How to Decorate for Fall Without Inviting Wildlife to Your Home

I am the self-proclaimed Clark Griswold of Halloween, so I completely understand the desire to go all-out when decorating your home for fall.

Straw bales. Corn stalks. Pumpkins. Spider webs. Mums. Skeletons. If there is an empty spot on the porch, surely it needs something.

But some of our favorite Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations can unintentionally create food sources, nesting material, climbing routes, and other opportunities for wildlife around our homes.

That doesn't mean you have to give up the fall display. A few simple changes can help you enjoy the season without accidentally turning your decorations into a wildlife welcome mat.

Keep Straw Bales Away From the House

Straw bales look great in a fall display, but they're one of the decorations we're most cautious about.

Many decorative bales are purchased from feed stores or similar retailers where they may have been stored in open trailers or other areas accessible to mice. That means there's always a possibility that your new decoration comes with a tiny hitchhiker.

Even without a mouse already inside, a straw bale provides an enormous amount of potential nesting material and shelter.

Our recommendation: Keep straw bales approximately 20–30 feet away from your home rather than placing them directly against the porch, foundation, garage, or siding.

You can still incorporate them into a yard display—just give them some distance from the structure.

Don't Turn Corn Stalks Into Wildlife Ladders

Bundled corn stalks around porch columns are a fall decorating classic, but they can create two problems.

First, stalks tied against a porch column or another part of the house can provide an easier climbing route toward the roofline for animals such as rodents, squirrels, and raccoons.

Second, decorative stalks that still contain ears of corn come with their own built-in wildlife food source.

A better option: Remove the ears of corn before displaying the stalks and avoid positioning them where they create a direct route from the ground to your home's roofline.

You want your decorations to attract compliments from the neighbors—not squirrels to the soffit.

Be Careful With Decorative Spider Webbing

Few decorations transform a porch for Halloween faster than artificial spider webs, but the type you use matters.

The thin, wispy webbing sold in bags can become an entanglement hazard for birds. Once pieces begin coming loose, the material can also become potential nesting material for rodents.

Consider reserving this type of webbing for indoor decorating instead.

The heavier rope-style spider webs create a different problem. When stretched from the ground to a porch, gutter, roofline, or other part of the structure, you've essentially created a large climbing net.

Instead, consider hanging rope-style webs between trees, fences, posts, or freestanding decorations away from the house.

Think Twice About Where You Put Your Mums

Nothing says fall quite like a porch full of colorful mums.

Unfortunately, local deer may appreciate your decorating choices just as much as you do.

The flowers and foliage can become an attractive seasonal food source for deer. If deer activity is already common around your property, placing large numbers of mums near walkways and entrances may encourage them to spend more time close to the home.

Consider using less attractive plants in high-deer-pressure areas or placing your mums where browsing deer are less likely to encounter them.

Pumpkins and Gourds Are Still Food

To us, pumpkins and gourds are decorations.

To wildlife, they're food.

Raccoons, skunks, opossums, deer, rats, mice, and other animals don't care that you carefully selected the perfect pumpkin to complement your porch.

An intact pumpkin may last quite a while outdoors, but once you carve it, odors become much easier for wildlife to detect.

Wait as long as possible before carving outdoor pumpkins.

If you're decorating weeks before Halloween, leave your pumpkins intact and save the carving for closer to the holiday.

What About Painted Pumpkins?

Painting pumpkins is a great alternative to carving, particularly if you want your display to last longer.

However, painted pumpkins can present another problem if wildlife decides to eat them.

If you're using conventional paints or other decorative coatings, consider keeping those pumpkins indoors where animals cannot access them. If painted pumpkins will be displayed outside, explore nontoxic options made with natural ingredients when possible.

And one more thing:

Please don't leave pumpkins outside specifically because you've heard they're a "natural dewormer" for wildlife.

Claims about pumpkins acting as wildlife dewormers are frequently repeated online, but that isn't a good reason to intentionally provide pumpkins as food to wild animals.

Give Wildlife a Chance to Leave Before You Step Outside

Your fall display may look quiet when you glance through the window at night, but there could be an animal investigating those pumpkins, plants, straw bales, or other decorations.

Before walking outside after dark—especially with a dog—turn your exterior lights on and wait two or three minutes.

That little bit of warning gives wildlife an opportunity to move away before suddenly encountering you or your pet.

Avoiding a surprise encounter is much easier than dealing with a frightened skunk, raccoon, or other animal at close range.

Don't Leave Plastic Pumpkin Buckets Outside

Those classic plastic jack-o'-lantern trick-or-treat buckets can pose a surprisingly serious hazard to deer.

A deer investigating food or candy odors can push its head inside a discarded bucket. The plastic handle can then slide behind its ears or antlers and prevent the bucket from coming loose.

That can leave the animal unable to see properly, eat, or drink.

After trick-or-treating, bring plastic pumpkin buckets indoors rather than leaving them around the yard.

If you're disposing of one, cut through the plastic handle completely so it can no longer form a loop capable of becoming caught around an animal.

Fall Decorating Doesn't Have to Create a Wildlife Problem

The goal isn't to make your home less festive.

It's simply to think about your decorations from the perspective of the wildlife living around us.

Ask yourself:

Is it food? Is it shelter? Is it nesting material? Does it create a climbing route? Could an animal become tangled or trapped in it?

If the answer to any of those questions is yes, a small change in placement or materials may allow you to keep the look you want without unintentionally encouraging wildlife activity around your home.

And if your fall decorations reveal something bigger—mouse activity around the foundation, squirrels accessing the roofline, raccoons visiting the porch, or another nuisance wildlife issue—Huntsman Wildlife can help identify why the animals are being attracted to the property and how they're gaining access to the structure.

Enjoy the pumpkins. Enjoy the mums. Cover the house in Halloween decorations if that's your thing.

Just make sure the neighborhood wildlife isn't enjoying your display quite as much as you are.