Who’s been eating my house?
I have a problem at my cabin in the woods in West Virginia lately. Something’s been chewing on the wood in places. I first noticed about two years ago that something was chewing on unfinished deck railings. Generally once I put WOODguard on them, they were no longer as tasty and it stopped. I saw a large critter once or twice, but never up close as I scared it away too quickly. Recently I noticed new attempts to eat the place where the wood was treated.
Having bugs, animals and such eating and generally doing harm to wood structures is pretty common around here. Talking with neighbors, squirrels and porcupines were the most common theories. One neighbor’s dog recently tangled with a porcupine in the woods between us and had to go the vet. There are also plenty of squirrels around but they seem too small for the damage.
Now I know. A few days ago I heard wood chewing sounds coming from outside. Through the basement window I saw this guy chewing on a pile of scrap wood. I managed this and another picture before he left. So now I need to figure out what animal this is and if there’s any good ways to stop him.
