The Importance of Having Wildlife Professionally Removed From Your Property

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The thought of wildlife and unwanted pests setting up shop on your property is a common nightmare among homeowners and business owners. If this unfortunately happens to your property, it’s essential that you call for wildlife removal services as soon as possible. Here’s why.

Wildlife Can Be Disease Spreaders

One of the many lessons we have learned during a trying 2020 is that it’s important that we do everything we can to limit the spread of disease, including disease that comes from wildlife, the most famous of which is rabies, which is a vicious disease. Plenty of animals around our area, including bats, raccoons and opossums can be carriers; even if the numbers are in your favor and it’s unlikely the animal has a disease, is it worth the risk? It only takes one, which is why it’s vital to leave the removal of wildlife to the hands of professionals.

Wildlife Can do Tremendous Damage to Your Property

What’s more, wildlife tends to wreak complete havoc on your property and can put your electrical system, ventilation system and other areas of your home or business at structural risk. They tend to chew cable and phone wires, and put holes in your landscape and screen doors, while also destroying your garden, flowers and other plants.

Ultimately, if your property is suffering from a wildlife issue, it’s essential you get the wildlife removal services you need as soon as possible. In the Mobile, AL area, Critter Capture can provide you with the expert help you need, as we routinely remove a wide range of animals from our clients properties, including bats, raccoons and opossums.

For more information, contact us at your convenience.

Things to Know About Roof Rats

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For most people, when we hear the term rats, we think of little critters meandering through basements, sewers and other underground areas. However, did you know there are rats who prefer to find their shelter in the upper levels of homes or buildings, and are thus commonly referred to ‘roof rats’?

Roof rats, which are also sometimes called house rats, look like typical rats, but are renowned for having long tails and dumbo like ears. These rats are quite athletic, and can aptly climb trees and buildings quickly, like miniature spidermen.

The Problems Caused by Roof Rats

However, having roof rats on your property can cause a whole slew of issues. For starters, roof rats will absolutely chew through materials in your home, including drywall, plastic, siding and wood in search of finding a warm home (likely in an attic or crawl space), and food sources.

Even worse, roof rats have been known to transmit dangerous diseases in the past and since they like to travel in groups, if you have one roof rat, you can take it to the bank you have at least another one, if not a whole group. Scarily, female roof rats can have multitudes of babies at once, so an infestation could happen rather quickly.

Roof rats are active during the day, and you’ll likely hear them scampering in the upper levels of your home or business. This infamous species helped spread the Bubonic Plague in the Middle Ages, and since then have proven they are tough to get rid of, as they adversely affect the foundations of your home or building.

How to Prevent Roof Rats From Affecting Your Home

The best way to keep roof rats away is to ensure there are no cracks or holes on the exterior of your home, including openings in windows, screens and vents. Roof rats need just a hole the size of a dime or quarter to squirt through. Moreover, you’ll want to avoid wet wood piles that roof rats can use a water source (they need just an ounce or so of water a day), and pick up and properly dispose of food sources.

Hire a Professional Pest Control Company To Help You With Roof Rats

Of course, if you think your home or business has a roof rat problem, it’s best to get out in front of the issue, and have a professional pest control company come and take care of the situation for you. If you’re in the Mobile, AL area and need rat control services, contact Critter Capture today.

What Can You Do to Keep Snakes Away From Your Property?

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Few things are scarier than the sight of snakes. In fact, one recent survey revealed that more than 60 percent of people are more scared of snakes than anything else in life. If you dislike snakes and want to reduce the chances of ever coming into contact with one, you should make every effort to keep them away from your property. Check out some of the best ways to do so.

Avoid clutter building up in your yard.

Snakes might be scary to most people, but the truth is that snakes themselves are always on the lookout for potential predators. They also need to find warm places to stay when it starts to get cold outside. It’s why they tend to gravitate towards wood piles, compost piles, and other areas of yards that are cluttered. If possible, try to remove these things from your yard so that you don’t provide snakes with an open invitation to it.

Keep your grass cut at all times.

Do you let your grass grow for weeks at a time without cutting it? This is yet another way that you could be inadvertently inviting snakes to visit your yard. Snakes love the fact that tall grass will provide them with cover as they move from one place to another, so they’ll often move in the direction of areas that have grass that’s on the higher side. Cut your grass on a regular basis to prevent your lawn from becoming a home to snakes.

Prevent easy access into your home for snakes.

No matter how hard you try to keep snakes off your property, there is a chance one or two of them will sneak onto it. Nevertheless, this won’t be the end of the world, as long as you’re able to stop snakes from finding a way to sneak into your home. That means sealing up any holes and cracks in your exterior walls and making sure your basement windows remain closed at all times. It’ll make it almost impossible for snakes to slither right into your house.

Do you have a snake problem on your property? If you can’t seem to get snakes to leave you alone, Critter Capture is here to help. Call us at 251-680-5068 to take advantage of our snake removal and trapping services today.

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An Overview of Opossums in Your Attic

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You’re probably well aware of the fact that mice, rats, squirrels, bats, and raccoons can all work their way into your home’s attic and cause problems. Nevertheless, did you know that opossums can do it, too? It’s actually not all that uncommon for opossums to gain access to an attic and set up shop there. They can cause quite a bit of damage if you’re not careful. Here is everything you need to know about identifying an opossum problem in your attic and getting rid of it.

How do opossums get into an attic?

Many people don’t realize it, but opossums are excellent when it comes to climbing. They have opposable thumbs that make it easy for them to scale a home without a problem. Once they do, it’s easy for them to get into attics through uncovered soffit vents or other large openings near your roofline.

What kind of damage can opossums do in an attic?

After opossums are able to get into an attic space, they can cause tons of damage in it. They’ll often leave large droppings throughout the space. What’s more, they’ll also tear up insulation and do extensive damage to any ductwork that you have running through an attic. If they happen to get trapped in an attic and die, they can cause terrible odors as well, and they can spread potentially dangerous pathogens and parasites to the rest of a home. It’s why homeowners shouldn’t allow opossums to linger around for too long.

How do you remove opossums from an attic?

Over the years, people have tried all types of things to remove opossums from their attics. They’ve left mothballs and ammonia out. They’ve also set up ultrasonic sound emitters and purchased opossum repellents. But these things don’t usually work and will allow opossums to stick around in an attic space. You’re much better off hiring a professional wildlife control company to come in and trap them so that they can be removed from your home safely.

Critter Capture can lend you a hand if you’re dealing with opossums in your attic. Call us at 251-680-5068 to have them removed from your attic in a hurry.

What Homeowners Should Know About Raccoons

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Do you suspect that you might have raccoons roaming around on the outside or even the inside of your home? You should get in touch with a pest control company right away. Some people don’t think of raccoons as pests, but they can cause big problems for homeowners if they’re not careful. Here are some of the things that you should know about raccoons from a pest control perspective.

How can raccoons affect your home?

More often than not, raccoons will affect the outside of your home more than the inside of it. They’re known to rifle through trash cans that aren’t secured shut and eat the garbage that they find inside. But raccoons are also nocturnal animals that need to find dark places to sleep throughout the day. It’s why they’ll sometimes find a way into attics, crawl spaces, chimneys, and even the walls of homes.

Why are they considered dangerous?

Raccoons are considered dangerous, first and foremost, because of the damage that they’ll sometimes do to sneak into homes. They’ll rip shingles off a roof, tear through fascia boards, and do whatever else they have to do to get into homes in some cases. But there are also a lot of health risks that raccoons can introduce into a home, especially if they leave feces and urine behind in it. They can transmit diseases like salmonella, leptospirosis, and more. They can even spread rabies if they come into contact with people or pets.

What can you do to get rid of them?

If you ever have raccoons in your home or on any part of your property, you should not try to take matters into your own hands in an effort to get rid of them. It’s never a good idea to approach a raccoon yourself. Instead, you should hire a pest control company to come out to your home and trap the raccoons. You should also hire someone to seal up your home so that raccoons aren’t able to get back inside of it.

Don’t let raccoons linger on your property or in your home. Critter Capture can handle raccoon removal for you. Call us at 251-680-5068 today to have someone visit your home and make your raccoon problem a thing of the past.

How Do Squirrels Get In Your Home?

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Squirrels can cause a ton of damage if they’re ever able to weasel their way into your home. They can chew through wires, leave droppings all over the place, and make nests that can turn into fire hazards. It’s why it’s important for you to try to prevent squirrels from working their way into your house in the first place. Here are a few of the most common ways squirrels sneak into homes.

Through holes in the edges of roofs

No matter how diligent you are about cleaning out your gutters and trying to prevent water from building up in them, it’s not uncommon for some moisture to come into contact with the wooden fascia boards located near the edge of your roof. When this happens, it can weaken the fascia boards and make it easy for squirrels to chew through them and get into your attic space.

Through roof vents

Do you have plastic or aluminum vents on your roof that are designed to provide your attic with ventilation? These are essential for your attic, but they can also provide squirrels with a place to gain access to your home. They’ll sometimes chew right through these roof vents when they feel warm air coming from your attic.

Through chimneys

If you have a chimney, it should have a cap on the top of it that keeps squirrels and other critters out. But if that cap ever falls off or sustains damage, squirrels might be able to get into them and climb down into your home. Squirrels can also get stuck in chimneys if they have smooth steel or clay lining the inside of the flues in them. This could force you to call a professional to help you get the squirrels out of your chimney.

Are there squirrels in your attic, your chimney, or the walls of your home? Critter Capture can help you get them out and keep them out from now on. Call us at 251-680-5068 today if you suspect that you might have unwelcome guests living in your house.

Reasons to Take Care of a Rat or Mice Problem Immediately

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If you have rats or mice living in your home, you might be forced to face all kinds of health risks. Rats and mice can spread diseases to both people and pets, including some diseases that can lead to death if they’re not treated right away. Rats and mice can also do a ton of damage to the inside of a home if they’re not dealt with accordingly. Here are some of the ways in which these rodents can wreak havoc on your home over time.

They’ll chew on electrical wires.

Most people don’t associate rats and mice with fires, but your home could be at an increased risk for a fire if you have rats and mice living in it. These rodents are known to chew their way through electrical wires located in the walls and ceilings of homes. This can lead to a fire starting in your house.

They’ll clear out insulation.

The insulation in your home is designed to keep your house comfortable throughout the year. If insulation is disturbed, it’ll often allow warm and cool air from your home to escape and push your HVAC system to its limits. Rats and mice will both build tunnels through insulation and rip it apart if it gets in their way. This can make your home less energy efficient and force you to replace insulation much sooner than you should have to.

They’ll leave urine, droppings, and hair everywhere.

One of the first things you’ll notice when you have a full-blown rodent infestation in your home is urine and droppings from them. They will leave urine and droppings everywhere once they start chewing up electrical wire, wood, walls, furniture, and more. You might also see their hair all over the place. These things can damage your home and spread diseases throughout it in a hurry.

Don’t let rats and mice set up shop in your home and do a bunch of damage to it. Critter Capture can help you get a rodent infestation under control quickly. Call us at 251-680-5068 today to take care of your rat or mice problem in a hurry.

Signs You Have a Racoon in Your Attic

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Many raccoons attempt to work their way into the attics of homes because they provide a warm and dry place to live. Female raccoons, in particular, often sneak into attics when they’re in the process of raising babies. If you suspect you might have a raccoon or, worse, multiple raccoons living in your attic, you need to do something about it immediately. Check out a few signs that’ll let you know you might have raccoons in your attic right now.

You hear something walking around in your attic.

The average raccoon can weigh anywhere from 7 pounds all the way up to 20 pounds. That means that if you have a raccoon in your attic space, you’re most likely going to hear it moving around. There are, of course, other animals that can make noise up in your attic, too. You might hear squirrels, rats, and even mice walking around. However, if the noise is especially loud, it could be an indication that you have a larger animal like a raccoon in your attic.

You spot droppings and smell urine in your attic.

When you have raccoons living in your attic for an extended period of time, they’ll leave droppings and urine all over the place. You’ll often see the droppings if you poke your head up in the attic and smell the urine. Raccoon droppings and urine can carry diseases, so you shouldn’t ever attempt to touch them or clean them up yourself. They can also do damage to attic insulation, support beams, and more.

You see raccoons going in and out of your attic.

If you have raccoons living in your attic, they’re going to have to leave at some point to go and get food. When they do, you may see them up near your roofline. This will help you figure out how they’re getting into your home in the first place. It’ll also let you know that you need to call on a professional for help as soon as possible.

Are raccoons congregating up in your attic and driving you and your family nuts? Critter Capture can set you up with the raccoon removal and animal trapping services you need to get rid of them once and for all. Call us at 251-680-5068 today to regain control of your attic.

The Damage Bats Can Cause to Your Property

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Do you think the average person who is looking to buy a house would want to buy one that was infested with bats? Of course not! Meanwhile, anyone living in a house where there’s one bat, let alone two or more, is going to be uncomfortable, right? Bats are a nuisance when they’re in places they don’t belong.

While bats are great at insect control as they eat up some 600 mosquitoes per hour, they belong outside rather than indoors. Bats in buildings, including homes and apartments, can cause damage and problems.

Bats Don’t Need Much Space to Enter Your Home

Did you know bats can get into a building through a crack or hole smaller than an inch wide? If and when bats enter a building, what are the associated problems?

Spread of Disease

For starters, bats can spread disease. They’re known to carry rabies. If an infected bat bites you, that’s not good. Furthermore, they can spread spores for Histoplasmosis, which is a big word for a bad lung disease.

Next, there’s such a thing as “bat mites.” Often mistaken for bed bugs, these bat mites like to make humans their host. Yikes!

Structural Damage and Foul Odors

Also, what about structural damage caused by bats flying around? When they poop, their “guano” and urine can accumulate over time and end up dripping through ceilings. Disgusting, right? This literal fecal waste can ruin your home’s insulation. It can soak through sheet rock and/or particle board. With enough build-up, it could cause parts of your home or building to collapse!

Anyone who values their property knows that bats are an unwelcome nuisance indoors. From the odor of their excrements, to the possibility of bat mites in the home, these are two main reasons a company like Critter Capture gets calls.

Critter Capture specializes in finding the holes in a home or building where bats enter and leave. We get all the bats out of a place. And we clean up their guano and urine, too.

If you’ve got a roosting colony of bats in your building, which could number up to 3,000 by the way, Critter Capture can remove them in an ethical way and make sure they’re not going to come back. Call 251-680-5068 for more information.

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