Your Wildlife Professionals, Inc. is frequently asked questions about groundhogs in Alexandria, Arlington, Bedford, Blacksburg, Bristol, Charlottesville, Covington, Chesapeake, Danville, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Hampton, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lynchburg, Loudon, Manassas, Martinsville, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke, Smith Mountain Lake, Staunton, Virginia Beach, Waynesboro, Williamsburg, Winchester, Wytheville, and Yorktown Virginia. Your Wildlife Professionals, Inc. is available to answer any questions you have about groundhogs on your property.
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Do you charge for groundhog services?
- Yes. We are not funded by your local, state or federal government. We are a private business and must charge for our services.
Do you guarantee your groundhog service?
- We guarantee that you will receive the most courteous, honest, and professional wildlife management service in southwest Virginia or its FREE!
What does the groundhog service fee cover?
- The service fee covers us coming out, inspecting the damages, setting traps if necessary, and keeping them baited as long as it takes to catch the groundhogs.
What does the price per groundhog fee cover?
- Cost effective to the customer knowing that we may not catch two or more groundhogs every trip.
- The price per groundhog fee covers us coming out, removing the contaminated trap and groundhog from your property, re-setting a clean trap with fresh bait, disposal of the groundhog, cleaning and disinfecting the contaminated trap for the next customer.
How do you prevent from catching non-target animals?
- Most urban nuisance animals have adapted to eating anything but what they biologically should eat.
- We use species specific paste baits, but they do not always work the way they should.
- We try our best to set the traps in the area where the groundhogs are traveling.
Do you charge for non-target animals?
- Yes we do. We still have to come out, release the animal if needed or remove the contaminated trap and animal from your property, re-set a clean trap with fresh bait, disposal of the animal if needed, clean and disinfect the contaminated trap for the next customer.
- It is the customers’ decision to have us remove or release non-target animals.
What if the trap is stolen?
- The customer is responsible for the trap. If the trap is set in an area that you feel like it will get stolen, please let us know so that we can move it or anchor it to the ground.
- There is a replacement fee for stolen traps.
Can I release non-target animals myself?
- No. There is a chance that the animal could turn and bite you.
Do I have to sign a contract agreement?
- Yes. In order to protect you and our company a contract must be signed.
- Our contracts spell out the services to be provided, as well as our guarantee and warranties.
- You should not do work with a company that is not willing to back up their work in writing.
How many traps will you set?
- We set a minimum of two professional grade single-door humane live capture traps.
Why are the traps covered?
- We have rigid metal covers fabricated to cover the top, sides and bottom of the trap for several reasons.
- To prevent anybody from getting sprayed by a non-target striped skunk.
- The top and sides are to protect the groundhog from the weather.
- The bottom is covered to help reduce any urine or feces from being left on your property. It also reduces damage that the groundhog can create by trying to dig its way out of the trap.
- This cover also prevents curious people that may pass by from seeing the groundhog in the trap.
- It also reduces stress to the groundhog while it is in the trap because it feels protected and unseen.
- We do not use cloth material to cover our traps because the wind may blow it off and the groundhog will usually pull the cloth into the trap leaving it uncovered.
Do you put enough food and water in the traps for the groundhog in case you cannot get to it right a way?
- Yes. There is plenty of food for the groundhog.
- Yes. In the warmer months we will attach water bottles to the traps if necessary. We like to place the traps in shaded areas to reduce heat and dehydration.
Will you inspect my crawl space?
- Yes, we will needed to inspect the crawl space to look for any biohazards (fecal matter) once the groundhogs have been removed.
Can you remove the insulation from my crawl space?
- Yes, we offer insulation cleanout and installation services.
How long is the groundhog service fee good for?
- Your contract will specify the time period that it is good for, which is usually a minimum of 30 days.
- If the groundhogs have not been caught in 30 days, which is rare, we will leave the traps out as long as it takes to catch them at no additional service fee cost.
How long does your standard groundhog service last once you pull the traps?
- Our standard service fee is usually a minimum of 30 days. Once we pull the traps or after the groundhogs have been captured, we will re-set the traps if another groundhog is seen within one week.
Why did you pull the traps before 30 days?
- Once the groundhogs have been captured and we have not had any captures or you have not seen any in a week we will pull the traps. Leaving the traps set will only increase the chances of capturing non-target animals.
Will you repair the damaged areas to prevent future problems with groundhogs?
- Yes. We will inspect the ground level area of structure to find the current problem area(s), as well as any potential problems areas that should be repaired. We will give you an itemized estimate of these repairs and prices in your contract. You have the option to do what repairs you feel comfortable with. We will only recommend repairs that we feel are important to prevent future problems.
Do you warranty your groundhog repairs?
- All of our warranties have a one-year minimum.
What does exclusion mean?
- It is a technique where damaged areas or possible penetration points are made uninhabitable or penetrable to the groundhog.
How often do you re-bait the traps?
- Every 1 to 5 days depending on the time of year and weather.
- We like to keep the bait as fresh or not dried up as possible. If you feel like the trap needs bait or you do not see the bait in the trap, call us and we will send someone out to re-bait it as soon as possible.
How soon can you set the traps?
- We will typically set the traps the day you call.
- We always have traps available.
- We carry the necessary traps needed in our trucks daily on a seasonal basis to better service the customer the day they call.
- We do not like to put anything off until tomorrow.
How often do you check the traps?
- State law requires that the traps are checked daily.
- We ask you as the customer to check the traps and notify us when we have an animal in the trap.
- By the customer checking the traps, this will eliminate additional costs to the customer and it will also speed up the removal process.
How do I get in touch with the technician once an animal is trapped?
- The contract has our office number on it as well as our business card.
- Our secretary will notify the technician.
We live out of town and cannot check the traps everyday?
- We can provide a complete service to you.
- If this is a rental property we can contact the tenants and ask them to check the traps if necessary.
We are going out of town next week and do not have anybody that can check the traps daily?
- We will make arrangements to have our technicians check the traps for you.
- An additional cost may be incurred.
Will you pick up trapped animals on the weekend and holidays?
- Yes, we work on the weekends.
- We typically shut the traps down for holidays so that the customer does not have to be bothered with checking them.
How long does it take for a technician to pick up an animal once I have called it in?
- We will make every effort we can to pick up the animal and re-set a trap as soon as possible.
- We often have two to three trucks out at a time and the secretary will notify the closest technician to your property.
Where do you relocate the animals?
- Our permit only allows us to relocate squirrels.
What do you do with the animal after you catch it?
- Our permit allows us to transport the live animals to another location to be euthanized.
- Groundhogs are considered a nuisance species in the State of Virginia and must be euthanized by law.
- Relocating a groundhog may risk the chance of spreading disease to an uninfected area.
How do you euthanize the animals or put them to sleep?
- There are several ways to euthanize an animal. We use the most humane methods approved by the American Veterinary Association.
What if a groundhog is trapped when you come out to re-bait?
- We will call you or leave a note on your door that we picked up an animal.
What types of bait do you use?
- We use specialty paste baits that are formulated for groundhogs designed by professionals in our industry for professionals
How many traps will you set?
- We set a minimum of two traps, more if available.
Where do you set the traps?
- As close to the damage area as possible.
Can the wgroundhog get out of the trap?
- No. We use a professional grade trap with doors that lock once they close.
How much are the repairs?
- We will inspect the ground level areas of the structure to find the current problem area(s), as well as any potential problems areas that should be repaired. We will give you an itemized estimate of these repairs and prices in your contract. You have the option to do what repairs you feel comfortable with. We will only recommend repairs that we feel are important to prevent future problems.
- See our Repairs page for more details.
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