The Critter Hunter

This can be a very tricky question. After determining what kind of animal is causing the problem you also have to look at what time of the year it is.  Is it a raccoon?  Is it during the spring when it might be a female and may have a litter of babies?  Is it fall or winter?  Is it squirrels?  This question of how many do you think there are can take on a hundred different answers.  So again, it is important to have an All That’s Wildlife, Inc. professional come out and do a full assessment of your situation. Generally we can determine what kind of animal it’s going to be while talking to you on the phone.  But in order to get a full grasp of what is going on we need to physically come to the location and see what the problem is and then we can try to determine of how many there are.  But, it will only be an educated assumption.  Most of time no one could ever tell just how many there are going to be.  Animals generally live as a single or family unit. Animals that are living in the area where you are having your problems are just that, single or family units.  Not every animal in your area is living in your house.

Yes, you guessed it, in this case it was a female raccoon and her babies.

Rick Wilberschied a/k/a The Critter Hunter

In this case it was a Raccoon in Attic

First of all it could be a few different things but let me ask you a few key questions first.  What are you exactly hearing, scratching, scurrying, and squealing?  Is it more of a scurrying or does it sound heavier and deliberate like a large bodied animal.  What time of the day or night are you hearing these noises and when do you hear it the most?

Have you noticed any holes in your roof or other possible damage to soffits, facias, down spouts or any other part of your house, such as shingles, or insulation lying on or around the ground?  Do you have any trees overhanging any part of your roof?  Do you have any trees or shrubbery close to your house that would give an animal easy access?

These are just some of the preliminary questions I ask the customer before I can even begin to diagnose the problem or even begin to determine what type of animal it may be.  In my experience its usually raccoons in the attic, squirrels in the attic, or bats in the attic.  To learn more about these animals visit my website at www.allthatswildlife.com.

Rick Wilberschied

Flying Squirrel

When the phone rang I answered “All That’s Wildlife.”  A voice on the other end said “They are back again!” Just by that short sentence I recognized the voice. This was becoming an all too familiar customer. Three times in two years I’ve been back to this particular house. She had an exterminator come to her house prior to her first call to me. They told her she had rats in her attic. Per our phone conversation and my experience I knew better and just assumed gray squirrels right away.

When I arrived at the house she greeted me at the door and took me up stairs to the attic where she was hearing the noise. She told me she had been hearing scratching, scurrying and squealing noises everyday for the past 2 weeks. After a thorough inspection I determined that it was squirrels, but not just any squirrels, flying squirrels. “What? A Flying Squirrel,”  she exclaimed.  She was astonished. She had never heard of a flying squirrel. And to tell you the truth I was pretty surprised myself, I’ve only had one other flying squirrel job before.

I determined where they were getting in but it was difficult to get to that area to install an excluder (a device that allows the animal to leave and not get back in) to get rid of them. I decided to place a colony trap in the attic. I told her this shouldn’t take long at all and we should have something within the next two days. But to my surprise two weeks had gone by and still nothing. She hadn’t heard anything and the noise had ceased. It’s like they magically disappeared. I resigned myself to the fact that this was a one-time thing. I pulled my traps after a few weeks were up and left. I told her if she had anymore problems to call me back immediately.

It was almost one year later to the day that I got the call back again with the same problem. Again, I did the same thing, as soon as I set the traps the noises and everything else had abruptly ended. Again after about two weeks of not hearing any noises I decided to pull the traps again and patched up an area where I thought they were getting in.

Again, almost to the day another year later, she called me again with the same problem. We put the colony trap out again. After two days she called very excited to tell me we finally had success, something was in the trap. I didn’t know who was more excited me or her. I got to the house went up into the attic and there it was a beautiful female flying squirrel. If you have never seen one of these animals they are absolutely incredible. They are about 4 inches in length in the body with the softest lush fur you have ever seen. Gigantic brown eyes with opossum like paws which are almost human like in a lot of ways and a flattened bottle brushed tail that acts as a rudder when they are gliding from place to place; it’s basically their steering wheel.

I stood there in amazement looking at this little creature that very few people get a chance to see. They can be very common in a lot of areas but are so well camouflaged they can blend right in to a tree branch without even trying. You could be looking right at it and not even know it’s there.

She asked me what I would be doing with the animal and I told her I am taking a 10 mile ride to a release location that I had and assured her it would not be returning to her house. When I got to the release location the caretaker of the grounds met me at the gate. We talked briefly and I told him I’d be releasing a flying squirrel, he looked at me and said “a flying what”. He had never heard of a flying squirrel before. “There is no such thing’ he replied. You will see one in just a second, I replied. When I showed him he almost fell over, he was amazed. “I never knew those things existed”. He became very interested in assisting me in the release of this little critter. I opened the cage door at the base of an oak tree. She stood at the door of the trap for the longest time and didn’t’ want to leave the cage. With a little nudge she hopped on the tree. She looked around and like a lightning bolt she was gone. We were both walking around the base of the tree to see if we could get another glimpse of her but she had completely disappeared. All I can say is they are truly amazing little creatures and was glad to have had the privilege of seeing one up close.

Rick Wilberschied a/k/a The Critter Hunter

The Question I am always asked “Can you help us with our wild animal problem?”

Definitely! The first questions I always ask are “what are you seeing; what are you hearing? Then I go more in-depth: what time of the day or night have you heard or seen the animal? Do you recognize what kind of animal it is? Can you pick them out of a line up? If you’ve seen the animal, how many did you see? Where is the problem at? Do you see damage anywhere?

The most common places for wildlife to take up residence are in attics, under stoops, decks, basements, garages, and inside walls. Finding out as much as I can allows me to find out what type of animal it is and to prepare before I come for the inspection.

Every type of animal is handled differently. Some are smarter than others. Knowing the animal allows me to plan my course of action to insure for a successful capture (and to bring the proper equipment).

We do not come out for domestic animals, dogs, cats, etc. Asking the question “what are you seeing” allows me to direct them to call Animal Control if it is indeed a domestic animal.

Rick Wilberschied a/k/a The Critter Hunter