Squirrel Overview
Squirrels can bring hours of viewing pleasure and happiness to wildlife watchers, but homeowners might feel a little differently about the fuzzy little rodents. While they can provide hours of entertainment and are fun to watch in the wild when they enter homes they can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage in just a few days. Squirrels, rats, mice, and other rodents cause billions of dollars worth of property damage every year in the United States, and the problem only increases every year.
There are several types of North American squirrels, but all of them face the destruction of their natural habitat due to construction and urban sprawl. Generation after generation of have squirrels struggled against the elements and habitat loss, causing a desperate situation. As a result, they go wherever they can find warmth, protection, and food, which isn’t easy for them to find. In many states, squirrel populations have fallen so much that they’ve become a protected and endangered species.
Squirrels are survivors. They live for 10 years in the wild and 20 years in captivity. They mate once or twice per year, depending on the type of squirrel. The number of offspring they have varies by species, but it only takes three to six weeks of gestation to produce a pair of baby twins or triplets. Babies are naturally very vulnerable, being hairless, blind, and toothless. They’re weaned by 10 weeks and mature sexually by 12 months.
The average squirrel needs to eat about a pound of food each week. They have a widely varied diet and eat just about anything they can find in nature. They like to hoard food and store it in hollow branches or in holes in the ground. They’re very good survivalists and can find food when most other species have disappeared.
Squirrels have large, wide-set eyes that give them very good vision and depth perception, which is essential for escaping predators. They have a strong sense of touch and vibrissae, allowing them to sense incoming dangers long before they arrive. Once squirrels show up, they’re very difficult to get rid of. The Eastern gray squirrel can run up to 20 miles per hour. All squirrels are quick on their feet, making them difficult to trap and remove.
Squirrels have rodent teeth, including large incisors (front teeth) that grow from birth until death. They have a set of tiny diastema, which are teeth in their cheeks near the back of their mouth that grind food. Their fuzzy tails protect them from the elements and help them maintain their body temperature, balance while jumping and landing, survive falls, parachute during a long jump, and signal to brethren in their scurry (or dray).
These animals might be small, but they’re worthy adversaries. They’re cute, small, and people like to watch them, but they can become a problem quickly. They carry diseases like the black plague, not to mention parasites. They also spread black fungus from one tree to the next, resulting in the destruction of entire forests or neighborhoods full of sick and dying trees. Aside from the spread of parasites, diseases, and fungus, they also dig up gardens and flower beds in search of food and will eat most or all of any bird food put in bird feeders within their proximity. There are literally hundreds of bird feeders designed to outwit squirrels, and almost all of them fail. They’re smart and resourceful.
If you want to get rid of squirrels near or in your home, you’ve got your work cut out for you. You’ll need to understand their habitat, habits, hunting patterns, food sources, athletic ability, intelligence, and more. They want to live in your space just as much as you do. You’re going to have a fight on your hands to get rid of them.

What Do Squirrels Eat?
What squirrels eat varies by where they live and what they have available locally. In the United States, we have red, ground, grey, fox, flying, black, striped, antelope, and Abert’s squirrels, among others. There are dozens of breeds of squirrels in the US. Squirrels live in nearly every region of North America, even the deserts and mountain ranges. They’re close cousins of chipmunks, prairie dogs, rats, and other vermin.
Squirrels love to eat a wide variety of foods, though most people think they only eat nuts. Like raccoons, squirrels will tear through open trash cans in search of food, especially during drought years when wild-sourced foods are unavailable. In moist, loose soils, squirrels will go after worms. After a hard rain when worms are crawling on the top of the soil, you’ll often see squirrels and birds fighting over nightcrawlers. The same is true for grasshoppers and other insects.
When humans are planting their gardens, squirrels are watching. They know when seeds are planted, and they wait until humans go inside before they pounce. They’ll dig up seeds at the earliest opportunity, especially if the seeds are for cucumbers or pumpkins. If the seeds survive unscathed to become seedlings, squirrels make short work of them too. It can be difficult to discern whether the damage is done by squirrels or rabbits. They both snap seedlings off at their base before eating and moving onto the next plant.
In Midwestern farm country, there are miles and miles of sunflower, pumpkin, squash, wheat, and bean fields edged with tree rows. Farmers plant these tree rows to protect their fields from damaging winds. Squirrels are opportunists and quickly make nests in these trees. As soon as farmers start planting the fields, the squirrels start eating the seeds and seedlings. Whether squirrels invade fields or dig through backyard gardens, the destruction they cause can be costly.
Urban squirrels have much broader access to different foods than rural squirrels. Fortunate city-dwellers satisfy their hunger by eating fruits from trees, flowers from flowerbeds, vegetables from trash cans or gardens, fungi like mushrooms, nuts from the trees they live in, branches from tasty trees, certain plants, insects, dog food, cat food, birdseed, and a multitude of other types of foods. Squirrels are especially attracted to people food.
Wherever a food source exists, wildlife like squirrels flourish. Forests, fields, orchards, river bottoms, and places with abundant wildlife like this are often plagued with multitudes of destructive rodents. Squirrels’ diets have undoubtedly changed in the last 150 years, as have human’s diets. Dietary changes can make a big impact on the health of any species. Obese squirrels, which were unthinkable at any other point in history, are now becoming more common in urban areas.
Animals will always follow the food, especially if humans are going to set it out for them. Since the advent of preserved, packaged convenience foods, squirrels have gained access to a vast array of foods, which they’ve learned to dig through trash to find. Any open trashcans filled with kitchen waste are like a full feeding trough for hungry wildlife. Urban squirrels are growing larger than in times gone by because they have better nutrition than ever before in history. Better access to food and more places to hide from predators and the elements means squirrels will have more babies, too. All animals make more babies when they have access to enough resources to support them.
If you want to get rid of squirrels, start by reducing their food sources. Don’t give them access to eggs, milk, cheese, nuts, bird food, pet food, or any other foods that you have the ability to restrict. Squirrels will stop having so many babies in cities if they have to spend most of their time foraging for roots, leaves, nuts, fruit, insects, and the like. If they have harder lives, they won’t breed as much.
Squirrels don’t like raw onions, garlic, hot peppers, mint, or hyper-sweet foods. If you want to deter them from digging in your garden, you can plant things they don’t like to eat and fence in the foods they do like to eat with chicken wire. You’ll have to cover the top of fenced-in gardens if you want to keep them out. Keep a dog or cat on your property to help deter rodents as well.
How Long Do Squirrels Live?
How long squirrels live depends upon their environment. Most of America has harsh winter weather and hot, humid summers with plenty of stormy skies year-round. Surviving in the American wild isn’t easy. Living in unfavorable conditions while being exposed to weather extremes without treatment for medical problems shortens all lives.
Rural squirrels typically live five to 10 years under harsh circumstances. Coyotes are a major predator of squirrels in rural areas, and in prairie states with thinner forests, there are fewer places to hide. Squirrel populations stay well under control. When squirrels live in well-protected homes, like attics, and enjoy healthy diets with plentiful food sources and few diseases, they can live up to 20 years.
Are Squirrels Rodents?
Squirrels are small mammals from the Sciuridae family. They are rodents and are close cousins to rats and mice. Squirrels are more visually appealing than most rodents, and many of them who live in cities or popular national parks will come without close proximity of humans without fear. People tend to be charmed by their big eyes and bushy tails, and end up feeding them, resulting in human-reliant squirrel populations.
Some types of squirrels were once popular pets in the US, like flying and red squirrels. Some types of squirrels are now protected under wildlife conservation and exotic pet laws, making it illegal to keep them as pets. Though they’re cute, squirrels are wild animals and they’ve been known to attack humans when they feel threatened. If you see a squirrel, don’t feed it and don’t pick it up. Check with local wildlife laws before proceeding with trapping and removal efforts.
Where Do Squirrels Live?
Where squirrels live depends upon the type of squirrel. Ground squirrels live a lot like gophers, making tunnels and burrows underground to store food and find refuge. Once they establish themselves, ground squirrels can spread and create a huge and complex network in a very short time. They’re very social animals and behave a lot like groundhogs.
Ground squirrels in harsh climates will almost always hibernate through winter. Hibernation means that they slow their metabolism and spend a lot of their time sleeping through the coldest months. While they might spend most of their time sleeping, they will surface from time to time on nice days. Like all other squirrels, ground squirrels store food for winter. They have an intricate system of tunnels and underground chambers where they keep their young and store food. Heavy rain and predators are their biggest enemies.
Tree squirrels, which make up the vast majority of squirrels in the US, live in nests and hollow tree branches. Unlike ground squirrels, tree squirrels are more solitary than social. They keep their young in their nests until they can survive on their own, and then kick them out. They’re mammals. Younglings go on to hunt for their own food and make nests of their own. Tree squirrels are incredibly nimble and quick. They can escape prey by running from treetop to treetop with great speed and agility.
Flying squirrels are a lot like tree squirrels in that they make nests in trees. However, they have webbing stretching from their arms to their feet, making them incredibly aerodynamic. They can glide through the air up to 160 feet starting from a stand-still. It’s incredibly difficult to catch flying squirrels on a windy day. They have few predators and are often sold as pets where it’s legally permissible.
While tree and flying squirrels typically make their nests in trees, they haven’t survived unaffected by modernization and housing developments. They’ve lived through the harshest climates and most difficult circumstances to make it to modern times. Human’s attics offer vastly superior living situations for squirrels than nests that they make in trees. Given the opportunity, squirrels will choose a comfortable, safe attic over a tree. Any animal would.
If they set up shop in your attic, chances are they’ll sneak into your kitchen to steal food when you aren’t around to catch them at it. However, some squirrels aren’t so bold, so they’ll stick to storing food in your attic and walls that they source on their own. Squirrels are typically looking for somewhere safe and comfortable where they can make a family. Given the opportunity, they’ll fill your attic with babies.
Most Common Types of Squirrels
Eastern Gray Squirrel – Sciurus carolinesis has mostly gray fur with a slight brown undertone. It’s white underbelly helps differentiate it from a fox squirrel. In urban areas where predation is less of a problem, gray squirrels are known to have white and black melanin mutations. Gray squirrels with the black or white fur mutations are more cold tolerant and have a slower basal metabolic rate, meaning it needs less food to survive. These squirrels are found in the Eastern half of the United States and Canada. Their lifespan is up to 12 years in the wild and 20 in captivity.
Ground Squirrels – Spermophilus tridecemlineatus, Spermophilus franklinii, and other types of ground squirrels are characterized by their furry tail, striped fur, large eyes, small ears, and internal cheek pouches. They typically weigh eight to nine ounces when they go into hibernation and four to five ounces when they emerge in spring. Ground squirrels are a threatened species in some states and are protected by law. Different breeds of ground squirrels are found throughout the US and make their burrows in areas that aren’t likely to flood. They live three to four years.
American Red Squirrel – Tamiasciurus hudsonicus is a species of tree squirrel in the Tamiasciurus genus. They’re also known as pine squirrels and chickarees. They have a soft white underbelly, much like Eastern Gray Squirrels. Their eyes are lined in stark white, and their fluffy tails are red and black with beige undertones. The rest of their body is primarily a beige and gray color with streaks of red. Their appearance is rather striking, and at one time these squirrels were hunted for their furs. Their range is broad throughout North America, including Canada, Alaska, the Cascade Mountains, the Rocky Mountain states, and the Northern half of the Eastern half of the United States. Only 22% of red squirrels survive the first year of life. Their maximum lifespan is about eight years.
Fox Squirrel – Sciurus niger, also known as the eastern fox squirrel, are often confused for red and eastern gray squirrels because their appearance is so similar. These squirrels have orangish-red fluffy tails with gray tips. Their tiny ears have tufts of red fur sticking out above large, beige-rimmed black eyes. The red color follows the border of their beigy-white underbellies. Their bodies are a beautiful gray color that American trappers once sold for making coats, earmuffs, and other warm winter gear. Fox squirrels are rather large in comparison to other squirrels, and their length is up to 30 inches from tip to tail. They can weigh up to two and a half pounds. Their range covers most of the Eastern United States and the prairie provinces of Canada, the Northern Midwestern States, Colorado, Texas, and the Western Pacific States. They tend to be smaller in the Western US. Most fox squirrels die before reaching maturity. Their maximum lifespan is nearly 13 years in the wild, but when kept as pets they can live over 18 years.
Southern Flying Squirrel – Glaucomys Volans is one of the three types of flying squirrels in the United States. These tiny squirrels live in the forests of the Eastern half of the US from Florida into Canada, and even have populations living in Mexico and Central America. Southern flying squirrels have grayish brown fur on their tops and soft, white, nearly hairless underbellies and wing membranes. Their bodies’ length can extend up to 10 inches with tails that are up to almost five inches long. These squirrels are often kept as pets, and they can live in captivity for up to 10 years. Their lifespan is about half of that in the wild. These are very versatile, adaptable, tough animals.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels
It’s not easy to get rid of squirrels. They’ve lived for generation after generation, surviving harsh conditions, predation, and very high youth mortality rates that humans don’t have to face. If a squirrel lives to infest your property, it’s because smart enough to recognize luxury and take advantage of it. They’ve spent their lives learning how to outwit predators just like you, so getting rid of squirrels on your property or in your home won’t be easy. It’s possible to eliminate squirrel populations on private property with the right tools, like squirrel repellant and deterrent, traps, bait, habitat, and food source elimination. How you approach getting rid of squirrels depends upon where they are, the type of squirrel, the number of squirrels, and more.
Squirrel Repellent & Deterrent
Squirrels are masters at finding weaknesses in roofs, under solar panels, and in the siding where they can chew away materials and weasel their way inside. Once they get inside, they will chew on wires, stored items, wood, plastic, and insulation, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage and electric issues that could cause a house fire. They can drag food into your attic and store it in insulation, where it will rot. It isn’t safe or sanitary to have squirrels living in your attic.
Squirrel repellent is one of the kindest ways to get rid of squirrels. The concept behind squirrel repellant is to make the home of squirrels so unpleasant that they can’t stand to live there anymore. Repellants are a good first step to drive out squirrels, and if you’re lucky it’ll be the only step you need.
Repellants can be store-bought, or you can make homemade squirrel repellant. If you want to use scent to deter squirrels, naphthalene (the active ingredient in mothballs and many other repellants) is a great natural squirrel repellant that doesn’t cause injuries. It’s the same smell that’s present in cigarette smoke. You mix naphthalene in your squirrel repellant spray with hot pepper, frankincense, and citric acid, or you can use other noxious scents strong enough to linger for several weeks.
Many homeowners struggling with squirrels in their attic want to know if mothballs keep squirrels away. The truth is, if you have squirrels in your attic, mothballs in high enough concentrations will sometimes work. Use mothballs and squirrels in the attic should vacate within a few days. If that doesn’t work, you might have to learn how to deter squirrels using a combination of methods to evict them.
The best squirrel repellant is the one that works, and sometimes that means not being so kind to these destructive animals. An electric squirrel repellent will give the creature a hard jolt. Squirrels will remember that jolt every time they return to that spot. If experienced enough times, squirrels will stop returning to that area and find a new home somewhere more appropriate.
When it comes to squirrel repellent, pests in attic areas might require something stronger, especially if there’s a family of squirrels with babies living in their attic nest. Ultrasonic squirrel repellant devices might be a better option for these cases. Ultrasonic repellants work a lot like deer or dog whistles. Humans can’t hear the frequency emitted by these devices, but squirrels most certainly can hear and hate ultrasonic noise. These devices work for other pests, and they’re easy to use. You just plug them into an outlet near the area where squirrels have a nest, set it, and forget it.
Natural squirrel repellants can work for gardens, too. You just need to have a source of electricity for an ultrasonic repellant. If electricity isn’t available, mothballs that work for attic areas should work nearly as well for gardens. However, you might need to use a higher concentration of mothballs because gardens are open-air, reducing the effectiveness and concentration of naphthalene in the air. Learning how to deter squirrels from gardens can be rather difficult and frustrating, but efforts aren’t in vain. In the toughest cases, erecting some type of protective barrier over and around the garden might be more effective than a repellant.
Squirrel Traps
Squirrels are attracted to man-made objects within proximity of wherever they make their nest. The covering used to insulate wires is made from a substance extracted from soybeans. Squirrels can smell that substance and they eat it like any other food. They don’t understand how much destruction they’re causing, but they can cause tens of thousands of dollars of damage to electric wires running through attics in just a few short days. It pays to get squirrels out of attics before they can cause this damage. When mothballs don’t work to drive squirrels from your attic, the next step is to use a squirrel trap.
You can find a squirrel trap at Home Depot. There are several types of squirrel traps, including ones that use lethal and non-lethal force. There are single and multiple-animal traps available at most major farm supply or hardware stores. Non-lethal squirrel traps allow you to trap squirrels in attic areas while you’re not around. These traps are typically wire cages or Sherman traps. Wire cages are, as you might guess, made from wire all the way around. Sherman traps have solid metal sides, tops, and bottoms.
Sherman traps are probably the best squirrel trap because they keep the squirrels alive and safe. Humans can safely pick up the traps without terrified squirrels trying to bite fingers through their wire cages. However, wire cages are more cost-effective and can still get the job done, especially if they’re used as exclusion traps. If you’re trapping squirrels in attic spaces, you need to know how many animals are present.
You’ll want to use a trap large enough to catch all the animals in the attic at once. Trapping one animal and not the others is a less than ideal approach because squirrels learn very quickly what the traps are and will avoid them if they think they’re about to be caught. You’ve got to approach Operation Squirrel Trap like you’ve got one shot to get it right.
When you’re learning how to trap squirrels in the house, you need to first close off any areas where squirrels can travel in or out. Look under the eves of your home and close off any open holes with wire mesh, expanding foam, caulk, or a variety of other construction materials. Don’t give the squirrels an escape route. If you don’t know how to do these repairs on our home, hire a contractor and exterminator to provide full wildlife exclusion on your home.
There are many small animal traps on the market today, but some people just want to use a homemade squirrel trap. There is a multitude of videos on YouTube about how to trap a squirrel and the best squirrel trap you can make at home. You can learn how to make a squirrel trap in a few short hours.
When making a homemade squirrel trap, be sure that squirrels can’t chew through it, bend it, unlatch the door, or escape in some other fashion. Squirrels are very smart and resourceful, but squirrel traps on the market today have been designed using knowledge gathered over many years of study and trial and error. It’s not impossible to make a homemade squirrel trap, but you’ll have to be rather inventive and creative to make something that’s truly effective and escape-proof.
You can trap squirrels with lethal squirrel traps as well. Spring traps are highly effective. They look like miniature bear traps and work the same way. They can be set directly in a squirrel’s nest, beside it, or somewhere near or directly in their point of entry. They can be scented or baited for quick results. These traps make short work of learning how to trap squirrels in attic spaces. However, they’re dangerous to use. Keep children away from these traps, as they can cause serious injuries.
Squirrel Bait
Squirrel bait can be lethal and non-lethal. While selecting the best squirrel trap bait for your situation, you have to remember what they like to eat. Ground squirrels, which commonly infest gardens and yards, love to eat nuts, grain, seeds, corn, wheat, frogs, worms, insects, eggs, fungi, and other raw whole foods.
Ground squirrels love to make their homes in large, grassy fields and gardens that have plenty of unencumbered space to spread and multiply. They burrow under your garden beds and eat plants from the roots up. They’ll kill everything from vegetables to trees, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Grounds squirrels can even burrow under buildings and can cause structural damage to foundations that costs tens of thousands of dollars to fix and put properties and people in danger if left unmitigated.
Squirrel bait poison is made from chemicals called rodenticides. It kills everything from rats and squirrels to woodchucks. These chemicals are toxic for pets, children, and other small animals, so be sure that you keep poison for squirrels out of reach of children.
There are squirrel bait stations loaded with rodent poison available at most hardware stores. Squirrel trap bait is usually a very effective and fast solution to get rid of families of ground squirrels. They take the bait back to their underground chambers where they feed it to their young. Ground squirrel bait is inexpensive and easy to use.
The best squirrel bait during summer and fall is poisoned grain. Corn, wheat, rye, barley, and other grains ripen from early summer to late fall, so these foods suddenly appearing near a squirrel’s home won’t seem out of place. You can watch videos on YouTube that will teach you how to bait a squirrel or read the bait station’s accompanying instruction manual for more information.
The bait for a ground squirrel is identical to bait for squirrels in attic areas, however, the approach and process are a little different. Tree squirrels are a lot smarter and faster than ground squirrels. They’re used to humans’ tricks and ousting them from their homes won’t be as easy. Bait stations need to look like part of the natural landscape of the attic.
Learning how to get rid of squirrels in attics using poison may take some trial and error. However, squirrels that are trapped in attics because their entry points are closed will get hungry enough to eat the bait within a few days. If you don’t close off their entry and exit points, getting them to take the bait could be a struggle. They need to eat what they have available, and if all of their other food sources are gone, they’ll naturally be drawn to the only available food. After you set out a bait station, you’ll need to check the attic daily. Remove any squirrel carcasses as soon as possible, but don’t disturb the bait station if the squirrels haven’t taken the bait yet.
If you’re trying to figure out how to get rid of squirrels in an attic, poison is a good option. Squirrel poison in an attic can come with dangers and extra work, but it’s usually quite effective. Just remember that with the convenience of poison comes the added duty of removing squirrel carcasses after they’re poisoned.
If using poison for squirrel traps seems cruel and unnecessary to you, know that there are other options. Non-lethal bait for squirrels is useful when you have live traps at your disposal. You simply put the foods inside that they like, such as peanut butter and crackers, grapes, or bacon in the back of the trap and wait until it works. They’ll walk into the trap to reach the food, making it easy to remove and relocate the squirrels. By using this method, you can avoid putting squirrel poison in your attic. However, squirrels are a real danger for homeowners, and it’s legally and ethically permissible to use whatever means necessary to protect your property from squirrels.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels in House
If there’s a squirrel in your house and it hasn’t made a nest yet, you have several options to get rid of it. Of course, humane options should be tried first. Squirrels are much more afraid of you than you are of them. They love to build nests in safe spaces indoors, but not if they’re occupied by humans. Once the squirrel sees that this is your space and it’s already occupied, they should try to make a clean escape.
If they see a human, they’re most likely going to panic and run. Getting a panicked squirrel out of your house could be difficult, so don’t chase it, throw things at it, or otherwise terrorize it. Get all pets out of the room and away from the squirrel. Close all of the doors that are opened to the rest of the house and open all doors and windows to give them plenty of escape routes. Make sure it can see a clear path out. Don’t give the squirrel a path out of the house that doesn’t have grass or trees to climb into. Don’t chase squirrels out of windows high above the ground unless they have a tree that’s within easy reach to climb onto.
Stand away from doorways and open windows. Try to position yourself between the squirrel and its path to freedom. If you have other people around to sort of act like wingmen to corral the squirrel out to safety. If giving the squirrel a clear path to freedom doesn’t work, it might be too paralyzed by fear to do much of anything but hide. At this point, you’re going to have to figure out how to catch rather than heard the squirrel in your house.
You can remove squirrels from your house by trapping them. Again, always try to use humane traps whenever possible. You can remove squirrels from your house without killing them. Bait a live trap. You can do this by cutting up little pieces of fruit or vegetables, peanut butter, bread or crackers, corn on the cob, or lunch meat and putting it in a container that takes a little bit of focus and effort for them to get open. This will distract them long enough for the door to close, effectively trapping them inside.
Once the squirrel is trapped in the live trap, you’re going to want to give them a few hours to calm down. You can cover the cage in a blanket and leave the room so it can calm down and figure out that you aren’t trying to eat it. Take the trap outside to a location where the squirrel can be safely released, preferably far away from your home.
To release the squirrel from its trap, tie a string to the door so you aren’t too close when the cage opens. Stand back and pull the string, giving the squirrel enough room to understand that you won’t hurt it. Give it an opportunity to walk out of the trap of its own volition. If they don’t want to come out, you can tip the trap so they have no choice but to fall out.
Alternatively, you can put on a pair of gloves and grab a towel. Double it over a few times to create a thick, protective pad, and wrap the squirrel in it. Gently, slowly pick it up and carry it to a good release point. Don’t squeeze it too hard, but also don’t let it wiggle away. Using smooth movements, set it down in a safe place. Back away slowly and watch to make sure it runs away before leaving.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels in Attic
Once squirrels build a nest in your attic, it’s going to be difficult to get rid of them. Squirrels have survived for thousands of years in some of the harshest conditions imaginable. They like to be protected from the elements just as much as humans do. So, when they find a place to live that’s out of the elements and away from predators, they’re going to dig in and build their home there. Once they’re established, they feel like it’s their home. They’ll defend it in the same way you’re defending your home from them.
Don’t approach an attic nest full of squirrels, especially if they have babies. They’re wild animals that will attack when they feel threatened. They can carry everything from rabies and respiratory viruses to the plague. Every year there are a few people in forested states who come into contact with an infected squirrel and contract the plague. It’s a real danger, and the disease is quite serious and quite contagious. It’s best to take a hands-off approach and let professionals handle the job. However, if you must proceed on your own remember that you shouldn’t touch the squirrels in the attic with bare hands. Shower after coming into contact with any areas where squirrels have invaded before you go around other people.
To get rid of squirrels in your attic, your first line of defense is to humanely lure them out or drive them away. Squirrels love food. It rules their lives. It’s the number one tool in your tool kit. Try to lure the squirrel out of its home. This is the easiest, fastest, and most cost-effective means to get the squirrel out of your attic. Luring a squirrel with food is easy. Just set out a full bird feeder and wait nearby for the squirrel to notice. It’ll come out to eat and steal food to stash every few minutes until it’s totally gone.
As soon as they leave the nest, you can go into the attic and get to work cleaning out the nest, blocking access points, and repairing the damage they’ve done. Make yourself known and return to the attic frequently for several weeks to see if there are any signs of returning squirrels. It can be hard to find all of their entry points. Sometimes, when a squirrel has been lured out and their access points are close off, they won’t come back. Other times, they’ll try to get back in by creating new access points. You have to keep checking to see if they’ve come back. This could be an ongoing battle for months or years.
Making yourself seen in a squirrel’s safe space makes them fearful and insecure. If you have squirrels that persist in coming back, make yourself seen and heard frequently. Make sure they know you’re a predator. This is most effective when battling very wild squirrels, and it’s less useful when the squirrels are used to humans.
Squirrels that have peacefully eaten bird food while sitting a few feet from you on your patio aren’t going to be scared by the sight of you in your attic. If they’re used to humans, luring the squirrels out and removing their nest will only work for a short time before they return. You must take advantage of the time you have between luring them out and closing off their thoroughfares. You have to be ready to act with a ladder and all the supplies to help close up holes quickly. Use metal to close holes whenever possible because the squirrels will try to remove it or chew through it.
If your initial eviction campaign doesn’t work, you can proceed by trying to drive them out. This isn’t going to be easy. You have to be so obnoxious and annoying that they simply can’t stand to stay there. Get them to leave out of their access point voluntarily by making staying more uncomfortable than leaving.
Put a strobe light in the attic and keep it flashing day and night. Flashing lights are very disruptive and annoying. It’s hard to ignore a strobe light flashing day and night. It can be disorienting to be exposed to strobe lights for long periods. The idea is to make them so annoyed and disoriented that they leave. Lights alone might not be enough, though.
Noise is a great squirrel deterrent. Get a little cordless portable radio that they can’t destroy by chewing. Crank it up with the loudest and most abrasive music and noises you can possibly find. Think bagpipes, rage metal, nails on a chalkboard, babies crying, and Fran Drescher laughing on loop. Make it sound like a horror carnival ride in that attic. Make it so sound so bad that even your rebellious teenage self wouldn’t be able to stand playing it long enough to annoy your parents. Keep the noise and flashing light playing day and night. Make sure you bang on pots and make loud noises as much as possible to drive them out. Keep popping into the attic to let the squirrels know it’s your space.
Sometimes being annoying just isn’t enough. Squirrels in attics are awfully comfortable compared to squirrels in trees, so it might take some convincing to really drive it home that they’re not welcome in your attic. Destroy their home. Take their food. Ransack everything they’ve worked for. Wreck their comfortable little world.
Squirrels hoard food in scattered spots close to their nests. Find all of their stash spots for food and clean them up. They’ll probably have food stashed in all the places where insulation backing is torn up. Any little alcoves, containers, and holes are good places to look for their food. Clean up any nuts, dried fruits, or other foods and do everything you can to close up holes and eliminate all of their hiding places. If you get rid of the food, you can usually get rid of the animal.
Next, ruin their comfortable sleeping spots. Clear their nest out while they’re gone and do what you can to get rid of all of the little scraps of fabric, sticks, and odds and ends that they use to build their nests. If they have babies in their nest, put them in a box and either put them outside where their mother can find them or take them to an animal rescue. If the mama squirrel is nearby, don’t touch her babies while she’s watching. She’ll probably attack. Wait until she’s out hunting for food at dawn or dusk to make your move. Remove the nest, and then wash the area with bleach and warm, soapy water to get rid of their scent and dropping.
Squirrels spend most of their lives outdoors in the forests, and there are countless little critters that infest squirrels. Virtually all squirrels are infested with something, and the fleas that squirrels almost always have can easily move on to humans and domesticated animals, making us the host of viruses like the bubonic plague. To be safe and avoid any further infestations or illnesses, you might need to treat the area for fleas, ticks, and other parasites that frequently infest squirrels. Scrub where their nest was and make sure there won’t be any new critters, especially fleas, to evict later on.
Do what you can to repair the damage they’ve done and prevent it from happening again. Reattach insulation to the roof and try to clean up any damage they’ve done. If it’ll help to get rid of your infestation, consider finishing the floor by laying down a pressed wood floor and ceiling. They can’t tear into insulation if they can’t reach it. You need to get rid of their preferred habitat, and covering it is a good way to do that.
Give your efforts a few days to work. They need to understand that you know they’re there, it’s your house, you’ve found their hiding place, and they need to find a new place to live. Squirrels are smart. Given the opportunity to leave, they usually will.
Once a squirrel figures out that attics are a great place to live, they’ll most likely try to find a new one to move to. They might also try to come back to your attic and rebuild if they think you aren’t paying attention. If you want to prevent this from happening again, or if you want to keep this from happening to any of your neighbors, you can trap the squirrels and take them to a totally different area to release them.
Search the attic, gutter downspouts, siding, and eves for any places the squirrels can be coming or going from. Plug them as soon as the squirrels go outside.
Squirrels hate the smell of vinegar. Soak rags in any type of vinegar and place them throughout the attic. Other noxious smells they hate include fake pine scent, tea tree oil, sulfur, naphthalene or cigarette smoke, nail polish remover and other solvents, smoke from burning leaves, stink bombs and prank stench spray, garlic, black or white pepper, dried hot peppers, peppermint, spearmint, eucalyptus, and overly saccharine-sweet smells. Bear spray and other capsaicin-rich self-defense sprays can also be used on their nest.
If the campaign to annoy the squirrels doesn’t make them budge, you’ll have to move on to bigger and better tools. Exercise vibration plates that are run by remote control can be very helpful. Squirrels are fine-tuned to detect vibration. It puts them on alert. When you play the vibration plate, it puts them in a high-stress situation. There isn’t a creature on earth that wants to come home and be stressed out. They will move on to safer attics if the stress levels are too high for too long.
To use the vibration plate, set it on the floor close to their nest. Turn it on to the highest setting and set the timer to vibrate for 50 minutes. Vibration plates are strong enough to make full-sized adults burn several hundred calories per session, and they’re a good way to burn excess fat outside of the gym. They’re easy to find at big box stores or online. Keep the noise popping and the lights flashing while you play the vibration plate. You might try a dog whistle in addition to your music playing.
If you’ve tried to lure them out, annoying them with lights and loud noises, clean their nest out of your attic, eliminate their food sources and stashes, and keep their senses on high alert. If it still isn’t working to drive the squirrels out, you’re going to have to stop being Mr. Nice Guy. It’s time to introduce traps.
There are a few choices of traps to choose from. You can either use wire or solid-sided traps, and they can be single-squirrel traps or something larger for whole families of squirrels. If you’re going to use a wire trap, there are a few things to consider. Depending on the type of squirrel, they can have arms that extend several inches. You’ll need to put food in the center of the trap far enough away that the squirrel can’t reach through the wires to reach it. They’ll be forced to go through the door to get the food.
If you use a solid-sided trap, you can put the food in the back of the trap. Squirrels can’t see through the trap’s walls, so you’ll need to use a bait that smells strongly enough to lure them in. You might have good luck with peanut butter, bacon, cheese, dried fruit, and other strongly scented foods. Of course, you’ll want to use un-poisoned food, because it’s the most humane way to remove squirrels without killing them. The whole point of using a live trap is to keep the animals alive so they can go live in a new home somewhere else.
While the intent behind live trapping is noble, it doesn’t always work. Squirrels can live up to a decade in the wild, and it’s quite possible that an attic-dweller will escape several attempts at trapping in their lifetime. Once they’ve been trapped once, they aren’t very likely to be successfully trapped again. Squirrels have the uncanny ability to figure out how to get food out of traps without getting caught. They spend much of their time getting food out of “squirrel-proof” bird feeders that took generations of intelligent design and engineering to make.
You might have better luck with a trap that has solid metal walls. Squirrels can’t just reach in and grab a meal like it’s a salad bar. These traps are more expensive, but they’re just as easy to use as wire cages. They’re actually safer for transporting squirrels once they’re caught, too. They can reach through wire cages to scratch and try to bite the hands of the people carrying the cage. Wish a solid-sided, metal cage, they can’t attack you, run away with the bait, or find design flaws to exploit.
Keep in mind that trapping squirrels in live traps is one of the most ineffective means of removing squirrels. They’re very smart animals, and it’s exceedingly difficult to lure them into a trap. This is more of a wild shot in the dark than a sure-fire way to get squirrels out of your attic. Sometimes, homeowners will get lucky, and it’ll work. Other times, traps will sit empty until the bait rots.
If trapping them doesn’t work, there are only a couple of other tools to use to get rid of them. You can use an electric fence charger to electrify wire that’s placed around the periphery of the attic and in a grid pattern all over the floor of the attic to zap them. You’ll want to turn it up all the way. You’ve probably only got one chance to zap them really hard before they figure out not to touch the wires.
This might be the only method that really scares them away for longer than a few minutes, but it’ll only work until they figure out how to get around it, so take advantage of having them out of the attic while you can. Close up any entry points as quickly and effectively as you possibly can. Cap your chimney with rodent-proof chimney caps. Cover every junction point under your eves with wire mesh. This mesh is almost like armor against squirrel invasion.
Squirrels have been known to climb up gutters, find weak points to exploit, chew or pack at them until it makes holes, and then proceed to chew through vinyl siding to get into walls and up into attics. You might need to patch holes in your downspouts to keep this from happening.
Don’t forget to check for loose shingles and boards. You might not have enough time to make all the repairs necessary before the squirrels come back. Keep making repairs. It’ll bother the squirrels and make their lives more difficult. You can try to lure them away more than once. Take advantage of every moment you have to close off their access points and prevent them from creating new ones.
As an added layer of defense, you can buy bird and squirrel spikes, gardening netting, motion-activated sprinklers, motion-activated lights, ultrasonic noise repellent, scarecrows, decoy hawks and owls, repellant sprays, and more that can be placed inside and outside of the home to repel squirrels. Just remember that they’ll repel other animals too.
Like all other methods of squirrel removal, they don’t always work as planned. Sometimes, you can try every non-lethal means to remove squirrels and they’re just too smart and stubborn to leave. When you’ve done all that you can to get them out humanely, you have no choice but to proceed with lethal force. There’s just too much risk from diseases that they carry, and they cause too much destruction not to remove the squirrels. You’ve done all you can. You don’t have to feel bad about using lethal means of removal.
You have a couple of options for lethal removal. You can poison them, or you can use a lethal trap. There are a few delivery methods for poison. You can find fish-flavored pellets, treated corn, poisoned sprays to taint their nest, granules, bait blocks, and more online or in big-box hardware stores. Some delivery methods are more effective than others. You need the bait to have enough poison in it to get the job done. Squirrels will sometimes eat enough of the bait blocks to make them sick, but not enough to kill them. So, whatever you use needs to be strongly poisoned and attractive enough to the squirrel that they want to eat the whole thing.
Poisoning is one of the best ways to get rid of squirrels in your attic, but it comes with downsides. Once they take the bait and die, you have to go up into your attic to remove their bodies. They can be hard to find and smell terrible. Sometimes squirrels will die from the poison and leave their babies behind to starve to death. Other times one squirrel will die but the others won’t. It’s still one of the most effective means to remove squirrels in attics.
If poisoning squirrels isn’t an option for you, your last resort is to use a lethal trap. Glue traps work very well for other rodents, and they work well for squirrels too, provided they’re big enough to do the job. You can find extra-large glue traps for sale online, but they’re not usually easy to find in hardware stores. There are also lethal steel jaw-type traps that will get the job done almost immediately. Where poisoning causes a slow death, lethal traps are quick. These traps are illegal in many states thanks to animal cruelty laws, so be sure to check your state laws before purchasing or using steel-jaw traps.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels in Walls & Ceilings
Squirrels can be exceedingly difficult to remove from walls and ceilings. Squirrels in attics are easy to spot. You can see the signs of them everywhere. When they get into walls and ceilings, it’s a different story. Squirrels need to be ousted from their nests before closing off the holes where they’re getting into the home. To do this, you have to draw them out. You can do this by annoying and disturbing them until they leave, trapping them, luring them out, or killing and removing them.
It’s nearly impossible to remove squirrel nests from inside walls and ceilings without destroying them, so the best thing you can do is just get them out of there and close them off. Squirrel-proof the property so they can’t get back in and monitor it frequently to ensure they don’t return.
Start simply with ultrasonic noisemakers. Squirrels hear the annoying frequency and try to get away from it. Keep using it until all squirrels vacate their nests, giving you the opportunity to close their off their entry points.
You can also use loud music, vibration, banging, and noises to scare squirrels. You need to make them feel threatened while also staying safe. If squirrels have babies in your walls, they’ll be especially difficult to drive out. They understand that loud noise is annoying, but predators will eat their babies if they live outdoors. You have to make them understand that you’re also a predator, and they need to get out of your house immediately.
When scaring and disturbing squirrels doesn’t work, you can try luring them out and/or trapping them. Put strong-smelling bait into a trap and set it near their access point. Close off any entry points on the outside of the home and only give them one remaining place to get out. Set the trap at that point.
Trapping doesn’t always work. When this is the case, you’re left with two choices: set out poison blocks and wait for them to take the bait. Then, tear open the ceiling or wall and remove the dead squirrels and nests that way or close them off in there, so they starve to death inside the walls.
Always try to use the most humane methods possible. If you’re struggling to get squirrels out of your walls or ceiling, call a professional for help. Tearing into walls can be dangerous and the repairs need after using this method are costly and labor-intensive. It’s worth trying other methods to prevent the need to destroy the walls of your home.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels in the Roof & Chimney
Squirrels love to make nests in chimneys because they’re deep, cozy, and well protected from predators. They have no idea that it’s one of the most dangerous places they could possibly choose to build a home. It isn’t always easy to spot them in there until it’s too late to prevent a disaster. Squirrel nests pose a significant risk for chimney fires. Unwitting homeowners build a fire but can’t get their flu to open. Before you know it, the twigs and leaves those squirrels used to build their nests have caught on fire. The house fills with smoke and there’s a huge mess to clean up, and sometimes those chimney fires can turn into whole-house fires. It’s a real danger.
To get squirrels out of your chimney, you’re going to have to get creative. You can buy Irish Spring fragrance oil and spray it all over the chimney. Drop Irish Spring soap into the chimney. Squirrels hate the smell of it and if there’s enough of it, they’ll leave. You can also use hot peppers, mothballs, peppermint oil, spearmint oil, tea tree oil, eucalyptus, and neem oil to help repel squirrels out of chimneys.
Other options include bright strobe lights, loud and annoying music, banging pots and pans, vibration, dog whistles, and ultrasonic noisemakers. Using a combined approach usually leads to success. Lethal means are rarely required to remove squirrels from chimneys.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels in the Garage & Basement
Squirrels love to build nests in quiet corners of garages where nobody will see or disturb them. It’s hard to keep squirrels out when you’re frequently working with the garage doors open. If you’ve got a nest in your garage, you’re going to have to figure out how to get the squirrels out.
The approach to evicting squirrels from your garage is much like getting them to leave anywhere else in the home where they shouldn’t be. Start by letting them know you’re there and want them out. Let them know you’re a threat to their safety. Destroy their nests and clean up any squirrel droppings. Go through boxes all over the garage and make sure the squirrel hasn’t stored a bunch of food all over your garage.
Getting rid of the squirrel’s food source is the first big step in getting rid of them altogether. The problem with getting rid of their food sources is that they’ll eat anything. They eat the insulation off of wires because they can smell the soy oil in it. They eat trees. They’ll eat your trash. They’ll eat the food right out of your garage fridge if they can get to it. They’ll tunnel through your garage walls and into your kitchen cupboards. They’ll chew right through the wood to get to your food. They can even chew through thick plastic.
Remember that squirrels are rodents. They’re like rats with fluffy tails and cute little faces, except they’re a lot bigger, faster, stronger, and more agile than rats, and some of them can even fly for more than 160 feet at a time. They’d pull off feats of acrobatic miracles to get to people’s food. Lots of people store food in little pantries in their garages. Do the best you can to keep all of your food locked up in squirrel-proof, locked cupboards or fridges, and don’t leave anything lying around that they can eat.
Next, close off any holes in the exterior of the home where they can get it. Stop leaving the garage door open while you’re working in it unless you have an ultrasonic noise maker going or a charged electric fence turned on to protect your home while the doors are open. If those methods fail, you can use poisoned bait to kill them or use live traps to catch squirrels alive and release them into nature humanely.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels in Yard
Keeping squirrels out of your yard is one thing but keeping them out of your yard altogether is another. You’ll have to remove every squirrel nest out of every tree. Allow their natural predators into their environment, like hawks, dogs, foxes, or owls. Use decoys and scarecrows to scare them off while their predators are elsewhere.
Making noise and scenting the air with fragrances people love and animals hate is vital to driving out squirrels and other wildlife in your yard. The outdoors is rightfully their domain, and you’re going to fight a constant battle to keep squirrels out of it. Plug ultrasonic devices into outdoor outlets around the house and yard. Place hot pepper powder around the base of trees, in flower beds, and anywhere else that you don’t like them to be. You can use Irish Spring and mentholated essential oils to get rid of them in garden beds.
If you can’t repel them, you can trap them and release them in a protected wildlife reserve or state park where there will be plenty of food for them to survive. In many states, trapping animals is illegal, even if you use a live trap. Check your state laws before you start to trap or kill squirrels on your property or in your home. If permissible by law, you can poison them in their nests, burrows, and tunnels and set out poisoned bait all over your yard. Just be careful that your pets don’t eat it. Frequently check your poisoned bait in your yard and replace it as needed.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels in Garden
Repelling squirrels in your garden is going to be highly difficult. You can use noise, bad smells, scarecrows, and decoys to drive them away, but as soon as you stop making noise and the bad smells fade, they’ll come right back for another fresh, delicious meal.
Squirrels look at your garden like it’s their personal salad bar. It’s packed full of fresh, delicious foods that they can pluck from the plant and put right in their mouth. They can’t get fresh food and excellent nutrition that’s so easily accessible anywhere else in nature. If you don’t have a fenced-in yard with a chicken wire topper, you’re asking for squirrels to eat all of the food you’re worked so hard to cultivate.
You can hang bits of Irish Spring soap from mesh bags all over your garden to repel squirrels. They’ll need to be replaced every few weeks to keep the smell going strong. You can also use other menthol-like essential oils like tea tree to drive squirrels away from an area.
Ground squirrels are harder to block from garden patches. It’s almost impossible to trap a ground squirrel outside. You might have to flood their tunnels repeatedly to get them to go away. If all else fails, you might resort to poisoned bait or lethal traps. Check out your state laws pertaining to squirrel baiting, trapping, and poisoning before you set out steel-jaw traps or bait stations.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels on the Patio and Deck
One of the best ways to protect your furniture from squirrels is to remove any items that they’re attracted to. Some plastics are made from food-based oils that squirrels smell. Likewise, there are food-based, all-natural fabric dyes and paints that some companies use in an effort to clean up the environment. Squirrels will eat anything that smells like food to them. If squirrels are irresistibly drawn to your patio furniture, it’s probably because it smells like food.
You can purchase plastic or canvas covers to protect your furniture while you’re not using it. Plant varieties of mint and mosquito plants near your patio furniture. Spray everything with peppermint oil and leave satchels with peppermint on the chairs. If worse comes to worse, you can also get fence electrifiers and connect them to the metal on your furniture, so it’ll shock the squirrels when they touch it. Run a wire from around each piece and daisy chain the wire so they’re all connected. Ultrasonic devices are also an option, as is leaving poisoned bait on the deck.
To keep them off of the railing, you can lay down spike strips. Motion-activated sprinkler systems and security lights can also help startle squirrels out of the yard and away from the deck. You can also get a dog and let them do what they naturally do to protect your property.
Squirrel Removal & Control – How to Keep Squirrels Away
Wildlife Exclusion is the process of catching and removing wild animals from residential properties and then sealing the homes to prevent the reinfestation of the same animals. The exclusion process can consist of trapping animals by placing traps at their points of entry. These traps force animals to pass through them to get in or out of their nest. The advantage of these traps is that they don’t have to be baited and unless the squirrels chew their way out through another avenue, they have no choice but to walk into the trap to leave their home. Exclusion traps are very effective.
After removing the squirrels, your home will need some repairs. Your technician will take their time inspecting for and patching holes in gutters, roofs, foundations, doors, windows, siding, soffits, and anywhere else that needs to be fixed. Holes can be patched with expandable foam, replacement pieces of siding and soffit, metal patches, wood, and more. Any areas that were infested should be cleaned to prevent the spread of diseases and reduce unpleasant messes and smells.
Wildlife Exclusion is best done by a trained and licensed pest control and wildlife removal expert. Wildlife removal and exclusion experts are standing by to help put a stop to the battle between squirrels and homeowners. You don’t have to keep having your possessions wrecked by rodents. You don’t have to have dangerous confrontations with animals. We can take care of all of your squirrel removal and home repair needs.
If you live in GA, FL, AL, let the experts at Nextgen Pest Solutions humanely and safely trap and remove squirrels, rodents, possums, and other wildlife from your home. Our trained specialists can repair the holes that squirrels and other pests have made in your home and take steps to make sure this never happens again. Give Nextgen Pet Solutions a call to get a schedule and inspection and quote today.