Typical Nuisance Wildlife in St. Louis
Located along the Mississippi River and with more than two dozen national and state parks and green spaces, St. Louis is home to a variety of wildlife that can become a nuisance for the metropolitan area’s 2.8 million residents.
There are plenty of the usual suspects, including raccoons, bats, and squirrels, as well as other animals unique to the region, such as moles and snakes. Whether you own a business in downtown St. Louis or live in one of the s
urrounding suburbs, Critter Control specialists are ready to address your nuisance wildlife issue and remove all unwelcome animals from your property.
Raccoons find plenty of natural habitat—and plenty of food—in the St. Louis area. These clever animals are known to gain easy access to garbage cans, pet food. It’s especially important for St. Louis homeowners to keep their dogs and cats away from
raccoons in the backyard, which are infamous for spreading distemper to pets.
Raccoons breed in winter and give birth in spring. Female raccoons will look for safe places to give birth.
Attics and roofs make ideal denning locations for pregnant raccoons. Homeowners will hear loud noises like thumping or scratching in the middle of the night. Baby raccoons will make noises like mewing, whining, and chattering.
Squirrels are one of the most visible animals in any urban and suburban setting across the nation. People have become comfortable with these creatures scampering about and they serve the useful ecological function of planting seeds.
Squirrels in attics are a common animal nuisance problem in St. Louis, where the squirrel population is on the rise. The eastern gray squirrel is the critter most prevalent in St. Louis. While they can be entertaining when scurrying about outside, they are no fun to find in your attic or crawl space where they have been known to make a mess and cause electrical fires. They are also carriers of ticks, mange mites, fleas, and internal parasites. Unlike their rodent cousins - rats and mice - squirrels are not nocturnal. So, if you hear scampering noises in your attic in the morning, it’s most likely a squirrel.
St. Louis’ location along the Mississippi River means residents and business owners should not be surprised if they find rodents on their properties at some point. As the snow melts into the Mississippi and nearby Missouri Rivers, rising water often forces rats and mice to leave their burrows and seek shelter indoors.
Bats are mostly fascinating creatures and the only mammal able to sustain flight. Missouri has 14 species of insect-eating bats, and they are federally and locally protected from harm.
They are not aggressive animals unless threatened, but they do carry a variety of parasites, including fleas, a bat bug (closely related to the bed bug), ticks, and mites. Despite their benefits, the mold that grows in bat guano is a potential danger for diseases such as Histoplasma.
Missouri’s mild climate is perfect for bats. During the winter months, bats that do not migrate to warmer areas may be found hibernating inside buildings. If you have hibernating bats, we will not remove them. But we can start the bat removal process.
Birds are mostly endearing creatures, known for their beautiful colors, graceful flight, and lovely songs. But there are some species of birds that make themselves impossible to love such as Canadian geese, starlings, pigeons, and even woodpeckers!
When geese descend upon a yard or field, they can smother it with feces within very short order. Protected by federal laws, adult geese, their nests, eggs, and young cannot be harmed without a permit.
Woodpeckers are sometimes a nuisance when they peck incessantly on the siding of a house. This behavior, done mostly as a mating call, can result in chipped siding and paint, and dents and holes along the trim that is costly to repair.
Starlings are quite common, too, and their large flocks create a lot of noise. Their droppings smell foul, and they can build their nests on home or barn exteriors.
While it is hard to get rid of birds, Critter Control experts can deter these birds from your property and advise on habit modifications that will make your property less attractive to them.
Groundhogs and woodchucks are the same critter and are the most common marmot in the United States. Woodchucks create extensive burrows with many escape routes and they are not averse to sharing these underground routes with other mammals, such as rabbits, skunks, snakes, or chipmunks.
Their extensive burrowing can weaken foundations and harm paved areas of your yard, such as pathways and driveways. Groundhogs will also eat garden fruits and vegetables and their burrows can dry out the roots of trees.