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Squirrel Removal

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A squirrel in your home should not be ignored. While cute, these critters can create significant damage inside and outside your home. They will use available materials like insulation to create nests, bring in nuts and seeds, and harbor ectoparasites like fleas or diseases like leptospirosis. Our wildlife professionals are knowledgeable in handling each type of squirrel; however, flying squirrels and tree squirrels will use your home as shelter, making them capable of causing more damage than ground squirrels.

How Critter Control Get Rid of Squirrels

Critter Control specializes in squirrel removal, trapping and control. In order to remove a squirrel or family of squirrels on your property, our wildlife specialist will perform a thorough inspection to determine the severity of the problem. After the inspection, they will build a custom solution to trap, remove, and seal all entry points. Our specialist will also repair damage caused by the squirrel and apply a sanitization and ectoparasite agent to clean up after the rodents. They will also provide warranty options as well as an estimate for preventative services.

Home Inspection for Squirrels

Our inspector will look for signs such as chewing on, in, or around your home, small openings leading to the attic or the crawl space, droppings, and debris like nuts or nesting material. Squirrels will use eaves, soffits, vents, or chimneys to gain access to your home.

Squirrel Trapping

When performing squirrel removal, our wildlife professional will determine the most effective and humane way to remove the squirrel(s) from your property. The most common methods used are:

  • squirrel trapping
  • ​one-way doors
  • deterrents
  • direct capture

We do not directly capture adult squirrels as they move too quickly and fit in very small spaces.  If juveniles are found in an attic, they will be hand removed and relocated with their mom. If the mom is not in sight and the young cannot survive on their own, our wildlife specialists will seek help from a local wildlife rehabilitation center.

Squirrel Exclusion for Pest Control

Home exclusion is the most effective method to prevent squirrels or nuisance wildlife from entering your home. It is essential to seal all current and potential entry points to prevent future squirrel infestations. In addition, we strongly recommend a maintenance service. Like other rodents, squirrels have front teeth that continuously grow, which means they can gnaw a new way back into your home.

Precautions like removing trees or tree branches on or close to your roof can help prevent squirrel problems in your home. We also urge you to refrain from using bird feeders as they are a huge attractant for squirrels and additional wildlife. After squirrel removal, we advise all our customers to remove food sources like accessible birdseed and acorns, if present, in order to maintain a squirrel-free home.

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Signs of Squirrel Infestation:

  • Hearing strange noises in the morning like scratching, running, squeaking, bark-like grunting
  • Finding physical evidence in attic like nests and dropping
  • Witnessing a squirrel on your roof

Information reviewed by Sean Carruth, VP of Communications
Source: The Handbook: Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage

 

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The best squirrel trap is to use a 5- x 5- x 18-inch (minimum) cage or box traps. Box traps are built with solid walls usually of wood, plastic, or sheet metal. Cage traps are made of wire mesh. For squirrels, use a cage trap from ½- x 1-inch mesh.

Both live traps can in either one door or two door traps. Snap traps or mouse traps glue traps will not work on most squirrels.
The best place to set these traps are near the entrances to your home or near evidence of squirrel activity. Signs of squirrels include dropping, runs or tracks in the insulation, gnaw marks, and squirrel nests. Do not rely on bait to overcome poor trap placement.

Squirrels are small, furry mammals in the rodent family known for their big, bushy tails.

The average adult squirrel may be anywhere from 12 to 25 inches (30 to 64 cm) long. As avid climbers, pest squirrels are typically muscular and have sharp claws. Their coloration varies greatly to include shades of black, gray, red, and brown. Squirrel fur is short, thick, and bushiest along the tail. The underbellies of most pest squirrels differ in color from the coats on their backs.

More information on what a squirrel looks like.

Though most squirrels orient themselves around the presence of trees, their chosen nesting sites vary from species to species. Fox squirrels, for example, prefer oak, pine, and mixed forests where the trees are widely spaced. Conversely, eastern gray squirrels live in forests where the trees allow for travel among the upper layer of leaves and branches, as they rarely move along the ground. Most species of squirrels build nests out of leaves and branches or use tree cavities as shelter.

A squirrel diet mostly comprised of nuts, seeds, flowers, herbaceous plants, and fungi, pest squirrels prefer to inhabit forested areas throughout the contiguous United States, Northeastern Mexico, and Southcentral Canada. Some species of Nearctic squirrels have also been introduced to European countries like Italy, Scotland, England, and Ireland, where they are considered invasive pests.

Squirrels are very common in residential areas and are often found in the yards and homes of humans. As overwintering pests, squirrels sometimes find their way into the attics of homes where they build nests and enjoy protection from cold weather. Yards with plenty of foliage are attractive to squirrels, who view trees as both a source of food and shelter.

Signs

Signs

As non-aggressive creatures, squirrels are capable of relatively peaceful cohabitation with humans. However, they also have the capacity for destruction. In yards, squirrels will dig up buried nuts and seeds, which leaves holes and disrupts the overall presentation, and chew the bark of ornamental trees and shrubbery. They also trample on and eat from gardens, feed on the contents of birdfeeders, and chew on birdhouses.

Inside homes, squirrels nest in attics and can chew and gnaw on wooden support beams and walls. They also endanger themselves and humans in the immediate area by chewing on electrical wires. Additionally, squirrels often travel on powerlines, which can lead to electrical shorts.

Proper exclusion is still vital after technicians remove problem squirrels. To keep new pests from taking their place, making some changes in the yard can help. Using metal collars or plastic pipes to prevent squirrels from climbing trees and buildings is one popular example. A professional wildlife control team can determine the most effective option.

Modifying homes and yards to make them less favorable to squirrels is the best form of squirrel control.

Homeowners should ensure any broken window screens and cracks leading into attics are repaired. Check chimneys as a possible point of entry, and seal them with mesh coverings.

Keep trees trimmed so that branches don’t hang over roofs and so squirrels cannot reasonably hide within the vegetation, and protect gardens with fences.

What to do if you find a dead squirrel.

As squirrels are considered game in many states, trapping the pests may require the procurement of a special permit. Furthermore, though squirrels are not known to be particularly aggressive, it is always safer to contact a trained professional rather than attempt to handle wild animals without the proper knowledge or assistance. The wildlife specialists at Critter Control are skilled at identifying the different species of squirrels and handling squirrel removal properly and humanely. Our job is to protect people, property and wildlife and in doing so, we don’t exterminate squirrels, but instead we humanely exclude or remove them from your property

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