How We Solve Bellingham 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.
Have you been hearing scratching in your attic? Here in Bellingham, Washington we experience some pretty extreme weather from season to season. During these times wildlife will try to enter your home in hopes of finding a place for shelter from the weather. We specialize in wildlife removal and prevention! We service the following communities: Custer, Alger, Everson, Deming, Welcome, Edison, Bow, Fairhaven, Chuckanut, Acme, Saxon, Lynden, Sudden Valley, Laurel, and Ferndale. We also service the following counties: Skagit County, Snohomish County,King County, Island County, San Juan County, Okanogan County, and Chelan County. To learn more about our services, visit the Bellingham wildlife control home page.
Other Bellingham animal pest control topics:
Opossum Nesting
Keeping Rats Out of Garbage
Keeping Opossums Away
Getting Bats Out of a Wall
This month's wildlife how-to article: How to get opossums out of your attic
How to get opossums out of your attic
Opossums are nomadic creatures, which is why they tend to go to every other place where they can find food. They are good climbers and because of that they take shelter on trees and other places above the ground such as an attic.
Eliminate all the possible sources of food:
They will remain there at the place unless the food source remains. In order to get rid of opossums first make sure to remove the source which is making them stay there and for that make sure to clean your surroundings from all sort of food items including fruits vegetables and leftovers. Make proper arrangements to dispose of the garbage. Eliminate all the possible sources of food which may attract them.
Cut the extended branches of tree:
To get themselves to the highest point these animals will tend to climb up the tree so you can avoid this by cutting the extended branches of the trees which may serve as a source for them to get to the attic.
Animal control centre:
If you detect their presence first call the animal control centre of your area. Different countries have different rules they will let you know about the possible ways, according to rules, to get rid of these opossums.
Set Traps to capture them:
One of the safest and easiest ways is to trap them. There are many traps available in the market. Buy them and make them attractive by placing the food item in it, this will attract them and they will get into your trap. Tomatoes banana and other fruits serve as perfect bait for them. Keep these traps open only at night as it is the perfect time for them to get out in search of food.
Taking them Away from your house:
Once you trap them take them away from the house, almost 10 miles, from where they could never come back again.
Close all possible entries:
After trapping them once, take all possible measures to prevent them from invading the place again keep your doors and windows close and fill the holes with paper and other material to prevent their entry again.
Wash the place:
As opossums tend to find food from sources like garbage they may carry parasites and other germs with them on their skin. After trapping them, wash the place. Use insecticides and other chemicals including phenyl to kill the germs to remove the possibility of any kind of disease.
