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!

Exclusion Services In Marietta

Here in Marietta, we have a wide variety of animals that come into our yards. They scramble up our trees, flutter through the air, scurry along the ground, bound across fence lines, slither around bushes and rocks, perch on tree branches, and more. But, while wildlife may be nice to look at, these animals that come up near our exterior walls are often not content to stay on their side of those walls.

If you have a gap around pipes or electrical conduit, they will be happy to explore them. If you have holes in your wood, they will have no problem chewing on those holes to make them big enough to slip through. If your screens are damaged, they will exploit those vulnerabilities. If your eaves, soffits, or roof line are accessible, some animals will take notice. If you’ve left a window unlocked, some animals have the dexterity to slide those windows open and just climb into your home. That’s right raccoons; we’re looking at you. There are many ways animals can get into your home.

When an animal gets in, it is sometimes possible to run them out. That squirrel doesn’t want to be in your living room any more than you want it to be. If you open a door, he might use it as an opportunity to escape. But, most of the time wildlife invasions will be in places that are not as obvious–or as accessible. This makes it really hard to get them out if you don’t have the proper gear and training.

The best way to deal with wildlife invasions is to be proactive. When animals come to explore your home, it is important that they don’t find any entry points or vulnerabilities. If you are mechanically inclined, you can apply lumber, hardware cloth, mortar, and steel flashing to seal any openings, cracks, or gaps that might be exploited. If you are mechanically disinclined, or you want to know for sure that all areas have been adequately reinforced, Active Pest Control can help.

We offer the most comprehensive and professional exclusion services in the Marietta Georgia area. Our team of wildlife professionals have the skill set to not only apply materials in a way that will stand the test of time, they know which materials are needed and where they must be applied for the greatest benefit.

When squirrels and other rodents come to nibble their way in, let them find your walls protected. When raccoons scale your walls, let them find locked windows and a chimney cap. When bats try to get into your home, let these, and other pest animals, know they’re not welcome, with a little help from the friendly and knowledgeable wildlife exclusion team here at Active Pest Control.

Wildlife Invade Macon Homes

Sometimes it can feel like there is nothing we can do to safeguard against wildlife. But the truth is the number of pests inside your home is directly tied to how easy it is for them to get in. If you’re dealing with a skunk under your porch, it is because that skunk found a way to get under there. If there are mice in your walls, it is because there was a vulnerable area for them to chew their way in. If a squirrel is bumping around in your attic, it found a way up onto your roof. And that is why it is vital to get a professional to strengthen your defenses and make it harder for wildlife to gain entry, especially as we enter fall and those temperatures begin to drop.

3 Ways Professionals Exclude Animals

  1. Exclusion often begins with humane live trapping. This is because most folks don’t usually think about wildlife invasion until–well–those animals are invading. Our technicians are trained to use state-of-the-art baiting and trapping to secure all invading animals. They will also address issues of contamination so that you don’t end up with a secondary threat, such as lice, mites, ticks, fleas, or disease.
  2. There are many conditions that make a property more attractive to wildlife and give them access to the home. Our technicians are educated in modern Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices, which detail natural exclusion methods that resist animal invasion. Your technician will advise you on areas where tree branches give wildlife access to your walls or roofline, where tall grass and weeds may be inviting animals in near your exterior walls, and what food sources may be present. You’ll be shown areas where water damage may be weakening wood and providing a soft point of entry. There are many factors that will invite animals in and make it easier for them to gain entrance to your home.
  3. The most important way our technicians will keep animals out is by directly addressing any possible entry points, such as gaps, holes, cracks, and weakened spots. They will apply lumber, steel flashing, hardware cloth, mortar, a chimney cap, and more, to make sure there is no vulnerable spot for wildlife to exploit.

There are many species of animal that can become a threat to your property and your home. And there are many ways to exclude them. Let the team here at Active Pest Control make sure that your property is secure. Wild animals don’t just spread your garbage all over your yard and make thumping noises inside your walls; they can spread disease and parasites to you, your kids, and your pets.

When you have Active Pest Control protect your Macon home from the accidental invasion of wildlife, you can know for sure that it’s all good. Our QualityPro certified, Angie’s List Super Service Award winning team is made up of some of the most experienced and educated pest experts in the country. Get your exclusion services before the fall invasion begins, and keep those invading animals out.