Many people think squirrels are cute. When they are outside, running around or leaping from tree to tree, they are fun to watch. When they make your home their home, they can lose some of that appeal. When people find they have a group of the creatures, also called a “dray” or “scurry,” the first response is often to call the local wildlife control office. There are some things you can do to make your home less friendly to the squirrel families in your area.
- Help the squirrels find their own way out. Humane squirrel removal techniques include letting them find a route out of your home. Squirrels can be friendly but, for the most part, they do not want to hang out with people and prefer to live in places that are not lived in by humans. If the squirrels are hiding in a room that is occupied, the first thing you need to do is make sure your pets are not in the room. Open all of the windows that go directly outside. Close the door to the room in question. The best windows to leave open will be near trees so your squirrels can leap to their branches to make their escape.
- Use humane traps. In the event that option one fails to get the squirrels to leave, experts in wildlife control recommend using humane traps. Get your hands on a large trap and then put in some food bait. Peanut butter works well. Leave the trap in the room with the squirrel or squirrels and wait. Within a few hours, you should have the squirrels trapped and can remove them without harming them in the process.
- Get out an old blanket. Get some heavy duty gloves. Close the door to the room. You should have someone help you with this so they can open it quickly once you have trapped the squirrel. Take the blanket and place it over the squirrel. Lift it up and wrap the animal. Be careful not to wrap it too tightly. It is easy to injure the frightened squirrel. Take the blanket outside and a bit away from your home. Make sure the door to your home when you release it.
- If you think you have squirrels in your chimney, scare them back out. Wildlife control experts say this if one of the main ways squirrels get into homes. There are two things you need to do. You can scare them with loud noises that you make at your fireplace level. Also, if you get on your roof and lower a rope down to the level of the squirrels, you can make it easier for them to make their escape.
- If you have squirrels in the attic, there are other things you can do to make them leave. Leave lights on during the night and let natural light in during the day. There are bright lights that you can buy to scare squirrels. You can also use odors that the squirrels do not like. Wildlife control experts say that squirrels do not like pepper or garlic. People often find luck using a cloth soaked in vinegar as the animals hate that as well. You can also make loud noises to get the animals to leave the attic.
- If your squirrels have had babies in your attic, you need to approach the problem in a different manner. You will not be able to lure or frighten the adults out so if you do not want to harm the squirrel family, you will need to wait at least until the babies grow up a bit. You can also talk to local wildlife control people who can relocate the entire family without hurting them. Baby squirrels grow up quickly so if you chose to wait, it will only be a matter of weeks.
- Keep your home squirrel free by closing entry points. Go around and look at your home to see possible entry points and close them all. This will prevent squirrels from coming back.
Your home is warm and safe. Squirrels want to be both so they want to move into your house. These tips from wildlife control experts should help get them out.
