Category: Blogging

How to Keep Raccoons Away from Your Cottage

Posted on by Zoey Adams

Enjoying the wildlife is one of the greatest pleasures of living in a cottage. While all critters have their rightful place, not all of them are a welcome sight. Raccoons have the capability of making your cottage life a bit more challenging and sometimes even dangerous. If you are aware of the damage raccoons can cause then it’s no surprise you are trying to stay clear. We consulted a local company: raccoon removal by raccooncontrol.ca for some advice.

Dave from raccooncontrol.ca went in depth. Raccoons may look cute, but they are a nuisance in your property and worse if you live in a cottage. They will invade your space and steal treats from your garbage creating a mess. They will even cause damage looking for a cozy home for themselves.

Raccoons are truly mischievous critters of the woods, and if they decide to live in your cottage, it can be a nightmare trying to keep them away. Whether they have set camp in your attic, hiding under the cottage during winter or raiding your garbage cans, these pesky critters can be a real pain. Taking a few precautions will make your cottage a little less inviting.

Eliminate food sources

When you are not cooking or eating food, make sure you store the food in an airtight container that has a lid or seal. You also need to consider cups that have caps rather than having open cans, mugs or bottles. Raccoons have a great sense of smell; living leftovers out in the porch or your lawn will attract them from miles.  Practice safe cleaning habits to help keep them away.

Secure your garbage bins

Raccoons are notorious for getting into your garbage cans and tearing out your trash bags making a mess out your lawn. If you live in a cottage, you could invest in a lockable garbage bin or at least secure it with bungee cords. Raccoons are very smart and adaptable critters; over time they have learned how to operate human mechanisms.

Seal off entry points

Depending on whether your cottage has a perimeter fence or not, eliminating potential entry points is essential. If your cottage doesn’t have a wall, then you could start by clearing overhanging branches, sealing off cracks and holes in your eaves and soffits. It is also important that you don’t leave your doors and windows open.

Contact a professional

The best and most effective way to get rid of raccoons is contracting a professional wildlife removal expert. Removal technicians have years of experience. They will first investigate your cottage to determine why, where and how the raccoons got into your property. They will also make sure they remove the raccoons and prevent them from getting back into your property by exclusion.

Other methods

There are several other ways you can get rid of raccoons in your cottage. You could use products that repel, scare or even trap raccoons. However, it’s important to note that all these solutions have downfalls. If you are going to trap a raccoon make sure you have checked with your local authorities on acceptable methods. If you are unsure of what to do at this point, it’s advisable to contact your local wildlife removal service for professional assistance.

Dealing With Wasp Nests Safely

Posted on by Zoey Adams

Wasps in the summer months can quickly become a major nuisance. Wasps are a social insect, forming colonies containing anywhere from 5000 – 10000 wasps per season. The hibernating and fertilized queen will emerge around mid-April time (or sooner, depending on temperatures) and search for a suitable nesting site.

For best results, you will need to contact an exterminator to deal with the nest. You can call:

The nest starts of as a golf ball sized nest made from chewed bark, dried timber mixed with saliva, within this starter nest she lays between 10 and 20 eggs, the first brood of adult workers (sterile females) will take over the development of the nest and providing food for the next lot of eggs being laid by the queen. At the start of the season, wasp poses little or no threat (this can be a different matter if the nest is interfered with) and it is only towards the end of the wasp season that they become a nuisance towards humans that is why important to call wasp control services to deal with this problem.

During the latter part of the summer, the queen will mate and then leave the nest site to find a suitable over-wintering location. The remaining workers and few remaining males become sluggish, and their feeding on over-ripe fruit will produce a “tipsy” behaviour, leading towards aggression towards anyone interfering with them. The on-coming winter will kill off the workers and the remaining males, with only the fertilized queens surviving by hibernating. During this nuisance time, the wasps will be bothering the general public in places like pub gardens and parks etc., they tend to feed off the sweeter food such as children’s lolly-pops, soft drinks alcoholic drinks, and pretty much anything containing sugar.

Obviously, the nest can be treated, but this could mean the area being out of bounds for up to 24 hours, this could in turn lead to loss of business and loss of profits. However other methods for dealing with wasps are available. New wasp treatment systems such as the wasp bane are easily available to obtain from online pest control websites or from your local hardware store.

The was bane is a wasp trap, the wasps are attracted and lured into the trap with specially developed attractants, the wasps enter the chamber of the trap to get to the attractant, once the wasps have entered the trap they cannot escape. The trap can be placed at the bottom of the beer garden, around parks, or hanging from trees. In a recent study at a well-known theme park, it was recorded that after installing the wasp bane trap in various locations around the park, reports of wasp sting went down as much as 95% in 1 year.