Squirrel best ways to remove

Firstly, am not sure if this is a right topic as everything is related to critter caring.

We have an accessible attic and somewhere between that, roof is a nice family of squirrels every year. We have had multiple critter and animal control folks come by and they cannot spot it. One of them ran into our house and we got the entry sealed but they must have found another entrance. It might be on the roof inaccessible from the house, anyway does anyone have a similar experience? Everyone tells us its just a nuisance and they dont do damage, just difficult to hear all those grinding noises and not be alarmed. Any practical advice be great.

I had squirrels in my attic at a place I lived in 15 years ago, and I tried a few things like fox or coyote urine hoping they would vacate and find a new home, but it didn't work. What did work is a live trap baited with peanut butter, then I drove said squirrels 15 miles away to my dads place and released them in the woods behind his house.

I don't want to alarm you, but squirrels have been known to chew on electrical wires and start fires. The live trap will work, one squirrel at a time, and take them far far away. I found walking around in the attic with the lights off on a sunny day is a good way to find the spot where they are entering the attic, and seal up their entrance.

Be sure if you live trap to check the trap carefully every day.  My dad live trapped a Ringtail and though he glanced at the trap every day, he failed to see the Ringtail crouched low in the trap and the poor little critter died of dehydration.

Hello!

As cute as squirrels are, they can be very distructive. That grinding sound, is them chewing up the wood in your house. They will chew the rafters, the roof joists, floor joists, sheeting, siding, the insulation, wiring and pretty much everything. Besides destroying gardens, neighborhood squirrels have even chewed up the wiring in vehicles. Which was quite surprising to see the amount of damage and cost from one squirrel. They are rodents, and rodents have to chew. Often squirrels in residential areas aren't even native species, but rater invasive species transported to a new area for hunting purposes, before laws were created to stop the spread of invasive species. The native squirrels to an area, are often out compeated and displaced by the larger invasive squirrels, and sometimes even the hybrids created from interbreding. Without natural preditors in those residential areas to maintain natural ballence, the squirrels breed out of control, and become a vector for disease. As previously mentioned in the prior post, a live trap with peanut butter will definitely work. Personally if squirrels were a constant destructive issue, which in some areas they are. A pet ferret may be a consideration, if you have weasel proof poultry and rabbit housing. In fact, if you have preditor proof housing, a reintroduction of appropriate preditor species, like small Martins and weasels, may be a more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution.

Best of luck!

Squirrels have large gnawing incisors that grow throughout life, so they must have something to gnaw on.

Even though we don't have many they like to gnaw on the deer heads that the hunters put in our trees.

James Freyr wrote:I had squirrels in my attic at a place I lived in 15 years ago, and I tried a few things like fox or coyote urine hoping they would vacate and find a new home, but it didn't work. What did work is a live trap baited with peanut butter, then I drove said squirrels 15 miles away to my dads place and released them in the woods behind his house.

I don't want to alarm you, but squirrels have been known to chew on electrical wires and start fires. The live trap will work, one squirrel at a time, and take them far far away. I found walking around in the attic with the lights off on a sunny day is a good way to find the spot where they are entering the attic, and seal up their entrance.

Thanks much, a live bait trap set has not found any luck for many weeks.

Hello again!

If a properly baited live trap with good peanut butter hasn't worked, you need to trouble shoot why. Remember peanut butter is important, and bait placement is important too. But you'll still need to ask why?

1. Is the bait being removed, but the trap not sprung? = Trigger is to heavy, or improper bait placement

2. Are the squirrels avoiding the trap all together? = Something about the trap makes them nervous, like the traps smells, maybe the trap style, or even location. It could also mean they don't like the bait. The other option is, you have trap smart squirrels. Once they've been trapped, they learn not to enter. Not to raise suspicions; however, is there a neighbor, child or anyone who likes squirrels enough to free them if unsupervised? You'd be surprised what happens to fuzzy cute creatures, when the big mean trapper isn't there to see...

About scents, If the trap had previously caught a critter, which has a scent the squirrels fear, or even has scents from being stored where people keep animals like cats. The squirrels wont want to enter the trap. If the trap has only one trap door, verses two opposing trap doors, the confined space may cause them to feel boxed in, and not want to enter. Remember squirrels are rodents, and rodents can be very nervous about some things.

If none of those things help solve your problem, send me a PM, and we can discuss the situation more spacifically to find solutions.

Squirrels are one of the easiest critters to catch because they are so curious.  I use whatever nuts I have available as bait --- peanuts or almonds usually.  

I'll just dunk the whole box trap into the pool and they are goners within 10 seconds or so.  Then bury them about 16 inches below ground or so and plant a tomato on top of them.  The problem becomes the solution.

There are always a dozen more where that one came from.

Here is an update to our situation. After spotting a squirrel in the accesible attic, I called in animal experts.  They set multiple traps on the roof and deck, after 10 days we had a haul of 5 juves and 1 mamma squirrel. For almost months, I had set traps in the attic but caught none .. I now why, the experts kept the trap open for many days putting lots of peanuts. After that, all squirrels got trapped.

Now the repairs start tomorrow as they have made multiple holes having entered at the chimney/roof thanks to some fierce storms vacating the siding. All for a grand total of 600$, boy we now positively hate them now...

eat them . member sq unlimited

Here is an update after 6 months. We had critter control people set traps on the roof, in the attic - sure enough they caught a bunch of baby squirrels and a fat mommy. While they informed me they will leave them to the woods far away, something about the interaction gave me a feeling they will be terminated.

We had a roof expert come and fill any holes/gaps3 months back but now, yes now.. there are new squirrels up there. How they got in and what the roof guys did not fix, am not sure.

I have given up and am not gong to fight this battle with nature's creations..

If you aren't going to continue the squirrel war, you had better move. Once they have found a nesting spot, the population can get truly insane. Raccoons will enlarge their holes and do the same, everything wants a nice dry spot.

The urine and feces from these guys is no joke, and eventually you will get bats as well, and the ammonia can get quite toxic along with fungal and mold spores. There is a reason this is not just a nuisance. This can lead to the house being effectively condemned.

I would check your fascia boards and soffits, they often find a place to push up the soffits if they are not secured. I ran a ladder around the whole house and found the spots. Then I reinforced with hardware wire thick enough they couldn't chew through easily. There were unfortunately some in the house at the time, and they died in the attic and reeked for a month. But then no more squirrel noises. I never had success with traps, because before long another squirrel will find the weakness. Our new house there are no squirrel-friendly trees for 40 yards, and this helps greatly. They like conifers and any nut trees. I have been planting honeylocust near the house, which they eat from but don't seem to like to nest in or spend as much time. Black locust is similar, they do greedily eat the beans. In this climate it is hard to find a species they don't thrive around because they are the main forest planter.

Find the spots and cover them with hardware cloth. I know it’s hard, but you have to find them. Rodents will destroy your house. They will destroy your automobiles. They could even cause a fire. You cannot allow squirrels to live in your attic. It’s unhealthy; It’s dangerous; it’s unnatural for the squirrels, if that matters to you. If you catch any, destroy them. Here it’s chipmunks. We shoot them with a .22 loaded with birdshot shells whenever we see them, but we’re way out in the forest with no neighbors. They’ve done thousands of dollars damage to our cars. You get over being sentimental after you write enough checks to the repair shops.