Critter Control of Providence, RI

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Living in Providence means encountering wildlife daily in your backyard, trees, parks, or businesses. At times, these critters can be entertaining. Other times, they are a nuisance. Rhode Island defines nuisance wildlife as any animal threatening to kill livestock or pets, destroy crops or property, create health hazards, or cause economic damage to your property.

When dealing with nuisance wildlife, capturing and releasing them on land far away from your property is tempting. However, it is prohibited by law to prevent the spread of diseases, disrupting ecosystems, and the animal in question will likely return.

There are many kinds of animals in Providence; those that commonly become problematic include raccoons, opossums, skunks, squirrels, rats, mice, bats, snakes, etc. The Department of Environmental Management recommends contacting a wildlife control operator when you find yourself in conflict with one of these critters.

You will be visited by a professional trained in efficiently removing animals from inside or outside your home while keeping you, your family, and the animal safe from harm. Below are examples of common Providence nuisance wildlife issues.

Critter Control Wildlife Removal Process

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.

STEP 1

Wildlife Inspection

During the inspection we try to ascertain how many animals there are, where they are located, and how they got in. Based on what you have seen, heard and smelled, we start the inspection where you have noticed signs of animal activity. Evidence of animals inside your home include nests, dens, feces, and animal tracks. We investigate the exterior of your home looking for possible entry points, any evidence of animal damage, tracks, fur, animal waste, or rub marks.
STEP 2

Removal

We use several methods to humanely remove the animal from your home. Depending on the species, the number of animals, and the condition of your property, we develop a custom wildlife removal plan. Humane wildlife removal strategies include animal traps, one-way doors, and repellents. Once we guarantee all animals are gone, we implement exclusion techniques. Exclusion techniques provide a safe, long-term solution to nuisance wildlife in your home. We create barriers to prevent animals from getting to resources. We only apply exclusions once we are sure all animals are gone from your home.
STEP 3

Prevention and Repair

Wildlife will damage your home. Exclusion techniques repair any damage the animal causes getting into your home. Inside your home, animals build nests and dens out of readily available material. They will create runs through the insulation. Rodents will gnaw on anything including electrical wires and pipes. Animals can also spread diseases. We apply sanitation agents to clean up feces and urine. Mammals can host pests like fleas, ticks, and mites. Ectoparasite treatments exterminate those pests so you don’t become their next host.

Raccoon Removal

Raccoons are cute, with their black masks and striped tails. Their human-like hands make them great climbers. They are also opportunistic omnivores, meaning they eat anything they find, such as plants and meat, including insects, small rodents, fish, garbage, pet feed, and table scraps. They eat chickens, eggs, birds, fruits, nuts, and grains. They destroy coops, feeders, decks, porches, and other structures to get food. If you have a raccoon causing problems on your property, it won’t be cute for long.

Raccoons love to occupy attic spaces, especially when it is time to give birth, usually mid to late Spring. Getting into your attic is not a problem for a raccoon. If it sees a small hole or a crack in your roof, it will make it bigger and push its way inside. Raccoons will also tear off shingles and remove vent screens and caps to access the attic space.

Once inside, raccoons designate an area for nesting and the other as a latrine. They build nests out of materials they find inside your home, like drywall, insulation, and sentimental items lying around.

Raccoons chew on electrical wiring, clog vents and pipes, and scratch and shred drywall and insulation. Outside, they dig holes in your lawn, destroy gardens, raid bird feeders, leave smudge marks on your siding, break shingles, and tear bark from trees.

Hiring a wildlife expert to trap raccoons is always recommended since raccoons carry many diseases, including rabies, tularemia, roundworm, and trichinosis.

Inspection

Inspection

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.

Trapping and Removal

Raccoon Trapping

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.

Repairs

Repairs

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.

Rat Control in Providence

The brown and black rats are in abundance throughout Rhode Island, but it is the brown rat that you will most likely find on your property. If you have an issue with mice, the odds are they are house mice. However, field mice and deer mice occasionally enter a Providence home. To get rid of rats and mice, you must first know which species is causing the nuisance.

Rats are larger than mice, and with brown and black rats, their fur color can help you identify them. Deer and field mice both have white feet, but field mice typically have gray fur, while deer mice are brown. These two mice species do not adapt well to being around humans, unlike the house mouse, which thrives around humans, so the latter is the kind of mouse you are likely to find in your attics, walls, ceilings, and crawlspaces.

Rats like to burrow underground, digging tunnels under your home, driveway, shed, or other structure. Burrows make anything above them unstable. When not digging underground, rats may enter your home using cracks and holes, even those as small as a quarter. Mice can enter through holes the size of a dime. There are plenty of secret spaces in your home for these animals to live comfortably.

Rats and mice cause extensive damage to your property. They chew electrical wires and build nests in your insulation, vents, or pipes. They can chew through thin metals, siding, shingles, wood, plastic, and drywall. They contaminate pets, livestock, and human food, costing you extra money to replace your groceries.

Rats and mice carry numerous diseases, including tularemia, salmonellosis, rat bite fever, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis, a few diseases that can be transmitted to humans and other animals. They carry parasites like ticks and fleas that can transmit bacterial infections like Lyme disease to humans.

If you see one rat or mouse, there are others nearby. Both species reproduce six or more times each year. With each litter, they have six or more pups. The female pups are ready to breed at three months old. Within six months, you can have an infestation. Trapping one mouse is easy. Getting rid of a rodent infestation requires professional help and may take several weeks. Also, using the wrong bait or traps can lead to more damage and a larger infestation. Hiring a professional for pest removal is crucial.

Inspection

Inspection

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.

Trapping and Removal

Rodent Trapping

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.

Repairs

Repairs

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.

Squirrel Removal

The squirrel, can be seen daily in Providence. The Easter gray squirrel is the one you find most in your yard or attic. The red squirrel tends to avoid urban areas. The flying Southern squirrel, which doesn’t fly but glides, is nocturnal and prefers rural areas.

Squirrels are fun to watch as they scurry around your property. If you watch closely, they are always on a mission to collect food and nesting materials. These mini collectors store their treasures for winter since they are not true hibernators. They collect grains, nuts, flowers, buds, berries, fruits, insects, bird eggs, mushrooms, and garden crops. Some will eat human scraps if available.

As you continue watching squirrels, you will notice their behaviors are causing damage to your home and property. They have teeth that constantly grow and which these rodents must keep filed to avoid pain. Squirrels chew on any hard materials to file down their teeth. They chew holes in vinyl siding, shingles, drywall, wood, and plastic. Some will even chew concrete.

Inside an attic, where they prefer to nest, squirrels will chew electrical wires and will use any sentimental items left lying around for nests. They shred insulation and build nests in ducts or pipes, creating fire hazards for you and your family. They chew wooden beams and trusses, altering the structure of your roof. Squirrels also leave urine and feces that produce foul odors and can grow mold spores harmful to humans.

Unlike other rodents, squirrels are protected furbearers, and anyone hunting or trapping them must have proper permits and licenses. Removing a squirrel with newborns requires immediate reunification. Relocation is illegal. Homeowners can benefit from hiring a professional who understands the laws and can secure the space from future squirrel activity.

Inspection

Inspection

Wildlife specialists look for signs such as chewing on, in, or around your home, small openings leading to the attic or the crawl space, droppings, and debris like nuts or nesting material. Beams, wires, pipes, and insulation may all show signs of damage from squirrels.

Trapping and Removal

Squirrel Trapping

Live trapping or one-way doors are the most effective and humane ways to get rid of squirrels. One-way doors should never be used during birthing seasons (Spring & Fall), so our specialists will decide which is the best tool for the job. If we have to trap, we place traps strategically to safely catch the squirrels and check those according to state laws.

Repairs

Repairs

We can restore your home or office by squirrel proofing all entry points after we have removed the offenders. We can also clean-up the nesting sites and remove any debris, food, feces and soiled insulation.

Bat Removal

Rhode Island has at least eight bat species, but the ones you find roosting in your attic are likely the big or little brown bats. If you see a bat on your property, your first instinct may be to panic. However, bats are harmless when left alone. They have no desire to interact with humans. The only time they become a threat to humans is when you try catching and handling them.

They have simple goals, like finding food and roosting. Bats consume thousands of insects every night. They are an essential part of our ecosystem balance and save farmers billions by eating insects that would have to be killed with insecticides if it weren’t for bats.

Bats become a nuisance because their guano or feces and urine contains acids and grows mold spores that, if ingested by humans, can cause respiratory problems. Bats defecate even when they sleep. As the piles grow, they stain and corrode a structure’s wood flooring, walls, and beams. The foul odors and mold spores can travel through your vents into your living spaces.

Bats are protected as threatened and endangered due to diseases like the white-nose syndrome sweeping through colonies. Other reasons for their protection include population reduction caused by wind turbines and climate change. Laws regarding bat removal state that no bat can be removed or harassed out of its roost during the maternity season, from late Spring to early Fall. Also, newborns must be given enough time to grow and fly out independently.

Bats can carry diseases, including rabies, and although rare, you don’t want to take a chance with your health by trying to capture a bat without the right equipment.

Inspection

Inspection

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).

Trapping and Removal

Bat Removal

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.

Repairs

Repairs

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.

Groundhog (Woodchuck) Control

Woodchucks (also called Groundhogs) are part of the squirrel family, a rodent that will make a home by burrowing under homes, sheds, hedgerows, and gardens. They are much larger than other rodents, weighing up to ten pounds and averaging 20 inches long. Their size means the burrows they dig are likewise large, causing instability in the foundations on which homes and buildings are built. If these critters burrow under roads or driveways, expect to see cracks and holes shortly.

Woodchucks cover the entrances to their burrows so well that humans don’t often see them. A person falling into a burrow can break a bone. The same is true for horses or livestock. Farmers suffer expensive equipment damage when woodchucks dig holes in crop fields, and the farmers unknowingly drive over them.

Woodchucks hibernate in winter and spend much time preparing by collecting grains, grasses, fruits, and berries. It can seem impossible to get rid of a woodchuck. You may fill its burrow with dirt, but the woodchuck will dig it out again. The tunnel systems woodchucks create are often quite extensive, and you may not find every entrance, leaving the whole structure open to various wildlife even if your resident woodchuck is extracted.

A professional can effectively remove and prevent a woodchuck from returning without breaking furbearer regulations. Specific trapping methods and relocation are outlawed.

Inspection

Groundhog Inspection

Groundhog nesting isn’t hard to spot. Being the largest member of the squirrel family, they have a rather large entrance hole to their nesting spots and they leave a great amount of dirt at their front door.

Trapping and Removal

Groundhog Removal

Once we’ve identified all burrow entrances, the next step is deciding what will work best for the situation at hand. Woodchucks may be excluded from denning under structures with one-way doors, if the structure they’re living under can be sealed with a rat wall. If the area can’t be sealed, then trapping and removing the animal is the best option.

Repairs

Groundhog Repairs

We can install rat walls to keep groundhogs out of crawl spaces and from entering under decks, sheds, patios and many other locations. Please call us to discuss how this process is completed.

How Professional Wildlife Control Services Can Help You

Getting rid of nuisance wildlife is not as easy as you may think. It involves knowing the local and state laws regarding the different species, special removal techniques, and disease testing. Homeowners risk being bitten or scratched, contracting a disease, and increasing the amount of damage to the home or property.

Hiring a professional wildlife control company eliminates those issues and gives you the following:

Trained Specialists Animal removal is a highly sophisticated job. As such, we vet and train our team members to ensure they have the knowledge and skill to remove any pest from your building. Our wildlife experts utilize advanced removal and exclusion techniques and damage repair.
Guaranteed Work Your satisfaction is always guaranteed. Critter Control® takes great pride in providing quality workmanship resulting in customer satisfaction.
Residential and Commerical Invading nuisance wildlife can wreak havoc on property. If left unattended wildlife and pests can cause costly property damage. Whether a residential property, apartment buildings, retail stores, office buildings, industrial plants, medical facilities, or warehouses, our trained professionals can handle any wildlife removal problem.