Your home may have become nesting grounds for some type of animal. If that is the case, you most definitely are not alone. Wild animals, including rodents, do take up residence from time to time. These critters nest in different parts of a residence, including:
- Attic
- Basement
- Crawl space
- Walls
The type so animals that have a tendency to invade a residence include:
- Squirrels
- Mice
- Rats
- Bats
- Racoons
- Birds
You have two tasks at hand when it comes to addressing unwanted wildlife in your home. First, you need to eliminate the visitors from your residence. Second, you need to safely and thoroughly cleanup after such an infestation, including removing of nests. There are some key facts and factors you need to bear in mind when it comes to removing nests from your home.
Confirm Animals Are out of Your Homes
Before you address the matter of getting animals nests out of your home, you need to be certain that whatever invader that had been living in your home is gone (or invaders, as the case may be). You need to bear in mind that some animals nest in a residence to raise their young. Thus, you face the issue of the timing of the removal of animals.
Many people want any infesting animal and its kin to be humanely removed from a residence. Some animals may be protected by regulation, even if in your home. There are types of bats in this category, for example. There are professional services that will work with you to humanely and lawfully eradicate animals from your home. Of course, there are also professional extermination services as well that may be appropriate to your situation.
Once nesting animals are eliminated from your residence, you need to ensure that any entryways that they’ve used are sealed. It’s a pointless exercise to eliminate animals from your home only to have them return.
Safety and Nest Removal
Animals that nest in your home may be disease carriers. In some cases, certain disease-causing germs may be carried in the feces of these animals. Mice and rat droppings are prime examples of animal waste that might harbor bacteria and viruses. Because of this reality, you need to practice specific safety techniques when embarking on nest removal. In this regard, you need to err on the side of caution and assume that animal nests harbor dangerous pathogens. Thus, before removing nests, you need to suit up with proper personal protective equipment that includes:
- Gloves
- HEPA mask or respirator
- Uniform or smock
- Protective eyewear
Another safety step you need to take involves an animal’s nest itself. Before attempting to remove a nest, you need to take an important safety step. In order to protect against things like dried animal droppings crumbling and causing dust and germs to become airborne, the nests should be saturated with a sanitization agent.
There are sanitizing products available commercially that can be purchased at home improvement centers like Lowe’s or Home Depot. You can also make your own suitable sanitization agent. A homemade solution can be made with 1-part chlorine bleach to 9-parts water. Once the solution is prepared, it can be placed into a spray bottle for efficient application.
Removal of Animal Nests
Once the sanitization solution is applied, a nest should be allowed to sit for about 20 minutes to ensure thorough saturation. Ideally, you pick up larger components of a nest, using a rag or paper towel to do so. This waste material is then placed in a durable plastic bag. Indeed, you may want to consider double bagging this waste.
After eliminating the materials that comprised an animal’s nest, the area in which it was built can be further cleaned or scrubbed to eliminate any other related residue. At the conclusion of that process, the sanitization agent can be applied to the areas in which a nest was built by an animal to ensure thorough elimination of any dangerous pathogens. In this instance, the sanitization agent can be left to dry.
As an aside, if an animal builds a nest on or in insulation, the insulation may have ended up contaminated. In such a situation, the insulation likely will need to be removed in order to ensure that a comprehensive, complete cleanup of the area where animal nesting occurred is accomplished.
Hire a Professional
Due to the previously discussed safety issues, as well as the need for specialized equipment and supplies to effectively eliminate animal nests from your home, you may want to give serious consideration to hiring a professional. An animal waste cleanup specialist can effectively, thoroughly, and safely eliminate nests from your home in a manner that restores your residence to a state free from animal waste of different types. A professional can evaluate your situation and provide an action plan and a reliable estimate of costs.