Squirrel Removal in Los Angeles

I opted to go with ACAT because they were the main company I could find online - I found several different numbers, but ended up calling them each time, even though the different websites made it appear that they were different companies. There was one other company that I was going to go with, but the owner happened to be out of town the weekend we needed someone to come, so I just went with ACAT. Their employee came out to my house, went on my roof to check for access points, then set two traps in our attic for the squirrels that we knew were there (we had seen them entering, and after we closed the access point we still heard them). He indicated that it should take 24-48 hours for the animal to be caught by the trap. A week went by, with the squirrel(s) still audibly living in the attic. Upon investigation of the trap, it was clear that the squirrel was entering and exiting the trap to get the bait but not setting the trap off. At that point, the employee came back out to switch the traps for two smaller traps. After another week of the squirrel still audibly living in the attic, and upon further investigation of the trap, it was clear that the squirrel was still entering and exiting the trap to get the bait but not setting the trap off. We would hear the metal trap clang as the squirrel ran back and forth. At that point, when we contacted ACAT, he told us that we must have rats, not squirrels, and that he would come to put rat traps instead. Later that day, I saw the squirrel in the garage, where he had entered from above the furnace pipe, so it confirmed that we did indeed have a squirrel, not a rat. I reset and rebaited the traps myself. Within a couple of hours, we heard the trap go off, and when we went into the attic the squirrel was in the trap. At this point the squirrel had been evading capture for almost two weeks, but was still living inside the attic as all access points were closed off. I took the trap outside and released the squirrel, and we have not heard or seen squirrels near our attic since. It was only at the conclusion of the first visit that I realized that I had contacted ACAT previously, and at that time the owner had promised to beat anyone's price by 10%, so, since I was going to go with another company who was cheaper, I asked if that deal still held. The owner took several days to respond to my emails whenever I emailed him, and, after asking multiple times (from the start of the job to the end of the job) and providing the information for the other (cheaper) company, he finally informed me that since their employee had to come out two extra times, he could not in fact offer any price guarantee. But the rub is that they did not come out two extra times -- the first "extra" time the employee came out was to rectify his error of using the wrong traps, which were not catching the squirrel after a week. The "second" time he came out was to collect the traps at the conclusion of the job, after I captured and released the animal. That's a bogus claim, since they would have had to come get their traps back anyway (our fee was merely a set-up and "rental" fee, not a purchase of the traps). I would not use this company again, and I would not recommend using them. They are supposed to be the experts, but their misjudgment resulted in a much longer capture time (meanwhile our lives were disrupted daily by the squirrel), and their customer service leaves much to be desiredshow more

CalledCritter Busters/ Dave, he was out here on very short notice that morning, it was an emergency situation, a squirrel had fallen down our stove vent and there was no way out but through our kitchen and no way we could get him out on our own, that just had bad idea written all over it. We wanted the lil guy caught as safe for all as possible and released out back where the whole family lived not hauled off somewhere. The lil guy was so not happy and stressing trapped there so getting him out fast was important to us. When I spoke to Dave he said he could get here soon and would call when he was on his way, and that he did. He showed up ready to put covers over his shoes so not to dirty our carpets! Although not necessary, the thoughtfulness was appreciated. It took about an hour and Dave probably went through plan A, B, C, D and E, the squirrel just kept making it more difficult for Dave by going back up into the hood, each time we thought he had him, but finally Dave cornered him, scooped him up and out back he went. Dave was gentle, prompt, informative and thoughtful. Very professional and the charge was amazing compared to all the estimates we had been getting prior to finding Dave, infact we didnt even ask what it was going to cost we just had Dave come out. We cant say enough about how pleased in every aspect we were. We'll call Critter Busters again if the need arises and MOST CERTAINLY recommend Critter Busters to allshow more

When calling Gopher Patrol, it was difficult to communicate my needs to the person on the phone, but my service professional, Chris, was very friendly, professional, and was also local and familiar with the area. Chris was sensitive to my concerns about using poison baits in the vicinity of my pets, so he found alternatives to try to solve the problem. After a couple rounds of 3-4 visits, our problem wasn't entirely solved, but Chris also helped me locate an area that had intermittently allowed rodents into the crawl space, and that was valuableshow more

I like them.They changed the rate for me once. It was 365$ and i did not use them. When i went to them they increased it. It told them if they make it more i will use other providers. They change their price every month for exterminating the ground squirrels. They were charging 125$ for what used to be 75$. They did a good job though. Online they say one thing and when they come they say anothershow more

When Jeremy arrived he immediately noticed possum footprints and the large foundation vent on the backside of my house was opened.He set 2 cages out and the first night 1 possum and 1 raccoon were caged. Subsequently, 2 more possums were caged and taken away. Jeremy is very professional, presented his price list before his inspection. He is also very personable and honest. I really appreciated his honesty the most. I would definetly do business with Wildlife Removal Services in the futureshow more

I originally contacted Animal Control Made Easy (ACME) from information on their website. We heard what we thought were squirrels in the attic of our home. Mr. Joe Cook discussed the problem and scheduled an appointment for our Attic to be inspected. It was discovered that our problem was Rats, not Squirrels. Rat Traps (6) were set in the attic and visible holes were patched. Additional visits were required to remove dead Rats and reset traps; and to sanitize the entire attic. We have not had any additional problems. The Quality of the work was acceptable, but appointments were either forgotten by his staff or dates and times were changed without prior noticeshow more

They did a decent job when they were here. They weren't cheap. There were some issues on the follow-up and getting back to me. You're covered for a year. They did finish the job and all that as planned. They did a very good job. But, later on, for the follow-up before my year ran out, to make sure everything was still cool, it took a while to get them over here. They had to come back probably five or six times to check on the squirrels and put peanut butter up and put traps up. It's a large house. They were very friendly and did an excellent job of removing the critter. It's just the later follow-up with the customer while they were still on the contract, it was very difficult for me to get them back here. They could have paid me to do it and they could have had better communication and customer care after the service, while they were still under warrantyshow more

Two nights in a row I'd heard scratching sounds in my living room ceiling. Then, a couple nights later - 2 nights before I was to leave for vacation - I was stunned to look out a front window and see 3 raccoons emerge from under the house! I waited until they had left to forage, got a couple heavy pavers from the back yard, and put them on the ledge in front of the foundation vent, to block where the animals had exited through a broken screen. When I returned from vacation I saw the raccoons had managed to leverage out the pavers! Went to a home improvement store and bought the heaviest pavers they had. Watched out the window that night, and when the raccoons emerged I lodged in the new pavers. Also stuffed ammonia-soaked rags around the edges. The next morning I went on Angie's List to find an exterminator. After talking to 3, I decided to go with Andrew O'Brien, owner of On Point Exterminating. Andrew and his employee came to the house, did a walk-around, looking at the foundation vents. They are old, and the screening was pretty flimsy on some of them. Andrew also went up on the roof, and took photos of 5 attic entrance points that had been made by rats or squirrels. He also looked inside in the attic space from an interior trap door in the ceiling. He gave me a written estimate for $675, which included sealing the roof entry points; putting in new, sturdy screens on all 17 foundation vents; setting traps in the attic and foundation spaces; returning twice over a period of 2 weeks to check the traps; and a lifetime warranty on the work he would do. (I might add that the foundation traps were not for raccoons - we were sure they had departed - but for any rodents that might have also gotten under the house.) I had 2 choices of covers for the foundation vents. I went with the metal grates, rather than more metal netting. Andrew gave me 3 choices of colors, and I decided on the white, as he said it was the one of the 3 colors that could best be painted, if I decided I wanted it to match the house. Andrew returned another day and spent 4 hours completing the work described in the estimate. He returned twice to check the traps. It's been great. Although we still have wildlife in the neighborhood (I live by a large regional park), none of it is living in my house?.! I should add that Andrew is very personable, and great to work with. I also gained a LOT of general knowledge from him about dealing with various pests - insect and mammalshow more

The experience has been good. This is an ongoing working relationship. I just discovered that in addition to being outdoors and scaring my neighbor, the rats are apparently living beneath my house. That is going to require an entirely new plan. But first I have to close up the hole under my sink - which is the reason I signed in onto Angie's List today. I actually found these guys online, not on Angie's List, and only discovered they were on Angie's List the next time I signed on. About three weeks ago, my neighbor called and said there appear to be rats walking across my fence at night - and keeping her awake. The next day I called this company and within a couple of hours, a guy named Steve called and arranged to come over and set up the traps. When I see that we've caught a rat, I call him and he comes over promptly to get it and re-bait the traps. My only real complaint (other than the cost - see more about that below), is that I haven't been thrilled with all the cages. Some are a little tough to set up (when they accidentally closed, like on the occasion we caught a squirrel (which I let out successfully) and the other occasion when a bird (also let out successfully) was trapped in there). I know this is probably not the most efficient way of getting rid of rats, but it is all I am willing to do; anything else might inadvertently kill other critters. Steve suggested that I need to get rid of my bird feeders and I know he's right, but I'm not willing to do that at this time. My only other complaint is the price. The initial set up (and the loan of two traps) was $150.00. When we didn't catch anything on one occasion, but the rats (or other critters) managed to get the food, a and quot;set upand quot; was an additional $45.00. I think I also pay $75.00 for each critter caught, but to be fair, so far I have only paid $300.00, we've caught 6 rats, and Steve has not billed me again. So I may be wrong about the price (which is why I gave it a B and not the D I initially thought to give it)show more

We called Jeremy because we had what felt like an animal highway under our house. We had seen a raccoon hanging out on our back deck (terrorizing our cats through the door), and thought it might be living under our house. We knew we had an unsecured opening under our deck, but before we built a trap door to access it, and close off the opening, we had to clear out any animals that were nesting under our house. Jeremy came the same day that we called, he presented his price list, and one of his first questions was, "Do you hear scratching under your tub?". "YES!". It's common for animals to nest near the pipe opening to the bottom of the tub. He did a thorough look through of around the house, and set up two traps for us, baited with cat food. He very patiently explained how to free any cats or squirrels that might get caught, and let me set and release them several times so I felt comfortable. You have to call before 8 am to have a pick up that day. He always called to let me know when he would be at the house, and if I was home, he would ring the doorbell to let me know he was there. While our traps were set, I heard an animal in our attic, and when he came for a pick up he inspected the attic through our ceiling crawlspace, and let me know it wasn't a raccoon, but a rat (rats) in our attic, based on the droppings and torn up insulation. Ewww. He explained how to set the traps, and then went around the outside of the house, and showed me where trees need to be trimmed, and how to securely plug and screen any holes and openings. We mistakenly tried mouse traps, which went off but didn't caputre, and the next day he hooked us up with rat traps (much larger and scarier), as well as some screening for our attic vents. We caught three possums, a cat (which I let go), and my husband and I took care of the rat in the attic. I can't say enough good things about Jeremy, he was very knowledgeable, professional, courteous, timely, did the job, and overall a nice guy. There are cheaper trappers out there, but after reading other reviews and other Angieslisters who had less than desired results from other companies, I decided why risk it? You'll be happy with his servicesshow more