Wildlife Removal in Lafayette, Louisiana
What is in your attic, what it costs to get out, and what Louisiana law requires. Request a quote and we will pass it to a licensed local operator where one is available.
- Sourced from LDWF published rules
- Independent; we do not perform removals
- We refer only to licensed operators
- You are never charged by us
Start with the animal
Different animals do different damage on different timetables, and the law treats them very differently. Pick what you are dealing with.
Raccoons
Raccoons tear their own way in, which is why they do more damage to a house than most animals that get inside one.
$300 – $600 for removal; far more if the attic needs restoring
Raccoon removal →Squirrels
Squirrels in an attic gnaw constantly, and wiring is among the things they gnaw.
$300 – $550 typical
Squirrel removal →Bats
Bats are the most legally constrained animal in this trade. Getting the timing wrong is not just inhumane, it is often illegal.
$400 – $600 small colony · $500 – $1,200 typical · $5,000 – $8,500 for a large colony
Bat removal →Opossums
Opossums are less destructive than raccoons but they den in the same places, and they are much harder to smell out until the mess is substantial.
$250 – $500 typical
Opossum removal →Armadillos
An armadillo can turn a good lawn over in a single night, and the burrows go under concrete.
$250 – $550 typical
Armadillo removal →Nutria
Nutria are an invasive rodent, and their burrowing collapses the banks they live in.
Varies with site access and water level
Nutria removal →Snakes
Most snakes found around Lafayette homes are harmless and beneficial. A few are not, and the difference matters.
$150 – $400 for removal of a single snake
Snake removal →Skunks
Skunks den under porches, decks and sheds, and you usually know about it before you see one.
$300 – $550 typical
Skunk removal →Birds
Almost every native bird is protected by federal law, active nests included, so what is legal depends on the species.
$200 – $600 depending on access
Bird removal →Dead animals
Unpleasant, urgent, and almost always the consequence of an earlier problem that was sealed up instead of solved.
$200 – $600, more if drywall has to be opened
Dead animal removal →How they actually get in
Almost every job starts at one of the same eight places. Knowing which one matters, because sealing the wrong gap just moves the problem.
The part most people get wrong
An exterminator and a wildlife operator are not the same trade. Nuisance wildlife control requires a separate state licence, and bats and nearly all native birds are protected by law: a general pest company often cannot legally touch them. Nor will animal control: agencies decline this work and refer callers to private operators.
Louisiana runs the most demanding regime of the states we cover. Every NWCO must carry a valid LDWF permit while working, and permits are issued to individuals only: each person doing the work needs one in their own name, so a company permit does not cover an unlicensed employee. Operators must be 18 or over, must hold both a valid Louisiana trapping licence and a valid Louisiana basic hunting licence while working, and must score at least 80 percent on the LDWF NWCO examination covering wildlife biology and behaviour, control methods, and the law. Permits run on a calendar year and must be renewed annually. Everything Louisiana requires →
- 10animals covered in depth, not listed
- 8towns across Lafayette Parish and around it
- Louisianalaw cited from the published source
- $0charged to you by this site, ever
What Lafayette is actually like to work in
Acadian building practice put houses up on cypress piers, for the straightforward reason that a foundation sitting in wet ground rots and a floor at grade floods. A great deal of Lafayette is still pier and beam, and a pier and beam house has a real crawlspace underneath it: enclosed, dark, dry in the middle of it, and reachable. Newer subdivisions moved to concrete slab, which removed the crawlspace and, in the process, moved the same animals up into soffits and attics instead.
Water shapes where the work is. Riverine flooding in Lafayette Parish mostly affects property along the coulees feeding the Vermilion rather than the riverbanks themselves, and close to half of everything built in the parish between 2001 and 2021 went up inside the 500-year floodplain. Those coulees are continuous wooded corridors running through developed neighbourhoods, which is precisely how nutria, raccoons and opossums reach houses that look nowhere near open water.
Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries is explicit that it does not remove nuisance wildlife. It permits individuals to do it for a fee. A Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator permit is issued to a person rather than a company, every individual doing the work must hold one in their own name, and getting it requires a Louisiana trapping licence, a basic hunting licence, and 80 per cent on the department's exam. The permit also lists exactly which animals may be taken, raccoon, squirrel, opossum, skunk, armadillo, beaver and nutria among them. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Nuisance Wildlife Control and Removal
Getting the animal out is half the job
By the time most people call, something has been living up there for weeks. The droppings, the flattened and soaked insulation, the chewed wiring and the smell all remain after the animal has gone, and on an insurance claim or a house sale, that is the part that gets inspected. What restoration involves →
Somebody has to look at the property to answer that. How many entry points or burrows there are, how hard they are to get at, and whether young are present is what sets the price, and none of it can be judged from a description. Send us your address and we will pass it to a licensed local operator where one is available. Request a quote →
Common questions
Who actually does wildlife removal: can I just call an exterminator?
Usually not. Nuisance wildlife work requires a state licence that a pesticide applicator’s licence does not cover, and bats and most native birds are protected by law. A general pest control company often cannot legally take the job.
Will the city or animal control come out for free?
Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries is explicit that it does not remove nuisance wildlife. It permits individuals to do it for a fee. A Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator permit is issued to a person rather than a company, every individual doing the work must hold one in their own name, and getting it requires a Louisiana trapping licence, a basic hunting licence, and 80 per cent on the department's exam. The permit also lists exactly which animals may be taken, raccoon, squirrel, opossum, skunk, armadillo, beaver and nutria among them.
What does it cost?
It depends entirely on the animal. Removing a single snake might be $150; a large bat colony with attic restoration can run past $8,000. The per-animal pages below give honest ranges.
Is it urgent?
Often yes, and not for the reason people expect. The animal itself is rarely the emergency: the damage compounds. Chewed wiring, soaked insulation and young born inside a wall all get worse and more expensive by the week.
Where we cover
Across Lafayette, Lafayette Parish and the surrounding towns:
Lafayette · Broussard · Youngsville · Scott · Carencro · Duson · Milton · Breaux Bridge. Service areas →
Request a quote
We read every request and pass it to a licensed wildlife operator covering Lafayette where one is available. We are still building our list of operators here, so we cannot promise one is available or say how quickly they will respond.