Control of Miscellaneous Nuisance Wildlife

There are many nuisance animals in Tennessee that don't rate their own pages on this site because there isn't much demand for their removal. We're only going to mention a few of them on this page. If you're having a problem with some other critter whom you'd like removed, please contact us. Chances are that we can help.

Here's a little bit of information about the three most-common "minor-league" nuisance animals that we occasionally get calls for. We control all of these animals using safe, humane, non-chemical methods.

Skunks

Skunks are small to medium-sized animals known for their ability to spray a foul-smelling, noxious liquid at would-be threats. It's very effective, too. Few critters (or people) who make the mistake of threatening a skunk will ever do it again.

Until recently, skunks were classified as part of the weasel family. They've since been reassigned to their own taxonomic family which is known as Mephitidae. The specific skunk specie that we encounter in Tennessee is the striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis, which is black and white in color. The exact ratio of black and white varies, but typically they're black on the bottom, white on the top, and have black faces with a narrow white stripe down the middle of the forehead. Variations are common, however.

Despite the skunk's impressive ability to defend itself, they're actually pretty laid back as wild critters go. They quickly become accustomed to people and animals that they regularly encounter in their environment, and are happy to coexist with them as long as they present no threat. They do have relatively poor vision, however, so it's important to be careful not to startle them. Although they usually give warning by snarling, hissing, and stamping their feet before unleashing their ultimate weapon, there's no guarantee of that. Younger skunks in particular may be quicker to pull the trigger.

Skunk control is accomplished by trapping and removal. If the skunks are getting into your home or other building (for example, if they're getting into the crawl space), we can seal up your house to keep them out.

Finally, although skunks are rather passive, agreeable animals by nature, they also are susceptible to rabies. Just in case their ability to spray noxious liquids isn't enough reason for you not to attempt DIY skunk removal, the possibility of rabies should be a more convincing reason. Call us instead. It's what we do.

Muskrats

Muskrats are medium-sized semi-aquatic rodents who usually live along the banks of ponds, streams, and other bodies of water. They're brown to black in color and slightly longer than a Norway rat in size, but are much stockier and heavier. Their tails are about the same length of their bodies and are laterally flattened (that is, their tails are shaped like a knife standing on its edge). They use their tails as rudders when they're swimming. As would be expected from a semi-aquatic rodent, muskrats are excellent swimmers.

Muskrats present a nuisance when they eat agricultural and garden crops. They have this particularly annoying habit of taking only a bite or two out of whatever crop they're feeding on, and then moving on to another and taking another bite or two. If you have a dozen pumpkins growing in your garden, they'll take a bite or two out of each one of them, thus destroying far more crop than they actually eat.

The other annoying thing that muskrats do is building nests called "lodges" made out of branches, twigs, and mud. These lodges are built along the edges of the body of water they're living near and often cause localized flooding.

Muskrats are controlled mainly by trapping and removal. You can also try to fence them out of planted areas; but because they're excellent burrowers, the fence will have to extend into the ground at least 12 inches.

Chipmunks

Chipmunks are ground-dwelling squirrels who live in burrows, rock walls, hollow trees, and other small, protected places in nature. They're rather comical animals who rapidly learn to recognize people in their environment, and who may even become tame and friendly toward them. They can become nuisances in gardens, however, because of their burrowing and their habit of digging up root crops to eat them.

Rid-A-Critter only provides chipmunk control when they get into buildings. Once inside a home or other building, chipmunks do the same kind of damage as other rodents do such as tearing insulation, damaging heating and air-conditioning ducts, gnawing on electrical wires, and contaminating the area with their urine and droppings.

Chipmunk control is accomplished by live-trapping, removal, and relocation. It is illegal to use pesticides to poison chipmunks, and we wouldn't do it even if it were allowed. In addition to trapping and removing the chipmunks, we also seal the animals out of your home or commercial building so they can't get back in. This service will also seal other ground-dwelling animals such as rats and mice out of your house, in addition to keeping the chipmunks out.

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The Chattanooga, Tennessee office of Rid-A-Critter provides miscellaneous nuisance animal control in the Chattanooga, Tennessee Metro Area, including the counties of Hamilton, Marion, and Sequatchie, Tennesee and the cities and towns of Collegedale, Dunlap, East Brainerd, East Ridge, Harrison, Jasper, Lakeview, Middle Valley, Red Bank, Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy, and their surrounding areas.

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