Q. It seems we have a family of starlings nesting in the roof soffits on our house. My husband was able to find the hole where they are entering. Can we just seal that up to keep them out or will they peck it open again?
VIEW MOREQ. An opossum got into the void space above the living room ceiling of our 200-year old home. A trapper we contacted got the mom and two babies out but didn’t know, or didn’t tell us, that there were more babies. The babies died, and then we had to put up with the horrible odor and blow flies. That’s mostly done with, but now we have fleas biting us. We can’t seem to get rid of them although I think we’re making a dent. We don’t have any pets so we figure the fleas came from the possums. Is that possible?
VIEW MOREQ. Our front sidewalk has cracked in several places and a contractor said it was because of chipmunks burrowing under the sidewalk. Can a little chipmunk cause that kind of damage?
A. In a word…yes. Chipmunks are cute; there’s no denying that. They are high energy and everyone loves to laugh at their cheek pouches bulging with collected food. Sometimes those pouches are full of soil that they have cleared out of their burrows under your sidewalk! Chipmunks can become pests in residential areas in the following ways:
VIEW MOREQ. I hope you can help me before it’s too late for my garden! A large, brown furry animal has been digging up my vegetable plants and chewing some off at the base. I caught a glimpse of him one evening and he was much bigger than a rat. It’s not a rabbit or a raccoon though. I tried putting out a cage trap baited with cat food, but no luck. What can I do? I was looking forward to fresh produce.
VIEW MOREQ. How come we never see baby pigeons being fed by parents? All I ever see are adult pigeons, even in the spring.
A. The reason you rarely see baby pigeons is that (1) the young stay in the nest until they’re as big as mom and pop, and (2) nests are in out-of-sight places.
VIEW MOREQ. How can I keep raccoons out of my garbage cans? We have one raccoon that just pops the lid right off and makes a huge mess. We even tried banging on pots to scare it away, but that didn’t last long!
A. First, never confront the raccoon yourself; leave that to a professional with wildlife handling experience. No matter how cute, raccoons are wild animals – they bite and carry diseases.
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