Wildlife Removal Before & After Photos

A property manager of an apartment complex in Belmar, NJ called our office after his maintenance team saw a few squirrels coming out of the soffit area of one of his apartment units. He called our Little Rascals Nuisance Wildlife division and we were sent out.

As we inspected the unit, we noticed that the flashing on the soffit was missing. Apparently, there was a big wind storm the other night and this caused the flashing to rip right off! The squirrels saw the opportunity and took full advantage.

Fortunately, the squirrels left the area and were no longer present in the unit. We disinfected the attic area and installed new metal flashing on the soffit. Now the apartment unit is no longer vulnerable to any future squirrel intrusions. 

A homeowner in Belmar, NJ was having issues with wildlife entering the void above the soffit. Soffits are the horizontal boards that fit under the eaves of the roof. They protect the area underneath a roof’s overhang from rain and snow which, if left unprotected, could cause the beams to rot, become vulnerable to mold growth, and attract insects and wildlife. Also, soffits are often vented in order to help air to circulate in the attic. Separate from a home’s soffits are the fascia boards, which cover the front of the soffit. The fascia gives a roof’s edge a finished look and serves as a mount for the home’s gutter system which funnels rain and snow run-off off the roof and away from the home’s foundation. Since soffits and fascia are exposed to the elements, they will often start to decay if not maintained. All too often, we see wildlife, especially squirrels and raccoons, exploiting weaknesses in a home’s structure. Often, they’ll rip their way through damaged fascia boards, soffits, or roofing shingles, to gain access inside the attic. 

This home’s soffits were in poor shape. Much of it was falling and left unsecured, leaving it wide open for wildlife to enter — which they did! The only good news for this Belmar homeowner was that the soffit wasn’t connected to the attic, so the wildlife simply nested in the void above and did not gain access inside the home. Once wildlife enters the attic, damage can be extensive. Usually, if the infestation is not quickly resolved, the insulation is destroyed and the whole area becomes a toxic mess from all the wildlife droppings. 

The Cowleys home improvement crew was called in. We removed the damaged soffits, cleaned out all of the built-up nesting debris, and then replaced the soffits with high-performance PVC trim boards. This material won’t rot, cup, split, twist, or warp. The new soffits looked great and blended in with the house. Now, with this home improvement, this homeowner will not have any further issues with wildlife exploiting weakened and damaged soffits in order to gain access to the void above to use as their private nesting home for their offspring.

After homeowners in Belmar, NJ, found themselves with squirrels in their attic, they contacted Cowleys to deal with this wildlife infestation. Squirrels managed to gain attic entry by tearing off a loose piece of soffit in the corner of the roofline.  Builders often call these particular roof returns as “pork chop.” Apparently, they use this peculiar label because this common, generic roof return is quick and easy to build relative to other designs. The trade-off is that they aren’t a particularly elegant design. For homeowners that don’t care about their home being featured in Architectural Digest, this roof design is perfectly fine. With these returns, the raking fascia is built flush with a triangular piece that covers up the end of the rafters and merges with the soffit below. Sometimes, however, these roof corners are used by some wildlife like squirrels and raccoons to gain entry into the attic by attempting to tear off or bend this metal triangular piece enough for them to squeeze into the attic. Sometimes, like with this squirrel infestation, they are successful!  

Upon arrival, after inspecting the roof area, I saw what I needed to do to catch these wily critters. First, I placed a “one-way” door over the opening used by the squirrels. These “one-ways” do precisely what their name says — they allow wildlife to exit, but they soon find out that it’s a one-way trip. These doors only open in one direction, so they are blocked from returning. To monitor wildlife activity, I like to place a piece of tape on the door so that i know whether any wildlife has left 

I also placed two baited traps to lure the unwanted guests out of the attic. Often, when there are now objects placed where the animals are coming g and going, they are timid about exploring them and they need to get acclimated to the objects so they don’t perceive them as a threat. To catch wildlife, you need a bit of patience. Also, it doesn’t hurt to use the right bait that’s too tempting to resist! 

After it is clear that there is no more wildlife activity or the animals have been trapped, I’ll patch the area with aluminum flashing and ensure that the roofline is secure and the homeowners won’t be visited by any more squirrels. Often, especially with wildlife infestations that have gone on for some time, the attic has been contaminated from droppings, and the area must be deodorized and sanitized. Cowleys has experienced crews that specialize in wildlife clean-up and the removal and replacement of contaminated insulation.

With the attic now sealed, this homeowner should not be visited by any more raccoons.

I was sent to a home in Belmar, NJ to help a homeowner dealing with a bird infestation. Some birds had decided to use her chimney to nest. Chimneys can be quite popular nesting spots for birds since they resemble high perches in nature. Nuisance birds can cause significant property damage with their acidic droppings. As pretty as birds are from a distance, they happen to be dirty wildlife and are dangerous to have around homes and other structures. Their droppings are toxic and contact with them or even just  breathing in their airborne particles can cause serious respiratory diseases. 

First, to deal with this bird infestation, I carefully removed any nesting material and debris left behind from the birds in the chimney. I then installed a chimney cap and placed Bird Barrier Optical gel in plastic pucks on top of the chimney, gluing them in place with a silicone adhesive.  

Bird control is all about behavior modification. The objective is to create a inhospitable environment, so they move elsewhere. This bird gel is one of my favorite bird deterrents. To us, this product looks like a bland, boring white gel. However, birds look at it much differently. They have far better color vision that us and see a much broader spectrum of colors. To birds, this gel looks like a giant fireball. Birds aren’t the brightest of creatures, but no bird has any interest heading into a raging fire! This big bird illusion is highly effective in keeping them away.

This Belmar homeowner was quite relieved that I had taken care of her bird problem so quickly. Once birds find a good nesting spot, they don’t usually leave on their own. As a bird control specialist, my job is to determine the best “incentives” for that property to get the birds to vacate on their own. Now, with the chimney cap and optical gel, these birds will be relocating to a friendlier location.

This customer in Sea Girt, NJ, had a fox nesting underneath her front porch, so she called Little Rascals for help and we were sent out. After setting up our retrieval devices, we safely obtained the fox and relocated it to a new, safer location. All that's left is to exclude the porch to prevent any future fox intrusions.

First, we dug a 12 inch deep trench around the entire porch and installed hardware cloth. The hardware cloth is installed 12 inches deep and 12 inches out from the bottom of the home. This creates a sturdy "L shaped" perimeter that will prevent foxes and other nuisance wildlife from digging and nesting underneath the home. Afterward, we removed the broken lattice around the entire porch, installed new lattice around the area, and placed more hardware cloth over it. Now the area is properly excluded from all future fox, and other nuisance wildlife, intrusions.