Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Sunday Closed
By County: Western Orange County
Aliso Viejo
Costa Mesa
Coto De Caza
Cypress
Dana Point
Emerald Bay
Fountain Valley
Galivan
Garden Grove
Great Park
Huntington Beach
Irvine
Laguna Beach
Laguna Niguel
Lake Forest
Long Beach
Lake Forest
Mission Viejo
Newport Beach
Rancho San Clemente
San Clemente
Santa Ana
Trabuco Canyon
Turtle Rock
Tustin
Westminster
Finding evidence of pests or nuisance wildlife is alarming. Pests and animals disrupt your life, damage your home, and introduce health risks to you and your family.
Nuisance wildlife like raccoons, squirrels, rats, mice, opossums, bats, and birds are some of the most common household pests. Typical signs of pests and nuisance wildlife include unusual noises, strange odors, damage to the exterior of buildings, and paw prints or tracks.
For over forty years, we have been trusted to solve nuisance wildlife infestations, restore and repair their property, and protect their home from future infestations.
Critter Control is here for you every step of the way in the wildlife removal process. We were instrumental in defining the humane process to get rid of pests and wildlife. Over four decades, we have refined the process to safely and humanely remove wildlife from people’s property. We have the services you need to get rid of raccoons, squirrels, bats, rodents, and other pests effectively and efficiently.
Our inspections cover the entire house. Based on what you have seen, heard and smelled, we start the inspection where you have noticed signs of animal activity. The inspection process identifies the target pests, the size of the infestation, and animal entry points.
We develop a custom animal trapping and removal plan based on our whole home inspection. Humane wildlife strategies include animal traps, one-way doors, harassments techniques, pest repellents, and habitat modifications. Once we guarantee the animal is gone, we install exclusions for long-lasting pest control.
Exclusion techniques repair animal entry holes and strengthen potential ones. Exclusions provide immediate animal and pest control to your home.
Pests and nuisance wildlife damage your home. Inside your home, animals build nests and dens. They will create runs through the insulation and gnaw on 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.
Raccoons are prevalent throughout Orange County. They are nocturnal masked bandits. They can cause significant damage to homes, offices, retail shops, restaurants, and other buildings. Their goal is to enter your home or building and create a safe place to sleep and have baby raccoons.
Raccoon maternity season is February to March so residents are most likely to notice raccoons in their attic from March to October.
They break vents, fencing, and screens that lead to the interior of your home. Once inside, they can destroy ductwork, rip insulation, scratch, and shred drywall and wood. They also leave large amounts of feces and urine that can stain the floors and walls.
Raccoons dig up your yard looking for insects, raid your garden, tip over trash cans and root through your garbage, and steal pet food that is not stored correctly. Here’s how we can 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.
Opossums are more of a nuisance than a real danger. They are very common in urban and suburban settings and will eat practically anything. Opossums will use attics, crawlspaces and the areas under sheds and porches as dens.
Opossums can be found inside attics and basements or outside under decks and sheds. Common signs include unique paw prints and feces. Opossums are docile and usually easy to spot.
Opossums can be lured into cages for live capture. If it is maternity season, we follow all guidelines for removing mother and newborn opossums. We will seal entryways into the building to prevent opossums from reentering in the future. Opossums can be kept from getting under sheds and decks by installing fencing around the bottom edges and burying the fence underground.
Broken screens on chimney and roof vents are replaced with sturdier materials, and we properly seal all entry points, including crawlspaces. We clean and deodorize areas of opossum activity. Exclusion may include eliminating sources that attract bugs, like nighttime lighting, stagnant water, and livestock poop.
Orange County home and business owners owners are susceptible to rat and mouse infestations. Attics, basements, restaurants, and sheds are sought out spaces for these nuisance animals to make their home. Rodents’ teeth grow throughout their lives, and they are notorious for chewing through electric wires, walls, and floors to create pathways to pantries, horse stalls, and restaurant storage areas. Rats and mice will contaminate food in pantries, and they also carry diseases including hantavirus, salmonella, and leptospirosis. They reproduce quickly and often, making it imperative to get rid of rats and mice quickly.
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.
Various species of squirrel can be seen daily in our area: the Eastern gray squirrel, Eastern fox squirrel, Douglas squirrel, and the Western gray squirrel, which are the only native squirrels. Even squirrels like the west coast better.
Squirrels can do a lot of damage to your yard and home. Squirrels stay busy collecting items to build their nest or to store for the winter months. The problem is that too often, they are using your home as a nesting and storage site.
In their hoarding activities, squirrels break vents and screens climbing in and out of your chimney or attic. They tear shingles, dent gutters and spouting, raid your garden, gnaw on cables, strip bark from trees, and dig holes. Inside your home, they gnaw on wood, wires and use insulation for nests. They also leave feces and urine wherever they travel. We can get rid of your squirrel problem.
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.
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.
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.
Nineteen different species of snake make their home in Orange County. Snakes tend to lurk in the tall grasses of yards and public spaces. Most native snakes are harmless, but southern pacific rattlesnakes can kill and are found in the area.
Additionally, since snakes set up their nests where food is present, and rodents are some of their favorite meals, finding multiple snakes on private properties may indicate secondary pest issues.
Snakes are excellent at avoiding detection. We inspect your home for potential entry points and look for signs like snake skin and feces. Because a snake typically enters a home hunting for food, our wildlife inspector also looks for signs of a rodent infestation.
We have a humane and safe way to trap and handle snakes. We relocate the snakes back into the wild.
In addition to dealing with any possible rodent problem drawing snakes to your property, a specialist will assist with sealing possible entry points and also encourage you to remove any debris where snakes can easily take up residence.
With 25 species of bats in California, there are plenty of places you can go to watch them. Sometimes you can walk outside at night, and there they are, flying around pole lights, consuming insects. They eat thousands of insects every night, which is why they are an essential factor in our ecosystem.
You might not notice bats living in your attic, barn or outbuildings if it weren’t for two major flaws: their loud noises and their guano. One bat is not that noisy, but it will become a nuisance if you have a colony on your property. Bat guano, or feces, is heavy and smells awful. Bats allow guano to run down their bodies as they roost upside down. Because guano can grow mold spores, it can be harmful to humans if inhaled.
Touching a bat puts you in direct contact with guano since their fur is covered in it. Instead of trying to remove a bat yourself and putting yourself at risk, call our experts.
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 a new layer of fresh insulation, which also can increase the R-value of your attic insulation.
Raccoons often invade attics, crawlspaces, and chimneys, causing structural damage, leaving behind droppings, and spreading diseases like rabies and leptospirosis.
Roof rats and house mice are a major concern in Orange County and Long Beach, entering homes through small gaps and nesting in walls, attics, and basements. They chew on wires (creating fire hazards) and contaminate food.
Coyotes are increasingly entering residential areas, posing a threat to pets and sometimes humans. They are drawn to pet food, garbage, and unsecured yards.
Squirrels frequently invade attics, chew through insulation and wiring, and create fire hazards. They also nest in trees close to homes, increasing the risk of entry.
Skunks dig under decks, porches, and sheds, causing property damage. They spray a foul-smelling odor when threatened and can carry rabies.
Birds and bats roosting in vents, attics, or eaves can spread diseases like histoplasmosis and cause unsanitary conditions.
Opossums scavenge in trash, create messes, and carry parasites like fleas and ticks that can spread to pets.
Wildlife activity in Orange County, Irvine, and Long Beach shifts with the seasons, bringing different challenges year-round. In spring, animals like raccoons, squirrels, and rodents invade attics and crawlspaces to nest. Summer sees increased coyote sightings as they search for food, while skunks and rodents become more active around homes. As fall arrives, wildlife seeks shelter indoors—rodents, raccoons, and bats often find their way into attics and walls. By winter, infestations peak, with rodents multiplying rapidly and larger animals like raccoons and skunks taking refuge in warmer spaces.
Recognizing the early signs of nuisance wildlife activity can prevent costly damage and health risks. Unusual noises like scratching, scurrying, or thumping in attics and walls often indicate rodents, raccoons, or squirrels. Droppings and strong odors around your home, especially in basements or near vents, suggest an active infestation. Chewed wires, insulation damage, or gnawed entry points are common with rats and squirrels, while tipped-over trash cans and scattered debris point to raccoons or opossums. Burrows under decks or sheds signal skunks, and if you notice damaged vents or nests in chimneys, birds or bats may have moved in.
Seal all entry points around your property, including gaps in windows, doors, and attic vents, as even small openings can invite rodents, raccoons, and squirrels inside.
Keep your garbage securely contained and avoid leaving pet food outside to reduce attractants for raccoons and skunks.
Trim back tree branches that provide easy access to roofs or chimneys for raccoons and squirrels.
Install mesh or netting around vents, chimneys, and other potential entry spots to keep birds and bats out.
If you have a crawl space or basement, make sure to seal it tightly to prevent larger animals like opossums and skunks from seeking shelter. By taking these steps, you’ll significantly reduce your chances of a wildlife problem.
Homeowners should call us as soon as they notice any signs of nuisance wildlife activity, such as scratching or scurrying sounds in attics, visible droppings, or chewed wires. If you spot animals near your home or notice damage to your property, it’s essential to act quickly before the situation worsens. Waiting can lead to more severe infestations, costly repairs, and health risks.
This franchise is independently licensed and operated by Crit Con, LLC, dba Critter Control of Irvine, CA
