As wildlife professionals we are always asked what we can do to prevent small animals from entering or re-entering a structure. It is important to realize that when animals enter structures only one of two things had to have happened: 1. doors, windows, or entryways were left open. 2. There are permanent openings around structures along roofing, siding, and or bottom foundation.
For the first scenario where entryways were left open, trapping the animal intruder and then closing the entryway is sufficient. But, a more common scenario is when squirrels, rats, raccoons, and other wildlife enter structure though permanent openings along roof line, siding, or foundation. As per our experience, a full home exclusion is the sealing of all permanent entry areas left open when building the structure, when repairs have been made to the structure, or when environmental events cause damage to parts of the structure (sealing of all the holes.)
A full home exclusion for squirrels, rats, bats, raccoons, wasps, and other small animals is performed with galvanized metal and or hardware cloth; Forsyth Wildlife tries to find all entryways and covers them in a way that small animals are not able to chew through the metal gaining back access to the structure. Ladders, tools, and other equipment is used when trying to seal the hard to reach areas since those areas are the small animal favorite entryways.
Many times sealing a structure is a more complicated job than anticipated; entryways more common than not are located 24 to 40 feet from the ground and the sealing of these areas is better done by someone with the required expertise. As per our experience many times it is better for our wildlife professionals to start and finish a wildlife exclusion job than it is for us to review and fix sealing work done by homeowners, roofers, gutter cleaners, and other experts in unrelated trades that feel are capable of sealing a structure from small animals such as rats, squirrels, raccoons, snakes, wasps, flying squirrels, and other wildlife
FOR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
- Alpharetta
- Atlanta
- Cumming
- Duluth
- John’s Creek
- Roswell
- Sandy Springs
- Suwanee
Trapping is as important as it is sealing, when all entryways are sealed, rats, squirrels, raccoons, and wildlife are trapped inside structures without a way out. The small animals then will start to chew pipes, cables, and other structure components, and then start dying inside the structure. When traps are set, wildlife has enough sense of smell to find the bait and then get caught in the trap.
Wildlife professionals will then remove the animal and re-set traps as many time as it is necessary to remove all trapped animals. It is worth noting that many times when our professionals seal a structure all animals could be outside looking for food or just playing, so in many occasions traps are set and no animal is caught, this is just a sign that the metal has blocked them out and that they will no longer have access to the structure.
Just as important as the wildlife exclusion is the guarantee. A full home exclusion with the intent to keep animals out is long lasting as long as repairs, or damages to the structure are not made. The majority of the time that a full wildlife exclusion fails is because a contractor from a different trade did not realize the importance of the metal and or material used to seal small holes. Our full exclusion do come with a guarantee, but it is impossible to take care of other contractors mistakes such as new air conditioning installations, new roofs, new dryer vents, etc. (Please make all contractors aware of the metal and the intention of the wildlife exclusion.) If in fact we missed a spot, we are willing and always willing to come back and fix any missed areas as well as re-trap any other unwanted guest at no additional cost to home or business owners.