Critter Control

I called Critter Control, and found out that it’s really Orkin. The guy from this company did an inspection for $125. He tried to sell me a package for over $7,000 without telling me what I needed to know: whether this was an active problem or not. I was finally able to get an answer out of him… he said no, that there was no entry point that was currently open. But a few days later I found an arm-sized entry point above an external beam, with lots of fresh insulation pieces around. Then I heard squirrels in the attic. So that $125 fee for him giving me wrong info was wasted, and I certainly won’t be hiring them to close up the entry. But perhaps more concerning… We had never seen any sign of cockroaches in the house (and haven’t since). But during his visit, he was standing behind a counter while talking to me, and kept looking at the floor and appeared to be adjusting his pant legs. I didn’t think anything of it except to wonder why we wasn’t looking at me. A few minutes after he left, I saw a large cockroach slowly crawling across the floor from where he had been standing. I killed it, bought and put out bait and traps, and have seen no sign of roaches in the month or so since. I don’t have any hard proof that he intentionally or unintentionally brought the bug into my house. However, I thought I’d mention this in case anyone has a similar experience.

The whole process took almost a year and seemed expensive.

We called after hearing scratching noises in the ceiling and walls. Service was prompt and courteous. The technician suspected mice and spread some poison. The baiting seemed to work as the noises subsided and have not returned. This is the second time we have called Critter Control (had a raccoon get in the attic) and we would use them again if necessary.

They did extremely well. We had gobs of mice. After the first visit we had only 4 mice. After the second visit we have no mice. |

They would not provide service saying I'm to far away. I live in Chenoa which is in the same county as their place of business, about 25 miles away. The girl on the phone said they only serve the Bloomington/Peoria area. I said Chenoa is closer to Bloomington than Peoria and also in the same county as them. Then she tried to say the didn't have a trapping permit for Chenoa, which I told her that was bunk because trapping permits are issued by the state. I even offered to pay more to compensate for mileage, but they were not willing to do that. Bottom line, they didn't want to do any work today. I guess I'll buy my own human trap and catch the critter myself!

He has a fast response. He gave a clear explanation of what he was looking for. I liked his thoroughness. I know that he does remove all kinds of critters. I heard noises in the attic and I thought I had raccoons, but he didn't find a single trace. I thought the price was reasonable considering how long and how much time he spent here. He went up in the attic, down the basement, through all the cupboards and just everywhere.

This is my second experience with Critter Control. My first was a number of years back for, essentially, the same problem. We have a wood-sided house near a lot of gulley, ravine, etc. so we have a lot of wildlife - which we enjoy. We do not, however, enjoy when woodpeckers decide to pound on our wood siding. Especially when they make golf-ball or larger sized holes. I learned a lot from the representative who came out the first time (2006?). Very knowledgeable, professional, and helpful, he educated me on behavior and methods of control. He also helped patch the hole with leftover wood siding, stain, etc. and applied repellent. I don't recall the charge. I do recall he created the patch board overnight and returned the next day. My impression was that the cost was VERY reasonable. As a result of that education, when it came time to repaint, we mixed it with a repellent. That worked great for a couple of years. However, this spring we ended up with another hole. They seem to do their pounding when nobody's around, it seems. Since a family of sparrows immediately moved in, I waited until this fall to deal with the hole. Using some leftover wood siding I cut and stained a patch piece of wood. I simply needed them to come out, remove any birds that might remain (since there would be no babies this time of year), remove any nesting material, and affix the patch. The gentleman who arrived was very polite, professional, easy to communicate and work with. We discussed caulking the hole, briefly. But since I had a patch ready to go I thought that best. After test-fitting, we decided the piece of wood should be trimmed slightly. After the work, he explained that he had removed as much of the nesting material as he could, affixed the patch, and caulked to make it waterproof. Their minimum fee is $99, which was explained to me when I initially called. He explained that was the charge plus $50 for the work he performed. This surprised me a little, though I said nothing. I'm used to a minimum fee including a certain amount of labor. I did not track the amount of time he was here but thought it an hour or less. Overall, my thinking was this is a small amount to pay when I don't have the tools and my wife doesn't have the will to let me up on a ladder like that, anyway. Mix in their expertise and professionalism and I'm very satisfied. I will simply ask more questions next time I call (I will use them again if needed!) about their minimum charge and what that covers.

They got rid of the bats! They did a good job. I'm not totally sure of the price, but I was happy with it, overall. I would use Critter Control again.

Critter Control diagnosed our problem very quickly by investigating and then put in bat valves so that the bats could get out of the attic but not get back in. He did this because he was afraid that one of the bats could be an endangered species so he made sure not to kill any of them.