When you have an unknown animal in your home or on your property, getting them removed should be handled by a professional.
Masters Services has been in business for over 17 years dealing with wildlife removal from homes, properties, offices and attics. You name it we have seen it! Our technicians are trained and experiences in the handling of all sorts of situations and can help to ensure your home is not only rid of the animal that you are dealing with but that they don’t come back.
What do we handle?
When we get to your home we are not only looking for the animal but how they got in and what it will take to get them out with your home being proofed against future reentry. We will also help you to get the areas that the animals in cleaned up and sanitized.
What are the animals that we handle?
Raccoons
Raccoons are an interesting animal, they are very strong as well as being incredibly smart. If a raccoon has been trapped in the past they can normally work out what happened to them and prevent it from happening again. In this case we refer to the raccoon as “trap smart” and believe it or not, there are still solutions to getting them relocated from the area that they are causing trouble in.
Last year we had a client call in during raccoon breeding season that there was a raccoon in his attic and that he had spent the last week trying all sorts of trapping to get the raccoon out of his attic and each morning as he was getting his coffee the raccoon would make its way out of his attic for the day to go look for food. He even ran and sealed the hole as soon as he saw her leave one morning, thinking that this would be the end of his sleepless nights. She was back that night and opened the same hole back up to get right back into the attic. After this he set up a camera in his attic and was floored by what he saw on the play back. She had devised a way of getting the food out of the trap by flipping the trap over and reaching in to get the food that she had knocked closer. It was obvious to us that this visitor had been trapped previously and maybe even more than once. Her and this homeowner had quite the adventures together in the two weeks that he ended up spending trying to get her out on his own.
When he called us it had gotten to the point of being humorous yet frustrating as she had outwitted him in every way he had thought. When we got out there and reviewed the video of what was happening our technician suggested securing the trap in an area where should absolutely would not be able to get to the food unless she entered the trap. This was set up and all of her entry points were sealed off so she could not reenter. The next day went by and right after dinner the video that the homeowner had set up showed her playing with the trap but not interested enough to enter it. By the end of the next day she had entered the trap and the game was won, by the home owner this time!
We then relocated her to a wildlife area that was over 5 miles from the man’s house, but not until they could say good bye face to face.
There are many reasons that we suggest to never try and handle a raccoon on your own. Mainly due to the fact that they are very powerful and protective of any space that they are using as their home.
We have heard story after story of home owners coming into contact with a raccoon in their home and offices and having much less pleasant encounters with the raccoon they were dealing with. Even to the point of a home owner being hospitalized to get stitches and a round of vaccines to combat an attack from a raccoon on his porch.
The reason to call for help with raccoons is that they can be dangerous, while I am not here to scare you into thinking that you will be hurt by an animal in your attic any time one is there, I am trying to say that it is not safe to confront an animal in your home on your own. Get help from a trained and experienced professional.
Squirrels
When squirrels get into your home there can be quite an annoyance caused, they tend to be more active during the day. Many of the home owners that we deal with complain that they hear and even see the squirrels while getting ready for work in the mornings, making their coffee and also when they are winding down for the day. Squirrels are active animals, they spend their waking hours constantly gathering and getting ready for when they are going to need food the most.
While squirrels seem friendly and harmless they have the power to do quite a bit of damage to a home. We had two clients call in last year who had large house fires that were started due to faulty wires that upon further investigation were faulty due to squirrels chewing on them and threw them. Not only are squirrels considered in the rodent family where they are having to always chew on things to keep their front teeth in check but they can also carry a wide range of diseases.
Opossums
These little guys are the cause for some people’s nightmares, although they really are not that bad they have a pretty ugly little look to them, for the most part they really are more scared of you then you are of them, you know the term “play possum”? It comes from the fact that the opossum will fake being dead when it is scared or feels threatened.
Opossums have a tendency to get into attics, under decks and sheds and so on. Getting them out normally involves trapping and baiting. While they may be more scared of us there are some dangers to be aware of, first is that they are a carrier of rabies along with being bringers of fleas.
Last year we had a homeowner call in that she had been hearing an animal under the tub in her bathroom. Her home was pier and beam and she thought that the animal must have gotten through that way and taken up home under the tub. She had also noted that it seemed that all of the sudden her dog came down with a horrible case of fleas. Sure enough, there was a momma opossum down there with her babies, we were able to get them out and get the area that they got into patched up and cleaned and after a flea treatment on her home the fleas were “magically” gone.
Rats
The word alone can make people cringe. Rats have a way of getting into homes like none other! They are able to get into a hole that needs to be no larger than a quarter of an inch. This also includes being able to get into your home though holes you have never even thought of, like the plumbing outlets on the roof of you home. They are able to get into your home through these pipes and swim into your home through the plumbing.
Getting rats out of your home can take a little more time than other animals depending on the size of the infestation and what it will take to get your home sealed to prevent further entry. In the case of rats, getting your home fully sealed is the most vital step to get them out of your home as well as to prevent them from getting back in. Rats are carriers of many diseases and due to the fact that they do not separate their food and waste areas the spread of disease is more rampant.
Bats
Bats can also get into homes, more commonly into the attic area of your home. Normally by the time that you notice you have a bat problem there is more than just one hanging out. This is due to the fact that they are normally entering and exiting your home at dusk and dawn. They enter in from high up places like the arches of your roof and so are easily missed by eyes below. Sometimes the only indication that they are in your home is when the smell of their guano (feces) gets overpowering, this is normally a strong ammonia smell. Bats are carriers of rabies and can have bites that go undetected due to their small teeth.
Bats are federally protected animals and should only be handled by people familiar with their safe handling and requirements by law.
There has been a photo floating around the internet for the last month or so of a snake removed from someone’s toilet. If you have seen it you know what I mean when I say that I will never again use the restroom in the dark. If you have not seen it, here it is.
Finding this guy in your plumbing would be cause for quite the alarm! Ensuring that your home is fully proofed against entry, including your plumbing pipes, will help to keep snakes out of your home. If you have found them on your property we can also help!
I don’t think I really need to go into this one as far as making sure that you do not handle the animals on your own, there are many poisonous snakes that can do quite a bit of damage in a short amount of time.
Armadillos
Armadillos will normally get into your yard looking for grubs, they have a tendency to dig holes and have been known to tear up entire landscaping. They do not have very good sight and will normally just straight up into the air when they are scared which is why they are commonly seen as road kill, they don’t see the cars until they are too close and then just right up into the undercarriage or bumpers of the car.
Having armadillos in your yard can become quite a hassle and annoyance, while they may just be passing through your yard is search of the mighty grub, the best way to handle an armadillo invasion.
Skunks
I have a dog that loves to make friends with all the skunks in the neighborhood, unfortunately, the skunks that he adores don’t really care for him. This has ended up in us finding all sorts of solutions and mixes, shampoos and soaps to get the smell out of his fur. You would think after the first time he would learn his lesson. Nope. We have had five run ins with skunks this past year. So I can tell you first hand that having skunks on your property can cause quite a stink.
Dead animals
This normally starts with the stink. In most cases the animal has gotten into your home and died of an illness, or getting stuck in an area they couldn’t get out of or that they consumed poison and went into your home in search of water.
It goes without saying that handling of a dead animal should be done with great caution, there is no telling what they died from and if it can affect you by coming in contact with it. Getting professionally trained technicians out to your home we can remove dead animals without the spread of any disease or illness through your home.
We do not handle domestic animals.
Birds in Chimneys
When birds or ducks get into your chimney there are different sounds that are made, because it is in your chimney the noises can be quite loud. In almost every case the birds that you are dealing with are chimney swifts, which are a federally protected bird. They are in your chimney is it replicates a hollowed out tree. Moving them or dealing with their nest in any way will inevitably leave them to die.
We are the first chimney company to come up with a federally accepted method of eviction for the chimney swift. We will sound proof your chimney so the birds are not an annoyance while they are coming to the age of being able to fly out of your chimney. Once they have left their nest we will come back and clean out any nesting materials and place a cap on your chimney with animal screening so birds will not be able to get in in the future.
Where do we offer service?
Masters Services has been in business for over 17 years, started by Chad and Christa Murray as a chimney sweep the company quickly moved into wildlife and animal removal seeing any these pesky animals would take up home in people’s chimneys so easily. As the company expanded we have gone from servicing the Dallas and Fort Worth areas to include also Houston, Oklahoma City and Denver as well as their surrounding areas.
Our company is a family affair! Chad & Christa run the whole affair from our corporate office in Dallas, Wanda and Rory (Chad’s Mother and Step Father) are also co-owners of the company and respectively run the call center and our custom metal fabrication shop. In the call center we have Christa, Wanda, Fiona (Chad’s sister in law), Megan and David (one of Chad’s best friends from high school). In our metal fabrication shop in Dallas we have Rory at the helm and Josh building custom chimney caps and custom chimney parts. In the field in Dallas we have Jon, Mike, Andrew, Omar, Jordan and Todd and in Houston we have, Brian (One of Chad’s best high school friends and Co-Owner of the Houston office), Cody (Brian’s son) and Erick and in Denver we have Phillip (One of our top techs that recently relocated to Denver opening our Denver office!).
Starting with opening our doors 17 years ago we have been dedicated to ensuring that our customers get the best service and products possible. This lead us to opening our own metal fabrication shop where we produce our custom chimney caps and other chimney parts as well as the materials we need to completely seal a home during animal proofing.
Our technicians are always uniformed and in branded and logo’d trucks, they are employees. You will not be dealing with any subcontractors! We have and always will be a family owned and operated business.
We service the Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Oklahoma City, Denver and surrounding areas. For service in the Dallas area call (972) 877-4650, Fort Worth area (817) 205-5749, Houston area (713) 723-4854, Oklahoma City area (405) 236-1111 and the Denver area (303) 720-7096.
