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If you are buying a home call for a free animal inspection

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photo 2Buying a home is one of life’s biggest events. There’s so much to be careful about. Inspections, contracts, bids and moving in can be very stressful, and it’s easy to let something important slip through the cracks.

That’s what happened to this homeowner. She didn’t think to have a wildlife removal service inspect the property for evidence of infestation. Sure enough, right after she moved in, she heard scratching noises in the attic. She called us for a free animal inspection, and we came out right away.

Sure enough, there were rats in the house, particularly in the attic. You can see their tracks in the dust, here. Apparently, the previous owner was aware of the problem and had done some spot-cleaning to make it less apparent. Unfortunately, the new owner got stuck with a big problem. There was even a hole in the roof where rodents were getting in and out, and the infestation had definitely been going on for a long time.

Don’t let this happen to you! A home inspection is easy to arrange, and it’s free. Animal inspection can find mice, rats, snakes, groundhogs, nutria, deer and almost any kind of wildlife problem common to Florida’s environment. Our service professionals are trained to recognize telltale signs you might not notice at first, and we’re equipped to handle the problem for you safely, efficiently and permanently.

An animal inspection should be right up there with the required home inspection when you’re buying a house. We offer free animal inspections to new homeowners almost every day. Fortunately, we’re going to get rid of the rats in the house for this new homeowner.

Finely Tuned Auditory Systems

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The Creation Abounds With The Wonder Of Hearing

The sense of hearing, otherwise known as the auditory sense, is something shared between humans and most other animals. The questions that most often arise on this topic are: which animal has the best hearing, and for what purpose do most animals use their auditory senses? Understanding how and why animals use their ears in their natural environment can help create a deeper understanding of the natural world, as well as of each creature’s place in it.

picture of an owl head

Owls

The eardrum of an owl allows them to find small animals – like mice – in the darkest nighttime conditions. The owl will rarely have to worry about suffering from hearing loss thanks to its large ear holes, which are slightly staggered for optimal auditory understanding and maximum protection.

An owl can hear the smallest sounds in the dark and uses the minor difference in the ears to translate the sound and find its location. It takes an owl less than one second to hear a sound, determine the location of the sound, and determine if the sound is from prey. After that slight period of time, the owl can attack the sound of a mouse or other small animal. Due to this sharp sense of sound, owls are exceptionally effective nighttime predators.

Dolphins

Another animal that will never need to worry about hearing aid prices is the dolphin. Dolphins are like submarines (or perhaps, submarines are like dolphins) in that they use echolocation (also called sonar) to map the area around them and navigate through murky water that is difficult to see through.

The dolphins will make a chirping or clicking sound in the water. When the sound is reflected back at them, they are able to determine the size, location and nature of an object around them. The dolphin can even identify other animals through echolocation and determine if the creature is a threat, a food source, a potential mate, or some other animal they are indifferent towards. A dolphin’s hearing is so sharp that even an object as small as a coin is identifiable from up to 70 meters away.

bat spread out on table

Bats

Like dolphins, bats are known to use echolocation to find the insects and fruits that they like to eat. However, unlike dolphins – which use echolocation in murky waters – bats use echolocation in the air as their primary way of seeing. Bats are nocturnal, and the sound of their chirps bouncing off plants, other animals, and insects allows a bat to find and locate insects from up to 20 feet away in complete darkness. Since bats are constantly using sound to find their way around, they naturally require strong auditory senses. This helps them locate and determine the distance to their prey all through the night.

Cats

Cats of all sizes, from the small house cat to the largest tigers and lions, are among the animals with the best hearing. Not only are cats able to pick up on much higher frequencies than most other animals, they even are able to move their ears to catch the sound better! Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees, making it possible to locate and distinguish different sounds with the utmost precision. By rotating their ears, cats pick up the sound much better than most other animals. It provides them with the ability to locate prey and determine whether to attack or whether the animal may be too large.

image of an elephant

Elephants

Many might expect elephants to have excellent hearing due to the notoriously large size of their ears. The fact is, elephants do have excellent senses, including their auditory sense. Elephants not only hear sounds at very low frequencies, they are also able to hear through their whole body! The elephant’s trunk, ears and feet are all part of the system that makes up an elephant’s auditory senses. The receptors in the trunk and feet allow elephants to sense vibrations that are so low that the sound is almost impossible to distinguish for most observers, like humans. By having these low receptors, elephants are able to pick up the sound of thunder storms and rain from miles away. This allows the elephants to find and move towards water, an essential trait for survival in hot climates.

Tiger Moths

Many species of moth have developed an acute sense of hearing which allows them to determine when a bat is locating them. The sound of a bat’s chirping for echolocation alerts most moths and allows them a chance to try and escape before being eaten. Unlike most other moths, however, the tiger moth in particular has taken this defense a step further. Upon hearing a bat’s echolocation chirps, the tiger moth will make clicking sounds to break up the echolocation and make it difficult for bats to locate them. The clicking noises disrupt the initial sound so that bats become confused with the sound and miss the moth. In modern parlance, you could say that the tiger moth “jams” the echolocation signal of the bat.

The animals with the best hearing in the world have a truly amazing auditory sense. Despite the fact that animals around the world have better hearing that most humans, the animal who has the best hearing of all is generally considered to be the owl, with dolphins placed second.

Empty House Inviting To Rats

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Rats Move In Very Quickly

Homes left vacant for extended periods of time are prime breeding ground for animals, especially rats. Whether it’s a foreclosed, inherited, or vacation home, if steps aren’t taken to seal the entire structure off from animals prior to vacating the home, the owner is asking for an infestation of rats or another animals upon returning.

Today was the perfect example. A couple from northern Georgia inherited a home from a recently deceased relative. They removed most everything inside and simply locked up and left it until the following year. They also had the water and power shut off, a big mistake.

I was let in by a neighbor and immediately was overwhelmed with the stench of feces, urine, and a dead animal. The carpet was covered in rat feces and chewed throughout the house. Drywall had been chewed through and a dead rat was found in the toilet. With the water being off the rats were free to run through the plumbing from the sewer and come up through toilets and sinks.

The outside of the home also showed evidence of the rats traveling between the inside and outside where vents and other entry points were not covered or covered poorly with thin mesh that was simply chewed through.

 

A Good Rat Ousting Is In Order

An extensive cleaning will need to be done on the inside, an exclusion done on the outside, the water turned back on, and a plumber will need to be out to see if the integrity of the plumbing has been compromised.

 

Black Snake Terrifies Customer

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Black Snake Education Settles Terrified Customer

A lot of people are terrified of snakes.  To some customers a harmless black snake, king snake, rat snake, or other non-venomous snake is a slithering terror waiting to attack.  I had one such run in a couple days ago.

A Harmless Black Snake Can Seem Dangerous To Some

The customer called in to the office in hysterics.  She had just seen a huge snake moving across her patio when she was leaving for work.  No longer was she going to work, or outside the house for that matter.  Not with certain death waiting just outside her door.  I pulled up to the house not sure what kind of snake it would be.  It was huge, that’s all I knew.  I walked around the house and found the massive, extremely deadly predator!  It turned out to be a completely harmless black snake.  I snapped a couple pictures and put the snake in my snake bag.  I then went in to talk to the customer.  She was extremely relieved to know I had caught it.  I eventually was able to convince her that it was harmless after showing her pictures of the snakes that are venomous and a picture of a black snake.  After some more coaxing, she even consented to letting me show her the snake while still in the bag.  After being around it for a few minutes and being educated on the harmlessness of this particular snake and most others, while still uncomfortable, she wanted a closer look.  I took it out of the bag and continued talking about how they are a fundamental part of the ecosystem, just as every other animal has its purpose.  After answering all her questions and putting most of her fears to rest, I left with her once deadly menace.

 

 

Pocket Gophers

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Pocket Gophers Digging Away In Davenport Florida

Today we were sent out to an apartment complex in Davenport.  They informed us that they had some kind of animal digging up their beautiful, expensive Zoysia grass and leaving unsightly mounds of dirt in their wake.  On the way to the property it was evident that the surrounding area around the complex was completely overrun by pocket gophers.  Dozens and dozens of gopher mounds beyond the property line could be seen in every direction from each corner of the property.

After talking with management and maintenance we decided the best action would be to immediately trap the gophers that were tearing the landscape apart within the property and to begin trapping just outside the property to prevent movement of the gophers from outside to inside the property line.  I started poking and prodding the ground to find the gopher tunnels in various locations in and around the property.

I set two traps in each gopher tunnel, one facing one way and one the other way as the gopher may come from either direction.  I’ll be back tomorrow and every couple days after that until we rid the lawn and property of these nuisance gophers.

 

 

 A Return Visit To Check On The Gopher Problem

Today is the third time I’ve been back to check on the gopher activity in Davenport.  The first trip to check the traps resulted in eight out of nine tunnels producing a trapped gopher.  The second produced another half dozen.  The gopher activity within the property has completely stopped with the third trap check.  No longer do the annoying, lawn destroying gopher mounds dot the expensive landscape.  Gopher activity has diminished substantially outside the property as well.  A few more trips and the activity should be completely eradicated in and immediately around the apartment complex.

Snow Birds Take Flight

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Strange Noises Coming From The Attic

I received a phone call from a local management company today in reference to a complaint from their tenant hearing noises in the attic of a manufactured home. We scheduled an appointment for an inspection of the property, offering same day service to eliminate the management company possibly losing a seasonal renter.

A Thorough Inspection Is Needed

We arrived at the local Bradenton mobile home community and met with the tenants, who were more than grateful to see us.  After listening to their observations we were fairly certain that the issue at hand was rodents nesting in the ceiling.  But, to be sure, a complete inspection of the entire mobile home was done. It was noted that the entire underneath of the home was wide open.  All of the breather blocks along the foundation had never been sealed against rodents or any animals. There were also several vents and a few areas around the water heater that were wide open, allowing easy access for the rodents straight into the walls leading to the ceiling. After we completed the inspection we explained to the tenant that we would call the management company, discuss our findings and proceed upon approval.

We Are Always Intent On Meeting The Customer Needs

We are always very cautious on what we discuss with the tenants, thus leaving it up to the management company to explain in everything in-depth from their standpoint.  Again this lessens the chance of them losing their tenant.  Everything was discussed with the management company.  It was explained that we would need to exclude the entire perimeter of the trailer, screen around the bottom, seal the miscellaneous open vents and water heater area.

Once the exclusion is complete we would then start the trapping process to remove the rodents trapped inside the sealed perimeter.  We do not use any poison as we would not want the resident to end up with a dead animal under the home or in a wall.

Their Vacation Was Back On Track

After everything was explained to the management company the proposal was accepted and the exclusion has been scheduled.  I then phoned the tenant to let them know that we would be out to relieve them of further sleepless nights.  They were more than ecstatic to say the least!