Wildlife Removal Before & After Photos

A homeowner in Belmar, NJ was having issues with wildlife entering the void above the soffit. Soffits are the horizontal boards that fit under the eaves of the roof. They protect the area underneath a roof’s overhang from rain and snow which, if left unprotected, could cause the beams to rot, become vulnerable to mold growth, and attract insects and wildlife. Also, soffits are often vented in order to help air to circulate in the attic. Separate from a home’s soffits are the fascia boards, which cover the front of the soffit. The fascia gives a roof’s edge a finished look and serves as a mount for the home’s gutter system which funnels rain and snow run-off off the roof and away from the home’s foundation. Since soffits and fascia are exposed to the elements, they will often start to decay if not maintained. All too often, we see wildlife, especially squirrels and raccoons, exploiting weaknesses in a home’s structure. Often, they’ll rip their way through damaged fascia boards, soffits, or roofing shingles, to gain access inside the attic. 

This home’s soffits were in poor shape. Much of it was falling and left unsecured, leaving it wide open for wildlife to enter — which they did! The only good news for this Belmar homeowner was that the soffit wasn’t connected to the attic, so the wildlife simply nested in the void above and did not gain access inside the home. Once wildlife enters the attic, damage can be extensive. Usually, if the infestation is not quickly resolved, the insulation is destroyed and the whole area becomes a toxic mess from all the wildlife droppings. 

The Cowleys home improvement crew was called in. We removed the damaged soffits, cleaned out all of the built-up nesting debris, and then replaced the soffits with high-performance PVC trim boards. This material won’t rot, cup, split, twist, or warp. The new soffits looked great and blended in with the house. Now, with this home improvement, this homeowner will not have any further issues with wildlife exploiting weakened and damaged soffits in order to gain access to the void above to use as their private nesting home for their offspring.

This customer in Sea Girt, NJ, had a fox nesting underneath her front porch, so she called Little Rascals for help and we were sent out. After setting up our retrieval devices, we safely obtained the fox and relocated it to a new, safer location. All that's left is to exclude the porch to prevent any future fox intrusions.

First, we dug a 12 inch deep trench around the entire porch and installed hardware cloth. The hardware cloth is installed 12 inches deep and 12 inches out from the bottom of the home. This creates a sturdy "L shaped" perimeter that will prevent foxes and other nuisance wildlife from digging and nesting underneath the home. Afterward, we removed the broken lattice around the entire porch, installed new lattice around the area, and placed more hardware cloth over it. Now the area is properly excluded from all future fox, and other nuisance wildlife, intrusions.

I was sent to a home in Belmar, NJ to help a homeowner dealing with a bird infestation. Some birds had decided to use her chimney to nest. Chimneys can be quite popular nesting spots for birds since they resemble high perches in nature. Nuisance birds can cause significant property damage with their acidic droppings. As pretty as birds are from a distance, they happen to be dirty wildlife and are dangerous to have around homes and other structures. Their droppings are toxic and contact with them or even just  breathing in their airborne particles can cause serious respiratory diseases. 

First, to deal with this bird infestation, I carefully removed any nesting material and debris left behind from the birds in the chimney. I then installed a chimney cap and placed Bird Barrier Optical gel in plastic pucks on top of the chimney, gluing them in place with a silicone adhesive.  

Bird control is all about behavior modification. The objective is to create a inhospitable environment, so they move elsewhere. This bird gel is one of my favorite bird deterrents. To us, this product looks like a bland, boring white gel. However, birds look at it much differently. They have far better color vision that us and see a much broader spectrum of colors. To birds, this gel looks like a giant fireball. Birds aren’t the brightest of creatures, but no bird has any interest heading into a raging fire! This big bird illusion is highly effective in keeping them away.

This Belmar homeowner was quite relieved that I had taken care of her bird problem so quickly. Once birds find a good nesting spot, they don’t usually leave on their own. As a bird control specialist, my job is to determine the best “incentives” for that property to get the birds to vacate on their own. Now, with the chimney cap and optical gel, these birds will be relocating to a friendlier location.

Recently, we went out on a service call for a resident in Spring Lake, NJ who was having a problem with a raccoon in his attic. How'd he know it was a raccoon? As his son was cleaning the attic one evening he spotted the little fella running around!

As we inspected the rooftop we spotted raccoon hair and paw prints near an attic vent cover. This was how the raccoons were able to enter the attic.

We placed several baited traps near the main access point, installed an attic vent cover, and then attached a one-way to the attic vent cover. The vent cover prevents raccoon and other pesky, nuisance wildlife from entering your home through the roof vents. They are constructed out of heavy-duty 18 Gauge galvanized metal mesh that the wildlife are unable to chew through. 

The one-way is a device that allows the raccoons to safely leave the attic and prevents them from getting back in. By installing a vent cover over every single attic and static vent on the roof and placing a one-way over the main access point we are forcing the raccoon to exit through the one-way and into the baited traps. Once the raccoon is safely captured, we'll relocate it to a new, humane location and then sanitize the attic area.

This homeowner in Spring Lake, NJ had a problem with several squirrels nesting in his chimney. A short while after setting up our retrieval devices, we safely retrieved the squirrels, disinfected the area, and relocated them to a new, humane location. Now, in order to prevent any future infestation from squirrels, nuisance birds, and other nuisance wildlife we're going to install a Chimney cap. 

A chimney cap is a heavy-duty material that is constructed out of 24 Gauge Top and Flange, and 18 Gauge Galvanized Mesh! It is designed to prevent access to the chimney from all nuisance wildlife and birds.