Our Story
Habitat Hack began with a simple question:
How can we make the places where people live a little better for the wildlife already living there?
The answer isn’t always complicated. Sometimes it means providing a safer place to shelter. Sometimes it means planting native flowers, reducing pesticides, leaving a little more cover, or simply understanding the wild animal passing through the backyard at night.
Founded by Angela, a Wildlife Conservation graduate of Unity Environmental University, Habitat Hack brings together wildlife science, hands-on building, practical habitat improvements, and a deep appreciation for the animals that share our communities.
Our goal is not to tame wildlife or bring it closer to people.
It is to create better habitat and give wildlife the space to remain wild.
What We Do
Habitat Hack is a wildlife habitat, building, and education project created for people who want to make a meaningful difference right where they live.
Whether you have acres of property, a suburban backyard, a small patio, or a city balcony, there are ways to support the natural world around you.
Here you’ll find:
Wildlife Habitat Projects
We design and build practical habitat features with the needs of wildlife in mind — beginning with the Habitat Hack Opossum Den, HHOD-V1, and expanding into nest boxes, houses, habitat structures, and other wildlife-focused builds.
Wildlife Education
The more we understand wild animals, the better neighbors we can become.
Habitat Hack explores the biology, behavior, challenges, and remarkable adaptations of the species living alongside us — especially the ones that are often misunderstood.
Better Backyard Habitat
Shelters are only one piece of the puzzle.
We explore native plants, pollinator habitat, water, natural cover, safer yard practices, reduced pesticide use, and other ways to turn ordinary outdoor spaces into healthier habitat.
Science-Informed Design
Wildlife products should be designed around the animal using them — not simply around what looks attractive to humans.
We research our projects, question assumptions, test prototypes, seek expert input, and improve our designs as we learn.
When the science changes, we should be willing to change too.
Why Opossums?
Every story needs a place to begin.
Opossums became Habitat Hack’s flagship species because they represent so much of what this project stands for.
They are adaptable, beneficial, fascinating — and frequently misunderstood. And to be completely honest, I think they are so special and beautiful.
Creating a better supplemental shelter for the Virginia opossum became our first major Habitat Hack project and the beginning of something much larger.
From there, we’re expanding into birds, pollinators, bats, and the many other wild neighbors sharing our landscapes.
Our Approach
We believe helping wildlife does not mean controlling wildlife.
We don’t encourage feeding, handling, trapping, relocating, taming, or turning wild animals into backyard pets.
Instead:
Provide habitat.
Reduce human-created hazards.
Observe with curiosity.
Intervene only when truly necessary.
And allow wildlife to make its own choices.
A wild animal choosing to use something we created is a privilege — not an invitation to interfere.
Our Promise to the Wild Ones
Habitat Hack will always put wildlife welfare ahead of convenience, trends, or marketing.
We won’t pretend something is scientifically proven when it isn’t.
We’ll tell you when a design is experimental.
We’ll test what we build.
We’ll keep learning.
And if better evidence shows us a better way to help wildlife, we’ll improve what we’re doing.
Because the goal isn’t simply to build more things.
The goal is to build better habitat.
Change the habitat. Not the wildlife.
Every native flower planted, every unnecessary hazard removed, every animal better understood, and every safe place made available gives wildlife a little more room in a world increasingly shaped by people.
Thank you for making room for them.
