Before & After Photos

During a scheduled summer service for a Home Protection Plan customer in Shrewsbury, NJ, we found a large bald-faced hornets nest next to the downspout. Bald-faced hornets are social stinging insects that are a close relative to yellow jackets. The surface of their upper midsection almost looks triangular from the side, and they have white markings on their face.

For treatment, we grabbed our extendable pole, attached a knockdown liquid product to it, and then treated the nest with it. This application exterminates the bald-faced hornets almost immediately. Once the hornets were eliminated, we attached a scraper to the pole and removed the nest. We then disposed of the nest properly and treated the area with a residual application to exterminate any returning hornets as well as prevent them from rebuilding a nest. 

Recently, homeowners in Manasquan, NJ had contacted Cowleys after observing mouse droppings in their home. They were especially concerned with contamination issues because they had three young children. Mice can contaminate food, countertops, and flooring with their droppings and pose a serious health hazard. Their droppings can contain many dangerous pathogens, including hantavirus. 

For any mouse infestation, it is critical to determine their entry points into the home and how they are moving about once inside. Invariably, mice will wind their way to the kitchen when they are foraging for food and water. Here, I pulled the dishwasher and refrigerator away from the wall to look for entry points. Sure enough, there were large holes int he walls that went straight down into the crawl space. Mice are attracted to the warmth of motors in appliances and it is common to find them nesting underneath refrigerators and large kitchen appliances. I sealed the holes with chew-proof wire mesh to block direct kitchen access from the crawl space and keep the mice and the droppings away from the family.  

With the infestation contained in the crawl space, I set up RTU bait stations in the crawl space. These stations contain single-feeding bait that are magnets for mice. The mouse population should be drop quickly and with the kitchen entry points sealed, the mice will not be restricted from the living areas of the home.

We were sent out to a home in Manasquan, NJ to deter nuisance birds from the property. The nuisance birds were roosting and nesting above the girder on the rear porch and defecating all over the area. This presents a dangerous situation to the owner and his family as the bird droppings are a health hazard and the nesting debris could contain bird mites. Bird mites are tiny, semitransparent parasites that feed off the blood of birds. When birds leave their nest, the mites are left without a suitable host and will infest the home to feed on the blood of humans.

First, we carefully removed the birds' nesting materials and applied a product that specifically targets bird mites. Next, we installed optical gel along the beams throughout the porch to prevent the birds from roosting. The optical gel is a multi-sensory bird repellant that deters birds using sight, smell, and touch. As a visual deterrent, the birds see a UV spectrum that, to them, looks like fire or smoke (although there isn't any). As a smell deterrent, the optical gel gives off a cayenne pepper or peppermint odor that the birds hate; and as a touch deterrent, the optical gel has a tacky feel to it that the birds dislike. Now nuisance birds are properly deterred from the area. 

Squirrels were harboring in the attic of this home in Atlantic Highlands, NJ and we were sent out to safely remove them from the property. After inspecting the exterior of the home, we discovered that the squirrels were able to get inside by chewing through the exposed fascia.

In order to safely remove them, we installed a one-way device over the main access point and temporarily enclosed the area off with hardware cloth. We also set up a number of retrieval device close by. The one-way device will allow the squirrels to safely leave the attic, but prevent them from getting back in. In fact, a short while after setting up, we retrieved all of the squirrels and took them to a safer, humane location. 

We then removed all of the hardware cloth, disinfected the attic, and installed sturdy metal flashing over the entire fascia board. This will prevent the squirrels, and any other nuisance wildlife, from getting back into the attic through this area.

A new homeowner in Brielle, NJ, was having an issue with birds roosting in her home. She had another company come out and try to exclude the birds, but it didn't work, so he called Little Rascals for help. 

During our inspection, we discovered that the birds were actually roosting in a small gap behind the shutters. The previous company installed chicken wiring, but it was extremely loose and not secure. We removed the company's exclusion bird, disposed of it, and then carefully removed all the nesting debris.

In order to properly exclude the birds, we took a piece of metal flashing and scribe shaped it to the shutters. This contours the metal flashing to the shutters almost perfect and will not only exclude birds from the home, but bats, wasps, bees, and hornets as well!