11 Ways to Keep Wildlife Out of Your House

No one wants a noisy, messy roommate. But sometimes, you don’t have much say in the matter — particularly if that roommate is a wild one that moved in without permission. While we recognize property lines and home ownership, your neighborhood wildlife doesn’t respect such boundaries. If your house is in their territory, it’s fair game to become their home as well.

It’s understandable that people don’t want wildlife living in their house, for a variety of reasons. You may not like their decorating scheme: The raccoon in your attic may prefer your drywall to have a chewed-on look. Perhaps the smell of urine from the squirrel living in your eaves isn’t what you want permeating through your house. Or maybe you’re concerned about the possible spread of disease from the bats roosting in your loft. Whatever the reason, it is undeniably better that wild animals live where they belong: in the wild. To deter them from moving in, here are 11 ways to keep wildlife out of your house.

1. Don’t Feed Domestic Animals Outdoors

The first step in keeping wildlife out of your house is not attracting them to your property in the first place. Animals such as raccoons, opossums, skunks, and more are drawn to the smell of food. Fragrant cat or dog food is particularly appealing to these wild creatures. While it can be tempting to feed feral cats, putting food out is going to attract a wide variety of animals — not just felines.

Proximity to food sources is a big consideration when wild animals look for a place to den. If there is easy access to food, they’ll want to stick close to it. And the closest place to stay is somewhere in your yard, garage, or home. If you don’t draw animals to your yard, they won’t be able to inspect the potential real estate.

2. Secure Your Trash

One person’s trash is one wild animal’s treasure! Many animals love the free meals that trash cans provide. Unsecured or easy-to-access trash is irresistible to hungry raccoons, opossums, skunks, coyotes, and bears. While it’s unlikely a bear will move into your guest room, it may settle in for the winter under a deck or porch, as one Connecticut family discovered. Securing trash can lids with bungee cords and bear-proofing garbage cans will deter animals from getting into the trash, removing the easy food source and giving them no reason to loiter.

3. Take Down Bird Feeders

Taking down bird feeders removes another potential food source. In addition to raccoons, skunks, and raccoons, animals like squirrels, rats, mice, and even bears are all attracted to an easy backyard meal. If you are going to feed the birds, take feeders down at night and ensure the area around the feeders stays clean. If you set up a free buffet, you’re essentially putting a “vacancy” sign on your house for neighborhood wildlife.

4. Keep Your Yard Clean

Many animals are drawn to overgrown or cluttered areas that provide opportunities for cover. Rats, skunks, and mice make homes in woodpiles or in piles of yard debris. Raccoons, skunks, opossums, and woodchucks love to den under unsecured decks. Birds nest in overgrown hedges or clogged drain spouts.

While it might seem like these options would provide a distraction for animals who may want to nest or den inside your house, providing any favorable housing options works against you. Once animals find a comfortable habitat in your yard, it’s then a logical jump for them to upgrade to even better digs inside. It’s better to discourage animals from checking out your property in the first place.

5. Eliminate Points of Entry for Wildlife

The most crucial step to prevent animals from moving into your home is to not provide them a way to enter. Common entry points for wildlife include gaps in roof eaves, holes in soffit or siding, rotting wood, and poorly secured or uncapped vents. Birds, bats, mice, and rats can fit through tiny holes as small as a dime, so even a small hole could be an open door. Squirrels and raccoons can adeptly widen small holes by chewing so that they can fit through.

It’s a good idea to inspect your property early every spring before animals start making dens and nests in preparation for baby season. Ask gutter cleaners or roofers to look for any holes, rotting wood, or damaged siding near your roof line. Ensure that vents are capped or have mesh firmly attached across the opening. Keep an eye on your home, and take note if there are any birds or other animals returning to the same spots repeatedly.

6. Cap Your Chimney

Chimneys are another common point of entry for wildlife. Birds, bats, squirrels, and raccoons will all make nests in chimneys. Some birds, such as the aptly named chimney swift, actually prefer to nest in chimneys. Make sure that chimney caps are tightly secured to prevent animals from coming down the chimney. Not only can it be messy and noisy to have animals nest in your chimney, but it can also become an even bigger hassle if an animal gets stuck or dies.

7. Don’t Make Meals Easy for Wildlife

Just like you don’t want to leave food outside for wildlife, you don’t want to leave it easily accessible inside. Mice, rats, and squirrels easily chew through cardboard and paper packaging if they can smell the food inside. Keep food packages sealed to avoid attracting animals, or put opened food inside plastic containers. Ensure that kitchens, pantries, and storerooms are kept clean, which can help keep wildlife out of your house.

8. Watch for Signs of Visitors

Wildlife is resourceful and can sneak into your home without you realizing it. Even if you’ve thoroughly inspected your home, continue to be vigilant. Look for bat guano or bird droppings on the side of your home, as this could indicate a point of entry, or that animals are nesting under your siding.

Inside the house, inspect the corners of your attic for droppings, as some animals like raccoons and squirrels are latrine animals. This means they will defecate in one area instead of spreading it around like mice or rats. Keep an eye out in attics, basements, and garages for disturbed insulation or shredded cardboard, fabric, or paper, which could indicate an animal is making a nest.

9. Make Your House Inhospitable to Wildlife

Outdoor motion-activated floodlights around your house and garage can startle animals in your yard, discouraging them from staying. But this isn’t the only benefit of lights. If an animal does make a den or nest inside or outside your home, light is a great way to push them to leave. Animals like secluded, safe, dark, and quiet dens, so a light-filled or noisy area is the last thing they want. Keep nesting areas well-lit and turn on loud music nearby to make these areas inhospitable to wildlife.

10. Evict Wildlife (Humanely) If It Does Move In

While it may be tempting to call an exterminator, there are more humane ways to evict unwanted wild neighbors. Identify the point of entry and keep an eye on it, either visually or by setting up a motion-activated camera or trail cam outside. This allows you to establish when the animal is most likely to leave the den.

Once the adult has exited, cover the point of entry so that they cannot reenter. For raccoons or squirrels, if there are young animals inside after you cut off the adult’s entrance, carefully place them in a box and put the box outside of your house near the point of entry. The mother raccoon or squirrel will come and relocate their babies to another den site.

If there are baby birds, move the entire nest outside to a tree within earshot of the entrance, and the parents will hear them and return to care for them in the new location. If the nest is damaged or in a place where it cannot be removed in one piece, make an artificial nest to replicate the original. Take a plastic container and punch holes in the bottom to allow water to drain. Put dry leaves or straw in the bottom of the container, and tie or tack it to the nearest tree. The parents will treat the artificial nest the same as a natural one.

If the intruders are bats, install a one-way bat exclusion device over the opening. These devices allow bats to leave but prevent them from reentering. However, be sure to check with local regulations before kicking bats out: In many places, bats are protected and it is illegal to move or evict bats during certain months of the year. This includes winter when they are hibernating, and summer when they are raising babies.

11. Take Initiative Now

To keep wildlife out of your house, you should be proactive. It’s much easier to prevent animals from entering than it is to convince them to leave, particularly during baby season. Don’t delay on necessary repairs or put off securing vents or chimneys. Making these fixes will be less time-consuming and expensive than evicting animals and repairing the damage they may have caused during their tenure in your home.