WILDLIFE
Wildlife aggressively start to enter residential homes, yards, and attics in the fall. They start coming in to build nests, have babies, and remain warm. Since most wildlife are diurnal, most of the noises are heard in the morning and evening. If you have wildlife in your home, yard, or attic, call us immediately before thousands of dollars worth of serious damage occurs, including chewed wires and chewed ductwork.
The Most Common Wildlife Problems in Lubbock & Surrounding West Texas Area:
Armadillos
Opossums
Rabbits
Squirrels
Raccoons
Active Pest Infestation Services
Do you have an active pest, rodent, or other wildlife situation that needs immediate attention? Give us a call or contact us, and we can give you a specialized quote tailored to your exact needs.
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SQUIRRELS
How to Identify Squirrels
There are three kinds of common squirrels in the Lubbock and West Texas area:
Thirteen-Lined Ground – this type has 13 alternating brown and whitish stripes on back and sides; whitish spots within brown stripes.
Eastern Gray – medium-sized with inner yellowish-rusty and gray or white-tipped hairs; lighter underside and bushy tail with varying dark hairs with white or yellow tips.
Eastern Fox: Larger rusty-yellowish, with orange-red underside and bushy tail tipped with darker hairs.
The most common complaint associated with squirrels is noise. Our squirrel control customers will hear noises within their homes, typically at sunrise. At first light, squirrels will begin to scurry around, looking for food. Occasionally, customers will find the entry point from the outside – the hole where the squirrels are getting into the home – but typically the first signs of a squirrel control situation are the irritating noises they make in the early hours of the morning.
Squirrel Damage
When squirrels invade your home or business , they can cause significant damage. Inside buildings, they tend to chew on wires, defecate in the attic, and destroy insulation in attics and walls. On the outside, they damage siding, gutters, and construction gaps by chewing holes for access inside. Squirrels damage trees in your yard by building their nests and gnawing on and eating the bark.
Catching /trapping Squirrels for Removal
The most effective method of squirrel control is trapping them. Meers will set traps to catch the squirrels around your home or business. We then monitor every hole to ensure there are no squirrels still coming or going. Once we have removed all squirrels from the building, we will seal the entry points to prevent the problem from recurring.
RACCOONS
How to Identify Raccoons
Raccoons are easily distinguished from a young age by their grey-brown fur, characteristic black “mask” on their face, and striped tail. Even at birth, there is a dark area over their eyes where the mask will soon appear. They are active at night when they search for food, but stay in dens during the day, often resulting with raccoons in attics and raccoons in garages of homes.
Racoon Damage
When raccoons take up residence in your home, they act as they would in the wild, which means tunneling, defecating and urinating in your attic or garage. Oftentimes, raccoons will bore their way through insulation, trampling it down, and even biting through the insulation on your piping. They are also known to chew up electrical wiring in these areas. Raccoons in yards and gardens destroy crops, tear up sod looking for worms, and go through garbage.
Catching/Trapping Racoons for Removal
Raccoon trapping and removal is something that many people attempt to do, but few succeed. There are many different kinds of raccoon traps, and even more methods of trapping raccoons. Meers has many trained professionals that know exactly how to trap raccoons humanely and safely. Trapping raccoons is a skill that takes experience in setting raccoon traps, and in some cases, acquiring the raccoon’s young as well. So call Meers today and have your raccoon problem solved by an expert.
Rabbits
How to Identify a Rabit
There are a few ways to identify if you have a rabbit problem. Rabbits will chew up your garden and landscaping vegetation, particularly new shoots. Spring is Meers highest volume of rabbit damage calls. You can also identify rabbit problems by tracking their droppings and footprints. If you start to notice a regular pattern in rabbit droppings, footprints, and chewed vegetation around your home a Meers professional should be called to determine how severe the rabbit problem may be.
How To Get Rid Of Rabbits – Rabbit Removal
Meers Pest Solutions professionals are fully qualified to handle any unwanted rabbit situation. To get rid of rabbits, we typically implement a trapping solution to reduce the number of rabbits around your home. To keep rabbits from chewing up your landscaping, deterrents may be placed directly on the plants. Methods for rabbit removal and keeping rabbits out may also include fencing and netting solutions to protect your shrubs and plants. The most effective solution for getting rid of rabbits would include several of these rabbit removal techniques.
Opossums
How to Identify Opossums
Opossums are the only North American marsupial (related to kangaroos). The opossum is a whitish or grayish animal the size of a house cat with a naked, rat-like tail. Its face is long and pointed with rounded, hairless ears. It grows up to 40 inches long and can weigh up to 14 pounds. The average is 6 to 7 pounds for males and 4 pounds for females. Its tracks look as if they were made by little human or monkey with a bent thumb.
Opossum Damage
Opossums prefer to live near streams or swamps. They den in the burrows of other large animals, tree cavities, brush piles, and under sheds, decks, and buildings. Occasionally, they move into attics and garages. They eat nearly everything: from insects to carrion, fruits to grains, garbage to pet food.
How to Get Rid of Opossums
The experts at Meers take the extra step to educate customers about habitat modification, as the most humane, long-term solution to managing opossum and other large vertebrate pests.
Armadillo
Armadillo Trapping
The most effective method to get rid of armadillos is to trap them. Trapping armadillos requires a level of experience that Meers professionals can provide. It is important to use the correct size trap, and the trap that is safest for both the trapper and the armadillo. There are a few armadillo traps used to get rid of armadillos that are illegal in some states, so it is important to check with local laws before implementing any armadillo trapping methods.
Catching Armadillos for Removal
Most homeowners simply want to catch the armadillo causing damage and relocate it without causing harm to the armadillo. Catching armadillos, however, is not always easy. Box traps are a good resource for catching armadillos in order to relocate them and ultimately get rid of them. There are some who have been able to catch armadillos by hand, but catching armadillos is best if left to the professionals of Meers Pest Solutions who are specially trained to get rid of armadillos.
Don't Let Pests Be A Pest
We've been serving the Lubbock area for 50 years, so we know a thing or two about treating the pests in our area. With a friendly, knowledgable team and competitive pricing, give us a call today and discover the Meers Pest Solutions difference.
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