Porcupines
Porcupines' eating habits they will destroy your trees, foliage, and vegetation.
View our Porcupine Photo Gallery General Porcupine Facts
The porcupine is one of the world’s largest rodents, known for its spines or quills which are used to defend it from many predators. Their short legs cause them to walk with a waddle, and they are quite slow and awkward when they move about. Porcupines, or erethizon dorsatum, usually weight between 10 and 30 pounds. Adult porcupines, sometimes called “porkies” or “quill pigs,” are generally about 30 inches long. Each animal will have about 30,000 sharp, barbed quills covering its back.
Like all rodents, porcupines’ teeth grow constantly; therefore, they have a great need to gnaw in order to keep their teeth ground to a short enough length.
Porcupines are edible and have been used by humans as emergency food. Native Americans use the quills as decoporcupineion, and the porcupine’s expensive hair is used for fly-fishing lures.
A porcupine’s eyesight is poor, but its keen senses of smell and hearing make up for that lack.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q-1. WHERE DO PORCUPINES LIVE?
Q-2. WHEN IS A PORCUPINE MOST ACTIVE?
Q-3. WHAT FOODS WILL A PORCUPINE EAT?
Q-4. WHY SHOULD I LEARN HOW TO GET RID OF PORCUPINES IN MY TREES OR YARD?
Q-5. WHY SHOULD I LEARN TO HOW TO GET RID OF PORCUPINES UNDER MY PORCH, HOUSE, CRAWLSPACE OR SHED?
Q-6. I HEARD A PORCUPINE CAN CARRY DISEASES. IS THAT TRUE?
Q-7. I HEARD INSECTS WILL LIVE ON A PORCUPINE. IS THAT TRUE?
Q-8. I WANT TO TRAP OR KILL A PORCUPINE MYSELF. IS THAT OK?
Q-9. HOW CAN UNITED WILDLIFE’S ANIMAL CONTROL HELP ME GET RID OF MY PORCUPINE PROBLEM?
Q-10. WHAT ARE UNITED WILDLIFE’S PAYMENT OPTIONS FOR PORCUPINE REMOVAL OR TO GET RID OF A PORCUPINE?
Q-11. WHAT SHOULD I DO AFTER UNITED WILDLIFE ANIMAL CONTROL EXTERMINATES OR RELOCATES A PORCUPINE?
Q-1. WHERE DO PORCUPINES LIVE?
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A. Porcupines are found throughout western and northern North America. They prefer to live in coniferous forest areas. Porcupines will wander from prairie river bottoms to deserts to alpine tundra.
When porcupines sleep during the day, they will often do so in caves, timber downfalls or rockslides. But porcupines can also choose your deck as a den site. Decks, sheds, crawlspaces and other structures they will climb under provide shade and low tempeporcupineures during the day, in addition to shelter from predators.
Q-2. WHEN IS A PORCUPINE MOST ACTIVE?
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A. Despite the porcupine’s slow-moving habits, it will wander great distances when moving about. Porcupines are nocturnal, which means they are busy and awake during the night. The animals are active year-round: It is not common for porcupines to become dormant at any point of the year
Autumn is the time of year for porcupines to mate. During this time of year, if a porcupine is in your yard, you are likely to hear its moans, screams, grunts and barks. After a seven-month pregnancy, a mother porcupine will commonly have just one porcupine baby. The young are capable of eating vegetation on their own within just a week, but they will usually stay around the momma porcupine at least for a few more months. Porcupine babies are born fully developed, with eyes open and a full coat of quills.
Porcupines generally live up to nine years in the wild. In general, porcupines are antisocial and lead a pretty solitary life. Sometimes the animals will group together for winter denning or food purposes. Up to 100 have been found in large rock piles in the winter months.
Q-3. WHAT FOODS WILL A PORCUPINE EAT?
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A. The majority of the porcupine diet is made up of vegetation, and any animal matter they do eat is thought to be an unintended side effect of the manner in which they find their food.
Porcupines eat herbaceous plants, inner tree bark, leaves and twigs. Porcupines seem to prefer vegetation from aspen, willow, cottonwood and ponderosa pine. This is because this group of trees has thin, smooth bark, porcupineher than thick, rough bark, which porcupines dislike.
Q-4. WHY SHOULD I LEARN HOW TO GET RID OF PORCUPINES IN MY TREES OR YARD?
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A. Porcupines destroy trees in yards and golf courses. Porcupine feeding can take a considerable toll on the plants and vegetation on your property. Cottonwoods of western river bottoms seem to take the biggest beating from porcupine chewing. Forest plantings, ornamentals, nursery plants and orchards will all be at risk if you allow a porcupine to stay and eat.
Porcupine tree damage is a huge concern. Their chewing can expose tree roots, girdle and clip trees—all great ways to kill a tree in your yard or golf course. Porcupines will also gnaw on the base of a tree, causing it to not be fully supported. Porcupines can climb trees, and they will clip branches from the tree to eat them, exposing the tree to disease, which can lead to decay. It’s important to get on top of a porcupine pest problem before porcupines hit root systems and kill trees, shrubs and ornamentals. Winter is often the worst time for porcupine tree damage, as they have no smaller vegetation to eat. In the summer, porcupines will graze more on fruits, vegetables and succulent plants.
Items stored in sheds or yards are also at risk for porcupine damage. Porcupines will gnaw on plywood, grains, alfalfa and sweet corn. Expensive leather goods, such as tack equipment, may become chew toys for porcupines, too.
If porcupines are in your yard or golf-course area, a plethora of other harmful animals will also be attracted to your property. Coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and black bears all prey on porcupines and will enter your property and cause their own pest problems and dangers while in search of the animals.
Q-5. WHY SHOULD I LEARN TO HOW TO GET RID OF PORCUPINES UNDER MY PORCH, HOUSE, CRAWLSPACE OR SHED?
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A. Porcupines living under your deck, house or shed pose a danger to humans, children and house pets due to the presence of their sharp, barbed quills. These modified hairs are painful and time-consuming to remove, and it can be quite traumatic for a child or pet to become stuck with them. It is a myth that porcupines throw their quills, and they are not usually aggressive creatures, but they will defend their space if an unknowing human or pet enters it. If a porcupine gets involved in a confrontation, it will often chatter its teeth. Dogs, especially, seem to love to chase porcupines, and they never learn. Livestock, such as cows, horses and sheep will also nuzzle porcupines, and the quills can cause severe medical problems if the animal is not treated promptly.
Porcupines have been known to find their way into outbuildings such as sheds and boat houses where they will seriously damage beams and other support structures with their gnawing.
If porcupines should choose to die near your home or business, the dead-porcupine odor may emanate into the living quarters, causing headaches and nausea. Porcupines could also fall down into window wells and mechanical boxes in their search for food and die.
All these porcupine-pest problems will affect the value of your property. It is difficult to sell a house on property that has an animal infestation and actually, it’s required by law that you fix the porcupine problem before you sell your home. Property value can decrease between five percent and ten percent due to animal problems.
Q-6. I HEARD A PORCUPINE CAN CARRY DISEASES. IS THAT TRUE?
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A. Though it is less common than in some other animals, porcupines can be carriers of rabies. Rabies, a virus, progressively paralyzes and can kill any mammal, including humans. Rabies is generally contracted through contact with an infected porcupine through biting. Though humans should avoid contact with any porcupine, if a porcupine seems especially fearless around humans, it could be infected. Call United Wildlife animal control immediately for professional porcupine removal.
Q-7. I HEARD INSECTS WILL LIVE ON A PORCUPINE. IS THAT TRUE?
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A. Porcupines are heavily infested with pests, which can spread into your home or business searching for hosts. Ticks, fleas and mites are all known carriers of disease.
Several cases of mites biting humans indoors have been reported.
Ticks are very mobile and have been known to crawl into buildings that porcupines are living in, and travel great distances to attach themselves to people.
If a porcupine brings fleas near your home, most likely the biting bug will hop onto your house pet’s back. Once inside, large flea populations can build up quickly. Fleas live on the outside of their hosts’ bodies and need to feed on blood in order to produce eggs.
A bug living on a porcupine on your property can become an infestation in your pantry or carpet in no time. One or two mites may stray from the porcupine den in your crawlspace or under your deck, and crawl along your kitchen table. But if the porcupine abandons its home for any reason, the whole caboodle of porcupine bugs will enter your home, looking for a new host. This is why it’s especially important to have our animal-control experts remove porcupine dens after all the porcupines have been removed.
Porcupines are a liability for businesses, golf courses and restaurants. Animal bugs may infect your employees, guests or food. Also, if you are an employer and your workers’ environment is being contaminated by animals, you will see a drop in productivity due to illness. Remember, United Wildlife’s porcupine pest-control experts can eradicate and manage a pest infestation brought in by an animal. Porcupine tree and yard damage can be extensive and cost much to replace and repair.
Q-8. I WANT TO TRAP OR KILL A PORCUPINE MYSELF. IS THAT OK?
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A. We understand the desire to take care of a porcupine problem yourself. It may be tempting to take matters into your own hands, but in the long run, you could put yourself, your family and your home at risk of damage, distress and disease. You must have special licensing and training to use porcupine poisons or repellents.
Porcupines are well-disguised and hard to find for the novice trapper. An animal sleeping in a tree will often look like a nest of a squirrel or crow.
Because of the unique behaviors of porcupines, it is very difficult for an amateur animal-trapper to know how to get rid of porcupines. Shooting is not a good option to get rid of porcupines. If you don’t know what you’re doing when you trap a porcupine, it is likely the animal will become trap-shy and never come near your bait again. The animal-removal experts at United Wildlife will humanely trap any existing porcupines, and then offer porcupine-prevention ideas and techniques.
Q-9. HOW CAN UNITED WILDLIFE’S ANIMAL CONTROL HELP ME GET RID OF MY PORCUPINE PROBLEM?
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A. United Wildlife’s specialty is the removal of porcupines in yards and under houses or decks through special trapping techniques. Depending on city, county, federal and state law, the porcupine will either be relocated or euthanized once it is taken away. No matter the course of action, the animal will be treated in a humane manner.
It’s important to trap or kill porcupines immediately. Animals can be controlled and United Wildlife’s porcupine exterminators have huge success in trapping porcupines. United Wildlife’s porcupine trappers use a variety of live traps, kill traps, body-gripping traps and snaring, depending on the kind of porcupine infestation.
If a porcupine has already died in your yard or under your house, our professional porcupine trappers have dead-animal removal services and can also help clear odors caused by dead porcupines.
We’re professional porcupine trappers who will travel to any location to get the porcupines out, and we can do professional phone and Internet coaching with the use of digital pictures for those who live in remote areas, but who want to perform pest control for porcupines. We can also ship traps and equipment to help you trap animals yourself the right way. Either way, we will work with you to solve your porcupine invasion. There is not a porcupine problem that can’t be solved with United Wildlife’s professional porcupine-trapping service.
Q-10. WHAT ARE UNITED WILDLIFE’S PAYMENT OPTIONS FOR PORCUPINE REMOVAL OR TO GET RID OF A PORCUPINE?
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A. Call United Wildlife’s porcupine-extermination specialists and we’ll give you our porcupinees. We charge incrementally per porcupine, number of service calls and time spent on project. Prices will vary depending on severity of the porcupine problem. Depending on the amount of animals and where they are living, you may be able to assist us with the porcupine problem as we are dealing with it. There is no free government service that takes care of porcupine control. The good news is, insurance companies will often pay for some, if not all, of the costs incurred to get rid of porcupines.
United Wildlife porcupine experts accept Visa, Master Card and American Express. We also take purchase orders and cash.
Q-11. WHAT SHOULD I DO AFTER UNITED WILDLIFE ANIMAL CONTROL EXTERMINATES OR RELOCATES A PORCUPINE?
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A. Don’t entice other porcupines to return. We will help you make sure your yard, deck, house and shed are in proper order to deter any future quilled friends from entering. United Wildlife’s animal trappers know how to keep the porcupines out by using special porcupine fencing.
United Wildlife’s porcupine blockers can install special products which block porcupines from making a den and eating in your yard, shed or deck.
Do remember that porcupines are wild and unpredictable. Though we have years of experience in the animal-extermination field, a particular porcupine situation may require that we return more than once to get the job done right and to prevent porcupines in your yard or shed in the future. Incremental pricing will apply for our professional porcupine removal and all porcupine solutions are custom-made and custom-priced.
Our mission at United Wildlife is to help identify your porcupine pest damage. We will remove the existing porcupine-pest and develop a custom-wildlife solution to stop or control the porcupine problem from occurring again.
In the end, if you’re happy with our experienced, professional porcupine trappers, any referrals are always appreciated.
Porcupine Problem?
Our professional trappers can take control of your situation.
Call us now at 1-888-488-1415 or contact us online.
More Porcupine Information
Lifefacts
Porcupines are nocturnal, which means they are most active at night.
Diet
They like to eat grasses, leaves, dandelions, clover and other wild flowers, they can also swim so they eat pond weeds, water-lilies and arrowhead. They like to nibble on trees like: hemlock, fir, pin, maple, beech, birch, oak, elm, cherry, and willow. They will also gnaw on other wood objects and sometimes houses.
Shelter
Dens are in rock crevices, caves, hollow logs, abandoned mines, and under houses and barns.
DAMAGE PREVENTION AND CONTROL METHODS
(For more detailed information, continue to scroll further down the page)
Control Methods
- Exclusion
- Fences (small areas).
- Tree trunk guards.
Cultural Methods
- Encourage closed-canopy forest
stands.
Trapping
- Steel leghold trap (No. 2 or 3).
Body-gripping (Conibear®) trap
(No. 220 or 330).
- Box trap.
Shooting
- Day shooting and spotlighting are
effective where legal.
Other Methods
- Encourage natural predators.
Identification
Porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum), sometimes
called “porkies” or “quill pigs,”
are heavy-bodied, shortlegged,
slow, and awkward rodents,
with a waddling gait. Adults are typically
25 to 30 inches (64 to 76 cm) long
and weigh 10 to 30 pounds (4.5 to 13.5
kg). They rely on their sharp, barbed
quills (up to 30,000 per individual) for
defense.
Range and Habitat
The porcupine is a common resident of
the coniferous forests of western and
northern North America. It
wanders widely and is found from
cottonwood stands along prairie river
bottoms and deserts to alpine tundra.
not unusual. How the quills are
maneuvered through the coyote’s
gastrointestinal tract is a mystery.
Porcupines are active year-round and
are primarily nocturnal, often resting
in trees during the day. They favor
caves, rock slides, and thick timber
downfalls for shelter.
Damage and Damage
Identification
Clipped twigs on fresh snow, tracks,
and gnawings on trees are useful
means of damage identification. Trees are often deformed from partial
girdling. Porcupines clip twigs and
branches that fall to the ground or
onto snow and often provide food for
deer and other mammals. The considerable
secondary effects of their feeding
come from exposing the tree
sapwood to attack by disease, insects,
and birds. This exposure is important
to many species of wildlife because
diseased or hollow trees provide shelter
and nest sites.
Porcupines occasionally will cause
considerable losses by damaging
fruits, sweet corn, alfalfa, and small
grains. They chew on hand tools and
other wood objects while seeking salt.
They destroy siding on cabins when
seeking plywood resins.
Porcupines offer a considerable threat
to dogs, which never seem to learn to
avoid them. Domestic stock occasionally
will nuzzle a porcupine and may
be fatally injured if quills are not
removed promptly.
Legal Status
Porcupines are considered nongame
animals and are not protected.
General Biology,
Reproduction, and
Behavior
Porcupines breed in autumn, and after
a 7-month gestation period usually
produce 1 offspring in spring.
Although the young are capable of
eating vegetation within a week after
birth, they generally stay with the
female through the summer. Juvenile
survival porcupinees are high. Predators of porcupines include
coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, black
bears, fishers, martens, great horned
owls, and others.
Food Habits
Porcupines eat herbaceous plants,
inner tree bark, twigs, and leaves, with
an apparent preference for ponderosa
pine, aspen, willow, and cottonwood.
Trees with thin, smooth bark are preferred
over those with thick, rough
bark. Porcupine feeding is frequently
evident and has considerable impact
on the cottonwood stands of western
river bottoms.
Damage Prevention and
Control Methods
Exclusion
Fencing small tree plantings, orchards,
and gardens is effective in reducing
porcupine damage. A
4- to 6-inch (10- to 15-cm) electric fence
can be enhanced by painting molasses
on the wire. Porcupines will climb
fences, but an overhanging wire strip
around the top of the fence at a 65o
angle to the upright wire will discourage
them.
Completely enclose small trees with
wire baskets or encircle the trunks of
fruit and ornamental trees with 30-inch
(70-cm) bands of aluminum flashing to
reduce damage.
Cultural Methods
Thinned forest stands are vulnerable
to porcupine damage because lower
vegetation can thrive. Porcupine populations
are usually lower in closed
canopy stands where understory vegetation
is scant.
Repellents
Thiram is registered as a squirrel and
rabbit repellent and may incidentally
repel porcupines. This material is
sprayed or painted on the plants subject
to damage. It must be renewed
occasionally to remain effective. Common
wood preservatives may repel
porcupines when applied to exterior
plywoods. Avoid using wood preservatives
that are metal-salt solutions.
These will attract porcupines.
Toxicants
No toxicants can be legally used to
control porcupines.
Trapping
Steel leghold traps of size No. 2 or 3
can be used to catch porcupines where
legal. Cubby sets with salt baits, trail
sets in front of dens, and coyote urine
scent post sets near dens and damage
activity are effective. Scent post and
trail sets must be checked daily to
release nontarget animals that might
be caught. Leghold traps should be
bedded, firmly placed and leveled,
and offset slightly to the side of the
trail. The trapped porcupine can be
shot or killed by a sharp blow to the
head.
The No. 220 or 330 Conibear® bodygripping
trap can be baited with a saltsoaked
material or placed in den
entrances to catch and kill porcupines.
Care must be taken to avoid taking
nontarget animals, since salt attracts
many animals. The Conibear® trap
does not allow the release of accidental
catches. Some states do not allow the
use of No. 330 Conibear® traps for
ground sets.
Porcupines are porcupineher easy to livetrap
with large commercial cage traps (32 x
10 x 12 inches [81 x 25 x 30.5 cm]) or
homemade box traps. Place the live
trap in the vicinity of damage and bait
with a salt-soaked cloth, sponge, or
piece of wood. Live traps also can be
set at den entrances. Move the porcupine
25 miles (40 km) or more to
ensure that it does not return. Since
most areas of suitable habitat carry
large porcupine populations, relocation
of the porcupine often is neither
helpful nor humane since the introduced
animal may have a poor chance
of survival.
Shooting
Persistent hunting and shooting of
porcupines can be effective in reducing
the population in areas that require
protection. Night hunting, where legal,
is effective. During winter months,
porcupines are active and can be
tracked in the snow and shot with a
.22-caliber rifle or pistol. Porcupines
often congregate around good denning
sites and extensively girdle trees in the
area. In such places large numbers
may be taken by shooting.
Other Consideporcupineions
Porcupines are mobile and continually
reinvade control areas. Complete control
is not desirable since it would require
complete removal of porcupines.
Try to limit lethal porcupine control to
individual animals causing damage by
fencing and management of the plant
species. In areas of high porcupine
populations, plant ornamentals that
are not preferred foods. Intensive
predator control may encourage porcupine
population increases.
Economics of Damage
and Control
Economic losses can be considerable
from porcupines feeding on forest
plantings, ornamentals, and orchards
as well as on leather and other human
implements. Porcupines generally are
toleporcupineed except when commercial timber,
high-value ornamental plantings,
orchards, or nursery plants are damaged
by girdling, basal gnawing, or
branch clipping. On occasion, porcupines
thin dense, crowded forest
stands. Often tree diameter growth is
reduced. Their preference for mistletoe
as a food is an asset.
The porcupine is acclaimed as a beautiful
creature of nature. It is an interesting
animal that has an important place
in the environment. It is edible and has
been used by humans as an emergency
food. The quills are used for decoporcupineions,
especially by Native Americans.
The hair, currently used for fly-fishing
lures, commands many dollars per
ounce. Porcupines are not wary and
can be readily observed and photographed
by nature lovers. Porcupines
may need to be controlled but should
not be totally eradicated.
*The above information was taken from a University of Nebraska Web site with
express permission of Stephen Vatassel, wildlife damage project coordinator.
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