DIY vs Professional Wildlife Exclusion

Raccoon hiding near house

If you live in the Atlanta Metro or the surrounding area, you likely know the importance of wildlife exclusion. The best way to prevent larger pests and nuisance wildlife from nesting in your home

Raccoon hiding near house

is to keep them from getting inside in the first place. And maybe you’ve been doing enough research to think that you can handle this level of work on your own. You might own a caulk gun and some chicken wire. Why not do the work yourself and save some money?

There are certainly forms of DIY wildlife exclusion you can do on your own. At the same time, there are aspects to this line of work that you definitely need to leave to a professional. At Active Pest Control, we’re trained in all forms of wildlife exclusion, control and management. But before you call for our services, let’s explain how we can help you and your household.

Benefits of Professional Wildlife Exclusion

There’s more that goes into wildlife exclusion than covering entry points. In many cases, the calls we get for exclusion are only placed after some nuisance wildlife has already gotten into the home. This is where the skill set of the Active Pest Control team comes into play. If you have squirrels in your walls or skunks in the attic, removing them on your own could be frustrating, if not potentially dangerous. You don’t want to risk scratches or bites that could transfer disease. Our team has all the protective gear needed for the job, as well as years of industry experience that can apply to nearly every situation.

And when it comes to covering possible entry points, our experts can find vulnerabilities that an untrained homeowner might miss. While you can cover open vents and chimneys, you can count on us to find anything in the more hidden areas of your property. With our help the work done will be more comprehensive, protecting your household from pests big and small.

Wildlife Exclusion: What You Can Do

Even though we suggest leaving the majority of wildlife exclusion work to professionals, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do yourself. If you regularly check for cracks and holes, you can cover them or seal the openings. And you can take measures to make your home inhospitable to wildlife, such as:

  • Eliminating food sources (Pet food, unsealed garbage cans, fallen fruit from trees, etc.)
  • Trimming the trees around your property
  • Shortening climbing plants along the exterior of the home
  • Taking down bird feeders

These are all safe and fairly effective ways to deter animals from your home. And if you try all of this and still find nuisance wildlife taking up residence in your home, the best action to take is to call us at Active Pest Control. We’ve been doing this for over forty years, and we can humanely remove animals from your home while also covering their tracks to keep more from getting in. Our work is ethical and effective, and we can work so you don’t have to sacrifice your safety. To get started, contact us today!

How Wildlife Exclusion Can Help

Raccoon on a ledge feeding on scraps - Keep raccoons away from your home with Active Pest Control in GA

raccoon on fence eating a cookieFor many people, pest control in Georgia means: You have an infestation in your home, and you need an exterminator with pesticides to eradicate the problem. And in certain cases, that’s true. If you have pests like termites or cockroaches, pesticides are really the only option. But as the pest gets larger, your opinions on pesticides may change. It’s one thing to bait an ant to collapse the colony – but what do you do about a squirrel, rat, or raccoon that made its way into your home? 

Active Pest Control can help, not only in removing these larger nuisance forms of wildlife but in keeping more from taking their place. We do this with the help of what’s called wildlife exclusion.

Wildlife Exclusion: An Overview

Pests both large and small aren’t known for appearing in your home out of nothing and nowhere. The motives of a beetle aren’t too different from that of something like a bat – at their core, they both want food, shelter and safety. Your home offers all of that and more, and the main goal of wildlife exclusion is to implement physical barriers to keep any pests from taking advantage of your resources.

The way we go about applying wildlife exclusion depends on the state of the property. After an initial inspection, an Active Pest Control technician will know exactly what measures need to be taken to suit your home best. You may need a sheet of mesh wire placed over your attic vent to keep bats from roosting, new shingles on the roof to keep rats out, or cracks and gaps in the foundation filled in with caulk. It could be that you need all of that and more, which isn’t a bad thing. What matters is that we do what needs to be done to separate your home from the Great Outdoors.

Keeping Things Moving: Benefits of Wildlife Exclusion

It’s easy to think about what you and your household can personally get out of wildlife exclusion. No rats in the walls or raccoons in the attic is good news for most homeowners in Georgia. And the right exclusion techniques will work in the long term, as most animals will move on and won’t come back once they’ve established that your home is not a candidate for habitation. This works in your favor, but also in the favor of the ecosystem as a whole.

The animals that try to get in your home ultimately are making a home outside their intended environment. And, by closing off access to your space, you’re guiding them back to what they’re meant to be doing. In Georgia, we need squirrels to disperse nuts and promote plant growth. Moles promote soil growth and aeration, and even something as unpleasant as a skunk is almost as effective at pest-control as we are. Every animal that is meant to be here is here for a reason, and by investing in wildlife exclusion you’re making sure that balance is maintained for a long time to come.

Keep Wildlife Away Safely with Active Pest Control

At Active Pest Control, we offer the full spectrum of wildlife management for homes and commercial properties across Georgia. We work safely in removing existing wildlife and taking the proper exclusion efforts to keep your property pest-free* for the long term. To learn more or get a free quote, contact us today!

The Wildlife In Georgia

Who doesn’t love a squirrel? When you were a child, did you stop every time you saw one run along the fence top or scramble up a tree? Do you still stop when you see one out the sliding glass door or on your way into your house? Squirrels are fun. I bet you didn’t expect to hear a pest control company say that! But it’s true. We love squirrels, and other furry animals that accidentally come onto our property, as much as you do. We think it is cool to see a raccoon scurrying along a wall, a gopher making a mad dash for a hole under the shed, a squirrel bounding across the railing on the deck, and a skunk–okay, maybe not a skunk, but you get the point. Furry animals are adorable. And, the pest professionals here at Active Pest Control are not immune to their effect. We love them as much as you do. But, here are a few things we don’t like about them, and we bet you’ll agree.

  • When animals get into the trash, they end up tipping the barrels over and spreading that trash all over the yard.
  • Though they don’t mean to, furry animals bring ticks, fleas, lice, and mites into our yards, and sometimes, into our homes as well.
  • Some creatures chew on our property and make holes in the wood, and rip up other items on our property.
  • It is no fun to find out a cute little furry animal has enjoyed the vegetables in the garden or destroyed an ornamental plant in the yard. It is even more frustrating to realize that something has been damaging the bark on an important tree and that the tree may end up dying.
  • Finding feces and urine spread around the attic is never pleasant.
  • When wildlife, especially rodents, get into the pantry or food storage areas, they chew holes in things and leave their droppings and urine while they explore shelves and packaging.
  • It is never ever fun to get bitten by a scared animal–or an animal that is protecting its young.
  • When wildlife gets into the attic and into the wall voids, we can live without the scratching, bumping and squeaking.

If you agree, we hope you will also agree that it is better to manage these animals so they don’t have free reign in our yards, and easy access to our homes. At Active Pest Control, we use advanced Integrated Pest Management methods and trusted protocols to control and exclude wildlife. Reach out to Active Pest Control for safe and humane trapping, exclusion services to seal entry points, and advanced pest management services to monitor and control animal populations. Just because those animals are cute, doesn’t mean we should allow them to damage our property and threaten the health and well being of our families and our pets. Get your protection in place today.

Skunk Removal in Georgia. Is this a good idea to do on your own?

Skunks are no fun to have around. Period! And there is no shortage of skunk horror stories. Just do an internet search, or ask just about anyone. Most people have a skunk story, or two, or three to share. There is one such story of a family who came home from church one day to find their entire house filled with the smell of skunk. The funny thing was that there was no skunk smell anywhere outside the house. The mother of the family walked through the entire house following her nose until it was finally determined that the smell was coming from the basement, but only from the dryer! It turned out that a skunk had taken up residence under their back porch where the dryer vent came out. It was a cozy, warm spot so it made sense to that skunk. Now, in this case, the skunk moved on after a few days without any major incidents. But skunk stories don’t usually end this well.

Here are some other important reasons to not have skunks on your property.

  • Skunks carry a number of diseases that can be transmitted to people, pets, or other animals. They are the #2 carrier of rabies, accounting for over 29% of all reported cases. And, a rabies infection in a human, if not caught and treated properly, can cause death.
  • Skunks can also carry leptospirosis, a bacterial disease that is transmitted by a person or animal coming in contact with the animal’s infected urine through water, soil, or food.
  • Skunks can transmit distemper to other animals, especially dogs.
  • Skunks may take up residence under porches or houses.
  • Skunks will get into garbage if it is not secured inside cans with tightly fitted lids.
  • Skunks, if they can gain access, have been known to kill poultry and eat eggs.
  • If a skunk is not removed from your property and it ends up spraying a person or animal, the result can be excruciating, especially if the fresh spray is brought inside the house. Fresh skunk spray smells like burning rubber or chemicals, and can be irritating to the nose, throat, and eyes. And the smell, no matter what measures are taken to remove it, will remain for days, weeks, and even months. Often when this happens, the person living in the smell gets used to it and thinks it’s gone, but those who come into contact with them know otherwise.

Skunk removal from your Georgia property:

Attempting to remove wildlife from your property is never a good idea, especially when you are dealing with skunks. With Active Pest Control Wildlife Management, you can say goodbye to your skunk problem and rest easy. Upon arrival at your property, our skilled technicians will first find and trap or remove your skunk from where it has taken up residence. Then, they will seal up all entry points and transport the animal far away from residential areas to release it back into the wild.

Don’t take chances with your home, family, and pets. Contact us for your FREE inspection, and get help today from Active Pest Control.

Why You Don’t Want Wildlife In Your Home

It is actually quite simple: Wild animals don’t have the same standards you do. They don’t take baths regularly and they don’t wipe their feet before coming inside. Oh yeah, and they leave their excrement wherever they feel like it.

If you have not yet come to the place where you know wildlife does not belong in your home, here are a few points you may want to consider.

Point 1: Wild animals are dangerous.

If you don’t believe me, read the news. People get attacked by cute fuzzy animals all the time. It isn’t that squirrels, raccoons, possum and woodchucks are violent creatures. They won’t hunt you like a lion or a panther. But they can be very dangerous if you corner them, trap them, or if they are protecting their young.

Point 2: Wild animals can have rabies.

If you scare an animal, trap, or corner an animal, it may bite you. But a rabies-infected animal doesn’t need any of these reasons. Rabies make an already unpredictable animal even more unpredictable. A squirrel that is normally skittish might chase you across the deck and leap onto your back. A cute little raccoon begging for food might suddenly lunge at you with bared teeth. If you are tempted to be around wild animals, look for the signs of rabies: goop around the eyes, froth on the mouth, paralysis in one or both legs, drunken stupor, or falling down. But even if you don’t see these signs, always capture a wild animal that has bitten you so that it can be tested for rabies.

Point 3: Wild animals are nasty.

This is especially true for animals that have learned to live off the generosity of humans. They climb into trash bins, scamper through sewers pipes, and get into compost. This causes rot and decay to be in their fur and in their bellies. A raccoon climbing on your deck tables can spread illness to your family, and you won’t even realize it. Bacteria cannot be seen by the naked eye, but it exists, and it can make you sick.

Point 4: Parasites.

Something that CAN be seen by the naked eye is parasites. If you have rats, bats, raccoons, mice, or other critters living in your home, you may get an infestation of the creatures that inhabit their fur, especially if you have a pet. Wild animals carry lice, mites, ticks, fleas, worms and other parasitic creatures. Nobody wants these in their home.

So, what should you do?

Have these creatures safely removed by a professional. A professional can also teach you common sense practices that deter animals from entering your yard in the first place. Get informed and keep the wildlife outside where they belong!

Having troubles with Wildlife in your home? Fill out the contact form on our website and we’ll come take care of the problem.