Bats in Los Angeles, California Apartment Complexes

Bat infestations are common in the Los Angeles, California area.  The climate is perfect and there are so many man-made structures that remind bats of their primeval cave homes that they are glad to move in and make themselves comfortable.  So comfortable, in fact, that professional bat removal is the only way to get rid of them. 

Apartment buildings in particular make for good bat habitat.  The buildings are sometimes surrounded by open space that provides hunting grounds.  There are many nooks and crannies for roosting or colony sites.  Sometimes the buildings are not very well maintained and provide access to the interior of the buildings where the bats encroach on people.  That is when residents begin to make demands: remove bats or I will remove myself to a new apartment and the animals can have this one. 

Sometimes management will try to ignore or hide the problem.  This is very dangerous.  The managers aren’t usually being lazy, they just don’t know their options.  They are afraid that bat removal will be bad public relations, negatively affect the appearance of their buildings and cost too much. 

Hiring professional bat removal shows tenants that their complaints are being addressed and will not cause people to move nearly so fast as a live bat in the bedroom will. 

When bat removal is properly done the appearance of the building will be only slightly altered, if at all.  Most access points used by the animals are very small and can be blocked without even being noticed by the average passerby.  

A single contact between a bat and a human can result in a very ugly lawsuit.  Yes, you have to pay for bat removal.  But, it is much cheaper than the alternative. 

Make the decision to get rid of the bats in your apartment, home or business.  You will be happier.

Nationwide Bat Removal Services: 1-888-488-7720

Insect Control and Bat Control in Denver, Colorado

There are unintended consequences to placing a bat house on your home or commercial building. It can lead to serious health risks and require professional bat control services.

“Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the BAT bugs bite.” 

Bat bugs?  What are bat bugs?  I only know about bed bugs.  Well, bat bugs are one of the lesser known reasons for bat control, but one that people need to know about.  

Colorado State University has issued warnings to people in the Denver, Colorado against putting bat houses on their homes, as there are unintended consequences that can lead to serious health risks and require professional bat control services. 

People have various reasons for wanting to attract these animals—insect control or as part of the stronger ecological conscience that is growing in the state.  People want to provide shelter for this beneficial species.  

There are problems with this good intention.  While these little houses are advertised in a number of forums as good for bats, one must be very careful in their application.  One of a few things tends to happen: 

1. The house goes unoccupied.  This is discouraging and frustrating for people who have gone to expense with the hope of attracting bats.
2. The bats move in—and so do the bugs.  If you attach a bat house to your house, you are asking for bat bugs.  These are small, parasitic animals similar to bed bugs.  They are more common than bed bugs in Colorado and spread easily from roosting locations to people’s sleeping locations.  The small insects can come in through open windows, small cracks, etc., and end up in your bedroom.  For this reason, bat houses should not be mounted on people houses or businesses. If you start finding bites from an unknown insect, you might want to get checked and explore bat control options including complete fumigation and sanitation of your home.
3. The bats move in—and end up in the house.  If you attract bats to the small, cramped quarters you bought on-line, it is a small step to having them in your attic.  Bat removal specialists are often called in for bat control when the animals make their way inside.   

It is good to care about bats.  You can help them by careful and minimal use of pesticides and insecticides, by spreading the good word about them and the great service they provide to the environment and by using good sense around bats and all wild animals.  If you do end up with bats in your house and need bat control, contact a specialist who will exclude the bats without harming them.

Nationwide Bat Removal and Insect Control: 1-888-488-7720

Rabid Bat Danger in Denver, Colorado

Wildlife control operators can control bats without injuring them, and without damaging your home.

Did you know that nearly 10% of all bats in the Denver, Colorado area that are tested by the Department of Public Health and Environment test positive for rabies?  In fact, bats are the number one carrier of rabies in Colorado.

While they are interesting and valuable animals, bat control is necessary.  Bat colonies in homes must be removed.  Wildlife control operators can control bats by removing them without injuring them or damaging your home.  In fact, your home will be better maintained when they are done, because it is usually lack of maintenance that allows bats to take up residence.

What else can you do to control your exposure to bats?  The Health Department recommends avoiding bats that act “abnormally.”  But, what is abnormal? 

1. The animal is active during the day. Healthy bats usually remain quiet and roost during daylight hours.
2. The animal has difficulty flying or cannot fly at all.  It is possible that the animal is injured, but it is likely sick.
3. The animal makes very loud hissing or squeaking noises.
4. The animal is on the ground and/or in an open or exposed area.
5. The animal allows you to approach it without attempting to get away. This does not mean it is a friendly.  It means something is wrong.

 If you see a bat with any of these symptoms, DO NOT handle it with your bare hands.  Most cases of rabies in humans happen when a person initiates contact with a wild animal.  Do not attempt bat control yourself.  Hire a trained professional wildlife control operator.

If there is any possibility you or a family member or pet have come into direct contact with a bat, seek medical help immediately.  The animal should be captured if it is possible to do so without directly handling the animal.  Bats have very small teeth and claws and the bites or scratches may be barely visible or not painful. 

Avoid danger by being careful around wild animals, knowing the symptoms of rabies and other infectious diseases and through careful home maintenance to promote a healthy living environment through sensible, sensitive bat control.

Nationwide Bat Control: 1-888-488-7720

No-Kill Options for Urban Wildlife

Nationwide Wildlife Control: 1-888-488-7720

Some wildlife, such as mud swallows, woodpeckers and bats, can be relocated without euthanization.

More and more often people contact me looking for no-kill options for wildlife and even for domestic animals that they have on their property.  These animals might be bats in their garage or pigeons roosting on their office building.  It is hard for people to understand why some animals are euthanized.

The good news is that some wild animals can be removed without euthanization.  Examples are bats, mud swallows and woodpeckers.  We vent the animals out and perform maintenance to prevent them from returning.  They are free to find a new roost or colony location.  We use repellents for mud swallows and woodpeckers, which, again, are free to relocate themselves. 

However, the most common urban wildlife like raccoons, pigeons and feral cats, usually cannot be legally relocated.  The easy answer is “that is the law” and people reply “the law is wrong” or “the law can be changed” or even “To $&%* with the law, I’m going to do the right thing, legal or not.” But, before you act remember that there are reasons why euthanization laws exist.  

Urban wildlife carries more disease than their rural cousins. If we trap a city raccoon, for example, and take it out to the country it is likely to infect the rural population.

Most areas in the United States where each of these animals can live already support a near-capacity population.  If you relocate an animal, it will fight established animals for territory.  Someone will lose. 

Urban animals often do not adapt to rural living.  A fast-food raccoon does not know how to catch fish from a running stream.

Pigeons will return to their original roost from over 500 miles away, making relocation near impossible. Other animals will return from remarkable distances, far longer than you would expect.

I do not like to euthanize animals, but I understand that it is often in the best interest of everyone involved.  I am certain a painless passing in a CO Chamber is more merciful than bleeding to death from a fight or slow starvation.  I can assure you that we do treat the animals in a caring and humane way when we are called in to perform animal removal.

There are things you can do to help.  

1. Feral populations of cats are the result of owners not neutering or spaying their pets.  Be responsible. Don’t contribute to the problem. 
2. Don’t attract wild animals to your property by providing food like trash or dog food. 
3. Keep your home or business well-maintained and secure so the animals can’t get inside and take up residence.
4. If you do find that a wild animal is living on your property, act quickly before they breed and a whole group of animals must be removed. 

Animal Emergencies

An attic full of bats can easily become an emergency situation.

Encounters between people and wildlife easily turn into emergencies. Raccoons, skunks and bats are OK as long as they stay in the woods where they belong.  Many people can even tolerate them in their yard or near the house as long as they stay on their side of the door, so to speak. A raccoon in a wall or a skunk under the porch or bats in the attic are, however, emergencies for many people. 

When animals come inside it becomes an emergency because people don’t know what to do.  Even if it is legal, discharging a firearm in the home isn’t a good idea.  Grabbing the animals is generally impossible and certainly foolish.  Animals, even physically small ones, will fight to the death if they feel threatened.  Having a large (in their eyes) person running and grabbing at them is definitely a threat.  Trapping might be an idea, but people don’t have traps on hand or know what to do with the animal if they were to capture it.

That is where we come in.  We are professional wildlife operators.  We are here to solve problems associated with human/animal contact and control the damage caused by the animals when they enter the human world. 

Of course, the animals are stressed too. They are not used to confinement.  They are not used to noise, artificial light, and having overly excited people screaming and running around them.  The animals are often more frightened than the people and need to be handled with respect and care.

Professional wildlife operators, like those you will find listed on www.AllstateAnimalControl.com, can solve the animal emergencies in your life.  The operators listed in our directory service all 50 states and most major cities and counties and  you can rest assured you are working with the best in the business. If you have an animal emergency check out our directory online or call us at 1-888-488-7720.

Salt Lake City: How to get rid of bats!

These little bats cause big trouble when they decide to inhabit human homes.

Contact Allstate Animal Control: 1-888-488-7720

Have you heard about Allstate Animal Control?  Well, until a few months ago neither had I, and I sure wish I had known about them a few years ago.  That’s why I am telling you now!  I live in Salt Lake City, Utah and kind of knew I had bats in my house.  I saw them flying around the yard in the evening and sort of figured they might live in my attic.  I had even talked to my exterminator about how to get rid of them and he told me, “You can’t really get rid of bats.”  

I didn’t like that answer, but figured I would just let it go.  Maybe they would go away or something.  Well, they didn’t go away and last spring I started getting them inside my house, I mean, really inside.  We would hear a noise and see a sudden movement and, whoosh!  A bat is flying up and down the hall!  It was really scary and freaked us all out.  After the third evening of sharing dinner with the local wildlife my wife had had it.  “It’s either the bats, or me!”

I started doing my research and found that you can get rid of bats, you just have to find the right company.  The right company isn’t your local exterminator; they are for cockroaches.  What I needed was a wildlife removal company.  These guys specialize in getting wildlife out of your home and back into the wild. 

One great thing about Allstate Animal Control  is that they can help you find professionals in all 50 states.  It doesn’t matter where you are; they have a directory of companies in your area.  That sure helped me.  I went to their website and found an independent professional wildlife removal operator, located right here in Utah!  The technician, Jason, came to my home and checked things out.  He told me it would take a few weeks, but the critters would be gone for good.  He had all sorts of special equipment and stuff, and I really felt sure that he knew his business.

The big shock came when he inspected the attic. Gross!  They had been living there and it was nasty!  But even that is better now.  After all the bats were out and Jason was sure they couldn’t get back in, he even cleaned up the mess. 

I am so glad Allstate Animal Control has that directory of professional wildlife control operators.  You can call them if you need to get rid of bats or any other unwanted critters, wherever you are, at 1-888-488-7720; or refer to their directory like I did at www.allstateanimalcontrol.com

Introducing an Allstate Animal Control Wildlife Removal Operator

Raccoon in a chimney trap.

Hello, I am Brandon from Allstate Animal Control.  Allstate Animal Control is a complete pest or nuisance wildlife control and removal service.  Do you have raccoons in your chimney?  We can help.  Do you have bats in your attic?  We can help.  Are woodpeckers driving you crazy drumming on your siding?  We can help.

Wildlife control and removal is a very interesting and rewarding business.  I love animals and really enjoy working with them every day.  I also love helping people and solving their problems.  Again, I get to do that every day.

Wildlife control is a specialty business that is growing as people more and more often come into contact with wild animals in an urban or suburban environment.  People kind of want to see a raccoon wash its food in a stream when they are camping or at the zoo.  Having a raccoon romping through their attic or breaking into their home through the cat door is something quite different.  People want to get rid of pest animals, but they need help doing it. 

There are many animals that become pest or nuisance animals when they access your home or business:  raccoons, bats, squirrels, woodpeckers, voles…These are interesting and often ecologically valuable animals, but they wreak havoc in a building and damage it in many ways. 

Sometimes, just gaining access means damage.  Bats use existing gaps or cracks that are created by poor maintenance of a building.  Other animals are not so polite.  Woodpeckers don’t wait for you to open a door and issue and invitation.  They just drill a hole in the wall and move in. Raccoons will use their strong hands to tear loose soffit or vents to create their own holes. 

Once inside your building, anything goes.  Animals use the toilet anywhere they please, which means all over your home or business.  It stinks, and feces and urine pose significant health risks. Pigeons and their poop, for example, are associated with over 60 diseases and illnesses.

Wild animals will modify your home to suit their personal taste.  They burrow through insulation, rip out vents, chew through wires and break open pipes. They even take into consideration the landscaping and tear up grass, eat bulbs and consume vegetable gardens (something you can expect from moles).

Unfortunately, animals can also die in your building or on your property and their decomposing bodies add additional smell and danger.

The good news is that I can help you prevent or solve all of these problems.  I wake up every day excited to help people get rid of unwanted animals.  I enjoy the feeling of success that comes when a home is once again safe and sanitary.  The people are happy and, in my opinion, the animals are better off, too.  Often, they can be relocated to a natural environment.  If not, they are humanely euthanized. 

Pigeons in a rooftop cage trap.

This business requires a lot of knowledge about animals.  You also need a good understanding of federal, state, county and city laws and regulations regarding wild animals. Many types of special equipment and products are necessary-long ladders, one-way vents and a variety of traps for the wide variety of animals we encounter.  Finally, the hardest part, you need a lot of experience.  Each situation is different and a person needs practice and experience to know what to do and how to help.

Allstate Animal Control is your local pest animal removal company, nationwide.  How can we do that?  We created a network of wildlife control technicians that can service all 50 states, all major cites and even rural or remote areas. Anyone can use our network to find a professional wildlife removal operator in their area, or one who will travel to thier area to work on-site.  We also can provide coaching and will ship trapping products to do-it-yourselfers anywhere in the country.

Anyway, that is a little bit about wildlife control and about Allstate Animal Control, specifically.  If you need help with a critter of just about any kind, give us a call.  To access our directory, or for a list of the most common animals and birds we remove and pictures and information about our business, check out our website at: www.allstateanimalcontrol.com.