As suburbia continues to spread outwards, more and more residents are encountering raccoons and other dangerous wildlife in their every day life.  Raccoons, along with opossums, rats, mice and other rodents are responsible for transmitting dangerous diseases to humans.  Eight residents in Long Beach, California with ages ranging from 1 to 59 years old have recently been diagnosed with typhus.  Typhus is not transmitted from human to human contact; rather it is spread by fleas that have hosted on various animals like the ones mentioned above.  Luckily for these folks in California, although typhus is unpleasant to contract, it rarely causes death and can be treated with antibiotics.

When dealing with wildlife, rabies should always be a top concern.  Rabies is most commonly found in raccoons, skunks, bats, foxes and coyotes, but any warm blooded animal can pass rabies onto people.

You should always try to avoid direct contact with wildlife; but if they do happen to enter you home or business, you should not try to remove them yourself.  Contacting a nuisance pest control removal specialist is the key to a humane and safe removal of wildlife instead.  Stern Environmental Group offers expert wildlife removal services to most of New Jersey, all of NYC, parts of CT and most of Long Island, NY.

In continuation from the posting last Thursday…

If fencing does not work or is not a good option for you, there are a few other tactics that you can try.  Groundhogs are typically afraid of humans.  Visiting your garden often, at various times of the day, will hopefully keep them away.  Because of their fears, beach balls, plastic grocery bags cut into strips, Mylar balloons, lawn ornaments that make noise, pinwheels and streamers are also good deterrents.  Some people have also had success with automatic sprinklers and motion activated lights as well.  Scarecrows will also help keep birds and groundhogs away.  They work best if they make noise or move in the wind.

Natural repellents can also be a way to keep groundhogs at bay.   Groundhogs love succulent plants, but not when they burn their mouth.  You can try mixing one gallon of water with one tablespoon of hot sauce or cayenne pepper together for a sizzling blast to their taste buds.  This concoction is plant friendly and can be sprayed on the perimeter or directly on the plants that might otherwise be eaten.

Groundhogs do not like noxious smells.  They particularilly do not like certain flowers like marigolds, snapdragons, dianthus, ageratum, nicotiana, sweet alyssum, and annual poppies.  You should consider planting these types of flowers around the perimeter that you want protected.  The bonus is that you will have beautiful flowers to view and plants that are unappealing to groundhogs.

Despite your best efforts, none of these options may work in keeping a groundhog off your land.  You may find that you need to bring in the big guns….a wildlife control specialist instead.  Check out how Stern Environmental can help you take care of your groundhog problem.

Spring is coming and so are the groundhogs!  Groundhogs are cute and somewhat cuddly looking, but they can cause tremendous damage to your landscape and vegetable garden.  It is rare for a groundhog to encounter vegetation that it does not find to be a tasty treat, so there is not much that is off-limits to these animals.

If you think you might have a groundhog or want to be sure to keep a future visitor away, there are a few things you can try to improve your odds of keeping them away.

Some people have had success with building a wire fence around their garden.  Groundhogs can climb so you will want the fence to be somewhat wobbly on the top.   The fence should be about 4 feet tall. The idea is to make an unstable fencing system so that the groundhog will not want to climb.    The bottom should be dug down about 1 foot into the ground or folded on the bottom extending about 1 foot away from the garden.  These procedures help discourage the groundhog from digging under the fence. Chain length fences are not a good choice because they are too stable and easy for them to climb.    Some people have had success with electrical fences as well.  The first electrical line should be 1 to 4 inches from the ground and the second about 8 inches from the ground for best results.

Please check back on Tuesday for the conclusion to this post.

Punxsutawney Phil says that we can expect to have six more weeks of winter.  Now is the time to start thinking about how you will keep those chubby whiskered fur balls from ruining your beautiful gardens come springtime.

Groundhogs are also known as woodchucks and whistle pigs.  They are mostly afraid of humans and rarely carry rabies.   They are solitary creatures who only interact with other groundhogs during mating and rearing their young.  As with all wildlife, you should be sure to keep your distance and admire them from afar.

Here are a few things to keep an eye out for that will help you identify if you have a groundhog living nearby.  You may notice that you have a 10” to 12” hole that appears in the ground under your shed or in your yard.  The hole will always have mounds of dirt on the outside from the burrow being dug on the inside.

Groundhogs are known for their eating capabilities.  If you notice a good size bite taken out of vegetables in your garden, there is a good chance that you have groundhog living among you.  For a quick meal, groundhogs are known to eat the plants above the ground, but they will not hesitate to pull up your veggies that are growing nicely below the ground as well.

Another sign that you have a groundhog is the gnawing at the bottom of trees.  Like other rodents, groundhogs need to file down their teeth.  The bottoms of trees provide a great way to accomplish this task.

Please check back soon for information on how to keep groundhogs away from your home.  You might just need a wildlife control specialist to get rid of your groundhog!

Groundhogs are also known as woodchucks.  Groundhogs are rodents that are a member of the squirrel family.  They can be found in many rural locations like fields, pastures, ditches, and storm drainage pipes.  Groundhogs can also be found in residential areas under homes, patios, stored lumber, under decks and even in garages.    These unassuming creatures are typically afraid of humans.   The main problem that people have with groundhogs is that they eat a broad range of vegetation and make large burrows.

Groundhogs will hibernate from October until sometime in February.  Once they emerge from their slumber, they have only two things on their mind…eating and mating.  Groundhogs will dig an extensive burrow system (about 2-4 feet underground and 15 – 25 feet horizontally) and travel for the most part underground.  You will find them most active in the early morning and late afternoon hours during feeding time.  A groundhog can weigh between 4-14 pounds.  They have a ferocious appetite for many types of vegetation.  An adult groundhog will consume 1 ½ pounds of vegetation per day.

Once a groundhog has taken up residence, they are hard to get rid of.  Even if they leave a burrow, it is not uncommon for a groundhog to return over and over to decide if they want to move back in.  These return visits canhappen for up to 2 years after they leave a burrow.

Most people find that they need a wildlife control specialist to send groundhogs packing for good.