industry.

Countdown To Baby Season: “How do I know if a skunk is going to spray?”

The first instinct for most people when they see a skunk is to shriek and immediately head in the opposite direction. Skunks are typically harmless and have acquired a bad reputation due to their obnoxious spray.

When will a skunk spray? Well the answer is quite simple, they spray when they feel threatened and they are nearsighted so any movement within 10 feet of them can entice them to spray. Skunks typically give a pretty clear warning sign that they are going to let their stink loose. Unfortunately if you aren’t aware of these signs, you may not react in time to get out of their spraying range.

Skunks will start to stomp their front feet as a warning sign, turn their rear end towards their target and lift their tail. Skunks can accurately spray up to 10 feet, so if any of these warning signs are displayed you should slowly back away.

Skunks are able to defend themselves with their spray starting at a very young age. Around 8 days of age these babies would be able to emit musk, which would just come out as a dribble. By 3 months of age these skunks would be developed enough, both physically and mentally, to start using their spray as an accurate defence mechanism. 

Adult skunks give birth every year and often give birth to 1-10 ten babies at a time. Baby skunks are born with their eyes closed, which will open around 3 weeks of age.

By Brad Gates, B.Sc.

Brad Gates is the owner and president of AAA Gates Wildlife Control. He has over 35 years experience in the humane wildlife removal and prevention industry.

The first step in learning to live with wildlife is to understand that animals are instinctively driven to satisfy the four basics of life; territory, shelter, food and water.  Unfortunately, in pursuing these necessities they are interfering with our way of life by causing, structural damage, health concerns, noises, odours and anxiety.

To maintain a positive relationship with our urban wildlife we need to appropriately control their access to shelter and food opportunities within our communities. Even when animals already occupy a den site, they are constantly creating entry holes in other roofs as backup nesting areas. To reduce conflicts a property and building inspection should be conducted to identify what wildlife attractions exist and what prevention measures should be implemented. 

Effective Community Organized Wildlife Management (COWM) has to address the following:

• Is food easily accessible?

When wildlife is drawn to continuously available food sources, there are noticeable repercussions to contend with. Increasing numbers of wildlife will migrate into the immediate area to live off the available food.  Wanting to stay in close proximity to food they look to establish den sites nearby. With an increase in animal populations in the immediate area, more intrusions into buildings can be expected.

Occupants should be advised not to feed wildlife since it attracts raccoons, squirrels, skunks, birds, rats and mice. Of even greater concern are the documented cases where the feeding of one species has attracted another species, such as coyotes. Not to be neglected, green bins, garbage cans and dumpsters containing food refuse must be locked shut or kept indoors until the morning of garbage pickup.

• Will trees or vines allow animals to climb onto the roof?

When surveying buildings and their immediate surroundings we need to think like an animal. Raccoons and squirrels will use their remarkable climbing capabilities to scale trees or vines in an attempt to investigate a roof for potential entry points. To prevent these animals from gaining easy access to the roof, all tree limbs should be cut back 3 meters from the roof edge. While raccoons cannot jump, squirrels are acrobats and are able to leap a horizontal distance of approximately 2 meters. As to vines, they need to be trimmed to 1.5 meters below the overhang. Implementing this approach will eliminate the most common access. Occasionally, determined animals may use the more difficult route of climbing up outside walls and downspouts to get onto the roof.

• Can animals get underneath porches, decks and sheds? 

Skunks, incapable of climbing, dig under structures that sit directly on the ground.  While raccoons prefer to live in attics from the fall to early summer, they may move to ground level structures when the attic spaces over heat. 

To prevent wildlife from getting under a structure requires digging a trench around the entire perimeter, fastening galvanized screen in an “L” shape configuration and then back-filling the trench.  

• Are the stove and bathroom exhaust vents protected?

Mostly birds and the occasional squirrel will use wall vents as ready-made nesting boxes. The existing plastic vent cover presents no obstacle whatsoever against animals seeking entry. Once inside the vent pipe starlings will construct large nests, sometimes 1 meter in length, often blocking the air flow. With up to 6 fledglings defecating in this confined space, breeding insects and obnoxious odours are a most undesirable consequence.  An easy solution to prevent these intrusions is to fasten galvanized screen on top of the plastic vent cover. The screen installation must, however, not interfere with the normal functioning of the vent flaps. Warning: Dryer vents should not be screened, as this would cause the accumulation of lint against the screen and inside the pipe, thus presenting a fire hazard.

• How often are roof-tops inspected?

In our Canadian climate roofs are exposed to a wide variety of weather conditions. Strong winds, freezing and hot temperatures, heavy rain and snow all take their toll. Furthermore, animals looking for den sites will break off shingles resulting in exposing roof boards to the elements. Conducting a minimum of two inspections per year will reveal areas where the roof repair is needed, thereby avoiding water damage and potential mold. Wildlife has the innate ability to locate and exploit areas where damage went undetected and water has caused the rotting of roof and fascia boards. In this context, eavestroughs need to be cleaned before winter sets in to assure unimpeded water flow away from the building. Twenty percent of all wildlife entry holes are created where water from clogged eavestroughs has caused the fascia board and overhang to deteriorate. 

• Are roof vents, plumbing mats and chimneys animal-proof?

These structural components were strictly developed from a functional perspective. Even today, animal prevention is not a vital part of their design. Therefore, to make them animal-proof they need to be reinforced with galvanized screen covers. The pressing need to secure these components cannot be over emphasized since nearly sixty percent of all animals identify them as an easy point of entry.

Checklist for effective Community Organized Wildlife Management (COWM):

• Make food waste inaccessible. 
•  Refrain from feeding. 
• Cut back trees and vines that provide roof access.
• Inspect roofs often and repair weather or animal related damage. 
• Consider wildlife-proofing measures for porches, decks, sheds, exhaust vents, roof vents, plumbing mats and chimneys.
• Hire a professional humane wildlife removal company to solve existing wildlife intrusions and to implement wildlife-proofing measures. Contract experienced wildlife technicians to ensure the survival of the animals, especially during the baby season.