critter911.com Blog

It had been a few weeks since I went on a bat job, but this one made up for it!

There was a call from Cocoa that this apt. building had bats so we went to see the manager and she gave us keys to one vacant apt. that had dead bats and pointed out 3 of the 7 buildings that had bats in them. So first we checked out the apt. Before even getting to the door there was a wall of stench 5 ft. from the door. It was undeniable that something was dead in there, and not just one bat.

The dangers with bats is the disease that their feces leave and breathing it in can cause Histoplasmosis. This could be a deadly disease.

Opening the door left us with our jaws wide open. There were dead bats all over the floor, walls broken open where the bats came out of, and tons of bat droppings that is very dangerous.

This is very sad because bats are a protected species and this problem could have been avoided if they took care of it sooner. The maintenance man said that they had bats for over 10 years! The bat problem only got worse.

The buildings now have to be completely sealed leaving only one exit for the bats to leave and a one way door will be put on that exit so the bats can not re-enter the buildings. It is a big job, one that could have been prevented if we were called years earlier.

To watch the video we took in the dead bat infested apartment go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cige3k5xek

Being a technician at Critter 911, we get approached by people just asking questions of what they should do in a certain instance.

Today we were approached by a young woman who saved a hurt squirrel and wanted to know what to do with it. She mentioned that it looked like the back legs seamed injured so it wa probably hit by a car or bit by a larger animal.

First, be safe by using gloves because any bite or scratch could cause you an infection. I would also provide the squirrel with a comfortable place to lay (in a shoe box with a towel would be fine.) You can wash any visable injuries with anti-bacteria soap and warm water, or wait to take them to an animal rehabilitator.

We gave her the name of our rehabilitator and mentioned that just giving the squirrel some water and something to nibble on like applesauce or cheerios would work for food.

It is not safe to rehabilitate a hurt squirrel by yourself without the knowledge needed. So be safe, protect our wildlife, and if you ever have any questions you can call Critter 911 at (407) 699-4567.

Could you imagine constantly being watched…your every move studied by beady little eyes that glow through the night leaves?

One of our customer in Winter Springs described this exact situation. Raccoons are smart critters and they study your habits. A prime example of this is when you take the trash out – raccoons know it is dinner time.
What is even more entertaining is playing the hide and seek game with them, you know, you hide in the house and they come after the trash or you come outside and the raccoons hide up in a tree until you leave.

The best way to protect your garbage is to not put it out until the morning it is being removed since raccoons are nocturnal. Also, it is important to not only bag the garbage put putting it in a large plastic garbage can – this provides two forms of protection. It really helps if you secure the lid of your garbage can to the bottom. Raccoons are strong enough to get that unsecured lid off just as they can push up a soffit on your roof to get into your attic. They are persistant too!

These are steps you should take to protect your garbage – and your home.

I am not one that has had a dangerous encounter with bees. So I consider myself lucky.

Critter 911 recently was called to a home owners association because of a huge bee problem. This is not out of the ordinary.

What casught me off guard was that there was a riding lawn mower that had to be recovered from the lake next to the building because the man was being attacked by bees so much that he jumped off the mower and ran as fast as he could to get out of there!

Critter 911 basically took down any nest that had bees and also sprayed to prevent bees from coming back. We guarantee our work and would prefer customers call us before they run a lawn mower into a lake.

The cold wether is coming in so call us if you hear any critters in your home – (407) 699-4567.

If you thought that raccoons were not smart, well, think again.

We recently had a customer that described how these raccoons would come up to her bay window and look in at her in the evening. Usually she would be preparing and cooking dinner – going into her pantry, slicing food on her cutting board, reaching in cabinets for different spices, etc.

Critter 911 got called to her house with her in panic – “There are raccoons in my kitchen NOW!”

This may seem pretty funny to anyone reading this, but these raccoons completely destroyed her kitchen. Apparently the raccoons did all the actions that she did – but destroying everything in the way!

The pantry was demolished, packages of food opened, crumbs all over, wrappers thrown here and there. The refridgerator had been opened and a similar disaster had happened there. Raccoons love to sniff out food and are smart enough to open a garbage can – or a pantry!

We rushed to get the raccoons out of her kitchen and luckily (although scared) the homeowner was not injured by these hungry raccoons.

So next time you see raccoons peeking in your

Why do raccoons seem to always return to their same doo doo spot to unload again?

Simple – scent.

It is typical for an animal to return to the same exact spot to leave you another present. Nobody wants this and even with treatments there is no guarentee that the raccoon will stay away forever.

Critter 911 suggests that you not only clean the area, but trapping is a must. Even a cleaning will leave a slight scent that only time will take care of.

Mrs. Johansson, who is a concerned customer of ours, is doing everything to keep the raccoons away. This is a bit more difficult when all there relatives are across the golf course in the woods a block away.

What we have done for her is continually doing whatever it takes to make her happy. Right now we are still trapping just incase a relative of the raccoon decides to make a surprise visit.

Critter 911 takes pride in doing exceptional work and putting a guarantee on our work.

Watch out for falling doo doo!

It may be hard to imagine Critter 911 handling wild boars – but it’s true. Critter 911 is an Animal Control Specialist Company and we even handle exotics – wild boars, gators, you name it.

It’s a difficult task but someone has to man up! Just yesterday we ended up trapping two 75 lb. wild boars. This job is not an easy one. It takes knowledge of how wild boars act and the skill to safely bring them in.

Critter 911 has been trapping wild boar for a few years. Lockheed Martin has a contract with us to make sure their testing grounds are safe and clear of any animals to prevent them from harming them. That is a good thought – Lockheed Martin cares!

Last year Critter 911 trapped 208 wild boars from their grouds! That’s a lot! This year has been slower, but yesterday we trapped two wild boar and gave them safety from Lockheed’s grounds.

Luckily, we were able to trap them without incident! That means that the wild boar were happily transported out of the Florida heat and none of our tech’s were bitten. No doubt, wild boar have some teeth on them and are no joke to mess with.

If you are ever in danger of a wild boar Critter 911 is the best company to call. Most critter companies don’t have the expertise and the experience we do.

Good Luck on your ventures and BEWARE of the Wild Boar!

A bank owned home is empty for 6 months and ends up having a major rat problem! The rats have even become more creative and made tunnels in the carpet and padding under closed doors so they could take over the whole house. It was very inventive and they were EVERYWHERE!

Now what is ridiculous is that the bank hired a clean up crew and this unprofessional clean up crew decided to power wash the ceiling inside the house creating water damage and evenbusting the roof in a few areas. This is what a bank gets when it goes for the cheapest clean up crew. Now the house is going to have water damage and mold issues.

But it WON’T HAVE RATS!

A house in Windermere had a rat problem. Rats are typically trapped with snap traps that are baited and snap down on the animal once they go for the bait. The owner hired a business to take care of the problem. It ended up that the owner was displeased with their work and fired them after trapping the rats. This caused a problem since there are entrances that the rats are still able to use to get into his attic.

The owner of the house called Critter 911 and we quickly responded and did a free estimate for him. It DIDN’T look good! The rats did so much damage just by chewing on anything and everything in his attic.

One of our technicians was in the attic doing an inspection when he hears a loud crack from the other end of the attic. When he goes to see what happened there was a water pipe completely chewed through by a rat and it just broke. The worst part is that the water pressure damaged the ceiling and water continued to pour into the kitchen and bedroom at a fast rate!

The water was quickly turned off to prevent further damage of the home. Critter 911 then continued to trap the house for rats since the last company never got around to it. Without seal up there is no way to prevent the rats from coming back. Once the rats were trapped we sealed up the whole house to prevent any rats in the future and gave our lifetime guarantee on our work.

Later the plumber and restoration guys were called to fix any problems those rats caused. It goes to show that when a critter problem has been let go for too long A LOT of damage can be done.

We just went to this house that had this terrible odor! It was coming from this wall and we figured there was a dead animal behind it. We drilled pilot holes until ikor (which is fluid from her body) flew out of one of the holes from the mothers dead body! There had to be a large hole cut to retrieve the carcass. She must have been dead for a few days and we were able to recover her carcass along with 11 babies that were still ALIVE! We gave the babies to one of our non-profits to raise them.