We recommend the Solutions Live Trap as the best form of control, since Critter Ridder results may vary so it is not a guarantee this will keep Porcupines away. Another wood-eating animal is the porcupine. 2. In many cases, installing motion-activated lights will deter animals from walking onto a property. Copyright 2020 by Wildlife Animal Control. Unfortunately, their chew toy of choice can be the side of your house or shed. Porcupines are a large rodent that can be dangerous to encounter due to their painful and often disease-causing quills on their body. Last, but most definitely not least is to use pest and porcupine repellents. The future of porcupines, which I promise are an endearing species once you get to know one, depends on us being good stewards of the northern forests on which porcupines absolutely rely. Porcupines are the third-largest member of the rodent family. Time For the Truth! Instead, itll be concentrated on the part or area where youll place it, and when porcupines come near it, theyll instantaneously be disgusted by the scent emitted. Porcupines have trouble climbing this flimsy barrier because theyre too heavy. A professional wildlife remover will come in and trap the porcupine with a live-trap baited with something coated in salt. When releasing, don't be too afraid of the quills. All Current Publications, 2053. Porcupine eats. Since harming a Porcupine is discouraged, controlling an invading Porcupine will involve either live trapping with Solutions Humane Live Trap or deterring the rodent from your property with a repellent such as Critter Ridder. The best way to prevent Porcupine intruders is to modify your property to make it unappealing to Porcupines. Probably the easiest and simplest way to deter porcupines from visiting your estate is to establish a fence around it. If you have a nuisance porcupine chewing up your tires, trees, outside furniture or yard tools, try Pest Rid spray to stop them. Dimex EasyFlex Plastic Tree Trunk Protectorscomes with six protectors that can be combined or used separately so you can protect a tree trunk of any size. I mean, what is there to love about wood? Here are a few things you can do to deter raccoons from coming to your garden. Once you have caught a porcupine, call the animal control department that deals with porcupine control. Another way is to use rubber or . Place 30-inch or wider. What are the most dangerous parts of Baltimore? One of the easiest ways to deter porcupines is by using scent deterrents. How Often Should You Keep Air Purifier On? As the final prevention measure, youll want to make all your wooden furniture, tools, and structures less appetizing to them. According to theNational Pesticide Information Center, citronella contains three main repellent ingredients: These three babies combine to make both an insect and animal repellent. Unlike beavers (the regular aquatic kind), which leave very deep marks in trees they have gnawed on, porcupines just chew down to the cambium and leave behind very shallow marks or grooves where their incisors scrape against the wood. in your yard. Youd need to reapply this every time it rained, though. Best Methods! Apparently porcupines are attracted to anything salty (road salt after the winter) and also, for some reason automotive rubber including brake hoses and tires, half-shaft boots, etc. Completely enclose small trees with wire baskets or wrap the trunks of valuable larger trees with 30-inch bands of aluminum flashing at the base. Sometimes the porcupine doesnt have to be actively destroying property for alarm to be raised about its close proximity. However, few predators have figured out how to get around their quills to attack this weak spot. Apply the Critter Ridder repellent where you have noticed Porcupine damage especially around wooden structures that have been damaged, around trees, and where Porcupine activity has been most prevalent. Sadly, the eastern hemlock that is important to the survival of porcupines through winter faces an uncertain future caused by the spread of invasive woolly adelgid beetles which can wipe out entire stands of the tree. where regulations may be more restrictive, especially as it applies to discharge of firearms, transport of animals or use of trapping equipment. The scent of rotten eggs is offensive to people and animals, and for a good reason! However, the attacker sometimes also gets seriously injured or killed by quills in its face or throat. Trees can be protected by wrapping around trunks 30-inch high wire fences that will reduce their feeding damage. Make sure that your trash is picked up regularly. I know it. There are plenty of repellents on the market for deer, squirrels, insects, and mice, but what about porcupines? Electric Fences. If there is no food, there is no reason for the deer to return. To prevent them from eating human made structures, wooden . More in-detail how-to porcupine removal articles: Using both these baits will bring better results. However, during winter, you will find them eating the inner bark of trees. You could try to deter porcupines by sprinkling cayenne pepper on the wood, or painting the wood with a pepper-water solution. Scent deterrents may not be as effective as physical fencing or traps, but it is a natural and organic approach that can be just as effective when used correctly. Place a bait near the repellent and turn it on. Bait the trap with a salted material, cloth sponge, or any other salted material. Drop by drop, the damage can accumulate over weeks into a problem that can cost thousands of dollars to fix. Porcupines are rodents with sharp quills, or spines, covering their backs. The Best Solutions, How To Restore Composite Decking? Multiple trees or an entire area can be enclosed in a single fence. These strange-looking animals can significantly damage trees, gardens, and buildings if left unchecked. It can repel porcupines as well! - Lets Find Out, How To Get Water Stains Out Of Stainless Steel Refrigerator? (1998). Step 1 - Set up theSolutions Humane Live Animal Trap. Both spearmint and peppermint are part of the mint family. Follow this guide and use the recommended products and we guarantee 100% control of Porcupines. It's a short-legged rodent with a chunky body. While many predators are capable of eating them, porcupines are a fairly risky food item and most predators leave them alone except in times of desperation. They are actually very docile animals that will not attack passersby, but rather lumber away slowly to a comfortable distance then resume whatever it was they were doing. 3. The bait should be placed near the back of the trap. Find solutions by species, Find a licensed wildlife control professional, How to live trap and remove a problem porcupine, How to keep porcupines from damaging my vehicles, How to get porcupines out from under my shed or deck, What to do with an animal that is behaving strangely or aggressively, Northeast Wildlife Damage Management Cooperative, Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, signing up for notification when your state is added. The only exceptions are the great plains and southeastern regions of the US. But citronellas repellent effect isnt limited to annoying buzzing insects. you wish to attempt to solve the problem yourself. Heres How To Fix, wood as the answer to the nutrition and diet, How To Identify Vintage Wicker Furniture? Information about porcupine trapping - analysis and methods for how to trap. Information about how to kill a porcupine - with poison or other methods. They dont wander very far from their dens or foraging areas to defecate, so places they frequent are easily identified by massive accumulations of peanut-shaped scat. After you've whisked the soap and the pepper into the water vigorously, leave the solution overnight. They also eat nuts, tubers, seeds, grass, leaves, fruit and buds. Therefore, their diets typically change from season to season. Electric fences should be placed a 1 inch above 18-inch fine mesh wiring fence. Lavender is a perennial herb that gives off a strong scent. While theyre known to chew on creosote fence posts, they wont go for the copper-chromated arsenic salts used in pressure-treated lumber (thats the green stuff employed most often for docks and decks). Transfer it into a spray bottle and spray it on your wooden furniture and structures at least once per day. Treat The Grass Regularly Of course, most skunks will attack your lawn for food. The smell eases stress and relaxes the mind. From there, itll be almost impossible for them to climb back up. The easiest way to avoid the heartache caused by the sight of a groundhog-devoured garden is to grow plants that groundhogs ( Marmota monax) don't eat. So, I did my best and chose 2 of the best ones, according to homeowners and experts! Visit our Terms and Conditions for more information. Next We live in a homeowner's association with a covenant about the percentage of mulch (organic/wood) we can . Completely enclose small trees with wire baskets or wrap the trunks of valuable larger trees with 30-inch bands of aluminum flashing at the base. Putrescent whole egg solids are often used as repellents for deer, but they are also effective against beavers and porcupines. Don't leave standing water in the yard or garden. Do Porcupines Eat Wood . Wood preservatives may repel porcupines. Youre looking for Porcupine activity. Porcupines are no different and need to chew to keep their teeth from growing too large. Porcupines crave salt due to how their bodies process sodium from tree bark and other plant materials. You will know as soon as the trigger arm gets hooked to the door. Trapping a porcupine can be done by a homeowner, but some safety precautions should be remembered. Mountain lions and fishers have different stratgies for attacking porcupines. WHERE TO USE IT: Spray PEST-RID thoroughly in all areas where animal pests bask, feed, are seen or there is evidence of their presence such as droppings, claw marks or chewed plants. This liquid repellent has very little odor to people but to animals, its repulsive. . Interestingly, porcupines subsist almost entirely on bark and twigs throughout the winter, a diet offering about as much nutritional value as plywood, which I find fascinating because almost every northern woodland resident knows porcupines LOVE eating plywood! Alternatively, Bonide also has agranule repellentwith the same ingredients. Since I learned these, I never had problems with porcupines again. Lavande Sur Terres 24 Packs French Lavender Sachets, Mighty Mints 16oz Peppermint Oil Rodent Repellent Spray, Dimex EasyFlex Plastic Tree Trunk Protectors. Right Way to Wash! Most porcupines' diet changes depending on the season. Do I Need To Move Furniture For Pest Control? Isthere any difference? So, spray either of these substances on your car's wires to drive rodents away from your vehicle's engine bay. This guy right next to me? Another option is to buy a pre-made solution. Copyright 2020 by Wildlife Animal Control. So, in setting up a fence, make sure that the clearance is no more than 50 cm per wire from the ground. read more about how to get rid of porcupines. As a homeowner, I wanted my space to be secure Ill never know when porcupines might hit and enter my house. Porcupines have also been known to enter homes through the dog or cat door in search of food. Everyone knows what a porcupine is, but apart from the fact that they have quills and can hurt you badly if you mess with them, not many people know much about their biology and manner. Avoid using wood preser-vatives that are metal-salt solutions. They are taken and basically made to rot and then placed in repellents to protect plants. Both contain menthol. Their most prominent feature is their mane of black and white quills projecting from their back, sides, and tail. You cant place candles all over the yard, so what can be done? And there's always the more direct approach of eliminating the offending animal. . If you are from another state, please indicate your interest by signing up for notification when your state is added. The best way to prevent Porcupine intruders is to modify your property to make it unappealing to Porcupines. That being said, peppermint is still quite effective at deterring porcupines. Instead of going to the extreme, one way to deter porcupines long term is to change up your yard to make it unattractive to porcupines: These simple steps will make your yard less attractive to porcupines and, combined with other tactics, can keep them away long term. Think of it similar to your pup barking at themselves in the window. This material is sprayed or painted on the plants sub-ject to damage. Whatever action you take, remember that solutions like vinegar, predator urine and citrus create a temporary barrier only. Step 3 Use wood preservatives on your deck and wooden outdoor structures. Com-mon wood preservatives may repel porcupines when applied to exterior plywoods. Spray it on the area that is the most prone to chewing and gnawing. How to protect my trees and shrubs from porcupines. Its safe to say that it would be wise not to touch them. Closed canopies discourage porcupines from entering the area. Animals don't like this product and will stay away from where its been applied. The peppery, soapy taste will deter some rose-eating animals, including deer. Avoid wooden fences, as porcupines like to gnaw on wood. Search in your yard, near your beneficial trees, gardens, crops, fields, and in your lawn. Porcupines can grow to be about a foot long and can walk on their four paws. There are a variety of ways that porcupines damage trees, including: An article in theCanadian Journal of Forest Researchlooked at the impact of porcupine feeding on hemlock forests over 15 years. So, feel free to use this product close to the house or on commonly-used tools. You may not be able to remove all the things in your yard that attract porcupines. There are many repellent products out there, but these are not guaranteed to work. Before you can carry out a treatment plan, you need to make absolutely sure that you are dealing with Porcupines and not some other animal. A few years ago a visitor from South Carolina told me they saw a beaver climbing a tree in the woods behind my house. Her guides and reviews are well appreciated by Industry experts. If you have encountered a porcupine on your property, this DIY guide can help. You can also use an ultrasonic emitter to keep them away, but again this is not 100% certain to work. Fisher cats, however, excel at preying upon porcupines and may even suppress porcupine populations in some places. Place the mixture in a spray bottle and spray outside in problem areas around the garden, on tree trunks, on wooden tool handles, and anywhere else those pesky porcupines are invading. But in eastern North America, by far one of the porcupines most formidable predators is the fisher, a larger cousin of the American marten. As much as Id love to believe arboreal beavers inhabit woodlands around my house in central Vermont, it was highly unlikely. Weve all heard about the amazing mosquito repellent called citronella. If youre concerned about damage when you leave your cottage unattended (say, over the winter), one option is to surround your buildings with a perimeter of unsupported chicken wire. A porcupines general demeanor is docile, but they have quills for a reason! Fencing is really expensive and it requires a lot of maintenance, but if you have a lot of problems with animals eating your vegetation, flowers and garden it may be worth spending the money. Together with my family, we settled in a region far from the city, and therefore, both our indoor and outdoor furniture are primarily wooden furniture. You can combine scent deterrents with other, more long-term solutions to keep these quilled rodents deterred for good! What do I do if FedEx delivered someone elses package. It eats them. Important predators include mountain lions and fishers. Previous How can we keep Canada geese away from our pond? To prevent Porcupine invasions, habitat modifications will need to be done, like building fences, or installing electrical fences. Scare tactics are a great way to repel porcupines and make them think twice about setting a foot (or paw!) Fencing is a basic way to protect your property. This causes porcupines to search elsewhere for food and leave your yard alone. Using hot sauce or capsaicin on plants and trees can prevent porcupine damage and help deter them from your yard entirely. Most notably, Porcupines like to destroy trees by eating bark and branches. Although wood preservatives can also contain many toxic substances, porcupines seem perturbed by only some of these. repel porcupines. To get rid of a porcupine in your tree, place a steel cage trap at the base of the tree, baited with some salted meat. The foods that attract porcupines include apples, salt, evergreen needles, tree bark, nuts, berries, flowering herbs, grasses, and roots. Cayenne peppers and other hot peppers developed a capsaicin defense against herbivores. Call us today! If unable to chew, the animals teeth would grow too long to be able to consume food and the porcupine would eventually starve to death. This type of repellent is similar to lavender and spearmint, making it difficult for porcupines to locate food in the presence of these scents. Step 3: Properly dispose of garbage. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to deter them! are highly recommended. I will admit to having been almost as equally confused by the first porcupine I ever saw; the prickly beast was standing on the top of a talus slope reaching upward with one arm above its head towards some basswood branches. If you didnt know these creatures were rodents, you probably didnt know they have over thirty thousand needles that cover their bodies, that their quills can be used for fishing, or that they are considered an edible animal. It also depends on where the porcupine lives. This is not the cheapest route to take however. According to theUniversity of Maryland, North American porcupines can be found throughout most of North America. Some porcupines love wood and eat a lot of bark and stems. Scent deterrents must be reapplied to the problem area weekly and anytime after heavy rainfall. You can also use cayenne pepperpowderand sprinkle it around problem areas. This site is intended to provide education and information about how to keep porcupines away from your house, yard, garbage cans, shed, so that you can make an informed decision Yes. Scent deterrents need to be reapplied often and are not a foolproof plan to keep porcupines away. High poultry wire that is at least 60 cm high is used to enclose the area. Impact of feeding Damage by the porcupine on western hemlock Sitka spruce forests of north-coastal British Columbia: 15-year results. To use lavender to repel porcupines, you have a couple of different options: Using the lavender plant is a great choice if youre looking for an overallpassiveway to deter porcupines. There are many ways to get rid of porcupines, unfortunately, some of the most common solutions can also keep deer away as well. Bonide Repels-All Animal Repellentuses putrescent whole egg solids as its main ingredient. Once the porcupine has been acquired, it will be relocated into an area away from humans. LOOKING TO HIRE AN EXTERMINATORCLICK HERE?. Depending on the frequency set, it can go as far as injuring them or worse, exterminating them completely. What If My Garbage Disposal Smells Like Dead Animal? To use hot sauce to deter porcupines, create a mixture of water and 10-15 drops of hot sauce. Once you have confirmed Porcupine activity, this is where you will apply treatment. Why does hot sauce deter porcupines? Its an antimicrobial, a bug repellent, and a flavoring agent for candy and chewing gum. However, in certain regions, porcupines can be a serious menace. Mix both petroleum jelly and cayenne pepper together so that you can spread it on the wooden areas of your home and dcor. If you want to try to solve the problem yourself, you can look up a . Once inside the house, they often are not able to find their way back out and end up hunkered down in the corner of a dark room. Their calls even occasionally befuddle experienced ornithologists who can be forgiven for thinking they are about to discover some sort of rare European bird lost in the forests of New England, only to discover the source of call is a basketball-sized pincushion halfway up a tree. Can You Die From Sleeping In A Freshly Painted Room? If all else fails, or you do not want to deal with the hassle of getting rid of the porcupines yourself, CALL A PROFESSIONAL. Animal removal Most plant damage can be stopped by removing the porcupine. This keeps animals from burrowing underneath or jumping over the fence. Rats are one of the least-welcomed guests in domestic homes. Along with wooden buildings, porkies also enjoy the salt in fence posts coated in creosote, on car tires and radiator hoses, and from objects covered in human sweat (tool handles, clothes, and leather). Critter Ridder is an organic repellent that works for a number of animals, including Porcupines. Porcupines are also attracted to the glue used to bond plywood on wooden structures. Cayenne pepper gives hot sauce that extra tingly spicy feeling in our mouths. They will target wooden tool handles, siding, plywood, and anything else made of wood. If the Porcupine becomes caught, relocate the animal at least 25 miles away from your property or call animal control. Will deer eat raspberry plants? They are attracted to almost any object that has been handled by humans because of the salt found in human sweat. They found that feeding damage by porcupines along the north coast of British Columbia was so significant that it changed the dominant species of a forest. Fix Guide. Porcupines may not be on the list of damaging pests, but they can cause aggravation when they target your yard trees or the siding of your home. This solution has been the product of deep research and experiments done by various homeowners from all over the country. Use a Smell or Taste Deterrent. Pull the trigger arm forward to lift the door plate. Dump any standing water daily so they will not come into the area for water. If you have used a lethal trap, porcupine quills are still a threat to you. Kuhns, M. R., Dettenmaier, M., & Tegt, J. Like spearmint and citronella, it masks food items scent. Repellents based on capsaicin (hot sauce is the active ingredient), thiram (a fungicide), or other mammal repellents could be applied. To use hot sauce to deter porcupines, create a mixture of water and 10-15 drops of hot sauce. Porcupines are known to eat a lot, so they can scavenge all of the crops in the area. The percentage of menthol is higher in spearmint than in peppermint. ft. Do you want to know how to keep porcupines from eating wood? No guarantee is made that information (or lack of information) associated with a species or control technique is completely accurate or current. Call us today! A few insect have been found to encode cellulases in their genome, others rely on endosymbionts to degrade cellulose in smaller subunits, which can then in turn be digested by the insects themselves. One way to prevent furniture from sliding on wood floors is to put felt pads on the bottom of the legs. This means looking for twigs that have been eaten, their tracks (especially during the winter when they are active), and barkless trees that have been stripped by their gnawing. It comes in a ready-to-use spray bottle that can be sprayed in areas you want to protect. Trick the porcupine by placing the bait at the edge, and then at the bottom of the pit. Properly dispose of and store your garbage. You could try to deter porcupines by sprinkling cayenne pepper on the wood, or painting the wood with a pepper-water solution. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. Install a fence on your property. Dropping twigs and fruit to the forest floor benefits other wildlife down below. Facts You Need To Know, Do You Put Detergent In Before Or After Clothes? Notify me via e-mail if anyone answers my comment. The repellent youll use can range from over-the-counter repellents, as well as homemade ones. Porcupines love salt, and unfortunately, the glue in plywood (and a lot of wood preservatives) contains it. South American Armored Catfish The main ingredient in hot sauce? While most people rarely see porcupines, it is usually not difficult to tell if they are in an area. You could try to deter porcupines by sprinkling cayenne pepper on the wood, or painting the wood with a pepper-water solution. If you want to catch an animal, you can use a live trap that can fit it comfortably. This site provides many porcupine control articles and strategies, if RaccoonsRaccoon Control Education and Services, SquirrelsSquirrel Control Education and Services, OpossumOpossum Control Education and Services, SkunksSkunk Control Education and Services, GroundhogGroundhog Control Education and Services, ArmadillosArmadillo Control Education and Services, BeaverBeaver Control Education and Services, CoyotesCoyote Control Education and Services, SnakesSnake Control Education and Services, DeadDead Animal Control Education and Services. How To Clean Mohawk Laminate Flooring? Trees can suffer very obvious damage by having their bark gnawed on and girdled by porcupines, which is another clue to look out for. Porcupines need their sense of smell to find food, so anything too powerful will deter them. This ensures that the porcupine will need to step on the trigger plate in order to reach the food. Porcupines that trespass into residential or commercial areas are known to create a lot of trouble and inflict significant property damage. This page is a general Porcupine control guide. You can get traps at most hardware or garden stores and some animal control officers will either let you rent one or will come out and set the traps themselves. An animal that takes up residence under or near a home poses a threat to all of the occupants in the dwelling, be they human or animal. Consultyourlocal and state guidelines to see if Porcupines are a protected species in your location before applying controland proceed with caution when applying control as Porcupines can be dangerous. You'd need to reapply this every time it rained, though. Start by building a fence around trees, gardens, and where damage has been most prevalent. Place sticks in the ground in front of the entrance or spread flour on the ground in front of the opening to assess whether the animal has left. Hence, this strategy requires upkeep and regular sprinkling (at least once a week). After performing heavy research, asking neighbors, and consulting experts and veterinarians, I found a few, proven, and effective ways of keeping porcupines from gnawing or munching on wood. Once you have identified the animal you are encountering to be a Porcupine you should then conduct an inspection. Porcupines love chewing on wood. Unlike putrescent eggs, spearmint smells good to us humans! The porcupine is a peaceful animal that rarely attacks its enemies. When you're using dried, or ground, cayenne pepper, you'll need about 2 tablespoons for every gallon of water. Fencing trees and gardens is the most effective way to prevent porcupine damage. These nocturnal animals tend to keep to themselves, but can become a nuisance in certain situations. Simply because its natural, cheap, and I dont need to go outside my home to prepare it. Because they are rodents, porcupines have a need to chew. Witmer, G. W., & Pipas, M. J. You will need to survey the area to see where they are active and what may be attracting them to the area. And it works! Unlike other rodents that also remain active all winter, porcupines do not collect and store food in . This is . Porcupines are not overtly aggressive, but they still have teeth if their quills dont get your first. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Amazon and other companies linked to on this site. (2019). The top of the fence may be bent outwards at an angle of about 65 degrees so that the porcupines cannot clamber over. Use an ultrasonic repellent. Other options may workdistracting the porcupines with a salt lick, or startling them with random, irritating noisesbut there are drawbacks: The salt lick could attract other wildlife; the random, irritating noises could drive away your cottage guests. Facts and Answers! Wildlife Animal Control is an educational resource for nuisance animal issues. The second reason is that hot sauce has a very pungent and strong odor. Product was successfully added to your shopping cart. Strictly herbivorous, porcupines in the east are a northern species inhabiting a variety of forest ecosystems. They scuttle about in the night, making noises in the basement or attic, and when, Read More 15 Scents That Rats Hate (and How to Use Them)Continue, There are almost 50,000 species of spiders on the planet. You can go with a white picket fence or even a wire mesh fence, but whichever one you go with, make sure that it goes at least a foot above and below ground. Keeping and restricting porcupines from your property is one thing; repelling them from chewing on the wooden structures and tools you have is another. Multiple trees or an entire area can be enclosed in a single fence. Place the trap where damage has occurred or if you have identified it, at their den entrances. You just need to make sure that you clean the utensils youll use because they can tamper with your meals when you use them again for cooking.
