Serving Arlington, Virginia
Wildlife Removal in Arlington, VA
Small lots, mature trees and 1940s attics: Arlington is one of the densest wildlife-call areas we work. We get squirrels, raccoons and bats out and seal the house, under rules that are stricter here than almost anywhere else in Virginia.
Licensed in VA (#56104) and MD (#049372). Family-owned, 20+ years, answering 24 hours a day.
Why Arlington Homes Get Wildlife Problems
We cover the county — Arlington Forest, Ashton Heights, Lyon Park, Bluemont, Donaldson Run, Yorktown, Westover and the neighborhoods along Columbia Pike and the Rosslyn–Ballston corridor.
Arlington’s housing stock is remarkably uniform in age, and that shows in the calls. The county went from about 57,000 people in 1940 to 135,000 in 1950, and whole neighborhoods went up inside that decade: Arlington Forest began in 1939, Lyon Park and Ashton Heights filled in through the 1920s and 1930s, and the wartime and postwar subdivisions followed straight after. That means thousands of small Cape Cods, bungalows and brick colonials on roughly 6,000-square-foot lots, all reaching the same age at the same time — original wood soffits and fascia, small louvered gable vents, low attics and shallow crawl spaces.
The second factor is what has been done to them since. Arlington is a pop-top and rear-addition county, and the joint where new construction meets a 1940s roofline is the most reliable entry point we find: a step in the roof, a boxed eave that dead-ends, a soffit return left open behind new siding.
Third, the stream valleys. Four Mile Run, Lubber Run, Donaldson Run and Glencarlyn Park thread wooded corridors through the middle of dense neighborhoods, so foxes, raccoons, groundhogs and skunks live at high density within yards of the houses. Arlington’s own wildlife hotline fields thousands of calls a year, which tells you how close the animals and the people are living here.
The Animals We Remove in Arlington
Eastern gray squirrels — our highest-volume Arlington call
A tight lot with a mature oak over the roof is a squirrel highway, and a 1940s wood soffit is easy to open. They need about an inch and a half of gap and will chew a smaller one bigger, because their incisors grow continuously. In an attic that chewing reaches wiring, which is the reason not to wait them out. Two breeding seasons a year means a single female in February is a family by March; we remove the adults, hand-remove any litter, and close the openings in metal.
Raccoons — the most destructive
A 15–25 pound raccoon opens a roof edge like a hand, flattens insulation, tears ductwork and leaves a latrine that soaks through drywall. In Arlington they favour the low roof of an addition or a garage as a step up to the main roof. Raccoons can carry rabies, so this is not a job to handle yourself — not a DIY job and not a general pest company’s job.
Bats — the one to get right first time
Big brown and little brown bats are the species most likely to be in an Arlington attic, usually through a gable vent, a ridge gap or the flashing where an addition meets the original roof. Bats cannot be trapped or poisoned. Exclusion is the only method that actually works: one-way devices, then sealing every gap over a quarter inch.
Timing matters. Roughly May through August there are flightless pups in the roost, and sealing then traps them in your ceiling. In those months we fit devices and complete the seal once the young fly.
Also common in Arlington: red foxes denning under sheds, decks and porch slabs — frequently a wait-them-out situation rather than a removal · groundhogs undermining sheds, patios and retaining walls · skunks under stoops · opossums in garages and, more often, dead in a wall · birds in dryer and bath vents · black rat snakes along the stream-valley edges.
How an Arlington Job Actually Runs
1. Inspection
We walk the roofline, soffits, vents, chimney and foundation, then go into the attic or crawl space to find entry points, nesting sites and damage. You get photos of what we find.
2. Humane Removal
Species-appropriate and humane: trapping and hand-removal for squirrels and raccoons including young, one-way exclusion for bats, targeted work for groundhogs, skunks and snakes.
3. Exclusion
Every entry point sealed in steel mesh, heavy-gauge metal flashing or hardware cloth. Not foam, not caulk — a squirrel chews through both in an afternoon.
Why Arlington Homeowners Call Us Instead of a Pest Company
- 20+ years, family-owned — you deal with the people doing the work.
- Licensed in Virginia (#56104) and Maryland (#049372).
- Humane methods — we get the animal out without harming it, and we tell you straight what we found.
- We seal, not just trap — the reason customers do not call us back about the same animal.
- 24/7 answering, with same-day service across Arlington.
- Full restoration in-house — attic cleanup, insulation, chimney caps, crawl space work.
Humane Solutions. Lasting Results.
Arlington Wildlife Removal FAQs
How fast can you get to my Arlington home?
Same day in most cases, and we answer 24 hours a day. An animal in a living space, a bat in a bedroom, or a rabies-vector animal gets priority.
Can I set my own trap in the back yard?
We would not. A trap does nothing about the hole the animal is using, and you are then left holding a trapped raccoon with nowhere to put it. Getting the animal out and sealing the opening is one job, not two.
There is a fox under my shed. Do you remove it?
Often the honest answer is that you do not need us to. A spring fox den is usually vacated within weeks once the kits are mobile, and the lasting fix is closing the space underneath afterwards. We will tell you when waiting is the right call rather than sell you a removal.
We added a second story. Is that why we have squirrels?
Very likely. The joint where an addition or pop-top meets the original 1940s roofline is the entry point we find most often in Arlington — a step in the roof, a boxed eave that dead-ends, or a soffit return left open behind new siding.
Do you treat insects or mice?
No. We are a wildlife company — squirrels, raccoons, bats, groundhogs, skunks, foxes, opossums, birds and snakes. For ants or roaches you want a pest control company.
Get Your Arlington Home Sealed
Noise in the attic, droppings near a vent or a smell in a wall will not resolve on its own — and the damage bill grows every week it runs.