Wildlife Control Consultant

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life vodcast, discusses five key ideas to help you keep your vertebrate pest control business on track: They are 1. take photos, 2. client buys materials, 3. when busy raise prices, 4. use caution if you are cutting corners, and 5. prepare for downtime.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life podcast, discusses the rabies preexposure prophylaxis vaccines, Human diploid cell and chicken embryo, and the pros and cons of getting the vaccination by members of the wildlife control operator and pest management professional community

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, interviews Sheldon Dillingham, owner of Avitrol Corp. to discuss the ins and outs of Avitrol for the management of pest birds, such as pigeons, house sparrows, starlings, and blackbirds. Learn about this product and see how it might fit in your bird damage management program.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, interviews Sheldon Dillingham, owner of Avitrol Corp. to discuss the ins and outs of Avitrol for the management of pest birds, such as pigeons, house sparrows, starlings, and blackbirds. Learn about this product and see how it might fit in your bird damage management program.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, interviews Sheldon Dillingham, owner of Avitrol Corp. to discuss the ins and outs of Avitrol for the management of pest birds, such as pigeons, house sparrows, starlings, and blackbirds. Learn about this product and see how it might fit in your bird damage management program.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life podcast, interviews bait and lure developer, Dave Scifres, about testing baits, using them to attract trap shy animals, and tips for how to use his baits and lures properly. We also discuss the definition of call lure.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life podcast, discusses some wording that wildlife control operators, pest control professionals, and vertebrate pest specialists, can use to help explain the control options to their customers. Stephen draws from and article by Dr. Dana Sanchez and suggests that her wording can be useful in simplifying control information without being simplistic.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, discusses several intellectual and interpretive biases that interfere, color and distort our understanding of reality and cost us money, time, and personal growth. He also provides some tips on how to overcome these biases.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life podcast, discusses the research by NOLAN, S. P. 2018. Impacts of two temporal rotations from a nontoxic bait to a cholecalciferol rodenticide on wild house mouse Mus musculus L. consumption, bait station interaction, and movements, where he discusses how mice engage bait stations with Detex, Terad3, and no bait at all.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, discusses the research by Nolan, S.P. 2018 Ph.D. thesis, "Impacts of two temporal rotations from a nontoxic bait to a cholecalciferol rodenticide on wild house mouse Mus musculus L. consumption, bait station interaction, and movements." He used Liphatech's Aegis RP bait stations, and Bell Laboratories' Detex and Terad3 baits to manage house mice in an agricultural seed warehouse.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, discusses contraception for pigeons with Erick Wolf, CEO of Innolytics, LLC. OvoControl uses nicarbazin that when fed to pigeons prevents eggs from hatching. The interview does a deep dive on the product and provides tips on when and how to use it.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, discusses iguana trapping with Pierce Kennamer, the creator and inventor of the IggyTrap (Iggytrap.com). We discuss baiting, sets, damage to property and the environment, dispatch, and exclusion with a humane touch.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life podcast, interviews Mark Prusaitis owner and Lead Trainer of Get Bent Academy. Mark discusses his metal bending training academy available to those who wish to learn how to make repairs with metal but look professional and invisible to the clients. Markalso discusses his one-way doors used to exclude wildlife from structures.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, interviews Pest Geek Podcast founder Franklin Hernandez about growing your pest control business and the challenges of SEO, marketing, and sales. This is part 1 of a 3 part interview.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, interviews Pest Geek Podcast founder Franklin Hernandez about growing your pest control business and the challenges of SEO, marketing, and sales. This is part 3 of a 3 part interview.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, interviews Pest Geek Podcast founder Franklin Hernandez about growing your pest control business and the challenges of SEO, marketing, and sales. This is part 2 of a 3 part interview.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, discusses the three different kinds of pricing models, per visit, per animal, and flat rate that wildlife control professionals use for their businesses. Stephen explains the pros and cons of each along with how to calculate a flat rate price.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life podcast, discusses Pawlina, Iwona M., and Gilbert Proulx. “Factors Affective Trap Efficiency: A Review,”95–115. Sherwood Park, AB Canada: Alpha Wildlife Research & Management Ltd., 1999. This chapter reviews factors and conditions that can impact the capture rate of a trapping program.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, reviews the November 2023 proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency to protect endangered and threatened species from the negative effects of rodenticides. Stephen surveys the impact these proposed changes will have on rodent control, pest control, wildlife control and wildlife.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, discusses the second generation anticoagulant rodenticide brodifacoum. This is part two of a two part series doing a deep dive on the technical aspects of the highly toxic rodenticide.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, discusses technical information about the rodenticide active ingredient, brodifacoum. In this part 1 presentation, Stephen reviews the history, type and LD50 of brodifacoum on roof rats, brown rats, house mice, and Peromyscus maniculatus, deer mice. The presentation is designed to help pest control operators, wildlife control professionals, to understand rodenticides used to control commensals better.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, gives five different tactics to catch animals that are afraid of and/or avoiding entering your traps. The techniques are easily applied but aren't always thought of. Information can help homeowners, pest control professionals, wildlife professionals improve their capture efficiency.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, discusses an article that lists the running speeds of various small mammals ranging from house mice to voles to shrews. This information helps wildlife control operators and pest management professionals understand animal abilities and behavior.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life, reviews an article by Ruzicka, R. E., & Conover, M. R. 2011. Influence of wind and humidity on foraging behavior of olfactory mesopredators. Canadian Field Naturalist 125(2):132-139. This research shows that predators are more active during certain wind speeds because the wind makes it easier for them to smell their prey. Stephen discusses how this research should affect wildlife control operators and pest management professionals use of bait and lure to trap raccoons, skunks, and red foxes.

Stephen M. Vantassel, host of Living the Wild Life podcast, discusses research by Jorgensen, E. E., Demaris, S., & Whitworth, W. R. 1994. The effect of box-trap design on rodent captures. The Southwestern Naturalist 39(3):291-294. He relates these findings with how wildlife control operators and pest control professionals should also consider the effect that trap style has on wildlife captures.