How We Solve Albany 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.
Everyone knows New York is famous for its rats! However, rats aren't the only wildlife that troubles some of our Albany residents. Raccoons, squirrels, and bats are other culprites of invading and infesting homes. If you're finding yourself battling any of New York's wildlife, you are not alone! Our team specializes in trapping and removing wildlife. We answer our phones 24 hours a day 7 days a week to service your Albany wildlife needs. We service the following cities: Watervliet, Berne, Bethlehem, Coeymans, Green Island, Guilderland, Knox, New Scotland, Rensselaerville, Westerlo, Altamont, Green Island, Menands, Ravena, Voorheesville, Schenectady, Troy, Cohoes, and Colonie. We also service the following counties: Schenectady County, Saratoga County, Rensselaer County, Columbia County, Greene County, and Schoharie County.
Other Albany animal pest control topics:
Problems Caused by Nuisance Wildlife
Info About Colonizing Bats
Pigeon Prevention Tips
How to Trap a Rat
To learn more about our services, visit the Albany wildlife control home page.
This month's wildlife how-to article: How to get rid of bats
How to get rid of bats
There is a recommended process to getting rid of bats, it is recommended by all professionals, and most of them use it exclusively and it is also recommended by most animal control authorities and here it is.
Step one, choose the right season to remove the bat colony. Things you need to know to be able to make the choice are: is the colony a nursery colony, in other words, are the young bats in the colony that cannot fly yet. If you exclude the adults at this point these young animals would just starve to death and give you a house a horrible stench to live with for at least a month. One piece of information you need is that when a mother has a baby you can deploy all of the deterrent things that generally do work on bats but nothing will stop her returning to her baby. The maternity season for bats is mostly June and July but some may breed in late May and others may breed early August. Do not exclude bats from the roost during winter, this is almost sure death for the bats as there is very little food around in winter and cold is just as dangerous to them as it is to us.
Step two, is to find out what's entry points and exit points on the building the bats are using, and yes they can be using a different point for each of these purposes, seems they think one way traffic is safer. There are two ways to identify bat entry and exit points, the easiest one is to spot the urine and excrement stains near the point. The second is to go out at dusk and just watch and see where they come out, after they have all left some will start returning pretty quickly, especially if they have young to feed.
Step three, is the actual exclusion, once you know all the bats are out you seal up all their entry and exit points so they cannot return, if this is done right the bats will fly around the area for a couple of days, roosting in trees and the like, but after that they will move on. The most effective method of preventing bats from returning to your attic or any other space is to install strong lighting, bats are nocturnal animals that conduct nearly all their business in the dark, so having their roost brightly lit up put them off very quickly.
