Your chimney is a hollow tree with a view
To wildlife, an uncapped chimney is perfect: dark, sheltered, warm, and high off the ground away from predators. Every spring, mother raccoons raise kits in Orlando chimneys. Chimney swifts nest inside them all summer. Bats roost in the gaps around flashing. If you're hearing scratching, chirping, or fluttering from the fireplace, something has moved into the flue.
Each tenant gets its own approach
Raccoons — usually a mother with babies in spring. We handle the family together and time it so nobody gets separated. Chimney swifts — protected; an active nest means waiting until the young fledge, then capping. Bats — exclusion devices and maternity-season timing, same as attic bats. The first step is always identification, because the wrong method for the species creates a worse problem.
What never works: fire
Lighting a fire to "smoke them out" kills animals inside the flue (especially babies), bakes the smell into the chimney permanently, and risks a chimney fire from built-up nesting material. It's inhumane, ineffective, and dangerous. Don't do it.
The cap: the actual solution
Removal without a cap is a temporary eviction — the chimney stays open and the next animal moves in. A proper wildlife-proof chimney cap ends the cycle permanently: keeps animals out while letting smoke and gases vent normally. It's a one-time purchase that's cheaper than a single repeat removal. Read what's likely in your chimney.
Send the form — tell us what you're hearing.