Author: Anya Witmer

The striped skunk is most commonly found in Pennsylvania and belongs to the mustelid family which also includes weasels, ferrets, martens, fishers, mink, otters, and badgers.

About Skunks

Adult skunks are about 2 feet long including their 7-10 inch tail. They can weigh between 3-12 lbs depending on age, sex, physical condition, and time of the year.

Moreover, males are about 15% heavier than female skunks. They have small heads with small eyes and ears, pointed noses, short legs, and wide rear ends. The claws of the skunk’s forefeet are long and sharp, well-adapted to digging. The striped skunk is most commonly found in Pennsylvania.

What do they do?

Skunks make a variety of sounds including hisses, growls, squeals, cooing, and churring. Skunks are placid and sluggish; they walk in a slow and clumsy gallop, and they can swim but are poor climbers. Their senses of sight, smell, and sound have been judged poor to fair.

Their defense mechanism is their potent scent that sprays from 2 large scent glands. Musk, or their spray, is an oily liquid that is highly repellent to all mammals. Their musk can spray up to 12 feet but is their last resort in the line of defense. They will drum their forefeet on the ground while growling, hissing, arching their back, and filling their tails.

Striped skunks are omnivores! In summer, they feed heavily on insects; grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and wasps. They also dig out bumblebee nests and scratch at the entrance of beehives, catching and eating honeybees that fly out. They often leave remnants of their feeding; small cone-shaped holes in the soil, pine needles, leaf duff, or suburban lawns mark where they’ve dug for grubs. They also eat spiders, toads, frogs, lizards, snakes, mice, chipmunks, turtle eggs, and ground-nesting birds. In fall and winter, skunks eat fruits such as wild grapes, cherries, moles, mice, voles, shrews, grasses, leaves, buds, mast, and carrion.

They are nocturnal animals, they hunt from dusk until dawn. They den in ground burrows, beneath buildings, stumps, wood, rock piles, and overhanging creek banks. Skunks will use abandoned woodchuck burrows. They like sloped spaces for dens, most likely because they drain well. Their breeding season runs from February to March.

Skunks do not hibernate although they might remain dormant underground all winter. Skunks like to live in a variety of habitats. They like mixed woods and brushland, rolling weedy fields, fencerows, wooded ravines, and rocky outcrops in or near agricultural areas. They use hayfields, pastures, fencerows, and brush borders of waterways. Corn fields are ideal feeding habitats.

What Damage Do They Cause?

Skunks are burrowers and diggers, using these skills to find any weak spots in your foundation and crawl spaces they can use to find an entrance to their new home. They can damage electrical wiring and plumbing. Due to skunks preferring to den together, there may be a family living in your home. They also like areas under sheds and decks.

How To Get Rid of Skunks

We offer skunk removal! We start all jobs with an interior and exterior inspection of the home so we can determine where the animals are entering and living. Physical removal is the best approach as we only use traps and methods approved by the PA Game Commission. We also offer exclusion services to prevent skunks from coming back.

We’re your licensed and insured skunk removal experts in Pennsylvania, give us a call or use our contact form if you believe you have skunks living near your home!

Foxes are very intelligent predators with sharp senses. They can hear a mouse squeal up to 150 feet away! They’re usually known for their nighttime barking in the winter and large bushy tails. Furthermore, males are referred to as “dog” foxes, and females are known as “vixens”. 

What do they look like?

There are two types of foxes found in Pennsylvania; the red and gray fox. Red foxes have a vibrant red coat and a thick bushy tail with a white tip. Gray foxes have a speckled coat and a black tail tip. Both types are typically 2 feet long, with gray foxes being slightly larger than red. 

What do they eat? 

They are carnivores and will essentially eat any game that’s easily obtained. This usually includes field mice, rats, rabbits, groundhogs, opossums, cats, chickens, squirrels, insects, gamebirds, bird eggs, fruits, and grasses. 

They will also scavenge for food including roadkill and winter kills. Additionally, foxes are frequent visitors to the wild game or free-range farm operations. 

What do they do?

Foxes are usually nocturnal animals aside from summertime when they hunt full-time to provide for their young. They’re usually found in open meadows, small woodlots, and around the edges of fences and neighborhoods. 

They make their den sites in abandoned groundhog holes, rock piles, under concrete slabs, sheds, and decks. The entry point for their den is about the size of a basketball and animal bones are usually found nearby. 

Although foxes prey on other animals, they should not be considered a threat as long as they look healthy and usually react to external stimuli like human activity. 

Typical signs of their presence include missing animals, fences, sheds, or decks dug under. 

What diseases do they carry? 

Foxes can be infected and carry rabies so if a fox is not reacting appropriately to human presence, they should be perceived as a threat. Additionally, foxes carry mange, a skin burrowing mite, lose their hair, and exhibit obsessive scratching. Mange can be passed onto other foxes as well as domestic dogs.

Fox Removal

Currently, we do not offer fox removal as one of our services but we may be able to recommend another animal technician that does! Give us a call or contact us for more information about a fox removal referral.

Checking for ticks is expected during the warmer months in Central PA. Many people know that pets like dogs and animals can carry ticks, but other nuisance animals can too! If these animals gain access to your home, they could also bring ticks inside.

Ticks in Pennsylvania

Ticks are often found in wooded or grassy areas, if your property has or is close to a wooded area your home may be more susceptible to animals with ticks.

Back-Legged Ticks and Lyme Disease

There are various types of ticks in Pennsylvania, but back-legged ticks are the most concerning. They can be infected with Lyme disease and pass it on to their hosts. This typically causes symptoms like fever, headache, fatigue, and a skin rash in adults. If diagnosed early, Lyme disease is treatable.

Back-legged ticks do not fly or jump, they crawl onto people and animals from the ground or low vegetation.

What nuisance animals carry ticks?

We do not offer pest control for ticks but do offer removal of animals that are potential hosts. Penn State offers great advice for reducing ticks around your home. However, we deal with many animals that can carry ticks.

Ticks live on a variety of animals including deer, rabbits, opossums, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice, and birds. Ticks can also be found on dogs and cats.

Opossums: The Special Exception

Opossums kill about 90% of ticks that try to attach to their bodies. Although they eat most of them, ticks can still attach to them. Luckily, opossums have great immune systems and can easily fight off Lyme disease!

Animals That Can Be Infected by Lyme

Raccoons, chipmunks, rats, mice, birds, and squirrels can all be infected by Lyme disease. Symptoms are rarely noticeable in these animals, so we always recommend that removal is handled by a wildlife professional.

If you believe your pet has contracted Lyme, noticeable symptoms include lameness, fatigue, fever, and loss of appetite. However, many cats do not show symptoms when infected.

Animals in your Home

Aside from the usual damage nuisance animals create, there’s a chance they could bring infected ticks into your home. Physical removal of the animal is our first priority, we can then assess how to seal the home from other animals entering in the future.

If you tend to a garden, you most likely aren’t a stranger to animals in gardens. You may be wondering, how is it possible to keep them from eating your food?

Depending on the animal, there are a few different methods you can try independently or can be employed by an animal removal technician.

Always identify what animals you’re dealing with first to utilize the best methods.

Prevention Methods for Animals in Gardens

Physical Removal

With animals that we can trap, we always recommend physical removal of the animal first and foremost. Once the animal is relocated, we implement a prevention method for other animals in the future. As gardens are very attractive to many animals, we highly recommend preventative measures in place. Once you have an issue with animals, it is likely they will return.

Chili Powder

There are two main categories dealing with animal invasions; above ground and below ground. Above ground, an easy defense mechanism is applying chili powder to your plant’s leaves and produce. Most animals will be deterred from returning. This process may need to be repeated depending on weather conditions but can serve as a temporary fix.

This can be effective for animals that love to climb over fences like squirrels, raccoons, or opossums. It is also a natural alternative to sprays or other repellents which are rather ineffective and can be harmful to plants. Just make sure to wash your foods well before consuming them to avoid the extra spice!

Fencing

Fences can be somewhat effective depending on the type of animal you have. For fencing, we recommend installing fences that extend below the surface of your garden. This prevents animals like groundhogs, moles, skunks, and rabbits from having access to your garden.

Groundhogs are primarily herbivores, and gardens are the perfect place for them to munch! They burrow underground, a telltale sign we see with groundhogs is multiple holes in your yard.

In addition to groundhogs, moles also spend a lot of their time underground. While they won’t directly eat your plants, their tunneling uproots plants and destroys root systems. A fence that is made up of a heavy gauge wire and extends below the ground would be the best solution for these two animals.

Visual Deterrent for Birds

While we’re unable to trap birds and fences do not offer protection from birds, visual deterrents that do not affect your plants can be effective. Sprays and other repellents are often ineffective when dealing with birds.

With almost any issue you’re having with animals in your garden, we can help. Give us a call or contact us for animals in gardens!