Squirrels are one of the greatest entertainers for pets. They dance and have fun over trees, making the environment to busy. You cannot imagine the beauty of nature without the hubbub of squirrels on trees. However, the saying, “too much is too bad” is justified in this scenario as well.
If they are in plenty in number then, it is difficult to manage staying in the place. They prove to be a great nuisance to the nearby residents. If you backyard has a big garden, filled with squirrels then, you might need to experience great nuisance. They feed on birdseed and ruin growing vegetables and fruits. Sometimes, they may get trapped inside your house.
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Do squirrels carry diseases?
Usually, squirrels are not significant carriers of diseases. No much recorded reports are available regarding the transmission of diseases like rabies from squirrels. However, like any other animal, squirrels do carry parasites and leave behind excrement.
They can leave both of them in your attic. Like any other animal droppings, squirrel droppings and feces can carry diseases like Salmonella and Leptospirosis. Therefore, it is not a wise idea to keep the squirrels in your living areas.
How to get rid of squirrels in attic?
Squirrels prefer to stay in attics when they find something that is interesting and attracting them. Mainly, the attracting items can be food and water.
- The first and the foremost step you can take to reduce their population on attics is by clearing the attics off the food and water.
- Clean it and ensure that the attic is free from the smell of food.
- Once you do this, you need to find for entry holes through which the squirrels might enter the attic.
- Install one way exclusion devices near the entry holes so that the squirrels come out naturally for food and will never be able to enter inside again.
- Once you are sure that all the squirrels are out, seal the entry holes so that the squirrels will not find route in future.
- You can install repeater trap which can trap all the squirrels in one shot such that the exclusion door will let them out at once but will not allow them back to come inside.
- Ensure that even the secondary entries are also sealed.
- If you do not have a repeater trap, you can try with cage traps to trap all of them at once and bolt them. However, this is not an efficient method and the success rate is not guaranteed.
- Once are sure that all the squirrels are out, relocate them by releasing them in an area that is more than a minimum of five miles away from your place.
- Now, you can seal the primary entry area that he squirrels used to access so that in future, no more squirrels can make use of it again and again.
- Clean up their feces and droppings and repair the damage that the squirrels made to your walls and electric wires.
Learn more about how to catch Squirrels
Controlling squirrels outdoors
Step by step procedure to control squirrels outdoors:
1. Take away the squirrel food:
If squirrels are depending completely on the food that is available within your property then, certainly they will decide to settle. If your backyard contains trees that drop these then, think that squirrels found their livelihood.
- Find out what is that they are finding likely to eat and ensure that they do not get access to it. Generally, the main source of food for squirrels are berries, acorns and nuts.
- If your outdoor waste basket is filled with tree droppings, ensure that it is sealed every time after you use it. If the lid that seals the basket is so loose that the squirrels can open then, ensure that you replace it with a tight one.
2. Make your bird feeders to be squirrel proof
Squirrels are cute rodents and are absolutely cunning when having feeders. They feed on the birdseeds even before birds find them. The following is the discussion of some of the methods that help you keep squirrels away from having birdseed.
- Attach squirrel guard to the bird feeders. This reduces the grip over the feeder such that the squirrels will not be able to access them.
- Ensure that the feeders are not placed close to the trees in your yard so that the squirrels can bypass the route through trees, branches or eaves of your house in order to access the feeders.
- Ensure that the area beneath the bird feeder is clean and does not have any stray seeds. Regular maintenance is difficult but, this can keep the squirrels from hanging around the feeder.
- Another good idea to keep the squirrels away while helping the birds to have seeds is to stock the bird feeder with safflower seeds. Birds find it good to eat these seeds while squirrels find them to be bitter.
Controlling squirrels indoors
When trying to control squirrels, the possible areas can be attics, chimneys and roof. Hence, try to remove the items from these areas that attract the squirrels.
The following are some of the steps you can take to control squirrels indoors:
- Ensure that your attic is free from food that squirrels love to have. Also, ensure that the area is free from smell that is tempting them. Clean the area so that it is not only free from squirrel food, but also free from smell.
- Another important step is to eliminate the route that the squirrels access to reach the attics and roof. Find out if there are any branches of big trees that are helping the squirrels to reach the area. If you find them, cut them off.
- Find out if your chimney is helping them to reach their desired area. If you find so, then guard your chimney by surrounding it with thin mesh so that the squirrels cannot get access to it. Also, ensure that the mesh is steel so that during fire, the mesh will not be burnt.
- In case if you find that a squirrel is trapped inside your chimney or attic, ensure that it goes away safely. For that, prepare a pre-planned escape route such that they can go out through it but will not turn back. You can hang a rope in a downward direction such that the squirrel can climb back to the roof. Once it reaches roof, lure it with its loving food.
- If squirrels are troubling you indoors, it is better to have a live trap handy so that you can trap them whenever required. Place these traps in the area where squirrels are found to be residing. Once they get trapped, they will be safe inside it. You can release them far from your outdoors so that they will not come back to your place.
- If the situation is beyond your control or capability, make use of animal control department. Call them and they will trap the squirrels for you.
How to keep squirrels away using squirrel removals?
Keeping squirrels away from your home is not an easy task. They are little rodents that are stubborn, agile and persistent. Once they are happy living in a place, it is not easy for them to change their mind in order to relocate their habitat. Therefore, if you are suffering from squirrels in your living place, then you need to really make a hard work to remove them.
From the squirrels’ point of view, they find a good place to live in, after a long hunt for the place. They settle in the place only after finding good facilities like water, food, shelter and comfortable environment for bringing up their babies.
Just like how we love our homes, squirrels too love their residence. Removing them off the settling area is not an easy task and involves lots of tiredness and troubles. Above all, you need a lot of patience.
1. Remove squirrel welcoming signs
However, various methods exist in order to keep the squirrels away from our residence so that the complete home and yard can be yours and only yours, meaning that, you can achieve the state of not sharing your loving residence with the squirrels. All you need to have is patience and common sense.
Remove all the welcome signs for the squirrels from your home. For instance, if you have a cat in your house and you feed it with milk every day, take off the milk bowl once the pet has fulfilled his hunger. If you forget to remove the bowl from your porch then, you have left behind a welcoming sign for the squirrels and other rodents and pests.
Ensure that your home is free from all the holes through which you can suspect the squirrels and other rodents to enter. Relocate bird feeders to far corners of your yard. Ensure that all the routes that bypass towards the items that squirrels love to access, are removed.
2. High frequency sounding devices
Markets make you available with high frequency sound making devices that can irritate rodents like squirrels. These sounds are designed to be inconsistent so that the squirrels continue getting irritated as the sound frequencies keep changing before they get adjusted to one.
These sounds not only help in eradicating squirrels, but also pests and bats. Initially, these devices do a great deal of work but, with time the rodents too get used to the sounds and thus they may feel it normal to stay in the place filled with sounds. Therefore, long term usage is not an efficient idea and the results can be temporary. Also, you need to note that these devices are expensive.
3. Sprays
Most of the stores that offer pesticides for repelling rodents will also contain sprays that can eradicate squirrels. However, most of them are ineffective and give you a temporary relief. Once the power of the spray diminishes, you can again see the rodents accessing the place. Once most important point one needs to note down is to eliminate these rodents in a humane manner.
You can use hot pepper sprays to drive them out of the plays, but it is an inhumane method one can ever follow. Therefore, consider following effective and humane methods while trying to exterminate rodents or any other living creatures.
4. Moth balls
One of the temporary solutions to exterminate squirrels is by placing moth balls in the place where these rodents live. Squirrels do not like the smell and will get away from the place.
One threat is that, just like how these little rodents can get used to high frequency sounding devices, they can also get used to the smell released by the moth balls. Therefore, you might see results in the initial stages but, in the long run, the squirrels get stubborn from leaving the place and adjust themselves to live in the place that is filled with the smell.
5. Approach professionals
If you have crossed the limits of your patience in trying to exclude squirrels and feel that you can no more afford time and money, the only best option in front of you is to approach professionals. These people are trained in handling any kind of situation and scenario while trying to exclude the rodents.
Their career is into the same, and are thus aware of latest methods and innovative gadgets that can be used to remove the squirrels off the place. They can guide you and educate you what to do if the scenarios repeat. They can let you know the temporary and permanent solutions in eradicating these rodents from your residing area.
6. Squirrel Repellents
Squirrels can be eradicated from the settling areas by making use of repellents. These repellents are available in many types. Notice all the areas in your home and yard where the squirrels have invaded and loitering. Some of the varieties of squirrels like grey, red and flying squirrels are too stubborn and mischievous.
It is problematic to exclude them. They can be found to be wandering around your roof, foundation and attics. You can make use of such places to place the repellants. You can mix them in squirrel food and lure them. Repellents are available as powders, pellets, sprays or chemicals. Pepper based chemical sprays are also available.
You can also repel squirrels by using automatic sprinkler systems. Squirrels feel unpleasant when you splash water suddenly. You can also make use of bitter gels or topical applications on areas where they are damaging by chewing like wires, plastic casings etc. One of the inexpensive squirrel repellent is hot sauce. Any repellent can exclude the squirrels, but ensure that you do it in a humane way.
Conclusion
Squirrels might appear to be cute and furry little rodents but they damage your assets and create nuisance if they are too big in number. Also, their excreta do carry diseases. Above all, they steal your bird food and loiter on your assets. Trapping them if they are small in number is quite an easy task but, if they are big in number, you need to know how to handle them.
Using repellents, high frequency sounding devices, guarding areas with meshes where you do not want squirrels to access, moth balls, sprays, gels etc. can help you. However, temporary solutions can recur the scenarios, thus giving you a never ending problem. Therefore, if needed, follow permanent solutions to eradicate them.
If needed, you can also approach professionals to do the work for you. Whichever method you follow, ensure that you do it in a humane way.
