When it comes to pests in your backyard, most will enter for a short visit and leave when they realize there isn’t any food for them back there. However, some pests will find their way into your yard and look for a place to make themselves comfortable. One of the most common areas for a pest to create a den is the area under your shed, and that’s something you want to put a stop to as soon as possible.
Why under your shed?
The space under your shed fits the bill for many different reasons. Most often pests are looking for a dark and safe space to make themselves comfortable and create a den to have babies. Most sheds are set further away from your house in a quieter area of your yard, so are largely undisturbed. This allows pests to feel safe and comfortable and often go by undetected. During baby season your shed will allow these pests to keep their babies safe while still having food sources nearby. If you feed your pet outside, put the garbage out without covering it or feed birds or squirrels in the yard, there is likely a good source of food for them.
What kind of pests could be under my shed?
Though there are several pests that may make their way under your shed, there are 4 that are the most common. If you are having trouble identifying them, contact a local pest removal professional to help give you some tips and advice.
Skunks
Skunks can be a hard pest to catch as they are mostly nocturnal so won’t make themselves known during the day. Skunks do like to burrow so you may find holes around your yard and in your garden before you actually see the skunks themselves.
Raccoons
Raccoons are another pest that you’re likely to find under your shed. Raccoons can make quite a mess of your yard so they should be fairly easy to identify if they’ve taken up residence under your shed. You’ll likely notice a mess around your trash bins, holes dug up in your yard and a fair amount of noise in your backyard.
Opossums
Opossums can be scary looking creatures but they’re not likely to actually harm you if you come upon them. They are most likely to be drawn in looking for food like your trash bin, compost pile or vegetable garden.
Identify the pest under your shed before taking steps to remove them
Identifying which animal has made itself comfortable under your shed can help you determine how to get rid of them, so this is one of the first steps to take before you start thinking about how to deal with the problem.
Once you’ve determined the type of animal you’ll need to figure out if they’ve already had babies or not. If they have, the steps for removal become different since you have to take measures to ensure you don’t separate the mom from her babies.
Most pests that will try to get under your shed are nocturnal so keeping a close watch on the entry point at dusk could let you get a glimpse of them. If you can’t try finding the hole that they are using to get under your shed, as the size of the hole can sometimes be an indicator. A skunk will use a fairly small hole while a raccoon or possum will use a larger one.
Prevention is the best option
Once this problem is dealt with, you’ll want to take steps to prevent other pests from creating another space under your shed. Installing a barrier like mesh fencing around the perimeter of your fence is the best way to discourage a pest from returning.
