Author: Creature Control

An Unexpected Guest in the Fireplace

This past Sunday, we received an emergency call from a residential home in Kalamazoo. The customer reported hearing strange sounds coming from the fireplace—movement, rustling, almost a flapping kind of noise. We sent our West Michigan manager, Josh Boone, out to investigate. It’s not uncommon to get a call for weird noises coming from the fireplace. The chimney is a very common entry point for wildlife such as squirrels, raccoons, bats, and more. These particular sounds, however, were tell-tale signs of a bird. Josh had been to many bird-in-fireplace calls over the years. In most such calls, the bird is a starling that has become inadvertently trapped in the fireplace. When Josh arrived on the scene, though, it was clear right away that whatever was rustling in there was much bigger than a starling. When he opened the fireplace and shined his light inside, Josh saw not a starling but…

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Use Your Bird Seed Wisely

One of the easiest ways to deter unwanted wildlife from getting into your home is to get bird feeders away from the house. We love the birds, but the hard truth is that the bird seed people put in their feeders attracts all sorts of critters, from raccoons to deer to squirrels and mice. Birds are notoriously messy in their eating habits, as you can see from the picture above. Raccoons and other critters will often come to the area by night to scavenge the spilled birdseed. Enterprising raccoons or squirrels will actually climb up and knock the birdfeeder around to intentionally spill more seed. A lot of bird seed gets consumed this way; in fact, it has been estimated that for every 20 pounds of bird seed a homeowner puts out, 11 pounds of it will get consumed by creatures other than birds. The danger in this is that…

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The Proper Way to Help A Turtle Across the Road

A common act of charity on Michigan roads is the occasional stop to help a turtle cross the street so it doesn’t become a road pancake. This is easy enough when the turtle is a small painted box  turtle, but it can get a little sketchy when it is a very large, mature snapping turtle. Snapping turtles are noted for not only their size but their ornery temperament; if you’ve ever had a turtle hiss at you, it was probably a snapper. Their powerful jaws can easily break—and in some cases completely sever—a human finger. They can be very aggressive if they feel cornered. Snappers are not to be trifled with by those unfamiliar with how to deal with them. But even so, we can’t just stand by and allow our belligerent reptilian friends to get smooshed by traffic. Snappers have extremely long life span—most snappers you see crossing the…

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House Centipedes: Harmful or Helpful?

There is nothing more disturbing then waking up in the middle of the night to something scurrying over you.  For most of us we instantly get up, squash it, and flush the remains down the toilet making sure to note we need to call Creature Control in the morning.  Well, Michigan State University is reminding people that not all insects you find inside your home are harmful.  House centipedes, although creepy are actually beneficial as they feed on spiders and other small arthropods that enjoy living inside. No matter how beneficial house centipedes can be some of us are unnerved by the presence of these quick little buggers.  Not only do they have 15 legs, they also house to long antennas on their heads, and two long antennae like appendages coming from their bottoms.   If you are one of the many Michigan homeowners that don’t really appreciate the presence of…

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How Do I Make My Home Less Desirable for Raccoons?

Are you wondering why your home seems to be a regular hangout for raccoons?  You may be attracting them without even realizing it.  Just like they are portrayed in cartoons, raccoons are smart, sneaky, and peculiar.  Their sweet little masks and ringed tails make this particular nuisance wildlife pest hard to be mad at for getting in your trash.  Let’s face it, raccoons and baby raccoons are downright adorable.  If you start noticing an influx of raccoons around your home, you will want to call in the experts at Creature Control to start putting in place active prevention measurements.  We can help you make your home less desirable for these adorable but less than desirable critters. Raccoons Basic Survival Needs Raccoons are driven by their basic survival needs: shelter, food, and water.  Obviously, our homes create the perfect environment for them to thrive.  They are insane climbers that can easily…

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Michigan Experts Warn Residents About Spotted Lanternflies

Michigan experts warn residents about potential dangers of spotted lanternflies, provides tips on how to prevent the invasive species from spreading across the state. BY CAROL THOMPSON, Lansing State Journal LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The bugs don’t look so menacing when they’re pinned to the bottom of a cardboard box. By some standards they are pretty, with speckled outer wings, long legs curved delicately inward, a bold splotch of red that flashes when they fly. In Michigan, they only appear this way: Dead, contained and in expert hands. It’s unclear how long that will last. The insects are making their way across the East Coast, feasting on the insides of trees, carpeting infested forests in sticky secretions and threatening multi-million dollar agriculture and forestry industries. They are hundreds of miles away, but with their tendency to lay eggs on vehicles, that doesn’t matter. The question isn’t if the spotted lanternfly will get…

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It’s that time of year again! 

It’s that time of year again!  Bees are buzzing, Wasps are building nest, and We are doing everything we can to avoid getting stung!  The good news, if there is any, is that there are only a few of these Yellow Stripey Things that actually sting including Yellow Jackets, Paper Wasps, and Cicada Killers – the rest are more of an annoyance.  We offer a wide range of services to protect your home and family from stinging and non-stinging pests!  For the specifics on insect removal, please call Creature Control 1-800-441-1519 today to speak to one of our qualified pest control specialists!  

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Late Mosquito Season This Fall

Are you going to be eaten alive by mosquitoes over the next few weeks? Depends on where you live. Due to unseasonably high levels of rainfall in August, we are poised for some more intensive levels of mosquito activity in Michigan for the fall of 2018. Rain itself is not the cause of increased mosquito activity; rather, it is standing water. When lots of rain falls in low-lying or flat areas without sufficient time for the absorption of rain water, the result is large quantities of standing water which in turn become breeding sites for mosquitoes. In Michigan, this is particularly a concern in Saginaw, Bay, Midland and Tuscola Counties, which all have low elevation ground and lots of standing water. These areas can turn into mosquito-hell when there’s a heavy rainfall, but this can really be the case anywhere that is flat or low-lying terrain. The presence of standing…

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Yellow Jacket Removal Ypsilanti

One of the most alarming pest control problems for any homeowner is the unexpected discovery of stinging insects building a hive inside the walls or ceiling of a home. German yellow jackets are particularly notorious for this. Their capacity for creating massive nests that can expand to fill spaces of astonishing size; if you don’t believe me, review our post on the biggest yellow jacket nests ever. In a home, yellow jackets get access to a ceiling space or wall void and begin constructing a nest. The construction of the nest is itself a destructive act; yellow jackets actually create their nests by chewing tiny fragments of drywall, mixing the material with their saliva, and then use the mixture as building material. For this reason, the presence of a yellow jacket nest can often be identified by a kind of crackling, crunching sound—almost like the sound of Rice Krispies snapping….

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