The variety of wildlife living in Thomasville is impressive. More than 90 species of mammals exist here, along with 46 types of snakes and 350 species of birds. Due to deforestation and developing land for residential and commercial purposes, wildlife must find new homes. They must also find new places to acquire food, water, and shelter.
In Thomasville, this means they may explore your property. If you have wildlife that stays on your property, you likely have a good source of food and water. Wildlife is good about creating a place for shelter, even if one is not readily available near their food sources. For example, many wildlife will break into your attic or basement.
When wildlife actively damages your property, threatens the public, or causes a disturbance that prevents you from enjoying your home and land, they become nuisance wildlife. Although you live on private property, you must follow laws and regulations about how nuisance wildlife can be removed. You must understand which animals are protected at the state and federal levels, which ones require permits for removal, and where to get a permit if needed.
Below are various examples of nuisance wildlife removal concerns in the Thomasville area.
Although the raccoon population in Thomasville is high, you don’t see them too often. They are nocturnal and go out at night searching for food. They will eat anything, including leftovers in your trash can, scraps found in a restaurant’s dumpster, insects, grains, seeds, fruits, vegetables, fish, and even chickens or other small animals.
During the day, raccoons like to rest in a safe, cozy spot, like your attic or crawlspace. They are great climbers and will shimmy up the side of your house to get into your chimney or attic. They will break screens, boards, and posts if it helps them access your home. Once inside, they start making a nest using items they find lying around. They will also use insulation and drywall. Raccoons leave piles of feces and urine in the areas where they nest. It smells horrible and can grow mold spores. You do not want these spores traveling through your ducts or walls and seeping into your living areas.
You may have already heard strange noises coming from parts of your home — noises like scratching on walls, ripping drywall or insulation, footsteps, chirps, growls, howls, or chatter. You may notice electrical issues since they love chewing on wires. Raccoons can turn your home into a fire hazard in a short time. You may have even met your tenant face to face. If so, it is time to call for help.
During the inspection, we determine the severity of the raccoon infestation. We look for physical evidence like footprints in or around the home, stains from raccoon feces and urine. On the exterior of the house, we look for damage like scratches on boards, broken vents and screens, ripped apart shingles, destroyed soffits, and every possible entry point.
Live trapping is one of the most efficient ways to get rid of a raccoon. Depending on the situation, a one-way door or excluder valve can be installed. An excluder valve works by allowing the raccoon to leave but blocks its reentry. The choice of device is largely dependent on the season and location of the raccoons on your property. Direct capture is not commonly used because raccoons are a rabies vector species. If we must trap, we place traps strategically to safely catch the raccoons and we check traps frequently, based on state laws.
We provide a wide range of repair and restoration services. We can repair raccoon damage like broken screens on vents and chimneys and broken boards on decks and porches. It is essential to apply cleaning agents and ectoparasite treatments on areas inhabited by raccoons.
Norway rats, roof rats, and the house mouse are common in Georgia, and there is no lack of food, water, and shelter in Thomasville. Rats and mice are thriving in our area. But you won’t likely see them actually scurrying about. They are active at night and know how to stay out of sight. They are sneaky creatures, snagging crumbs off countertops and chewing their way through boxes in your pantry.
One way you know they are living in your home is the feces and urine trails they leave behind, which can be toxic to humans. Rats and mice can transmit over 30 diseases to humans. There may also be gnawed materials like wood or wires and shredded insulation. If it is soft and accessible, rodents will chew it. They will use threads from your carpet, clothing, sentimental photos and letters, blankets, dolls, and anything else with materials they can gnaw off and add to their nest.
Setting a trap for rodents is a temporary fix. Eventually, others will find their way into your home. Also, rats and mice multiply three or more times each year, giving birth to five or more rodents each time. Unless you want to set enough traps to get all the rats and mice, it may be better to call for help.
A professional can help you find all the holes and cracks in your home rodents will use to enter, which only have to be the size of a quarter.
During a rodent inspection, we thoroughly inspect your attic and provide a complete exterior home inspection. The most common signs of rodent activity are gnaw marks, feces, rub marks, nesting material, runs in insulation material, and small entry points.
A Critter Control wildlife specialist will create a strategic trapping plan to remove the rodents found in your home. Critter Control specialists may use snap traps and live traps to capture and remove mice and rats. Rodent trapping can usually takes between five to fourteen days.
The best way to reduce the possibility of letting unwanted rodents into homes is to seal possible entrances. Exclusion methods include caulking cracks in foundations, capping chimneys, and installing mesh covers over vents and crawl space entrances. We also strongly recommend a maintenance service. Rodents have front teeth that continuously grow, which means they can gnaw a new way back into your home.
We’ve got 16 species of bats in Georgia, all of which are protected due to diseases, such as the white-nose syndrome, that reduce bat populations. Bats are very beneficial to the environment, eating thousands of insects in one night.
If you have bats on your property, you have ample food and water for them to survive. They will find a nearby place to roost, likely in your attic, ceilings, sheds, or barns.
Bats can become a nuisance because of the piles of guano they produce. Bat guano, or poop, is very toxic, carrying diseases affecting the human respiratory system. It can corrode metal and wood due to the uric acid content. Bats poop in their sleep and while hanging upside down. This means the guano runs down their little bodies, covering their fur.
It is never a good idea to interact with a bat since they are disease carriers and will bite if they feel threatened. Plus, Georgia laws do not allow bats to be moved or harassed during their maternity season, which runs from April to August. Pups must be able to fly out on their own, and the temperature outside must be at least 50 degrees.
We perform a full interior and exterior inspection and search for signs such as rub marks, guano, a strong scent of ammonia, and small openings. The most common sign is the accumulation of guano (feces).
The most effective and humane way to remove bats is by utilizing a bat valve in conjunction with a full home exclusion. A bat valve allows for bats to exit your home but not re-enter. We follow all local ordinances for humane bat removal. We will never abandon flightless pups in your attic.
After removing the bat valves, we seal the entrance hole(s) so bats can no longer enter your home. If there is substantial guano in your attic, you should consider taking advantage of our attic remediation services to remove the soiled insulation and replace it.
With nearly 50 species of snakes in Georgia, only six are venomous. That doesn’t stop everyone from being fearful and shrieking at the sight of one, even a small one. Snakes are sneaky in their search for food and water, mainly because snakes do not want to interact with humans. They want to avoid conflict whenever possible.
Snakes can easily enter crawlspaces below decks, barns, sheds, chicken coops, and even cars. Snakes are not usually destructive and do very little harm when left alone. Unless there is a constant food source, such as rodents, snakes will usually move on to another property quickly.
The biggest problem with armadillos is digging large holes in your yard searching for insects. They also dig burrows, making a foundation unstable if located directly under it. Armadillos have poor eyesight but great hearing and smell. In Georgia, they are classified as both exotic and as a pest.
The nine-banded armadillo is nocturnal and is often found roaming underground in Thomasville. When scared, they jump straight up and move like a bucking horse before running back to their burrow. They have incredible speed, oddly enough. They can force air into their bodies, pumping themselves up like a balloon to help them float in water. Or they can choose to sink to the bottom of a water source and walk along the bottom to their destination. Some armadillos can weigh up to 120 pounds, but the ones in Georgia are about the size of a small dog.
The biggest problem with armadillos is digging large holes in your yard searching for insects. They also dig burrows, making a foundation unstable if located directly under it. Armadillos have poor eyesight but great hearing and smell. In Georgia, they are classified as both exotic and as a pest.
Critter Control is here for you every step of the way in the wildlife removal process. From inspection to removal—and even exclusion and repair—we have the services you need to get rid of raccoons, rodents, and other nuisances fast. First, we identify the animal on the property, then use humane methods to remove the animal and secure weak points where more could enter. If damage has been done, we can make those repairs for a complete restoration. Contact a Critter Control office near you today.
