While you and your family are tucked away warm in your house during the winter, life goes on for wildlife in your area. For many, things become a bit slower as animals burrow in for the cold nights. For others, it’s important to hunt more actively than in summer, because prey can be harder to find. Your home could unexpectedly become an attraction both for those who seek a place to burrow, and those who are looking for a winter feast either from items on your property or the smaller creatures who are living there.
If They’re Welcome in the Winter, They’ll Remember It in the Summer
To avoid putting out a predator welcome mat that remains in warmer weather, you need a strategy. You’ll protect your pets and avoid danger to visiting birds. In the winter when their natural food supply is scarce, predators may encroach on your property due to hunger. They’ll be more persistent than in the summer, and they’ll remember their success as the seasons change. They’re also less likely to stay away because of human activity since you and your family are warm inside. Many wild animals are smarter than we humans give them credit for, and they know the spots to return to over and over for an easy meal, even as the seasons change.
Outdoor Food and Trash Storage is a Bonus for Prowling Predators
If you have bird feeders or grain storage outside, you’ve got another attraction for wildlife and predatory birds. Many people find that storing bags of grain or birdseed on their porch or in their garage eventually leads to adventurous creatures finding their way to this ready-made food source. It may begin with mice or rats, but since those are tasty morsels for larger animals and birds, eventually the whole neighborhood will get the message. It’s important to provide a way for the grain to get some air, but keep it out of reach. The same goes for your trash cans and outdoor pet food as well. Often, a well-secured storage shed will do the trick. However, no shed is impenetrable when faced with a desperate, hungry, and strong animal.
Making a Mess as They Explore Their New Home
One of the ways that you can gather information about your nocturnal visitors is by the mess they leave, both scat and torn-up garbage and packaging. Keeping some photos and notes about each incident can help you get strategic advice about deterring their nightly visits. If you struggle with determining the type of scat you find, your local wildlife center will probably be glad to take a look.
Prevent Increased Wildlife Interactions in Your Yard
You’ll become aware as winter creatures visit your yard because their increasing boldness due to hunger and the feeling of safety in your yard will make them less skittish. If you do venture outside at night, you may start to see them scampering away, hear them tipping over trash cans, or see their glowing eyes in the distance reflecting your porch lights. You or your pets might accidentally corner them at some point, so be careful to keep an eye out to avoid creating dangerous situations inadvertently. Be especially careful about letting pets out loose, as cats can be vulnerable to some larger predators and dogs tend to investigate fearlessly with spraying or quills in the snout as rewards.
Skunks Under Your House or Porch Can Multiply in the Spring
Your home provides many accessible spaces that are warm enough to make attractive dens for wildlife through the winter. This may seem like a minor inconvenience until the spring comes. Then you’ll realize that you’re dealing with a mother skunk and her babies, or another species of small mammals. She’ll be protective and there will be at least a few of them, and they’ll call your home theirs as well. At that point, there may be damage to your structure from them clawing their way further in, and even expensive professional visits to extract them if they find a nice spot unreachable by humans.
Cleaning Up and Presenting Deterrents Can Help Keep Your Home Off Their List
One of the best ways to keep wildlife from visiting, nesting, and possibly causing conflict in your yard is to make your yard uninteresting to them. Clean up, close up access holes, and they’ll keep on looking elsewhere.
Nite Guard Solar Deters Predators and Unwelcome Visitors Year-Round
Nite Guard Solar lights are a simple yet effective – not to mention economical – solution to keeping your house free of unwanted guests in the wintertime. Lurking in your bushes, your tall grass, or at the edge of the crawlspace under your home, Nite Guard Solar recharges its batteries by day and presents evidence of waiting predators to animals and birds exploring your yard at night. As a pair of sparkling red eyes, reflecting light in the night, Nite Guard sends the one message that they don’t want to deal with — someone’s already moved in and is waiting for prey like them to drop by for dinner. Criminals often take the lights to indicate a security system as well.
From owls spotting the danger from afar to wildlife such as skunks and raccoons becoming alarmed, Nite Guard presents a warning, not just an obstacle to overcome. Even coyotes know that there’s an easier way to find a meal than tangle with another predator in the confines of your yard. No matter how bad the winter is, weatherproof Nite Guard lights stay on duty.
Try Nite Guard or Give Us a Call for Expert Strategic Help
Our phone personnel are experts at identifying wildlife that may be visiting your home, ranch, or farm by reviewing habits, scat, and other evidence. They’ll help you design an effective strategy that takes wildlife behavior into account. You can use our website to order Nite Guard units and give them a try right now. You’ll be back for more as you see how effective they are.