Hello everyone. I've been trapping a few years now and am taking the Nuisance Animal control course this spring. I work shift work for my regular job so it affords me a fair bit of spare time. I'm thinking of doing some ADC work in my community, as there is no-one that does it around here, at least not professionally. I figure i'll be looking at mainly raccoon, skunk, groundhog and i imagine beavers as they always seem to be a problem with the landowners around here.
I'm wondering what would be some recomended equipment a fellow should have. I have plenty of traps for the beavers, but i'm thinking more for the in town work with the coons, skunks etc... Any recomendations for live traps, secret weapons, or go-to equipment to help me start out?
Thanks, Hambone

Cage traps for in town. WCS who sponsors this site carries many of the major brands. Williams traps are gravity traps instead of spring closing are strong and made well for a very fair price, you must stake them down to keep them from rolling over and opening.
Kurt Temple

What state are you in? I could help since I work with Creature Control.

Call me at (616)-378-6016/ I work with Creature Control, and have been working for 2 years

I would love to help

Are you just looking at trapping or doing exclusion work also? Most of the tools you probably already have. I bet I could do most of the repairs I've done with my screw gun, framing hammer, pry bar, tin snips and shovel. Oh yeah, the don't forget the caulk gun.

As far as traps go, anything advertised for raccoon will be large enough for skunks and woodchucks.

I imagine I'd be doing both exclusion and trapping, like I said theres no-one doing this type of work in my town now. I plan on starting out small, and see how it goes. You're right Eaten, I guess I do have most of the things I need to start, I just have to pick up some live traps to get things rolling.
I'm from NB, In the great white north. Thanks for the replies, John your company has a nice web site, lots of good info on there.

Ask me any questions on this site, even if you have questions about a house you just worked on. One Major thing, no sloppy mess. I don't want to sound mean at all. You need to practice on your house or boards or something else, when you get on a customers house they want a tidy, good quality. One thing I have learned, if I do a terrible job, I am depreciating the house value slightly. Make sure your polite with customers, answer questions correctly that they have, and you will be on the road to success! Thanks, John

What does NB stand for?

Probably his location- New Brunswick, Canada

My recommendation would be to by very little and save the cash until you know what you need. A lot of us bought equipment that we "knew" we needed to have it collect dust.

While you think you're going to do raccoon, skunk, groundhog and beavers, what you're really gonna wind up with is a lot of bats, squirrels, snakes and birds. I thought the same thing when I started. But I do more squirrel and bat work than anything else. Every body swears they have rattle snakes until I get there and remove the rat snake. And pigeons can be profitable as well.

Learn all you can about all the wildlife in your area before you start. Knowledge is key! It will be your job to help educate the public about the critters that share their world. It's important that you can tell them what the dangers are as well as the benefits they can get from certain species. Bats are always a good example of this. Little old ladies tend to be deathly afraid of bats when in reality, they are quite harmless and can keep their back yards bug free all summer. As well as doing bat exclusions, I sell and install bat houses to help keep the little bug eaters around.

Learn what can and cannot be relocated. Many folks will come more near giving you the job if they find out that you're going to release the offending animal elsewhere. If it's a critter that can not or should not be released, explain to them why euthanization is required or a better option. A good example would be raccoon here in North Carolina. It's illegal for us to release anything in the order carnivora here, due to the possible spread of disease such as rabies. Coon fall into that category and as such cannot be relocated. They must be euthanized by law.

The biggest part of ADC work is rules, regulations and law. You'll have to learn them. Be ethical and humane. Nothing will get you a bad reputation quicker than being spotted torturing, starving or otherwise abusing animals. Be neat and professional. Do a good job at a fair price.

When it come to pricing, many of us are different on this. There are some who charge a set up fee plus a set price for each animal caught and removed. Some charge a straight fee based on time involved for the job. I actually do some of both. I have a set up fee and a per animal charge for beaver and an hourly rate for removal of dams and such. But dealing with snakes, squirrels, bats and many other critters, I charge an hourly fee based on how much time it takes to get the job done. For example, I know that most squirrel jobs will take me about a week to complete. An hour or two to set up, a trip back each day to check traps and a couple hours or so to take traps out and repair damage or exclude openings. I also offer some tree trimming if necessary to remove travel ways to the dwelling. I figure my time that is required to do this and base my fees on that.

What you must protect yourself from is having a strict "per critter" fee and then having to make several trips for just one animal. Empty traps cost you money. But if you know that you'll be checking empty traps, you have to explain to the customer why this is to be expected. Again, I refer to squirrels as an example. Most of my squirrel jobs, I've caught what squirrels I'm gonna catch in the first day or two. BUT, I'll leave my traps in place for at least a week to be sure I have them all. I tell the customer this up front and they tend to appreciate being let into the loop, so to speak.

I know many companies offer gauntness. I try to avoid this at all cost. We're dealing with wild animals who have minds of their own. You can not always predict what they are going to do. I may remove what's there now but can not guarantee that more will not come back in the future. That's why the only guarantee I make is that any animal I remove WILL NOT BE BACK.

Equipment... You'll need several cage traps of various sizes, foot holds, dog proofs, and connibears depending on what animal you're after. Then you'll need a roll of 1/4 inch hardware cloth on your truck at all times, a variety of wood screws, sheet metal screws and other fasteners, nut drivers, tin snips and a cordless drill will come in VERY handy. Hand saws, skill saw, hammer, wire cutters, ladders, foam guns, caulking guns, masonry bits, ring pliers, just to name a few. You'll need to aces each situation and at times create and develop your own traps and excluders.

I don't want to discourage you because this is an enjoyable business to be in, but there's more to it than just getting some traps and catching some animals.

Good luck!

Muddadg is spot on, use what you have to start & pick up tools as you go and need them. Be careful on ladders & roofs, know your limitations at first.

Thanks for all the advice guys, I really appreciate it. Muddawg, thanks for your answer, very informative. I plan on starting very small, I figure the first few years will more of a learning experience than a 'job'. I have most of the things ill probably need, just have to pick up a few live traps to start, expand as I need like you all suggest.
The reason I thought I'd give this a go is that around here once people hear you do some trapping, they call on you to do these types of jobs, for free of course. I figure I might as well look to be compensated for my time, doing something that I enjoy.
Thanks again for all the helpful info. Sorry I didn't reply to your posts earlier. One of those weeks at work
And LAtrapper you were right, New Brunswick canada

All god advice. Having only been in business for a year I have a fresh view on start up

Be careful not to work for "free"

The business end can be your biggest challenge Fortunately for me I have been a remodeling contractor for over 15 years so this helped me a lot. But this makes me hate the exclusion part of this as I no longer want to swing a hammer

And remember that that animals do not always follow the script. (Like a raccoon that will walk past your trap every night no matter what bait you use).

And many homeowners have no clue what kind of animal it is

Oh, and "really big animal" making noise in the attic may just be a Mouse or a bird. This is the one that will frustrate you and the customer really fast. ( think game camera to confirm what's there )

Good luck and have fun. I'm loving it

Don't borrow money, start small, work up