Animal Control Screens

Professional wildlife control specialists have a number of tools and techniques for dealing with bats, squirrels, raccoons, snakes and other unwelcome guests. Their professional services are available in most urban and suburban areas of the country, but what if you are looking for do-it-yourself methods in order to keep your costs down?

Fortunately, wildlife control methods now include some practical solutions for homeowners and building maintenance personnel. They are pro-active solutions to keep the creatures out of homes and buildings in the first place, not tools to deploy in the event of intruders. You’ll definitely need to call in the professionals when you already have pests on the premises.

To deter wild animals from making future visits into your home or building, however, you have several control methods at your disposal for use in urban and suburban areas now. They all fall into the following categories:

• Poison – You can place poison at strategic locations so that the animal will consume it and die in that location, on its way out, or after it has left the premises. You won’t be able to control where it dies, however, and the dead animal can be an additional mess to dispose of after it is poisoned.
• Stun – This method requires one of a variety of stun guns designed for use on wildlife, depending on the size of the animal. It does not kill the animal, but renders it functionless in order for you to remove it from the premises. Naturally, you have to consider in advance where you will dispose of the incapacitated animal before it can harm you or others in transit.
• Trap – You can always purchase a traditional trap to kill wildlife, or a no-kill trap that will isolate it for removal. Trapping creates a hazardous situation inside structures because traditional traps can seriously injure or kill small children and pets, making no-kill traps the only real choice if you choose this method to eliminate wildlife in or near structures where people are located. One other form of trapping involves a stationary glue board in a container that holds the intruder’s feet or paws and prevents escape. This method works like cockroach pest strips and is only effective for small animals such as chipmunks.
• Exclude – Ultimately the most practical method of eliminating a wild animal problem, exclusion methods have gained tremendous popularity in the last few years. No need for poison, stun guns or traps means exclusion is by far the safest method to keep your home or buildings free of wildlife.

Exclusion can include repellants as well, meaning substances, noises or structures that serve to frighten wildlife away. A scarecrow is a good example of a repellant structure because it frightens birds away from a garden.
Federal, state and local restrictions on the use of one or more wildlife control methods may limit your options in some geographic areas. Specialists must comply with all the laws and regulations, but you may not be aware of them, which contribute to the many reasons that exclusion is becoming the favored option for keeping wild animals from entering and causing problems in your home or buildings.

Finally, where there is one wild animal there are frequently more. Pregnant raccoons may be seeking a secure location to give birth, which means you are not only dealing with the adult raccoon, but all the babies as well. This is probably the primary reason that you will want to explore exclusion methods to protect your property after you call a wildlife control specialist to get rid of your existing problem.