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Humane Wildlife Removal Service in Central Florida
Dr. Critter is a humane wildlife removal service covering Central Florida. We take out squirrels, raccoons, rodents, opossums, snakes and birds, seal the openings they used to get in, and clean up what they left behind. This is the page for how the work is done. The city pages cover where.
Most people reach us by searching for wildlife removal near me, and the sequence is the same in every city we cover. A free inspection first. Then a quote written against the actual building rather than a price list. Then humane removal by whatever method Florida law allows for that species, with the sealing and the cleanup quoted as one job instead of billed as a surprise second visit. Over 20 years of doing it this way is mostly 20 years of learning where buildings fail.
Why Choose Dr. Critter?
What does humane wildlife removal actually mean?
Humane wildlife removal means getting an animal out of your home without needless harm and without orphaning its young. Instead of poison, a technician uses live traps, one-way exclusion doors, and hands-on removal, then checks for a nest of babies so the family is not sealed inside a wall to die. The entry points are sealed afterward so the animal cannot return.
Which animals does Dr. Critter remove in Central Florida?
Dr. Critter removes the full range of Central Florida wildlife, including raccoons, squirrels, rats, mice, opossums, bats, snakes, and skunks. Raccoons and squirrels are the most common attic invaders, bats require exclusion under state law, and snakes turn up in garages and pool cages. Each species needs a different removal method, which is why an on-site inspection comes first. Timing matters as much as species: our Central Florida wildlife activity calendar shows when each animal is most likely to get in, and when state law blocks the work.
Most of that work happens inside the metro. If you are in the city itself, our page on animal control in Orlando covers response times, the species we see most often there, and how the older neighborhoods around Winter Park and College Park tend to let animals in.
West of the metro the mix shifts. Pasture edges and citrus land put armadillos and snakes in front of houses far more often than attic squirrels, so animal control across Polk County tends to start in the yard rather than on the roof.
Humane wildlife control and pest control are different trades
Pest control treats insects, and the working tool is a chemical. Wildlife control gets a mammal, a bird or a reptile out of a building, and the working tools are a live trap, a one-way door and hardware cloth. That difference is not marketing language. A raccoon in an attic is nuisance wildlife under Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rules, and what may legally be done with it is set by the state, not by whoever answers the phone.
It is also why a standing pest control contract usually does not cover whatever is walking around above your ceiling. The two jobs need different equipment and a different repair afterward. We wrote a longer comparison of what each trade actually handles in Florida if you are trying to work out which one to call.
How a one-way door works
A one-way door is a cone or a hinged flap fitted over the hole the animal is already using. The animal pushes through it on its next trip out and cannot push back in. It does not get trapped, it does not get driven across the county, and it does not have to be killed. Once the attic is confirmed empty, the door comes off and the gap is closed with material the species cannot chew through.
Exclusion is how most attic work ends, and for bats it is the only lawful method. Florida Administrative Code 68A-9.010 prohibits bat exclusion between April 16 and August 14. During those months the pups cannot fly, and sealing the roost would leave them to starve inside the wall. If you call us about bats in June, we will tell you exactly that, and we will book the work for the other side of August 14.
The nesting check is the step that gets skipped
A spring or early summer call is usually a mother and a litter rather than one animal. Trap the adult, take it away on its own, and the young stay behind. Within about a week you have an odor coming out of a wall cavity and a second job that costs more than the first one would have.
So the inspection looks for a nest before anything gets set. Where there are young, they come out by hand and go back to the mother outside the structure, which is also what stops her tearing a fresh hole in the roof trying to reach them. It adds time to the visit. It is also the whole difference between an animal that leaves and an animal that gets sealed in.
Why we do not use poison
Poison kills the animal wherever it happens to be when it dies. On an attic job that means inside your insulation or behind your drywall, and you are left with the smell, the flies, the cleanup and the same open gap that let the first one in. There is also a real risk to a dog, a cat, a hawk or an owl that finds the carcass first.
Live trapping and exclusion cost more up front than a bait station. They also finish the problem instead of moving it into your ceiling.
What the work costs and how long it takes
The phone estimate and the on-site inspection are both free, and we quote after the inspection rather than off a price list. The number depends on the species, how many entry points there are and how much of the attic needs cleaning. We photograph the damage and write the scope out line by line, so it can go straight to an insurance adjuster where a claim applies.
Most Central Florida attic calls get a same-day inspection. Removal usually runs three to ten days depending on the species and the method, sealing follows once the structure is confirmed empty, and cleanup is scheduled after that. Sealed entry points carry a lifetime warranty, so if one fails we come back at no charge. The phone is staffed 7 AM to 11 PM, seven days a week, and an animal loose in the living space goes to the front of the queue.
Wildlife removal near you in Central Florida
Dr. Critter responds to wildlife calls across Central Florida. Pick your city for local response times, common species, and direct booking:
- Wildlife Removal in Apopka, FL
- Wildlife Removal in Brevard County, FL
- Wildlife Removal in Cocoa, FL
- Wildlife Removal in Casselberry, FL
- Raccoon Removal in Altamonte Springs, FL
- Raccoon Removal in The Villages, FL
- Raccoon Removal in Windermere, FL
- Bat Exclusion in Lake Mary, FL
- Bat Exclusion in Daytona Beach, FL
- Squirrel Control in Orlando, FL
- Rat Extermination in Orlando, FL
Working out what's in your attic? Start with our species guides: raccoons, bats, squirrels, rats, snakes, opossums, and skunks. Once you know what you are dealing with, our attic animal removal service gets it out and keeps it out.
“Most importantly they didn’t harm the squirrels.”
“They were very responsive, sealed up all access points, and addressed our issue humanly.”
“They were easy to work with, communicated the process well and followed up daily during the animal removal and roof patching process.”
