It can happen at any time, you hear some scurrying or scratching in the walls or ceiling, you see tracks and feces around your home, or you notice holes along your roof line. Animals are tricky and smart, and they know exactly how to sneak into your home. Granted, they aren’t doing it to annoy you. Your home is comfortable and dark, and the perfect place for them to stay safe. But having an animal live within your home can also cause a lot of problems. From chewed electrical wires that could start a fire, to hazardous fecal matter near your family, wild animals within your home should be dealt with as soon as possible.

It’s easy at first to ignore the signs of animals. You may think it’s not that big of a deal, that they will eventually move on and leave your house on their own. Don’t make this mistake. Once animals have found a safe, quiet place to stay and reproduce, they pounce on the opportunity. The longer you wait, the more the animals will multiply, and the bigger your animal removal problem will become. Once you notice something out of the ordinary, we recommend that you call a professional animal trapper immediately. They will be able to guide you through the process and help you figure out what type of animal you are dealing with.

There are a few ways to find out if you have an animal in your home, and what type of animal it might be.

These are the steps we take when inspecting a home:

1. We do a perimeter search around the home. We look for any open vents or holes that animals could have used to crawl into your home. If there are openings, we look at the size of the openings to determine what type of animal we are dealing with. Larger holes could mean raccoons, opossums or skunks, while smaller holes could mean mice, rats or squirrels. If there is burrowing to the crawl space, then we can assume it is a skunk.
2. We inspect the roof. There are many entry points when it comes to roofs, and many of them can be difficult to spot. If there are vents along your roof and they are not properly sealed, many animals could get in, including birds, squirrels, mice, and rats. We also look along the roof line and under eaves to spot openings. These openings tend to be larger and may allow cats, raccoons, or opossums to get into your home.
3. We enter the attic. Usually, if you’re unable to spot an opening in the roof from the outside, you’ll be able to see it once you’re in the attic. The Sunshine will shine right through the otherwise hidden opening. After identifying the opening, we also look for droppings. The size of the droppings will help determine if you are dealing with a large or small animal.
4. We check out the crawl space. The crawl space underneath your home is a favorite for many animals because it’s dark and cool. Nocturnal animals love to hide here. And just because you don’t see them, don’t assume they’re not there. Animals are adept at hiding and it is very difficult to spot them, even for a trained professional.

As we search for openings, we also look for footprints, grease marks, damage, hairs, and droppings.

These clues will greatly help us identify what kind of animal we are dealing with. Remember that mice and rats can contort their bodies to fit in even the smallest of openings. If you see grease marks around an opening, that is a very good indication that you are dealing with rats.

Also keep in mind, that you could be dealing with multiple animals.

If there is an opening to your home, they will find it, and they will set up camp. If you notice any of these signs, or you spot an opening to your home, call a professional animal trapper. At All City Animal Trapping, along with animal trapping, we also provide home inspections to ensure your Southern California home is properly sealed. We locate any openings and seal them with steel mesh wiring, ensuring that your home is safe from animal invasion.

If you suspect that an animal has already entered your home in Southern California, give All City Animal Trapping a call today at (877) 724-5314. We inspect your home, determine what kind of animal we are dealing with, set traps or utilize other methods to trap the animal, and then we clean up the mess. That’s right, we repair the damage made by the animal, we clean and disinfect the area, and we seal up the openings. We are the one-stop-shop for animal removal and keeping your home safe from wild animals. Don’t wait until your animal problem gets out of hand, give us a call today.