How We Solve Salinas Wildlife Problems
It starts with your phone call. We answer our phones 24/7, and we will carefully listen to your wildlife problem. Every case is different, so we will ask appropriate questions to help
us understand the situation better. Questions like, "do you hear the noises at night or during the daytime?" or "what type of roof do you have?" After we have a general idea of your
situation, we can provide a ballpark price range, and schedule a same-day or next-day appointment to inspect your property.
INSPECTION: Once on site, we will perform a full inspection of your home and property. This allows us to use the correct strategy and traps. If the animals are in an attic, a full building inspection is crucial, including the following:
- All ground-level areas, such as piper or A/C line entry & exit areas, A/C chase bottoms, ground-level vents, etc.
- All mid-level areas, such as dryer vents, siding gaps, first floor eaves or dormers, etc.
- We inspect the entire roof, including all plumbing stacks, ridge caps, vents, and other potential gaps or holes.
- We also inspect inside your attic, to identify animals and damage they have caused.
- If the animals are outside, we notice many subtle clues that will assist us in a successful strategy.
TRAPPING, EXCLUSION, REMOVAL: Once we understand what animal species we are dealing with, and the problem, we use the most effective means of removing the animals. We use dozens of different types of traps.
- Trapping - If trapping the animal(s) in live cage traps, trap type, set, and location are crucial to success.
- Exclusion - Oftentimes, we are able to simply set one-way doors or other exclusion devices that allow the animals inside a building to safely exit, but never get back inside.
- Removal By Hand - Sometimes we actually remove animals by hand, or with special tools like snare poles.
- The Law - In all cases, we obey state and local laws regarding wildlife, but aim to take the most humane approach.
ENTRY HOLE REPAIRS: Repairs are a crucial step in the wildlife removal process. In many cases, such as bat or rodent control, the job cannot be performed without detailed repairs, and in all cases, sealing the entry holes shut ensures that no future wildlife will ever enter your home.
- 100% of the entry holes must be found, and sealed shut, or the job is not complete.
- Our repairs are professional contractor grade, look good, and when applicable we use steel, which rodents such as rats or squirrels are unable to chew through.
- We give a written guarantee on our repairs against any future animal entry.
ATTIC DECONTAMINATION SERVICES: It may be desirable to clean your attic after we've removed the animals. They can leave behind large amounts of droppings, urine, hair, oils, food, nesting material, and so on. These remnants can attract insects like cockroaches, and the scent left behind can encourage new animals to chew their way into your house. You might experience odor problems from the waste. It's possible that mold will grow on waste areas.
- We remove or vacuum all droppings, or remove all the soiled insulation.
- We fog the attic with a special enzyme-based cleaner that destroys any organic matter and deodorizes the space.
- We repair damage, such as ductwork, electrical wires, pipes, insulation, and more.
California is known for it's beautiful sunny weather. However the sun can cause our wildlife critters to seak water and shelter from the heat. If you find yourself with raccoons, snakes, rodents, or any other type of Salinas' wildlife give us a call! Our team is trained in trapping and removing, as well as prevention methods to keep them from coming back. We proudly service the following cities: Carmel, Del Rey Oaks, Gonzales, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Pacific Grove, Sand City, Soledad, Aromas, Boronda, Bradley, Castroville, Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Monterey, and Seaside. We also service the following counties: Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, Fresno County, Kings County, and San Luis Obispo County.
Other Salinas animal pest control topics:
What Diseases do Wild Animals Carry
How to Get Rid of Foxes
How to Repell Snakes
How to Remove a Groundhog From Under a Shed
To learn more about our services, visit the Salinas wildlife control home page.
This month's wildlife how-to article: How To Kill A Groundhog
How To Kill A Groundhog
Woodchuck or Groundhog is the name for the same large rodent. This rodent is usually harmless to humans however their other behavior of digging burrows creates issues. They dig burrows in the gardens and damage or eat up the crop. These critters are good diggers and their burrows are pretty complicated and deep and long inside the ground which could threaten the foundation of any structure. Rodents are also a common cause for spreading diseases so it’s always better to keep them away from your yard. Here are some Groundhog killing methods:
Lethal traps
Using traps to kill the Groundhog seems to be an easy solution but requires precision. These traps have to be kept at the exit of any of the burrows you see. Determining the burrow becomes a challenge, as these beasts are not social so most probably only one would be staying in that area with multiple burrows. This is an inhuman method as the traps most of the time do kill them at once.
Poisons
Using poison is another method that is used to kill a Groundhog but the challenge is the placement of the poison so that none of the other pets or animals get access to it. The issue faced with poisoning is, the animal does not die at once and finding the corps is a challenge. This corpse could attract other animals also to your yard.
Shooting
People around rural areas usually prefer shooting Groundhogs. The challenge here is that the Groundhog should be killed in one shot or else a wounded Groundhog becomes dangerous to kids and pets. These beasts are carrier of many diseases and blood oozing out may contaminate the area. Killing these beasts seems easy however these are not humanitarian solution. First of all you need to check for the local laws regarding setting up traps or killing the animals. Other issue is disposing the corpse, if the Groundhog dies inside the burrow then it becomes difficult to find it and smell might attract other animals to it.
Live trapping is always better as there will be no complications of local authorities as well as no dealing is involved for the corpse. Resulting in no fear of contamination or disease spread. Prevention or trapping is always recommended because killing on Groundhog is not the permanent solution, there will be others coming in following the previous one, hence a proper prevention measure needs to be taken.
