Licensed Wildlife Removal in Washington D.C.

Welcome to District Wildlife Solutions! We are a family owned and operated wildlife removal company servicing the greater Washington DC area. Our company specializes in humane wildlife trapping, removal and repairing of the damage caused by these unwanted guests. We specialize in bird control, bat colony removal, wild animal and rodent trapping and removal. We handle species such as squirrels, raccoons, skunks, opossums, groundhogs, snakes, and more. We pride ourselves on the quality of our work as well as our commitment to outstanding results. We look forward to building long-term relationships with our clients and guarantee your satisfaction! We are a locally owned and operated company that values honesty and integrity and stands behind our work. Call us now at 202-997-3410 for your Washington DC wildlife control needs.

Our Service Range

We service neighborhoods such as Adams Morgan, Anacostia, Brookland, Capitol Hill, Columbia Heights, Congress Heights, Downtown, Dupont Circle, Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Ivy City, Logan Circle, Mount Vernon Square, NoMa, Penn Quarter & Chinatown, Petworth, Shaw, U Street, Upper Northwest, Woodley Park, and more. 

Washington D.C. Animal Exclusion Tips: Are There Scents That Can Rid Your Home of Rats?

Dealing with a rat infestation in or around a domestic property can be one of the most frustrating challenges for a homeowner, and the work required in this can take some time to complete. While the rats are active it can unnerve people to know that they are there, and occasionally even to hear the movement of little paws in the attic or in the wall cavities of a home. One of the most attractive propositions for many people is that there are products on sale that claim to use smell to get rid of rats, while there are also plenty of websites online that claim there are a range of other smells that can also drive rats away.

The Use of Smell Based Chemical Repellents

There are several different brands of animal repellent available that will be available from your local hardware store or garden center, and these are usually in a fluid or granule form. Ultimately, the theory of these products is very simple, in that they can either be sprayed or spread in the areas where the rats are active or where they are foraging for food sources around your home. The way in which these products should work is that the smell of the product is so unpleasant that it will be enough to drive the rats away from the area where they are present, to look for a new habitat.

Will Ammonia or Mothballs Get Rid of Rats?

These chemicals are often found in the cupboards and under the sink in many households, as both ammonia and mothballs have other practical uses in the domestic home. However, they also both have a particularly strong and distinctive chemical smell that is unpleasant even to the human nose, so it is natural to think that rats would also find the smell deeply unpleasant. There isn’t a particularly difficult approach when applying these, as the mothballs are usually just placed in the areas where rats are active, while ammonia is placed in a saucer. Again, the difficulty with this approach is that it needs to be unpleasant enough to drive the rats to find a new habitat.

Natural Smells and Other Home Remedies: Top suggestions from District Wildlife Solutions

There are also plenty of other potential solutions to a rat infestation that are said to work by scent, and these include natural smells, and if you have problems with rats in the garden, it is said that planting garlic or peppermint can help. Among the other smells that are said to be used, a strong scent such as peppermint oil can also be applied indoors in areas where the rats are present. Some people also recommend using hot chili peppers to create a solution that can be sprayed around the areas where the rats are present, so that the capsaicin in those peppers can provide the unpleasant aspect to drive the rats away.

District Wildlife Solutions: Alternative Ways of Dealing with A Rat Infestation

Because most scent-based repellents, whether they are home remedies or store bought, are ineffective at dealing with a rat infestation, it is important to have another way to deal with the problem. The most common effective way of doing this is to use traps to catch and kill the rats. The first step to the work is to examine your property for signs of rat activity, which include their droppings, areas where they forage for food, and smudges of rat ‘grease’ on the wall. Place the traps with a little bait near these areas and keep replacing and re-setting the traps until you are no longer catching rats.