Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District

One thing you might never expect to find yourself doing is going out of your way to write a 5 star review about the gentleman who helped you remove a skunk from under your house.
But I have been so impressed with the representative (Joe) from CC Vector Control who has helped us on 3 separate occasions, that I figured it was worth a visit to make that review.
They are responsive, very knowledgeable, completely professional, and effective.
If you’re wondering about that last claim, given my reference to 3 separate incidents, please know the recurrence is 100% my fault, based on failure to follow Joe’s advice about remediating the habitat after removal of the animal. I guess one skunk will be attracted to another’s presence, past or current, and I have had 3 inhabitants into what is evidently the swinging bachelor pad of Contra Costa skunk dens. Once we catch this latest sunovabitch, we’re going to properly block the return of any future critters.
A worthwhile resource. Do not hesitate to contact them if you need similar help.

David from Vector control came and inspected our home after rodents chewed our car wiring causing thousands of dollars of damage.
He inspected the area for attractions and possible points they could enter our house, and told us our options to erradicate them — we did not want to poison other wild animals that prey on rats, or endanger cats etc from getting trapped. We set a rat trap in a safety box and at a location per his guidance. So far we have caught one rat and no further damage.
Excellent, friendly and professional advice. Its a pleasure to know our taxes go towards some great services.

This agency is an example of good government at work! We suspected roof rats and called CC Mosquito and Vector Control. Received a call back right away and they were out to our house within 48 hours. A knowledgeable, professional technician walked the perimeter of the house with me pointing out potential problems and suggesting what needs to be done. He put everything in writing.
We were provided with some useful educational materials about general maintenance issues we can do on a regular basis (ivy removal, tree trimming, snail baiting, etc.) to discourage these awful critters in the future.
With what he provided – at absolutely no cost to us – we are able to hire an exterminator to perform these very specific suggestions. The exterminator will charge $ 395, but we are going into it with a good idea of what needs to be done, which is empowering.

Sent a service request about a mosquito problem that my property manager at the Wood Creek Apartments would not take care of. Contra Costa Mosquito came out and inspected the nasty ponds and treated them. They also provided a ton of useful information to the property manager for us. David was great, he even gave me a follow up phone call to explain everything. Thank God for a service like this!

It all started when we were relaxing on a warm Sunday evening with a glass of wine. Suddenly dog 1 barked — but not a normal bark. Those of you with dogs would understand; barking can vary drastically. Soon our other two joined in, equally frantic. We jumped up, ran outside just in time to smell skunk. We were too stupid to prevent the dogs from running back into the house through the dog door and of course they rubbed all over everything. Several peroxide/​baking soda/​dish soap baths later, we were relaxed enough to research what to do and saw that Vector Control would, under some circumstances, actually give you a trap and would take it away when it was occupied.
«Right,» I thought cynically. «They aren’t prosecuting misdemeanors in CoCo due to lack of funds and they will pick up SKUNKS for you?»
We figured the skunk issue was a one time thing and decided to forget it. Big mistake. We were relaxing with a glass of wine the next day (maybe we should cut down on the wine) and suddenly one dog started barking frantically… you can guess the rest, except this time one dog had it cornered and got sprayed in the face. Sigh — rinse and repeat — literally.
So the next morning I called Vector control. Got a phone menu thing that hung up on me (I think), so I tried again. I said «make SURE someone calls before coming, because one (our poor rescue) is a problem dog».
No one called. Within an hour, a man was doing an inspection of the outside of our house. However, he did not come into our yard, so all was well. I wish I could remember the name of this guy. He is just wonderful. And I’m pretty sure he does not realize that we, at least, have a tremendous amount of respect for him and appreciation for what he does, although of course I did thank him. He is extremely intelligent and friendly. He did an assessment and told us he thought the skunk was living under our deck. Great.
We caught it, thanks to him. He told us where to set the trap (it is a humane trap, by the way) and what to put in it. It took a while, but we finally got it — and it was very pregnant with many little skunks. I have nothing against skunks, exactly, except for when they are spraying my dogs… So the nice man picked up the skunk for us — happy ending, right? Not so much. He told us to continue baiting the trap, because there would probably be another female around. After a month of not catching it, he took the trap back.
So last Sunday, we were sitting around at dusk, sipping a glass of wine (maybe we have a problem?) and suddenly… yep! This time the dog had it pinned on the ground and was biting it! So — full in the face.
But despite the way this sounds, it’s not about the skunks or the dogs or our wine issues… no, this is about the nameless guy who came out again to check the area, and who promised to check in with us — and kept his promise. Both my husband and I just think he is the greatest and deserves endless praise for his work, for his intelligence and for just being so damned nice.
So my apologies to him — but when I have his name, I wll do an updated post.