As a company that’s been helping Austinites take care of pests for over 60 years, ABC Home & Commercial Services has made thousands of house calls. In most cases, our skilled and knowledgeable technicians quickly put homeowners’ minds at ease with a thorough inspection and a suggested course of action to get rid of pests. In a few cases, however, our pest control experts have run across some bothersome critters which necessitate a more creative approach. Over the years, we have collected a number of strange but true pest stories.
Strange But True: Our Craziest Pest Control Calls
As Texas’ largest independently owned pest control company, we’ve had our share of memorable pest control calls. We’d like to share a few of these strange but true stories with you.
Jake The Racoon Causes Trouble
One of our most memorable experiences in the pest control business involved a wily raccoon our technicians affectionately called Jake. A local business contacted ABC because Jake was causing lots of trouble. This bespectacled pest would break into the business’s commercial kitchen, eat whatever food he could find, and cause a huge mess.
Our technicians put out several live traps in the hopes of catching Jake and humanely relocating him elsewhere. No luck.
After several unsuccessful attempts, our staff was out of ideas. ABC did some research and located a raccoon expert from Down Under. One of the world’s foremost experts on raccoons, from halfway across the globe in Australia, advised us to switch out our traps.
After days of destruction, the new traps ABC set finally captured Jake. Jake now has a new home far, far away. Our pest control team emerged victorious in this harrowing tale of pest versus human, and this local business could go back to what it does best. ABC owner Bobby Jenkins talks about rodents and the story of Jake in this Facebook Live Video.
Big Tex, Rodent Edition
Raccoons are trouble, but if there’s one pest most of us homeowners fear the most, it’s rodents.
Many of us who grew up here in Texas have fond memories of “Big Tex,” the larger-than-life figure who presides over the State Fair in Dallas every year. Big Tex would be no match for the rodent we found in one home recently.
We received a call from a desperate homeowner who had been unsuccessful in getting rid of a massive rat living in her home. The rat would sneak in and eat her dog’s food and nibble on crumbs left on the kitchen floor. When she would try to catch the rodent, it would scurry back to its hiding place inside of her home’s walls.
After a few weeks of living in fear of this Texas-sized rodent, the homeowner called ABC, who sent technicians out to set traps to catch this rat. Five of our finest technicians were initially unsuccessful at nabbing this rascally rodent. On a follow up visit, the homeowner mentioned that the rat was recently spotted by the couch.
Sure enough, upon closer inspection of the couch in question, one of the cushions began to move. Rather than risk the rat escaping back into one of its hiding spots, the fearless ABC technicians moved quickly, picking up the couch and taking the piece of furniture outside.
Once the couch was outside, the search began. All five technicians worked together to find the large rodent. The rat was eventually cornered and made one last run for it. He ran in between the legs of the five ABC technicians before attempting to enter the house through his original entry point.
Luckily, our technicians were too fast for this pesky pest. One of our technicians grabbed the rat and prevented him from re-entering the home. Then, we sealed the entry points so no more rodents could find their way inside. We imagine that the homeowner had her best night’s sleep in weeks!
A (Pest) Case For Sherlock Holmes
Sometimes ABC relies upon technology to help us treat for pests. We once got a call from a homeowner who was hearing noises coming from inside of the walls and in the attic. He had set traps, believing the problem was rats. After a few days with no activity around the traps, he began to fear that the problem was larger.
Our ABC techs came and did a thorough inspection of the home, only to discover that it was raccoons and not rodents living in the home. To get a better understanding of the problem, we installed a tiny camera in the attic. We discovered not one, but two sources of the noise: baby raccoons which had been separated from their mother.
Once the technicians cut the drywall and safely extracted the raccoons, we set out to find the mother, who would be looking for her babies. The ABC techs found the path the mom had used to enter the roof joint and placed a trap to relocate her and her babies. Instead of running toward the trap, the mama raccoon tried to attack the technician.
Thinking quickly, the tech shined a bright flashlight into her eyes, and the angry mom ran into the trap. This strange story has a happy ending: mama and her babies were together again and moved to a remote location, while the homeowner’s roof joint was sealed so that the resident wildlife would have to make a home elsewhere in the future.
If Walls Could Talk: The Story Of Snowball The Cat
Sometimes, ABC gets calls when homeowners are besieged by their own pets. Here’s one of our favorite stories of a feline fiasco.
We once got a call from a homeowner with a missing cat. The strange part was that the cat was inside of the house the entire time. Snowball would issue a frantic meow from inside of the wall, but the homeowners could not get her out.
For a day and a half, the Snowball would meow, and the determined homeowners would cut a hole in their sheetrock, hoping to free their scared kitty. Each noise made the homeowners hopeful that their beloved cat was fine, but puzzled as to where the cat could be.
The homeowners finally called ABC to rescue Snowball. After examining the holes in the sheetrock, our technicians discovered what had happened. Under a set of stairs was a small closet. At the back of the closet was a hole large enough for a cat to squeeze through. Snowball had found the hole and had spent the last few days exploring the air ducts in the house. Thankfully, Snowball was rescued and reunited with her owners, safe and sound.
ABC was able to repair the hole in the closet, avoid any further damage to the home’s sheetrock, and allow these caring homeowners to snuggle up with their furry companion once again.
What’s That Odor? ABC Tackles A Smelly Situation
Sometimes, smells can be deceiving. Once, ABC fielded a call from a couple who noticed a strange odor in their vacation home. ABC came out and found baby raccoons living in the attic and relocated the animals. We suspected that there was also a dead animal in the attic, but our technicians were unable to find anything.
Determined to find an answer to this smelly situation, our techs made a more thorough inspection which involved cutting through some sheetrock and examining duct work in the house. After some time, we discovered the problem: a dead raccoon located right next to the furnace. No wonder the homeowners said the smell was more intense when the heat was on!
With the help of our HVAC team, we removed the animal and the surrounding ductwork, decontaminated the area, reinstalled the necessary equipment, and deodorized the space. The homeowners took a deep breath – through their noses, for the first time in weeks – and thanked us for our help.
Call In The Experts To Handle Your Peskiest Pests
Even the craziest rodents, raccoons, mice, termites, roaches, and other household pests are no match for ABC’s pest control experience and knowledge. If you need someone to get to the bottom of your most perplexing pest issue, you know who to call. Our background-checked, highly trained staff will handle even the toughest pest problems and get you back to enjoying your home again.
