Squirrel Control & Removal

Squirrel Info: Squirrels are members of the rodent family. The most frequently dealt with nuisance squirrel is the Eastern Gray Squirrel. They measure around 16-18 inches from nose to tail and weigh approximately one pound. Gray squirrels are active year-round and arboreal, meaning that they live primarily in trees. They feed on a great variety of foods, such as nuts, seeds, fungi, fruits, and of course the seed in your birdfeeder. They store nuts and acorns in holes in the ground. Gray squirrels breed throughout the year, but there are two distinct peaks, in the winter and summer. After about six weeks, two to four young are born, and raised in a nest for about three months. They prefer cavities in trees (or homes), and when cavities aren’t available, they will build a nest out of leaves and twigs high in a tree.

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Nuisance concerns: Squirrels have easily adapted to humans. They frequently use buildings as nesting areas. Squirrels love to stay in an attic or soffit. They often find a small opening and will chew a wider hole to gain access to the building. They bring nesting material into the home, and make quite a bit of noise scurrying around and caching nuts. They often fall down the chimney flue and make a lot of noise or enter the fireplace. Sometimes they fall down a wall from the attic and get stuck. They often chew their way into commercial buildings or apartments. They often enter the attic through the gable vent. Squirrels can cause a fire hazard in homes by bringing in nesting material, and by chewing on power lines. Squirrels can leave behind a lot of droppings and urine in the attic. The droppings not only smell bad, but they pose a biohazard, and the smell attracts new squirrels. I highly recommend attic decontamination services if you've had squirrels living in your attic.

How to Get rid of them: The primary approaches are trapping, prevention, exclusion, or repellents.

Trapping: Squirrels can be trapped in small-size steel cages, and then safely relocated. It's important to use a small trap, because a large trap will allow the squirrel to run around and bang against the walls of the trap and become injured. Plus, large traps tend to have very high pan tension that small squirrels can't trip. The cage should be sturdy, and it's important to set it in the shade - squirrels can die very easily from heat exhaustion. Of course, you don't want to trap every last squirrel in the neighborhood. The truth is that trapping alone isn't an effective solution. New squirrels will replace the removed ones. Plus, please be wary of catching a momma squirrel - she may have helpless baby squirrels in your attic, even if you don't know it.

Prevention: It may be very hard to prevent a squirrel from stealing the bird seed but you can prevent them from chewing on your house with habanero sauce or Ropel spray. But if your problem is squirrels in the attic or eaves, then the best prevention is to find and seal shut all open areas into your house. The same goes for your chimney. When I do a squirrel removal job, I make sure to squirrel-proof the entire house, and seal shut all open entryways. It has to be done with steel, so that the squirrels can't chew through.

Exclusion: This is how I do most of my squirrel removal work. I identify and seal shut every last opening into the house. Then I install special one-way exclusion devices on the primary entry and exit hole into the house. Squirrels have to leave the attic to get food and water, and when they do, they are excluded. This type of job has to be done properly - no baby squirrels stuck inside (experience with time of year considerations and nesting sign is very important) and chewable areas must be addressed, if the excluded squirrel is determined to chew its way back in. Exclusion is not always the best option, but it works very well in many cases, and it's easiest on the animals.

Wondering how to get rid of squirrels? There is no magic spray or device that you can use to make them go away. Some people try to sell predator urine, such as coyote or fox urine to get rid of squirrels, but that doesn't work. They also try to sell ultrasonic sound emitters. These devices are worthless at eliminating squirrels. Some old wives' tales recommend the use of mothballs or ammonia-soaked rags to make them leave, but I've been to countless homes where these techniques failed - biologists know that these attempts won't work. The ONE AND ONLY WAY to take care of your problem is with trapping and removal of the animals. If you need to find a professional trapper in your hometown, just click our comprehensive list of hundreds of wildlife removal professionals, and you can have your problem quickly taken care of!