Before & After Photos

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.

After setting up our rodent bait stations to get a handle on the mouse infestation at this home in Sea Girt, NJ, we're returning for a follow up visit. After we replenished the bait in all the stations, we stuffed all the access points with chew-proof metal mesh. Rodents typically don't like chewing through metal because it's extremely uncomfortable for their teeth and gums. Next, we sealed all the openings with a premium, waterproof adhesive. The combination of the two materials makes for a great deterrent. We'll return for a few more follow-up visits to monitor the mice infestation and replenish the bait stations as needed.

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.

Little Silver, NJ homeowners found themselves with a family of raccoons (a mom and her two babies) that had taken up residence in their attic. The mom, looking for a quiet area to build a den for her kits, was able to gain entry through an opening in a boxed eave. These particular eave returns at the corner end of the roof fascia are informally referred to by builders as pork chops. “Porkchop” eaves are quite common. They are easy to build even though, aesthetically, they aren’t considered the most elegant design (hence the name). 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.  

With this opening in the soffit, the raccoon had free reign to come and go as she pleased to forage and care for her babies. To remove the raccoons, I made what wildlife techs like to call an “eviction ball,” and placed it into the soffit. The objective is to encourage the raccoon to vacate the premises and move on. ideally, we want them to enter a trap so we can relocate the animal to a safe area. My hand-made eviction ball happened to be a tennis ball. I drilled a hole into it and filled it with a raccoon eviction (repellant) fluid. This fluid, a thick, creamy paste, is a natural by-product of a male raccoon. The solution is a mixture of urine and other scents. The males are a predator to females during their birthing period,. To a mom raccoon, the smell of this fluid is a major warning sign that her young are in serious danger. A male (boar) raccoon will kill the baby kits in order to assert their genetic dominance. A sow that has lost her kits will go back in the heat and can then be re-impregnated by the male. Raccoons are one of a number of animal species that practice this type of infanticide. It’s one of the more gruesome scenes that a wildlife tech can come across, and one that I prefer to avoid. 

In addition to the eviction ball, I placed two baited traps on a lower roof. I put some tape over the roof opening to monitor raccoon activity. In this case, the mother wound up taking her kits and vacating the attic. She avoided entering the traps. After ensuring that there was no more wildlife in the attic, I framed out the end of the soffit and attached a new piece of metal flashing to cover up the hole. With the attic now sealed, this homeowner should not be visited by any more raccoons.