Wildlife removal in Winter Park, FL
Wildlife removal in Winter Park, FL often means working on older houses, with crawl spaces, chimneys and decades of small gaps. Critter Guys is just up 17-92 in Fern Park, and we take animals out humanely and close the house back up.
- Old houses are our specialty
- Licensed and insured in Florida
- Repairs as well as sealing
Ask about your Winter Park home
Tell us what you are hearing or seeing. We will get back to you, set up a visit and give you a straight answer on what it takes.
- Firm quote before any work starts
- Call, text or email, your pick
- Licensed and insured in Florida
Quick answer. Critter Guys handles wildlife removal in Winter Park, FL, including raccoons in chimneys, squirrels in attics, roof rats, bats and opossums under raised floors. We inspect the roof, attic and crawl space, remove animals humanely with traps or one-way doors under FWC rules, then repair and seal the openings. Our shop is a short drive north in Fern Park. Call or text (321) 203-6963.
Why older Winter Park homes attract wildlife
A lot of Winter Park was built long before the block-and-stucco subdivisions that cover most of Central Florida. On the streets around Park Avenue and the lakes, you still find frame cottages, raised wood floors, brick chimneys and attics vented through old gable louvers. They’re beautiful houses. They also have more seams, more wood and more places for an animal to work its way in than a newer home does.
Every decade adds small openings: a soffit board that shrank, a vent screen that rusted, a gap left when the roof was redone. Raccoons, squirrels and roof rats test those spots night after night until one gives. That’s why wildlife removal here is half animal work and half carpentry.
Chimneys without caps
An open flue looks a lot like a hollow tree to a raccoon. Mothers will climb down and raise kits on the smoke shelf. A properly fitted chimney cap ends it.
Crawl spaces and raised floors
Homes on piers or stem walls have a crawl space with vents or access doors that loosen over time. Opossums, rats and the occasional armadillo move in, and the smell rises through the floor.
The Winter Park chain of lakes and its old oak canopy
Winter Park sits on a chain of lakes, including Lake Virginia, Lake Osceola and Lake Maitland, linked by narrow canals that boats still cruise. Those canal banks, lined with old trees and thick landscaping, give raccoons and opossums a quiet way to travel from yard to yard along the water. Lakefront homes see the most of it.
Then there’s the canopy. Winter Park’s big live oaks hang over roofs all over town, and gray squirrels use them like a highway. Places like Mead Botanical Garden, where Howell Creek runs through the woods, and the shoreline around Kraft Azalea Garden on Lake Maitland add more cover close to homes. Rollins College sits right on Lake Virginia, so even the blocks near campus back onto water and trees.
Older homes, open water and mature trees all in one place mean steady wildlife pressure, year round. The lake country continues north into Maitland, where we see a lot of the same patterns.
Local snapshot
- Orange County
- Chain of lakes linked by canals
- Heavy live oak canopy
- Up 17-92 from our Fern Park base
How we help Winter Park homeowners
Raccoon Removal
Raccoons out of chimneys, crawl spaces and attics in older Winter Park homes, followed by caps and sealed openings.
Squirrel Removal
Squirrels that ride the live oak canopy onto your roof, removed with one-way doors and their chew holes repaired.
Bat Removal
Bats excluded from behind trim, tile and gable vents, always outside the April 15 to August 14 maternity window.
Rat Removal
Roof rats moving along lakeside trees and into attics, controlled with traps, exterior bait stations and gap sealing.
Wildlife Exclusion
Repairing softened fascia, screening gable and crawl space vents, and capping chimneys on older Winter Park houses.
Attic Cleanup & Remediation
Clearing droppings, nesting and stained insulation from attics and crawl spaces, then disinfecting and deodorizing.
What we check first on a Winter Park inspection
These are the spots that most often turn out to be the problem on older homes in town.
- Chimney flue and crown, and whether there’s a cap
- Gable vent louvers and the screens behind them
- Fascia boards and soffit corners, especially where wood has softened
- Crawl space vents, access doors and gaps around plumbing
- Roof valleys under overhanging oak limbs
- Attic insulation for droppings, tunnels and nesting
What Winter Park clients say about us
4.9
141 reviews on Google
★★★★★
I recently had a problem with a raccoon who decided to chase a rat around my attic space. Nelson Ramos from Critter Guys arrived. He went up in the attic to inspect. No critters, but obvious tracks in the installation. Two small openings …
Peggy BeyerGoogle review
★★★★★
Dion is doing a great job responding to our needs and flexible to our schedule since there is not always access to the house. He explains what we need, points out trouble spots and fixes some of them when possible. Thanks Dion! …
MiLo TeamGoogle review
★★★★★
These guys are absolute professionals 10 out of 10 service. We would definitely recommend.
Joanna ErricoGoogle review
Read every review on Google or see more Critter Guys reviews
How our wildlife removal works in Winter Park
Each job follows the same order, so nothing gets sealed in by mistake.
Find every opening
We go over the roof, attic, chimney and crawl space, and show you photos of what we found.
Get the animals out
One-way doors let squirrels and other climbers leave on their own. Raccoons and opossums may be live trapped. We look for young first and work to keep families together.
Repair and seal
Older wood often needs a real repair, where a patch won’t hold. We replace or reinforce damaged sections and screen vents with heavy-gauge material through our exclusion and prevention service.
Clean what’s left
If the attic or crawl space was used for a while, our cleanup and disinfecting work removes droppings and soiled insulation and treats the scent trails.
A few recent calls
The animals we see most around Winter Park
The mix here leans toward climbers, because the trees and older roof lines give them so many options. Our Orlando pages for roof rats and mice and attic squirrels go deeper on each one, and our main Central Florida wildlife removal page covers the full list.
- Gray squirrels in attics and soffits
- Raccoons in chimneys and crawl spaces
- Roof rats running the oak limbs to the roof
- Bats roosting behind loose trim or tile
- Opossums under raised floors and sheds
Wildlife help in nearby towns
We also work in the communities around Winter Park, including Maitland, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry and Winter Springs.
Wildlife questions from Winter Park homeowners
Have a question that isn’t here? Call or text (321) 203-6963 and we’ll help.
Is wildlife removal in Winter Park different for older homes?
Yes, older homes usually need more repair after the animals are out. Wood fascia, gable vents, chimneys and crawl space openings wear over the decades, so we often fix as well as seal. We’ll walk you through what your house needs during the inspection.
What does it cost to get a raccoon out of a Winter Park chimney?
We quote it after an inspection because the price depends on whether there are kits, how the raccoon is getting in and what the chimney needs to stay closed. Most chimney jobs end with a cap. You get the full picture before we start.
I live on one of the lakes. Will animals just keep coming back?
Animals will keep passing through lakefront yards, but they don’t have to get into your house. Once entry points are sealed and vents are screened, they move on to easier spots. Trimming oak limbs away from the roof helps too.
Can you remove bats from my Winter Park home in summer?
Not during maternity season, which runs from April 15 through August 14 under FWC rules, because flightless pups would be trapped inside. We can inspect anytime and plan the exclusion for the first allowed date. Bats are protected in Florida and are never killed.
What’s living under my raised floor?
In Winter Park, it’s most often an opossum, a rat or sometimes a raccoon. Opossums love dark crawl spaces, and the smell can drift up through the floorboards. We’ll identify the animal, remove it humanely and close the crawl space vents and doors.
Is it safe to clean up droppings in my attic myself?
It’s better not to. Raccoon latrines can carry roundworm, bat guano can carry the fungus that causes histoplasmosis, and rodent urine can spread leptospirosis. We remove and sanitize contaminated material with the right protective gear.
Book a Winter Park wildlife inspection
Call or text (321) 203-6963. We’ll check the chimney, attic and crawl space and tell you exactly what’s going on.