Author: erick.merced

If there’s one place that rodents love hanging out, it’s your attic. Not only is it one of the easiest places to access from the outdoors, but it’s also the quietest part of your home. When rodents stay in your attic for too long, they leave a buildup of waste, create a huge mess, and bring about a lot of damage. If you’ve experienced any insulation issues from a rodent invasion, these steps will take you on the road to recovery.

Exclude Rodents From Your Attic 

Nests (usually made of fibrous material), or burrows (one-inch holes leading down into the insulation) are likely signs that rodents are still in the attic. To attempt rodent removal, you’ll need to purchase countless traps, find time to frequently check them, and invest in protective materials to help you safely clean up afterwards. 

If you manage to capture an intruding rodent with a live trap, transport the rodents at least two miles from your home to prevent it from returning. Then, thoroughly wash your gloves and hands with soapy, warm water to minimize the chance of contamination. 

Seal Entry and Exit Points 

Before you start to recover from the damage, ensure that no more rodents can enter. Examine your home to identify any rodent entry points, because they can notoriously find their way through areas such as:

• Openings around drainage pipes 
• Holes in the roofline
• Spots of loose siding 
• Gaps in windows, doors, or ceilings
• Cracks in the foundation or pillars 

Once you’ve identified entryways, begin sealing every single one. Repair smaller gaps with caulk, and use wood or steel for to safely secure larger openings. 

Remove Damaged Insulation and Contaminants

Whether you find urine stains, droppings, or signs of chewing, it’s best to remove any damaged insulation. Leaving it behind can lead to severe health concerns, including respiratory issues (Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome—HPS) and intense fevers (Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome—HFRS). However, removing the insulation requires a HEPA-filer–rated, high-powered, and high-capacity vacuum. The vacuum can pick up smaller droppings, but larger droppings should be removed by hand. To transfer feces from the vacuum, use a sealable and heavy-duty trash bag. Finally, contact a certified recycling or waste management facility to dispose of the waste.  

Call a Professional

After rodents have infiltrated your attic, recovery can be time consuming and costly. Rather than purchasing all the expensive tools and putting yourself in danger, pass the task on to a professional. At Critter Control® of Dallas, we offer safe removal, cleanup, and restoration services from licensed technicians. To schedule a free home inspection and learn more about our attic and repair services, call today at 817-222-1101.

Rodents might not cover their tracks once they enter your home, but they might not leave a trail of droppings for you to follow either. To identify potential rodent entry points around your property, here are all of the places to check from top to bottom.

Roof and Attic

You don’t necessarily have to climb on top of your roof to know if there are holes, gaps, or cracks that rodents can fit through. Visit your attic and check for any signs of openings, including cracks of light shining through or holes with leaking rainwater. While you’re up there, inspect your attic vents to make sure there are no dented or damaged areas that rodents could pry open for entry.

Outside Walls

If you live in a brick home, check in between the bricks of your foundation to search for any gaps that mice or rats could squeeze into. Look for decaying materials around the foundation of your home that rodents could chew open. And, if you have a screened porch, check the screening around the area to see if squirrels, raccoons, or other rodents have tried or managed to scratch their way through.

Doors and Windows

Even if you don’t leave them propped open to bring in fresh air, doors and windows can be a major entryway for rodents. When they aren’t properly fit or sealed into their frame, doors and windows leave gaps that wildlife can widen over time. The same concept applies for the window and door frames inside your garage, as these can easily warp from rain, exposure, and attempted rodent entry.

Cables, Lines, and Pipes

Anything that flows from the interior to the exterior of your home can create a potential entry point. Follow the utility lines and plumbing pipes outside to check for additional space between the pipe or cable and exterior wall. And, if you’ve switched cable, internet, or home phone providers more than once, you probably have a few extra holes around your home’s perimeter that need inspection as well.

Wildlife Partner in Dallas

It only takes one hole, gap, or crack for a rodent to open up your home to the world of wildlife. And even if you’re thorough in your inspection, you could still easily end up missing a handful of potential entry points—putting your property at risk. If you want to make sure that every entry point is sealed and secured, team up with the wildlife professionals at Critter Control® of Dallas. We can start a full-scale investigation to locate and screen, fill, or cap any space that rodents could use to invade your home. For more information, call us today at 817-222-1101.

When you want to keep strangers from wading around your yard, you install signals that make intruders feel unwelcome. However, no matter how many “No Trespassing” signs you decorate your yard with, there are some visitors that just don’t get the message, including nearby snakes. So, if you want to protect your property from passerby snakes, take a look at the strategies that will send them slithering.

Regularly Clean Your Yard

You can still have an active garden and a bounty of fresh produce growing in your yard; you just need to make sure that your growth doesn’t get out of hand. If you have excess growth in your flowerbeds or ripe fruits spread across your lawn, snakes will see those signs as an open invitation to explore what else your property has to offer. Regularly trimming overgrowth and cleaning up fallen fruits removes a lot of interest for nearby snakes. Similarly, if you like to decorate your outdoor atmosphere with bird feeders, clean up the spilled feed from your grass to keep snakes from slithering inside.

Treat Your Other Pest Problem

Snakes can become a pest when they sense the presence of other pests nesting on your property. Reptiles primarily feed on other creatures, including:

• Rats
• Mice
• Rabbits
• Cockroaches
• Birds

If you have an existing pest problem that you’ve neglected to prioritize, you might be creating an entirely separate issue without even realizing. So, if you come across another pest on your property, contact professional services to remove the wildlife and seal any remaining entryways.

Create Snake Repellent

You shouldn’t try to DIY your way out of a snake infestation; however, you can easily prevent a problem from starting with some simple, at-home solutions. Likewise, you should never try to confront a snake with any tools or traps, but you can spray your perimeter to keep them from visiting. Ammonia is a strong repellent for slithering snakes, which makes it an important ingredient for snake spray. Simply spraying an ammonia solution around your home, yard, and outdoor additions can send any wandering snakes in the other direction.

Partner with Your Local Pest Professionals

At Critter Control® of Dallas, our mission is to protect the citizens and wildlife of our city. That’s why we specialize in a range of residential pest control and prevention services. If you find one of these reptiles anywhere near your residence, contact our pest professionals for a safe and effective solution. For more information on our series of snake services, call 817-222-1101 today.

When a wild animal invades your home, the sound and damage it makes can be a frustrating nuisance. However, if that critter were to perish within the walls, attic, or structures of your residence, the smell that remains can be nauseating because a wild animal carcass can take weeks to fully decompose. Unfortunately, the smell of a decomposing animal is so overwhelming that it can be difficult to locate its source. Here are some tips on how to locate and rid your home of the dead animal smell as quickly and efficiently as possible.

If You Can Find the Dead Animal:

• Wear protective gloves when attempting to remove the animal or call an expert to handle it.
• Dispose of the carcass by burying, burning (if allowed), or throwing it in the trash.
• Clean and sanitize the area using an enzymatic cleaner like Ultrazyme or EmPower foam.
• Clean any fabric that may have been contaminated such as curtains or rugs and throw them in the wash with Hydrogen peroxide, bleach, or Pine Sol.
• Dispose of and replace any material that can not be fully sanitized like attic insulation.

If You Can’t Find the Dead Animal:

• Locate the general vicinity of the odor and drill discrete holes to release the smell.
• Use a strong odor eliminating spray like Bac-A-Zap and spray into the holes you created.
• Hang odor eliminating bags in the area.
• Replace the bags regularly and keep spraying into the holes until the odor dissipates.
• Plug up the holes afterwards.

Additional Dead Animal Smell Elimination Tips

• Ventilate the Area

  Keep the area ventilated by opening up some windows and setting up fans — especially when the animal is in an unreachable place.

• Use Household Deodorizers

  Bleach-soaked rags, baking soda, coffee grounds, and even charcoal can help deodorize the stench of a dead animal while Lysol and Febreze can help sanitize.

• Freshen the Air

  Some easy air freshening tips would be using scented candles, an essential oils diffuser, incense, or even some potent dried herbs in a cloth to freshen the smell of the air.

Dead Animal Removal Experts

If you hear noises inside your wall, or notice any odors contact Critter Control® of Dallas to perform a free animal entry home inspection. Our certified wildlife management technicians will identify the cause of the disturbance and locate and remove the animals. After they’re gone, we’ll help keep them out by sealing all the entry ways in to your walls or attic. We can even repair the damage caused by the pests while they were making your home their own. Call Critter Control® of Dallas at 469-805-6267 and let us show you why we’re the best choice in animal removal.

Why is wildlife (raccoons, opossums, squirrels, rodents) destroying your yard and even sneaking into your home when your neighbors say they don’t have an issue with animal infestations? It could be one or more of the following reasons:

1. Birdfeeders and birdbaths

If you are a bird watcher, this may not be what you want to hear. Unfortunately, wild animals are constantly searching for food and water, and when they find a reliable source of nourishment, they’ll return every day if possible.

2. Peripheral landscaping

Beautifying your yard with trees, shrubs, hedges and flower gardens sends a clear signal to wild animals that you are open for business. While installing a fence around your home and landscaping items can help keep larger wild animals from invading your yard, fences won’t stop raccoons, squirrels and other animals that are expert climbers and diggers.

3. Piles of deadwood in your yard

Dying trees shedding dead limbs in your yard, piles of chopped wood for your fireplace and other lawn debris naturally attracts wild animals looking for shelter. In addition, dead wood lures grub-like insects which, in turn, invites hungry raccoons and rodents. Snakes especially love to find piles of lawn debris to slither under and hide.

4. Backyard fountains

Although they had charm and beauty to your yard, they also charm wild animals into invading your yard every day for a drink of cool, clean water. Animals won’t leave right away drinking from your fountain, either. They will sniff around, look for food resources and potentially discover a small hole through which they gain entrance into your home.

5. Outside pets

Leaving pet food outside for outdoor pets is one of the leading causes of pest problems. Whether it’s dry dog or cat food, hay for goats or chicken feed for chickens, wild animals roaming around the edges of your yard will pick up the scent of food and make a beeline towards it.

Don’t waste time and money on DIY pest control. Call Critter Control® of Dallas today for immediate, professional removal of wild animals from your yard or home.