squirrels in the attic - DIY Chatroom

jkrodger · 01-05-2009, 01:45 PM

Hello all! I live in a city house in a corner lot (very small side yards), and the neighbor closest to us had squirrels in his attic for several months. We're not allowed to kill squirrels in the city so he eventually managed to patch up their entrance while they were out one day. Good for him, bad for us. They managed to push open a corner of the 1/4" screen we had protecting our vents and go into our attic. In a matter of a couple of days, we got up there, restapled the 1/4" screen down and put a layer of 1/2" hardware cloth behind it. They tore up the insulation pretty good and built a big nest in a corner, we haven't touched that yet but did toss a bunch of moth balls up there to try and deter them. Since then, we've heard them running around on the roof quite a bit and seen them in the yard but not heard them in the attic. Is there anything else we can do to deter them and prevent them from getting back in? Is what we've done sufficient?

Leah Frances · 01-05-2009, 10:44 PM

Check on your 'patch' frequently. You never know when a squirrel will decide he has nothing better to do than chew on some hardware cloth.

In some parts of the country January is when squirrels are doing what squirrels will do - trying to make more squirrels. So, a female looking for a good place to nest can be relentless at chewing their way to a comfortable nesting place.

When in doubt borrow a good dog. Mine keep the squirrels (and other critters) at bay.

Bondo · 01-06-2009, 12:37 PM

Ayuh,...

The Best way to deal with Bushy tailed Rats is to leave Dcon pellet traps out for them...

retro · 01-06-2009, 01:00 PM

I have a storage shed on my property that the squirrels love to break into for the winter. I can report the newest resident is living quite comfortably in there along with 5 boxes of moth balls that I threw in there.

Mothballs dont work.

Bill Earl · 01-06-2009, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkrodger

Hello all! I live in a city house in a corner lot (very small side yards), and the neighbor closest to us had squirrels in his attic for several months. We're not allowed to kill squirrels in the city so he eventually managed to patch up their entrance while they were out one day. Good for him, bad for us. They managed to push open a corner of the 1/4" screen we had protecting our vents and go into our attic. In a matter of a couple of days, we got up there, restapled the 1/4" screen down and put a layer of 1/2" hardware cloth behind it. They tore up the insulation pretty good and built a big nest in a corner, we haven't touched that yet but did toss a bunch of moth balls up there to try and deter them. Since then, we've heard them running around on the roof quite a bit and seen them in the yard but not heard them in the attic. Is there anything else we can do to deter them and prevent them from getting back in? Is what we've done sufficient?

Hello jkrodger,
Check out this web site: www.evictorproducts.com The Squirrel Evictor was developed to solve the very worst squirrel problems out there. The terra cotta house in the NBC Channel 10 News Video on the home page HAD squirrels in the attic for 37 years. I just visited the house yesterday and ever since a Strobe Light installation 4 years ago, the homeowner is still "squirrel free". The Free booklet on the home page "How To Evict Squirrels the Safe and Harmless Way" might also be of interest. But.....the Testimonials by Professionals are the reason we now sell in 37 states and 5 foreign countries. Please call if you have any questions......Bill Earl ( Co-Inventor of the Squirrel Evictor )

jkrodger · 01-07-2009, 11:28 AM

Thanks for the replies! We haven't heard them in the attic since we patched the screen but we're hoping this weekend we can hop up there to check things out and destroy their nest. We're expecting to find a cache of food up there and assume that's why they've been running around the yard so much. We do have a dog (a terrier mix) that chases them when she's out in the yard but they seem content to just run up the trees when she's outside and when they were in the attic all she would do it whine and run around the house, staring at the ceiling wherever the last noise came from. We also have 2 cats that are completely useless when it comes to pests but we do worry about putting any poison up there.

We were worried they were going to try to breed soon, especially because MO got several very nice days in a row and it seems that it's always the same two squirrels we see in our yard.

Neighbors said that before the squirrels moved into their attic, they were pestering the people next to them, I guess they've making their way down the block and will hopefully move on now.

Aggie67 · 01-07-2009, 05:25 PM

We're not allowed to shoot varmints in our area, either. But that never stopped my neighbors. I don't own a rifle, but a few years ago someone

put a contract out on a groundhog who chose to sleep under my shed.

jkrodger · 01-07-2009, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aggie67

We're not allowed to shoot varmints in our area, either. But that never stopped my neighbors. I don't own a rifle, but a few years ago someone

put a contract out on a groundhog who chose to sleep under my shed.

yeah, the cop that lives behind us might notice...though if they come back and start to breed, i'll get poison up there and just watch the pets really carefully.

Chemist1961 · 01-07-2009, 08:36 PM

Don't know much about ridding of squirrels but I saw a mechanical owl a few weeks ago with a built in motion sensor and several life like settings. Apparently it scares the crap out of Racoons.

jkrodger · 01-30-2009, 02:41 PM

Well, the little SOBs aren't back in the house attic but they did chew through the siding on the sun room and are currently living above it. The sun room was an addition so they'll just face brick if they try to get back in the attic and we have no access to that area. Think if I set out those humane traps with bait in the yard I can catch them and then patch up the hole they chewed? I'd hate to patch it and trap them, the only places they would have to go would be up through the roof or down through the sunroof ceiling!

ocoee · 03-29-2009, 10:27 AM

You must remove the offending squirrel, period

determine the path taken by the culprit and place live traps with peanut butter and roasted peanuts throw peanuts around the trap to chum them in

take the squirrel at least a mile away and release or save for the stew pot.

This is the only way to take care of the problem

Thurman · 03-30-2009, 10:48 PM

True story-my sister lives in the Atlanta, Ga. area and they have the flying squirrels there. Her two story house has two (2) dryer vent type vents on one end of the house, on the outside of the house at the level between the floors of the house. One is for the downstairs bath vent fan, the other is for the clothes dryer on the second floor. These were covered with a plastic vent guard to prevent "varmints" from entering for over six years with no problem. Suddenly last fall there were noises overhead in the downstairs bathroom so she calls me to investigate, I'm only 220 miles away. I get up there an determine that something has eaten through the plastic vent guard, gotten through the metal dryer vent and into the space between the floors of the house. I removed the vent fan of the bathroom, stick my head up there and- -staring back at me are six squirrels sitting in a nest the size of a clothes basket. They made the nest from ripping the paper from the top of the sheetrock of the bathroom ceiling! They had entered by coming through the vent and chewing through the old plastic vent hose connecting the bath vent fan and the outside vent. We convinced them to skee-daddle by using a shop vac with the hose on blower and some foul smelling stuff we mixed up and they went right back out the old plastic vent hose and outside vent. I came home and made a new vent cover from sheet metal and small round metal rod, went back a few weeks later and installed them. TWO days later she sent me a pic via e-mail showing one of the squirrels sitting on the new vent cover chewing it's heart out on the new metal cover. Those little ba$tard$ are persitant for sure.

flyboy2610 · 03-30-2009, 11:13 PM

Rattlesnakes should do the job!

fireguy · 04-01-2009, 12:25 AM

We use a live trap, baited w/peanuts. When the trap trips, I carry it intothe garage, & place the trap in a large plastic bag. I fold over the end of the bag and gently discharge a CO2 Fire Extinguisher in the bag. The squirrel genlty goes to sleep. The tree rat is put in the dumpster and the trap baited again.

We used to use an air rifle, but they did not always die quickly.

jkrodger · 04-03-2009, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocoee

You must remove the offending squirrel, period

determine the path taken by the culprit and place live traps with peanut butter and roasted peanuts throw peanuts around the trap to chum them in

take the squirrel at least a mile away and release or save for the stew pot.

This is the only way to take care of the problem

Thanks, we'll have to try this, I was told squirrels are too smart for the humane traps.