The Macon, Columbus, and South Georgia office of Rid-A-Critter handles calls for a lot of animals who aren't quite important enough to merit their own pages on our site, but who still make nuisances of themselves from time to time. This page discusses a few of the more common ones. For others, please visit our main company site, or just call us for more information.
Skunks are small- to medium-sized animals with black and white coloration. They're mainly carnivorous and their diet includes insects, grubs, earthworms, and other small animals. They're also primarily nocturnal, usually appearing in the late afternoon and early evening; but younger skunks, skunks that have become semi-tame, and skunks that are ill often venture out during the day.
A lot of folks are afraid of skunks because of their ability to spray a foul-smelling liquid when they are threatened. And for sure, if you or an animal of yours get sprayed, getting the stink off of you may take weeks.
But skunks really don't like to spray. It takes them a while to regenerate the liquid after they spray, which leaves them temporarily vulnerable. They also seem not to like the smell very much (or possibly the liquid irritates them) because they try to remove the liquid from themselves after they spray. Finally, skunks are pretty peaceful animals by nature. They don't go around looking for trouble.
In fact, a mature skunk will seldom spray unless it thinks its life is in danger. (Younger skunks may be a bit quicker on the trigger.) Before they spray, skunks usually give warnings that may include arching their backs, stamping their feet, and sometimes growling or hissing. In almost all cases, it's only if you ignore those warnings that a skunk will spray you.
Most of the time there's really no reason to bother trapping and removing skunks. They usually do no harm, and they actually do some good by eating destructive insects, grubs, and small rodents. So unless they appear ill or are creating a nuisance, our advice is to consider just leaving them be.
Muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents that are somewhat bigger and stockier than a Norway rat, and have a distinctive, knife-shaped tail. They live along streams, ponds, and other bodies of water and build "lodges" out of mud, twigs, and grass. They're excellent swimmers and use their tails as rudders while swimming.
Most of the time, muskrats are harmless and can be left alone. Although some people are afraid of them, they're not aggressive animals. They can cause problems, however, when their lodges impede the flow of water in a stream or through a drainage ditch or culvert. This can cause localized flooding at and upstream of the blockage.
Muskrats can also be agricultural or garden pests because they like to nibble at vegetable crops. Typically they'll take a nibble or two from many different vegetables, thus destroying a great deal more of the crop than they actually eat. They'll eat almost anything, but they seem especially fond of squash, yams, and eggplants.
Muskrats aren't the kind of animal we can exclude from your property permanently. We can trap and remove them if they're causing a problem, but there's nothing we can do to prevent "new" muskrats from moving in to replace the ones we removed. The aim of muskrat control, therefore, is to remove the muskrats that are causing problems. We can't guarantee that new muskrats won't move in and taking their place.
The Macon regional office of Rid-A-Critter occasionally comes across other animal problems that are uncommon enough that they don't rate their own section on this page, much less a page of their own. We've trapped and removed gophers, turkeys, chickens, and many other unusual animals. So whatever critter is causing you problems, please call us. Chances are that we can help.
you have a problem with any animal problem, and we'll let you know if we can help you out. Most likely, we can.
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The Macon, Georgia office of Rid-A-Critter provides animal control and animal proofing in the Macon, Columbus, and South Georgia areas, including Adel, Albany, Americus, Barnesville, Byron, Camilla, Centerville, Columbus, Cordele, Culloden, Cuthbert, Dawson, Eastman, Fitzgerald, Forsyth, Fort Valley, Gray, Griffin, Hawkinsville, Jackson, Juliette, Kathleen, Milledgeville, Moultrie, Perry, Roberta, Sylvester, Thomaston, Thomasville, Tifton, Valdosta, Warner Robins, Yatesville, and Zebulon. We are fully licensed and insured.
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