Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday Closed
By County: Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Pickaway, Union
Columbus, OH, is a densely populated area that attracts a variety of wildlife. Many of these animals invade yards and houses for food or protection from predators. While weather conditions affect their behavior, some pests adapt and make Columbus their home throughout the year.
Raccoons in Ohio are born mischievous. They’ve got the cute masks and banded, bushy tails to prove it. Primarily nocturnal, raccoons look forward to scavenging for food. Their human-like paws aid in their adventures. They can turn doorknobs, lift dumpster and trash can lids, open feed bags, and dig holes in your yard. They search for nuts, grains, insects, chickens, table scraps, fish, and practically anything else.
Raccoons will also steal garden crops and fish from a small pond. Don’t be surprised to catch a raccoon enjoying floating around if you have a swimming pool. They love water. They also love pooping in water and will leave feces behind in your pool.
Raccoons are about the size of a house cat. If you leave your cat door open, it will enter your house to find food and shelter. They prefer nesting in vacant spots, like chimneys, attics, basements, and under decks or porches. If they build a nest in your home, they will use surrounding insulation, drywall, and items not stored properly to make their new home comfortable. They will also scratch wood beams and clog duct work.
Critter Control experts have a lot of experience with the local raccoons.
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.
Columbus area rats and mice include the Norway rat and the house mice. Do you know those small spaces around wires that run from one room to another? How about that small crack around your window because it no longer closes tightly? Or the teeny-tiny space between your door and the floor? Rats and mice can squeeze through those cracks and holes and more. They will also chew around the area to make it bigger.
Rats and mice are attracted to your property for food first. When they find it, they build a nest nearby. Rats like to burrow underground also. Food found in your yard may be pet poop, feed, nuts, fruit, garden crops, compost, birdseed, and garbage.
Once inside your home, expect to see trails of feces and urine, scattered groceries, and gnaw marks on wires, wood, carpet, and furniture. These tiny critters can cause significant damage. We can help. Call us at the first sign of rat or mice activity. Rodents reproduce five to seven times a year and give birth to five or more babies each time. In less than one year, you could have a severe infestation.
The City of Columbus offers some great tips on rat and mice control, like calling a local animal control company for help.
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.
Woodchucks, sometimes known as groundhogs, are common in central Ohio and often dig large holes that can measure a foot wide. These pests dig tunnel systems, which can leave large tripping hazards, and their dens are large enough to weaken home foundations.
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.
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.
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.
Everywhere you look in your Columbus neighborhood, you can find a squirrel collecting items and scurrying off to store them. They fill their cheeks with fruits, nuts, bird eggs, grains, vegetables, leaves, bark, and more. Pay attention to where they take their treasures. It may be in your home, like the attic, chimney, ducts, or vents. This can be dangerous, leading to clogs and, in some cases, fires.
Squirrels have teeth that are constantly growing. They must gnaw and chew on hard things to keep them filed down and pain-free. They may chew on the shingles, vent screens, siding, wood, etc., that separates the inside of your home from the outside.
Expect your drywall, insulation, ventilation, electrical wiring, and personal items to be destroyed if they get inside. Our experts know precisely how to get rid of squirrels and prevent them from returning.
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.
We need bats, like the little brown bat, in Columbus. We do. They are essential for our ecosystem. One reason is that they consume thousands of insects each night. Bats are protected in Ohio and throughout the United States due to the threat of extinction from, among other dangers, the white-nose syndrome, a wildlife disease known for killing many bats.
While we need bats, we don’t need them in our attics or chimneys. They are loud, especially when traveling in colonies. They leave large amounts of guano, or feces, wherever they roost. They even poop while roosting, allowing their feces to run down their fur before hitting the floor. Guano grows mold spores that can cause histoplasmosis if humans inhale the spores.
It’s essential never to try to remove a bat by yourself. You don’t want guano on your hands, and some bats carry diseases that can be transmitted through a bite, which may happen if a bat feels threatened. If you have a bat issue, call us. We have the right equipment to get rid of bats.
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.
Skunk populations have increased in Columbus because of their ability to adapt to warm and cold weather. These nocturnal creatures are active all year, living near fencerows and thick brush. They also create burrows under houses, sheds, and porches. If threatened, skunks discharge a pungent spray that contains seven different chemicals. This spray is potentially dangerous, especially for pets whose eyes are at greater danger. Skunks also transmit rabies through bites or scratches.
In addition to noting any pungent odors that signal the presence of a skunk, we will inspect the condition of your landscaping, as skunks are known for tearing-up lawns and shredding grass while hunting for grubs and insects. We will also inspect the perimeter of your building’s foundations and under decks, to locate burrows.
Never try to remove a skunk from your property yourself. Getting sprayed is a very unpleasant experience. Furthermore, these animals may carry diseases that can spread to humans and pets, such as rabies. Our specialists will use live traps to capture and remove skunks for you, or they’ll use a one-way exclusion device to evict skunks from their harborage areas. The most effective ways to control a skunk problem is exclusion and habitat modification.
The most effective ways to control a skunk problem is exclusion and habitat modification. Methods like sealing foundation gaps, replacing and screening broken foundation vents and installing hardware cloth (rat walls) around unprotected sheds and decks are the most effective and permanent ways to keep skunks out.
We recommend keeping pet food inside and securing any trash bins.
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.
Mice, squirrels, birds, and bats in attics, raccoons in trash, under decks, or in crawl spaces, moles in lawns, etc.
The colder weather in the fall and winter drives animals into homes, while hotter temperatures in the spring and summer cause critters to go under decks and sheds.
Hearing noises in walls and attics or seeing pieces of insulation in the lawn and other damage around the home.
Screen, cover, cap, and seal all vents, cracks, holes, and other openings.
Call if you notice any kind of damage around the home or yard. Prevention is always easier than making repairs.
