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Animal Facts
Wildlife in your neighborhood
Many people gain great pleasure from watching and/or feeding urban wildlife and actively invite or encourage them. However, not everyone shares that view! Sometimes wild animals can pose problems, especially if they take up residence in your home. You can call American Wildlife Agents to take away your fear.
For your convenience, we’ve put together a list of wild animals that you might find in or around your home.
Animal Fact Sheets - Table of Contents
Name:
Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Type:
Mammal
Size:
5 to 36 in (13 to 91 cm)
Weight:
​0.5 oz to 4 lbs (14 g to 2 kg)
Diet:
Omnivore: (Nuts, acorns, berries, and fruits from trees, fresh plant shoots and buds. Bird eggs are taken where possible, as are baby birds, from the nests.)
Breeding:
Female squirrels give birth twice a year to liters of between 3 and 7 kittens.
Animal Behavior:
Diurnal (meaning coming out during the day)
Facts:
Like other rodents, squirrels have four front teeth that never stop growing so they don't wear down from the constant gnawing. Tree squirrels are the types most commonly recognized, often seen gracefully scampering and leaping from branch to branch.
So what’s the problem?
When squirrels enter an attic space, they can cause structural damage by tearing up attic insulation for bedding, chewing timbers, pipe work, and stored items, and posing a fire hazard by stripping insulation from electrical wiring. They may also be noisy, and if they drown in uncovered water storage tanks, may contaminate the water supply. For these reasons, it is important to keep squirrels out of attics.
Name:
Raccoon (Procyon Lotor – Bear family)
Type:
Mammal
Size:
23.75 to 37.5 in (60 to 95 cm)
Weight:
4 to 23 lbs (1.8 to 10.4 kg)
Diet:
Raccoons are not fussy eaters. When fruits, acorns, vegetables, and seeds are ripe, raccoons will feed on them. However, they also enjoy eggs, insects, crayfish, frogs, fish, rats, or mice. They'll even eat dead animals that they encounter! Raccoons raid bird feeders, pet food bowls, and human trash. They sometimes "wash" their food in your pool, rapidly dunking it in water before eating.
Breeding:
Females have 1-5 cubs in early summer. The young raccoons often spend the first 2 months of their lives dwelling in safe places like your attic.
Animal Behavior:
Nocturnal (meaning most active at night)
Facts:
Raccoons have few enemies other than man. A few are killed by predators such as bobcats and horned owls, but the overall numbers are insignificant. Automobiles likely kill more.
So what’s the problem?
The greatest problem with raccoons is disease. Raccoons carry a wide variety of diseases such as rabies, distemper, roundworm, Giardia lamblia, etc. They also host parasites, such as lice and fleas. People with raccoons in the attic will notice that their pets (and in a few cases themselves) suddenly have fleas that they never had before.
Rabies is the most commonly cited disease associated with raccoons. Never approach a raccoon that looks sick, confused, or that is moving awkwardly.
Distemper is even more common; pets (such as dogs) are very vulnerable to this disease. Early stages of distemper mimic rabies.
Raccoon excrement (droppings) can contain raccoon roundworms; this parasitic worm infects humans. The egg spores in excrement are light and become airborne – Humans breathe the spores and become infected. Infection can lead to larval parasite migration of the central nervous system. Egg spores can live for years as dry pods; this is very dangerous to humans (especially children). Raccoon roundworm is a more dangerous and realistic threat than rabies.
Raccoons also carry Giardia lamblia, a protozoan causing diarrhea associated with ingesting food or water contaminated by raccoon excrement (i.e., swimming pools).
Name:
Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)
Type:
Mammal
Size:
Length from nose to tail, 2.5 ft (76 cm
Weight:
8.8 to 13.2 lb (4 to 6 kg)
Diet:
Opossums eat grass, nuts, and fruit or will hunt other small animals such as mice, birds, insects, worms, snakes, and chickens. They are also scavengers that often raid garbage cans and dumpsters and are attracted to carrion (the carcass of a dead animal).
Breeding:
The babies are generally born between February and June. A female may have 1-3 litters per year and up to 20 babies per litter.
Animal Behavior:
Nocturnal (meaning most active at night)
Facts:
Opossums are the only marsupial (pouched mammal) animals that are found in the US. These animals are most famous for "playing possum" (pretending to be dead) when threatened.
So what’s the problem?
Opossums are excellent tree climbers and tend to spend much of their time in attics causing damage to your AC ducts and insulation. They are also carriers of diseases such as tuberculosis, salmonella, toxoplasmosis, and rabies (rarely), etc. Opossums are reservoirs for leptospirosis (hemorrhagic jaundice) in wildlife and humans, which is transmitted through the urine and feces of infected animals. Opossums are also infested with fleas, ticks, mites, and lice, which are also carriers/transmitters of disease.
Name:
Armadillo (Dasypus)
Type:
Mammal
Size:
5 to 59 in (13 to 150 cm)
Weight:
​3 oz to 120 lbs (85 g to 54 kg)
Diet:
Omnivore
Breeding:
The season is in the summer. There are usually 4 babies per year.
Animal Behavior:
Nocturnal during the summer and Diurnal during the winter.
Facts:
Armadillo is a Spanish word that means, “little armored one”. It refers to the bony plates that cover the back, head, legs, and tail of these creatures. Armadillos are the only living mammals that wear such shells.
So what’s the problem?
Armadillos are considered more a nuisance than a danger. They are expert diggers that spend time burrowing in your yard and can even go under your home (including AC slabs and pool decks), causing foundation cracks. When they leave, they leave their home behind for other animals to inhabit
Name:
Roof Rat (Rattus rattus)
Type:
Rodentia (Rodent)
Size:
Body 3-8 inches long; Tail 3-8 inches
Weight:
5 to 12 oz
Diet:
Rats eat a variety of food; they will eat almost anything. In nature, they are true omnivorous scavengers, but mostly prefer grain, livestock feed, and meat. Rats have also been known to eat soap, leather, furs, candy, milk, meat, vegetables, poultry, eggs, grain, seeds, fruit, nuts, snails and other rodents.
Breeding:
Rats can breed every 3-4 weeks. They can have up to 20 pups per litter.
Animal Behavior:
Nocturnal (meaning most active at night)
Facts:
A rat can eat a third of its body weight each day. The rat's main important consumption is water, as it cannot survive long without it. Rats need 1/2 to 1 ounce of water daily.
So what’s the problem?
Rats are very dangerous to your personal health and your home; they can spread diseases and damage your home from the inside out. Diseases associated with rat droppings, urine, saliva, or fleas include Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), Leptospirosis, Murine Typhus, Rat-bite fever, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Eosinophilic Meningitis, etc. Some of these diseases are bacterial and can be deadly, causing infections in the brain, lungs, respiratory system, etc. Rats can also chew through electrical wires, plumbing pipes, wood structures, AC ducts, tearing up insulation, etc., causing damages to your home.
Name:
Pigeon (Columba livia)
Type:
Bird
Size:
15.2-16.4 inches
Weight:
10-16 ounces
Diet:
Pigeons mainly eat seeds and fruit. They also eat a little leaf matter and some insects.
Breeding:
Pigeons can lay eggs every 8-12 days. They usually lay two white eggs and the incubation period is typically 17-19 days.
Animal Behavior:
Diurnal (meaning coming out during the day)
Facts:
Pigeons perch under structures, walkways, and in attics. Although they are often considered a nuisance, their droppings are harmful to humans.
So what’s the problem?
Three human diseases are known to be associated with pigeon droppings: histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, and psittacosis. Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by a fungus that grows in pigeon droppings. It causes infection, fatigue, fever, and chest pains. Cryptococcosis is another fungal disease that can compromise the immune system. Psittacosis (also known as ornithosis or parrot fever) causes a bacterial disease in humans, resulting in fatigue, fever, headache, rash, chills, and sometimes pneumonia.
Name:
Brazilian Free-tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis)
Type:
Mammal
Size:
95 mm
Weight:
11-14 g
Diet:
Their diverse diet includes insects and pest, primarily mosquitoes.
Breeding:
They breed in the winter and their gestation period ranges from 90 to 100 days. Only a single young is born in mid-June or early July each year.
Animal Behavior:
Nocturnal (meaning most active at night)
Facts:
Bats are the only flying mammals; Flying squirrels only glide. Also, these mammals are a protected species.
So what’s the problem?
Brazilian Free-tailed Bats are known carriers of rabies. However, long after they’ve left, the danger remains in your home. Their guano (droppings) can build up in attics and eaves. After it’s sat for a few years, a fungus begins to grow releasing spores into the air that cause histoplasmosis in humans. This can cause serious respiratory diseases in humans, fever, and chest pain. If left untreated, histoplasmosis can cause chronic lung disease that resembles tuberculosis. It can be especially fatal to young children and the elderly.