Tag: nuisance wildlife

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Cottage Life

Cottage Q&A: Red squirrels under the cottage

By Pi-Lens/Shutterstock

Our cottage has no foundation. It sits on cement blocks. We have never had pests until squirrels moved in underneath us. We’ve seen them zipping in and out, but we can’t get under the cottage to see if they’re causing damage. Can we just leave them be?—Willa Stevenson, Fredericton, N.B.

That’s a kind-hearted notion, but heck no. You don’t want anything living under your cottage “as a general principle,” says Alan Vaudry of Professional Ecological Services in Victoria. (You also don’t want anything living in the wall, attic, cellar, barn, or sewer. Watch some horror movies.)

Just because the squirrels aren’t making noise or causing any obvious damage doesn’t mean that this isn’t happening. “Squirrels are some of the most destructive creatures out there,” says Brad Gates of Gates’ Wildlife Control in Scarborough, Ont. “They chew all the time. And they will chew on things that you really don’t want them chewing on.” This includes wires, waterlines, and support posts. They could start to nest in your insulation. “They could even penetrate the floorboards,” says Gates.

Wild Profile: Meet the red squirrel

Not cool. The standard banishing strategy is to—when the squirrels are out—block access to the underside of the cottage with galvanized steel hardware cloth. Dig a trench, extend the cloth down six inches and out six inches at 90 degrees, and backfill with dirt.

This article was originally published in the May 2017 issue of Cottage Life.

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Would these 6 tricks deter nuisance wildlife?

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Deterring nuisance wildlife and cottage pests can take a lot of patience and persistence. But who has time for that? So, would these six moves of trickery work? Would they successfully outsmart or out-annoy cottage critters, or are they likely to fail? We asked the experts.

1. Ultrasonic sound generators

Goal To annoy cottage critters so much that they move out of your attic (or walls or shed or boathouse).

Likelihood of failure = High

At least according to every wildlife control expert that we’ve ever talked to. “It’ll drive dogs, cats, and people nuts,” says Mike Webb, the owner of West Coast Problem Wildlife Management on Vancouver Island. But in most cases, “wildlife won’t give a rip.”

2. Imitation wasps’ nest

Goal To dissuade wasps from building their own nest nearby.

Likelihood of failure = Medium

It can work, but not always—it’s a myth that wasps will never build nests close to each other.

3. Owl decoy

Goal To frighten geese (or other waterfowl) from gathering on your dock.

Likelihood of failure = High

They’ll quickly figure out that there are no consequences to a bird of prey that does absolutely nothing except sway in the breeze.

4. Non-stop loud music

Goal To evict nuisance mammals.

Likelihood of failure = Medium

It’s worth trying—we’d move if, say, our neighbour played “Edamame” 24/7. But lots of denning mammals probably won’t.

5. Fake “attacking” predators that move up and down on a string

Goal To discourage woodpeckers from drumming on the cottage.

Likelihood of failure = Low

The Birds-Away Attack Spider and similar products get our experts’ stamp of approval. Birds aren’t arachnophobic, but “something that mimics a sit-and-wait predator would be more effective than any motionless decoy,” says Doug Tozer of Birds Canada.

6. Pet dog or cat

Goal To keep mice or other rodents from even considering moving in.

Likelihood of failure = Medium-Low

The very presence of a cat or dog can help deter mice (and hey, you’d get a pet out of the deal)! But a loose snake would probably work better.

This article was originally published in the March/April 2022 issue of Cottage Life.

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This is why the Canada geese will always win

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It’s difficult to ruffle the feathers of a Canada goose. That’s what researchers from the University of Illinois discovered when they tested the effectiveness of winter harassment techniques to drive Canada geese to leave sites in urban Chicago.

Wildlife harassment is a nonlethal management technique that encourages animals to move on from an area by increasing a location’s sense of risk and danger. It’s used to manage Canada geese in cities where the birds can clash with people for a number of reasons, from fouling green spaces with their droppings to colliding with aircraft.

The study’s researchers harassed Canada geese by approaching the animals on foot and ATVs and then clacking lumber boards together. They expected that the harassment would be more effective at dispersing geese during the challenging winter season. But surprisingly, the researchers found that harassment was ineffective at significantly changing the behaviour of geese and had diminishing returns over time.

10 times geese were the least Canadian animals ever

“Birds never fail to amaze,” says Doug Tozer, the director of waterbirds and wetlands at Birds Canada. Tozer, (who was not involved with the study), adds, “Just when you think you know how they operate, they turn around and do something like this. I find it humbling and fascinating.”

For cottage owners (or home owners) who don’t want to share their space with Canada geese, Tozer suggests making your property unattractive to geese in the first place, regardless of the season.

“Geese pretty much eat only grass, and they prefer large open spaces so they can see predators approaching,” says Tozer. “If you don’t want geese around then get rid of your grass, or, at least reduce the amount of grass you have.”

9 ways to get a beautiful shoreline and a healthy lake

Planting trees and shrubs can also repel geese. This technique is particularly helpful in the summer when geese have a gaggle of young in their care. “Geese with young prefer to be able to run directly from grass to the lake if there’s a threat,” says Tozer. “If you block that path, they won’t come to eat your grass.”

“Birds are really good at what they do,” says Tozer. “They’re smart, they’re adaptive. They often take opportunities when they arise, we therefore shouldn’t get impatient with them when they try their best to survive amongst us.” He adds, “humans are, in theory, smart too. And if true, then we should be able to figure out ways to coexist with birds and other wildlife.”

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Cottage Q&A: How can I mouse-proof my fridge?

By Szasz-Fabian Jozsef/Shutterstock

I have a secondary fridge in my shed that I use approximately from May to October. Once I turn it off, I wipe it down with a heavy bleach solution and put a stick in each door to keep them open in order to prevent mould from forming. However, the open door attracts the mice and they leave their droppings behind. How do I prevent both from happening?— Sheri Krajnc, via email

First of all, good call on keeping the fridge doors propped open; allowing air to get inside the fridge will for sure help to prevent mould. But cleaning with bleach may not be the right move. When we previously answered a Mould vs. Secondary Fridge in Shed question (see Spring 2017 Cottage Q&A—everyone has a secondary fridge in their shed), the experts gave bleach the thumbs down. “Bleach is absolutely the wrong product to use,” Ron Arena, at the time a senior consultant with Chem Scope in North Haven, Conn., told us. The problem? Bleach can be strong enough to scratch the surfaces in the fridge. “This creates a roughness on the finish and makes it more susceptible to mould,” he said. Arena—and other experts we consulted—suggested gentler cleaning methods. For example, a slurry of baking soda and water, applied with paper towels or a vegetable brush; dishwasher detergent tablets dissolved in lukewarm water; or ordinary dish soap.

Freshen up your fridge with these cleaning hacks

Now let’s talk about the mice. In an ideal world, you’d make the shed itself more mouse-proof. But we get it: sealing up every mouse-sized crack and crevice is a lot of work. You can of course set traps, or try deterrents like Bounce sheets (some folks swear by them). But the simplest strategy may be to make the fridge itself less attractive to mice. Mice, like a lot of prey creatures, like hidden, protected spots. Propping the fridge doors open with only a stick makes the interior of the fridge dark and cozy and snug. If you prop the doors wide open, on the other hand…the interior could appear, to a mouse, like a giant, gaping, scary space. In other words, not a safe place.

Cottage Q&A: How to keep mice out of your ride

We ran the strategy by the experts, and it got the stamp of approval. “Leaving the fridge door wide open should be quite helpful in deterring rodents from entering,” says Tom Sullivan, a professor emeritus of wildlife ecology and conservation at UBC.

Mice might invade all kinds of other nooks and crannies in the other items in the shed. But they’d hopefully leave the interior of the fridge alone.

Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.

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