When The Outdoors Comes Inside, Trappers Enter New World: Your Home

Like more conventional hunters, nuisance wildlife trappers head out the door seeking to catch one animal but never knowing what they will find. 

"When you get a snake call, everybody says a 10-foot rattlesnake, and it turns out to be a garter snake," said John Christensen of Critter Control of Savannah. 

A customer in Ardsley Park called for removal of a snake, so Christensen brought various snares, traps and tongs, including a device the technical term for which is "pillow case." 

"The guy looks at me and says, 'You're going to need a bigger bag.' '' 

It was a case of life imitating art, the customer referencing a famous line from the movie "Jaws" ("You're gonna need a bigger boat.") Christensen's prey turned out to be a 10-foot reticulated albino python. 

Needless to say, the pet's true owner hadn't called in a missing snake report, but the homeowner was glad there are businesses like Christensen's around to protect people, their property and the animals, too. 

While pythons aren't indigenous to Savannah, there are enough of what are categorized as nuisance wildlife to keep Critter Control and its ilk busy. 

Raccoons, opossums, snakes, bats, birds, moles, mice, squirrels and especially rats need to be removed from homes and businesses, then relocated to their natural habitats or euthanized. They are more likely to seek the warmth under your house or in your attic or chimney during the colder months of the year. 

This is both good and bad news for Christensen, 59. 

"Crawling in any crawl space is pretty much a miserable experience," he said. 

Credits: By Nathan Dominitz - Savannah Morning News