A homeowner contacted us about a groundhog inside their basement. The groundhog had gotten in through a ground-level soffit that had partially decayed (first photo). Once inside the basement the groundhog got lost. While trying to get out of the basement the groundhog was attempting to tear through the door to the upstairs (second photo).

When we arrived, the groundhog was hiding under the stairs (third photo). The easy approach here is that we could have set a few traps and come back later -- but we didn't want to leave a groundhog on the loose in this person's home.

One of the advantages of having worked with animals for decades is that we have a few tricks up our sleeve for gently coaxing a frightened animal to move. We soon had the groundhog in a trap (final photo) and were able to safely relocate it.

A KCMO homeowner called us because they wanted a second opinion before spending $18,000 with an unnamed National Franchise having their attic insulation replaced due to mouse droppings.

First, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. $18,000 for insulating a house? We've insulated businesses and churches that cost $18,000 or more, but a house? That sounds very high.

Second, mouse droppings?! Sure, no one likes droppings, but let's be reasonable here: mouse droppings are not hazardous. When we say that bat and raccoon droppings/feces/guano are hazardous, we're not simply promoting our services or trying to scare people into calling us - bat and raccoon droppings are hazardous to humans. The CDC lists those hazards on their website. But mouse droppings? First, ok, yes, make sure you don't have active mice. Then second, sure, clean that "stuff" up where you see the mess - but you don't have to throw out thousands of dollars of insulation in your attic and bring in new insulation due to mice.

As I said, the homeowner called us because they wanted a second opinion before spending $18,000 with the unnamed National Franchise. We offer free inspections for insulation estimates only. All our inspections include entering the attic to inspect for any signs of animal or pest activity as well as evidence of damage, such as wire damage, flex tube damage (very common if squirrels or raccoons are present), etc. Our job is to protect your home. Each technician will take pictures to show the homeowner what was found. We can email or text these pictures to the customer for future reference. 

We went out and inspected the attic and provided the homeowner with a report along with our recommendations.

What did we find? Two little mouse droppings. That's it. This is not what would be considered an infestation, and even if there was a larger quantity let's not forget that, despite any type of waste being unclean and unpleasant, mouse droppings are not hazardous. You don't have to throw EVERYTHING out. Only in EXTREME situations would we even consider removing attic insulation because of a mouse infestation. 

The homeowner called us up later in the day, expressing appreciation for the professionalism and expertise demonstrated by our technician, and saying that they are ending their business relationship with the unnamed National Franchise and will only call us in the future for any type of pest or animal control need.

What's sad about this situation is that this is not an isolated instance. We've heard and seen this before. It's too bad that not all businesses choose to conduct themselves in an ethical and honorable fashion. Whether the franchise was simply being greedy and purposely trying to take advantage of this homeowner, or whether the franchise innocently thought that mice droppings were hazardous and doesn't know what they are doing - neither one of those bodes well for the franchise.

For us? What more can we do besides be here, and available. We're continuing to conduct business the way we have for over 30 years. We might be considered "old school" because we're not greedy and are not quoting high prices for unnecessary work and have spent years studying and gaining knowledge and experience in this arena, but we believe that, in the long run, this is the proper way to do business.

Here's a bat removal job that we handled in Leavenworth, Kansas. The call came in the spring and when we arrived to inspect the home the bats already had pups (babies). We quickly found the access point: a damaged chimney crown. The bats were using this to access a heater vent and then getting down into the the homeowner's basement - which brings up an interesting point: bats don't always get into attics, it is not uncommon for them to suddenly appear in other parts of a home.

Bats are an important part of our local ecology and are protected by law. We needed to find a way to protect the bats and their pups until the pups were mature and able to live on their own - but at the same time it's not really acceptable to have bats flying around this dear lady's basement.

We installed a mesh screen in the basement so that the bats were contained to a small area and would not be flying around. A few months later the pups had matured and we installed one-way doors so that the bats could exit, but not re-enter, the home.

Next we repaired the damaged chimney crown. This is an important part of what sets us apart from other bat control companies: we not only do repair work, but we do quality repair work. With other companies you often have to hire a contractor to handle repairs.

The photo shows the repaired chimney crown. Later, we also installed a chimney cap, and it's too bad we forgot to get a photo of the final chimney!

Honeybee problems are rare, but they happen. There are over 400 species of bees local to the Kansas City area, with 3 invasive European honeybee species also present. Bees can create colonies within soffits, as well as within or behind brick or stone chimneys. Any cavity within a natural or manmade structure can be used by the bees to create a hive.

This particular job was in Raymore, MO. Bees had gotten inside a brick chimney through loose mortar, and, over the course of several years, had built a good-sized hive. The bricks had to be removed so we could safely remove and relocate the hive. What!? We removed and relocated the hive? We didn't just blast the bees?! Remember, we have a biologist on staff here at Catch-It and we've said that we care about our ecosystem -- those words are not just meaningless "marketing talk". The fact is that bees are an important part of our environment and ecology --- bees are so important that life as we know it would not be the same without them. We try to preserve honeybees anytime we can. While, frankly, it is not always practical or feasible to preserve them, we do try.

Back to our story... After removing and relocating the bees our next focus was on cleanup. All remaining pieces of the hive, as well as honey, has to be removed to prevent other insects from creating more problems in the future.

Once the clean up was complete we used a special sealant to block the odor to prevent any future infestation (photo below).

The final step (not pictured, and we're kicking ourselves for not getting a photo as it looked so good!) is to seal any vulnerable points of entry to prevent a future bee infestation and repair anything necessary related to the project. One of the benefits of choosing Catch-It is that we provide repair services - which saves you the hassle of locating a contractor to handle a repair project. In this case, we reinstalled the brick to repair and seal the chimney.