Serving McLean, Virginia
Wildlife Removal in McLean, VA
Wooded acre lots backing onto the Potomac Gorge give McLean the heaviest wildlife pressure of anywhere we work — and big houses give animals more ways in. We remove them and seal the house properly.
Licensed in VA (#56104) and MD (#049372). Family-owned, 20+ years, answering 24 hours a day.
Why McLean Homes Get Wildlife Problems
We work across McLean — Langley Forest, Chesterbrook Woods, Salona Village, Broyhill McLean Estates, Franklin Park, Kenwood Park, McLean Hamlet, Lewinsville Heights and the Pimmit Hills side.
McLean’s defining feature, from our end of the business, is the land. The northern edge of it runs into the Potomac Gorge, one of the rarest ecosystems in the mid-Atlantic, with Scott’s Run Nature Preserve alone covering well over three hundred acres of hardwood forest, cliffs and stream valley. Pimmit Run and Difficult Run push more forest inland, and conservation easements keep large blocks around Salona permanently wooded. That is a continuous, high-density wildlife habitat sitting directly against residential streets — foxes, raccoons, deer, groundhogs and snakes are not visitors here, they are residents.
The housing meets it halfway. Much of McLean’s stock is 1950s–1970s ramblers, split-levels and colonials on generous, heavily treed lots. Split-levels in particular are a gift to a squirrel: every change in roof height is another roof-to-wall joint, and there are several per house. Bigger houses also mean more of everything that fails — multiple chimneys, long soffit runs, detached garages, pool houses, porches and large crawl spaces.
And McLean rebuilds constantly. New construction on an old wooded lot evicts whatever was living there and sends it next door, which is why we so often get two calls on the same street within a month.
The Animals We Remove in McLean
Raccoons — chimneys and crawl spaces
With woodland this close, raccoons in McLean are well fed and bold. An uncapped flue is a hollow tree with a ledge in it, and a large house often has more than one. A 15–25 pound female will also open a soffit, flatten insulation, tear ductwork and establish a latrine that soaks through the ceiling below. Raccoons can carry rabies, so this is not a job to handle yourself.
Foxes — usually not a removal
Red foxes den under sheds, decks, pool equipment pads and porch slabs all over McLean in spring, and the honest answer is often that you do not need us to take them out. The kits are mobile within weeks and the family leaves on its own; the lasting fix is closing the space underneath afterwards so it does not become an annual event. We will tell you when waiting is the right call.
Bats — big attics, strict rules
Large 1960s and 1970s attics with louvered gable vents make good roosts, and a quarter-inch gap is all a big brown bat needs. 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 seals them in. In those months we fit devices and complete the work once the young fly.
Also common in McLean: squirrels at split-level roof joints · groundhogs burrowing under pool decks, patios and retaining walls · skunks under porch slabs · opossums in garages and in wall voids · black rat snakes along the Scott’s Run, Pimmit Run and Difficult Run corridors, and in crawl spaces — a snake indoors nearly always means a rodent supply indoors.
How a McLean 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 McLean 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 McLean.
- Full restoration in-house — attic cleanup, insulation, chimney caps, crawl space work.
Humane Solutions. Lasting Results.
McLean Wildlife Removal FAQs
How fast can you get to my McLean 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.
We back onto Scott's Run. Are we always going to have this?
You will always have wildlife on the property — that is the trade for living there, and we would not pretend otherwise. What you do not have to have is wildlife inside the structure. Sealing the house is what separates the two.
There is a fox den under our deck. Do you remove it?
Often we recommend waiting. Spring dens are usually vacated within weeks once the kits are mobile, and the real fix is screening the space underneath afterwards. If it is under an occupied porch or the animal looks sick, that is different — call us.
Our house has three chimneys. Do they all need caps?
Any open flue is an entry point, so in practice yes — and an unused flue is the one that gets occupied, because nobody lights a fire in it. We cap them as part of sealing the house.
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 McLean Home Sealed
Noise in the attic, a smell in a wall or something denning under the deck will not resolve on its own — and the repair bill grows every week it runs.