What to Do About the Critters Wreaking Havoc in Your Yard

An accepted truth of having any sort of outdoor space is that at some point you’re going to encounter critters. What you do about the animals eager to wreak havoc in your garden depends on how much disruption your furry frenemies are causing—and how much it bothers you.

The animals you share a yard with vary based on where you live, but groundhogs, raccoons, possums, chipmunks, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, moles and voles, deer, and birds of all stripes turn up all over the U.S. Chances are, one of those critters will scurry to a prized tomato plant and take one big bite just before you’re ready to pick it. Any deer that find their way onto your property will probably end up munching on flowers, leaves, and other plants. Meanwhile, raccoons are always ready to go to town on any kind of trash or food left out in the open.

Dealing with these kinds of headaches can be frustrating and expensive, and what you do about it is a choose your own adventure, which starts with the path of least resistance.

Do nothing

Despite what some Tiktokers may have you believe, animals like possums, skunks, rats, or groundhogs under your deck or close to your house are not exactly a welcome sight, and you might want to call a professional. If you’re totally unbothered by the groundhog you recently spotted lounging in a sunny spot in the grass, then it’s business as usual. They might be digging big holes, and you might see the entrances to their intricate burrows in your yard, but unless they’ve started burrowing under your deck or too close to your foundation, and you feel fine about an imperfect lawn, you don’t need to do much.

"We do get calls where there’s… raccoons in a tree and with stuff like that, I tend to say, they're supposed to be in the trees," says Jim Horton of Quality Pro Pest and Wildlife Services. "They’re not in your house. But if it’s close enough where kids are playing and the female is going to be a little aggressive then you know, we’ll remove the whole family and bring them to [a rehabber]." (To avoid raccoon invaders, make sure your trash cans are secured, and keep your grill clean, or else they’ll come looking for your leftovers.)

In many cases, just the presence of an animal in your yard is not a problem, unless they’re sick or aggressive. The real issue is when they end up under your deck and start getting into your house.

Even in those situations, it can be difficult for these critters to damage your foundation, says Animal Nation’s Megan Apicell, a New York State Wildlife rehabilitator. "Sometimes they’ll go under decks, and if there’s a wood beam in their way, they may push it around, and then it’ll cause a problem—or if you have a really weak foundation," she says.

Eradicate

If you spend enough time in Facebook parent groups, you’ll see people looking for guidance on handling a backyard invader situation. You’ll end up seeing recommendations for removal services—as well as recommendations from environmental advocates to first call professional rehabbers—but relocating an animal is not always humane, as separating the animal from its habitat or its young can result in the animal (and its offspring) dying.

It’s also not always legal, though it depends where you are. For example, in Texas, where I’m from, trapping fur-bearing nuisance animals is legal without a license; in the state of New York, where I live, it’s illegal to remove an animal from your property unless it’s done by a licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator (NWCO) like Horton. (There may be a blue state/red state breakdown of how these laws shake out, but that’s an entirely different story.)

Removal is useless without what Horton calls exclusion, which is blocking off the area so an animal can’t get in again.

"Screening gets attached to the underside of the deck and then it goes straight down and then 90 degree angle outward—that’s what we call a rat barrier," he says. "If the animal tries to come to dig to get back in, he hits that 90 degree angle and stops digging."

When is removal necessary? Horton, who when we spoke, had just finished removing a family of squirrels from someone’s newly insulated attic, says when these creatures take up residence in your actual house or close to it, it’s time to get rid of them. To prevent animals from breaching the perimeter of your home, make sure you keep up with regular maintenance: keep trees trimmed so they’re not touching your roof so creatures can’t tightrope their way in, seal any holes from the outside so rats and mice can’t enter, and get your HVAC serviced regularly.

As with most things, make sure you use common sense. Apicelli cautions that there are services that claim they’re trapping and removing the animal, but are really just euthanizing them. However, Horton says that sometimes euthanization is actually the most humane option, especially if an animal is sick. This is one of areas where things get subjective, though animal advocate types would have you believe there’s no gray area. So when in doubt, take personal recommendations for removal services and/or rehabbers, and ask questions about what removal services do with the animal in question once they’re trapped.

Do your research: "It’s going to cost you money to have something removed humanely," Apicelli says. "If someone’s gonna come for 50 bucks to remove a raccoon, it’s probably going to be drowned."

Consider natural remedies

Of course, you can always find ways to mitigate an animal issue instead of eliminating it completely. Consider mowing your lawn less and leaving things in it that animals like to eat, like clover and dandelions and native plants. Apicelli also recommends planting deterrent plants around your garden, such as mint, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, basil, and chives. You can also plant deer-resistant plants and try to avoid the ones they tend to like, such as hostas and day lilies.

Natural deer sprays can work as a deterrent, though you have to remember to spray weekly. There are also solar-powered repellers that you can stake into your garden that emit a noise that’s supposed to deter animals, although in my anecdotal experience, these things are utterly worthless. If you do a cursory amount of Googling on this topic, you’ll find other natural options to keep the creatures at bay, including sprinkling red pepper around the plants you’re trying to protect, or spraying apple cider vinegar around the perimeter of your garden. Apicelli advises against using epsom salt or castor oil as a deterrent, as they can make animals and children sick if ingested.

You could also mix a solution of 2 tbsp of cayenne, a few drops of dish soap, a gallon of water, and garlic and lavender for an added punch, putting it in a spray bottle, and spraying the outside of your garden or plants you’re trying to protect. Many of the animals feasting on your flowers will be deterred by both the taste and the scent. Horton, however, is less confident in the efficacy of these old methods, and says he has pictures of mice chowing down on bars of Irish Spring.

Motion sensor sprinklers and lights can also deter critters humanely, and what about fake owls that are supposed to scare critters away? Those are bunk, Apicelli says, because they don’t move, and animals are smarter than you’d think. In their place, try tying mylar ribbons around the protected area. They can be more effective in scaring animals (especially woodpeckers and other birds) off since they move and are reflective.

This might be common sense: fence your garden in, especially your vegetable garden, unless you want it to function more like an all you can eat buffet for the animals in your yard. If you just want to keep deer out of your yard, you can install an extra-tall deer fence around the perimeter. These are usually at least 8 feet tall, though Horton, who has seen some shit, including coyotes, says he’s seen deer scale these. Apparently evolution never stops.

If you can’t or don’t want to fence in your whole yard, if you have a garden, make sure the space itself is fenced in. "We recommend using fencing like chicken wire that’s at least six feet high and goes at least a foot or two into the ground, so that groundhogs and rabbits can’t dig underneath," says Apicelli.

And for the love of god, do not put out a bird feeder. If you do, understand that you might be rolling out the red carpet for an entire ecosystem of animals.

"You're not feeding only the birds, you’re attracting chipmunks and squirrels, and because you're feeding the birds and the squirrels and the chipmunks, you’re attracting hawks that are then going to try to eat those other animals," Apicelli says. "Also raccoons and foxes, all of those animals will attempt to go to where there’s food for birds."

Top photo by Leah Bignell/Design Pics/Getty

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