Is There Still an Animal Using That Hole?
There is an opening of some shape or form that you believe may be allowing raccoons or squirrels or some other nuisance animal into your attic or other part of the house.
How can you be sure it’s an active entrance- that animals are currently coming in or out?
Today’s post presents a quick, cheap, and easy Do-It-Yourself tip to monitor a suspected entry point for a nuisance animal.
While we often employ the use of cameras to give us definitive knowledge of animal activities in suspect areas, we often use this low tech “trick of the trade” to guide our course of action too.
Hole Monitoring Trick of the Trade: Newspaper and Tape
By simply creating a block of newspaper and tape we can easily see if something has gone in or out since this soft block was installed.
In the case presented in the video, Ryan used this method because he had caught one raccoon on the porch roof right outside the hole. Catching one raccoon begs the question: are there more animals?
This is an important question because:
- we don’t want to make a repair and seal an animal inside-that only leads to more problems!
- an animal that uses that space could have been out of the space when the tape block was put in place but intends to return
After a day of monitoring, the tape was not moved indicating no other animals had gone in or out. But, you’ll notice another raccoon was trapped before monitoring was concluded. The trap cut off the raccoon before it came to the hole, or the paper surely would have been moved. If there is no activity for a reasonable amount of time, it prudent to make the repair to keep them out.
As Ryan noted in the video, the tape can catch hairs and help make the determination if squirrels or raccoons are entering.
How the entry through the paper and tape was made can also help differentiate between species as 1) raccoons going through will tear and pull and make a bigger opening while 2) squirrels will probably leave most of the block in place making a more delicate hole in a corner. These aren’t hard and fast rules, but they are often helpful clues.
Akron, Canton, Kent OH | Raccoon Control and Removal
For more on raccoons, raccoon removal, and raccoon repair:
And if you are in our area and feel you have squirrels or raccoons or bats in the attic and need some professional help, give us a call.
For more helpful nuisance animal related video content, please click on over to our YouTube page and view some of our other videos that could be of help to you.
