As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We service over 500 USA locations! Mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats and foxes all occasionally hunt these spiky rodents. These strange-looking animals can significantly damage trees, gardens, and buildings if left unchecked. Porcupines need their sense of smell to find food, so anything too powerful will deter them. Your email address will not be published. The Easiest Methods. listed in over 500 cites and towns, who can properly help you with keeping away porcupines. Now, for a quick recap. Once the animal is caught, if you want to relocate it, it must be at least 40km away from your home. This includes areas around trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, walkways, docks, roof tiles, pool decks, or any place where control is desired. 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. You can combine scent deterrents with other, more long-term solutions to keep these quilled rodents deterred for good! Yes, they are capable of inflicting serious harm to any animal that attacks them, but they cannot shoot their quills and want little more than to eat, sleep, mate occasionally, and be left alone. Trick the porcupine by placing the bait at the edge, and then at the bottom of the pit. Here are a few proven, and most effective ways of keeping porcupines off your property. If you are unable to do so, which is likely with many 1. Isthere any difference? Porcupines can cause significant damage to personal and public property by feeding on trees. Bio Explorer explores the insight into the different porcupine species' diets, how porcupines hunt if they do, when they eat, how often they eat, what they eat porcupines and their role in the . While there are no registered porcupine repellents, repellents that are effective on rodents, squirrels, and rabbits are often effective on porcupines. Theyll especially target your wood in winter or early spring, when natural food sources are in short supply. Start by building a fence around trees, gardens, and where damage has been most prevalent. Commonly used to repel snakes and lizards, Pest Rid uses nothing but all natural ingredients to repel nuisance animals and insects. Think of it similar to your pup barking at themselves in the window. Good luck." Scott Cravin It has paint on it, im wondering if there is anything else i can put on the stand to chase this guy away. 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. Spearmint is an herb in the mint family. We also provide professional service in over 600 locations. There are also water repellent systems like motion activated sprinkler systems that will spray the porcupine if it comes close to the place where you set it up. Notify me via e-mail if anyone answers my comment. The list includes lynx, bobcats, coyotes, wolves, wolverines, and great horned owls. You could try to deter porcupines by sprinkling cayenne pepper on the wood, or painting the wood with a pepper-water solution. Search in your yard, near your beneficial trees, gardens, crops, fields, and in your lawn. Create a cayenne pepper spray. To use peppermint to repel porcupines, you can use the essential oil combined with water to create a spray. Porcupine eats. Peppermint oil and Pine-Sol provide strong scents that deter rodents from entering your car, won't make your vehicle smell bad, don't taste good, and won't damage any wires. Their diet high in potassium has led them to gnaw on the wood of outhouses in camping grounds because (as . 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. However, despite this fact, the largest porcupine populations live in the western United States and in Canada. Since I learned these, I never had problems with porcupines again. If this doesn't work, live trap them or install some Yard Gards. Like beavers, porcupines prefer to eat the nutritious inner tree bark or phloem. Complete Guide. Preventing Porcupine Reinvasion To prevent Porcupine invasions, habitat modifications will need to be done, like building fences, or installing electrical fences. 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. Porcupines are excellent climbers, but an overhang will discourage them. Is there a substitute for septic systems? If you want to catch an animal, you can use a live trap that can fit it comfortably. Both contain menthol. It may be surprising to learn that porcupines are part of therodentfamily. That's my buddy, Vito. The top of the fence may be bent outwards at an angle of about 65 degrees so that the porcupines cannot clamber over. You can also use cayenne pepperpowderand sprinkle it around problem areas. This is one of the most effective porcupine deterrents but is costly upfront. 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. Porcupine Damage and Repellent Research In The Interior Pacific Northwest. Menthol and carvone have a very strong odor. Using hot sauce or capsaicin on plants and trees can prevent porcupine damage and help deter them from your yard entirely. Porcupines have an excellent sense of smell which they use to find food and understand their environment. Soak them in saltwater to smell and look tastier to porcupines. Repellents based on capsaicin (hot sauce is the active ingredient), thiram (a fungicide), or other mammal repellents could be applied. If you have used a lethal trap, porcupine quills are still a threat to you. When Im not out roaming around 50+ acres of pastures, woods, and a freshwater bass pond, Im at my computer writing on Pest Pointers. Once threatened, porcupines will chatter their teeth and produce a chemical odor to warn off predators. where regulations may be more restrictive, especially as it applies to discharge of firearms, transport of animals or use of trapping equipment. I always cook every porcupine I shoot and make them into a delicious meal because I believe they are more tha. These mammals typically live in other parts of the world in Asia, Europe and in Africa. Porcupines are a large rodent that can be dangerous to encounter due to their painful and often disease-causing quills on their body. - Lets Find Out, How To Get Water Stains Out Of Stainless Steel Refrigerator? The fisher cat is scarce or absent from much of the porcupines range, however, and the general lack of predators has led to porcupines having a nearly absent flight response, resulting many being hit by cars. How To Get Residue Off Laminate Floors - Complete Guide! Cottagelife.com is part of the Blue Ant Media Canada network 2023 Blue Ant Media. Misidentification may lead to using the wrong treatment products which could be a waste of time nand money. The following day, stir it again, then use a funnel to decant it . Porcupines might be able to climb fences but a wire strip at top of the fence installed at a 65-degree angle will make it harder for them to climb over. Porcupines from surrounding areas will usually Luckily, there are plenty of ways to deter them! One of the easiest ways to deter porcupines is by using scent deterrents. One-by-one-inch galvanized wire should be used if you want to keep out smaller animals. If you are from another state, please indicate your interest by signing up for notification when your state is added. Right: The upper and lower jaws of a porcupine. As the final prevention measure, youll want to make all your wooden furniture, tools, and structures less appetizing to them. They also have soft, brown-black guard hairs throughout their . Call us today! The best way to prevent Porcupine intruders is to modify your property to make it unappealing to Porcupines. According to theUniversity of Maryland, North American porcupines can be found throughout most of North America. Essential oils have exploded in popularity over the years. Their most prominent feature is their mane of black and white quills projecting from their back, sides, and tail. Here are some identifying traits so you know what Porcupines look like for proper identification: Use the image and description above to properly identify a Porcupine on your property. Previous How can we keep Canada geese away from our pond? Bend the top few inches outward at a 65-degree angle and run a smooth electrified wire 1 inches above the poultry wire. Even with all their defenses, porcupines are preyed upon by a several predators. It also depends on where the porcupine lives. 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. Once the Porcupine threat has been neutralized, you will want to make sure an invasion doesn't happen again. And it works! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. They will keep coming back for a food source. This liquid repellent has very little odor to people but to animals, its repulsive. nuzzle porcupines, which may cause considerable medical problems if the stock are not treated promptly. Letti & Co is user supported. Will deer eat raspberry plants? Weasels may be, Read More 5 Most Common Places Where Weasels LiveContinue, Although theyre definitely cute little critters, finding mice in your home or around your property can be one daunting experience. . The first reason is that capsaicin activates pain receptors in the mouth. When you're using dried, or ground, cayenne pepper, you'll need about 2 tablespoons for every gallon of water. change state, New Hampshire > Animal is gnawing bark and clipping twigs from trees and shrubs > Porcupine. The damage from rodents chewing through water pipes can be substantial and can occur either over time, or as one big "flood." When damage is slow, a small amount of water will continuously seep in spaces within the walls, causing buildup of toxic mold and rotting of wooden beams. Wood preservatives may repel porcupines. todd heyn. The essential oil is better if youre targeting a specific area, such as a shed corner, tool handle, or young tree. 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. Morin, P., Berteaux, D., & Klvana, I. 3. One other thing that spearmint oil can do is repel pesky porcupines and deter them from damaging your trees and structures. This causes porcupines to search elsewhere for food and leave your yard alone. Fisher cats, however, excel at preying upon porcupines and may even suppress porcupine populations in some places. Spray it on the area that is the most prone to chewing and gnawing. Email us at info@wildlifeanimalcontrol.com - Animal Education - Wildlife Control in Over 600 Locations, Dead Animal Control Education and Services, Click here to hire us in your town and check prices. Hierarchical habitat selection by North American porcupines in southern boreal forest. Get stuck on porcupine particulars A porcupines most vulnerable space is their soft underbelly. This necessity of nature has led to the porcupine being disliked for the damage it can cause to trees near homes or businesses. 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. Spray around the yard in areas where you want to repel porcupines. Properly dispose of and store your garbage. At the Smithsonian's National Zoo, the porcupines eat herbivore pellets and a variety of fruits, vegetables and greens. repel porcupines. Siding is usually attacked because of the bonding glue in plywood. Their winter food supply is of little nutritional value, however, and while they might eat a pound of food every day all winter, porcupines lose almost a third of their weight by spring. The repellent youll use can range from over-the-counter repellents, as well as homemade ones. 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. If you want to try to solve the problem yourself, you can look up a . But in eastern North America, by far one of the porcupines most formidable predators is the fisher, a larger cousin of the American marten. This ensures that the porcupine will need to step on the trigger plate in order to reach the food. Information about how to catch a porcupine - remove one stuck in the house. Once you have confirmed Porcupine activity, this is where you will apply treatment. Affiliate Disclosure. Install a fence on your property. Why does hot sauce deter porcupines? Scent deterrents must be reapplied to the problem area weekly and anytime after heavy rainfall. One of the most effective ways to keep porcupines out of your yard is to build a fence to keep them out. To deter porcupines from entering your property, use different scents that will confuse them. Porcupine fences should be at least 18 inches high and buried 6 inches in the ground. Another option is to buy a pre-made solution. Even a small mesh bag of moth flakes/balls (napthalene) placed near damage may help. Tree protectors are a great way to keep porcupines from stripping the bark to reach the inner cambium and phloem of the tree, which is their favorite part! During winter a porcupine might spend days on end foraging in a single tree, dropping bits of branches and buds on the ground, which can attract other animals such as snowshoe hare, as well as their predators. Information about how to kill a porcupine - with poison or other methods. Their appearance can also attract predators like mountain lions and bears. Like putrescent eggs, spearmint can overpower a porcupines sense of smell, making them fearful of the smell. 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