Don't Normally Do This But - NEED ADVICE - SQUIRRELS LIVING IN THE ATTIC!

[matcom]

so, Mrs Matcom goes up to the attic for something and the xmas paper is unravelled ALL OVER the place (walk up attic - old house). so she gets a flashlight and follows the trail to the corner.

they have made quite the nest and she shines the light on it - SQUIRRELS!!! they scamper out (they are getting in under the eves, behind one of the gutters) and exit to the roof

now, i don't really care TOO much that they are staying warm in my attic but we DO have some things stored up there that we would rather not get chewed up.

NO traps thank you.

don't really know HOW to keep them out - look folks, my old house is VERY tall and frankly, I AIN'T CLIMBING THAT HIGH ON A LADDER TO DO ANYTHING! :scared:

so, any advice? don't want to hurt them.

anything?

ANYONE??

*chirp chirp*

[yardwork]

1. I have a similar problem with bats in the attic

I can't remember the various types of advice I was given, but I think they ranged from "live with it" through "call animal control" to "burn down your house."

Good luck.

[GOPisEvil]

2. You'll have to call a rodent removal service.

Your local humane society might have a suggestion as to who you can call to remove the critters humanely.

[matcom]

5. shit. i'll let them live up there before i do that

just may have to take down our boxes of books etc... :eyes:

[GOPisEvil]

9. Well, if you have gray flex ducting, rodents like to chew on that.

So, it could end up being a little more than an inconvenience. They can do some damage.

[Lex]

10. And they'll just come back.

Squirrels chewed a hole in my neighbors roof, near the gutter, so they could get in the attic.

He got the squirrels out, patched the hole . . . then new squirrels chewed a new hole and got in.

I honestly don't know if he just keeps on doing this or what.

[shraby]

11. How about removing what you don't want chewed up

and/or put food up there for them and maybe they won't chew your stuff.

[Book Lover]

3. Spackle the hole from the inside?

Or put the stuff you don't want chewed up inside rubbermaid containers. Or seal off the area where they are hanging out from the inside; you can make it into a little porch-lke space for them :-) Good luck!

[BurtWorm]

4. Charge them rent.

Make it worthwhile to have them.

[daa]

6. Get a live trap for $20

I had squirrels and they ate the electrival wiring and I had to have an electrician repair the wires. Very dangerous. After you catch them you can relocate them 7 miles or whatever. They can burn you house down real quick.

[CottonBear]

7. Seal up the holes with wire mesh and steel wool.

Stuff steel wool in any small crevices then nail the wire mesh/screen over the holes. You can probably do this from inside. A plus is that you will not have wire nailed to the outside of your house.

On edit: A friend of mine had flying squirells invade the inside of his house. They glided around the living room and ate up the woodwork on the windows and door frames. He watched for them to leave for the day and sealed up the hole. He then waited, old 45 in hand, for their return and shot them. They really ruined a lot of his custom woodwork. This is an extreme solution.

[Old and In the Way]

Cats.

They love squirrels....

[htuttle]

12. Second vote for cat

Also, you can try to put a *used* bag of kitty litter up there from time to time. The smell might scare them off a bit if they're acquainted with cats. However, if there's no actual cat in the house, they'll catch onto your trick and get used to the smell.

[yardwork]

21. My mom has raccoons and I keep telling her "hound"

It's the only thing that has ever worked. She's tried everything else (short of shooting them), but no matter what, generations of raccoons consider her house their ancestral homeland and return year after year to rear their families.

[Speck Tater]

8. Being a "live and let live" type...

I would put the valuable stuff in squirrel-proof containers and leave it at that.

Oh, and I would buy some nuts for them. Unsalted.

[LisaM]

13. Dogs

my dog would volunteer for the job in a heartbeat! My other dog, who died a few years ago, viewed squirrels as a personal affront and would obsessively drive all squirrels from any area where we intended to walk, picnic, play ball, or whatever. My new dog dislikes them too.

[librechik]

14. since you don't want to climb, call in an expert

because, once they are OUT you must a) plug up all the places that they get into your house (with metal screening or sheet metal, which they cannot chew through) and b) cut down nearby tree branches they use to get up on your roof. I know this is bad news, but you are lucky you are able to drive them out, that's the hardest part! Maybe you can block all their entrances from the inside of the attic. Do it before it gets too cold or they will stay all winter and have babies in the spring.

I would suggest you clean out your attic and learn to live with the critters except that I had one DIE and decompose in my attic, and the smell was unbearable, it also took me a long time to find the source.

Good luck--sometimes the pros can capture them and let them free in a nearby park.

[sangh0]

15. Two words

"Security deposit"

If they're anything like the tenants I know, they'll be headin for the hills in no time.

[GingerSnaps]

16. Call someone to come out and humainly remove them

When they get into your attic the next thing that they will do is get into your walls. One summer we had them coming down our fireplace. If they have rabies you can get bit :scared:

[babylonsister]

17. Not to mention if one happens to die...

Ewwww-ewwww, that smell!

[Jersey Devil]

20. LOL, they came right through our bedroom wall

One night I heard my wife scream just after she got out of the shower and there was a squirrel sticking his head through the sheetrock in our bedroom looking at her. She stomped off with her pillow, all the blankets and went straight to the guest room leaving me to fight the squirrel. I stuffed a towell in the hole to plug it temporarily and the little bastard started playing tug of war with me on the other end. It would have been hysterical if it wasn't my house.

[GingerSnaps]

22. Did you hear them running up and down your walls?

I went nuts when it was happening because you know it's something bigger then a mouse.

Your story is funny if it's a hotel or someone else's place. LOL

[Jersey Devil]

18. Do NOT patch the holes until ALL the squirrels are gone

I did that a few years ago when they chewed right through my cedar siding and nested in the attic. Thought I had them all out, patched the hole and then they chewed two new holes.

Used mothballs - didn't work at all, they just tossed them out of the attic.

Finally got a Hav-a-Hart trap, baited it with peanut butter OUTSIDE on the ground near the bottom of the house (the sides with the holes) and caught at least 5 of them, took them to a park miles away (if you release them nearby they will find their way back) and then patched all the holes.

Either that or get them drunk. Those little demons love to party!

[HEyHEY]

19. You have military trainging don't you?

Use that

[CatWoman]

23. dress up like a nut and taunt them

:P

[GOPisEvil]

24. Dress up?

Why do you think they moved in? There's no nuttier house in all of Massachussetts. :P

[CatWoman]

25. ROFL!!!!

I was TRYING to be gracious :D

[slestak]

26. Carpet-bomb them.

They hate your freedom.

Don't forget Poland!

[graywarrior]

27. We had a contracting business year ago and what we did was

went to a hardware store and talked to an oldtimer who recommended this sticky stuff that you paint near any suspected entrances on the roof. It sticks to their paws and they HATE it.

So we painted the stuff on (you have to ask a small hardware store abut it, Tru Values may have it but probably not). Then we sealed up all the holes we could find. The squirrels came back later and got the sticky stuff all over themselves. They were PISSED! They stood on the roof screaming at us, but they packed their bags and never came back.

Good luck.

[dancing kali]

28. The 'heart traps'

are good and work... IF... you put the bait inside where they have to enter the trap to get it. If you put it were they can simply reach in from the outside, drag it to them, eat the peanut butter and then leave little squirrel prints to show they were there.... they will! They are smart little buggers and seem to take great delight in showing the stupid humans that they are smarter than we are. Your local humane society will either send someone or will put you on to someone to remove them if you don't want to do it yourself.... be careful... the last time someone I knew called they were put in touch with someone who used snap traps with poison bait... and coming back to check the traps wasn't in the contract.

Borrow someones cat if you don't have one. Let it loose in your attic. That should drive out the squirrels. Block any holes that they can be entering from with rabbit wire (heavier than chicken wire) and steel wool. Retrieve cat and return to owners. I would also recommend looking around for babies in the nest.

Have fun... in my house the score is rodents 6, humans 0. We're definitely losing the battle.

[Jose Diablo]

29. Well, you could invite some raccoons to live in your attic

but then you'd have to figure out how to get rid of the raccoons.

Besides, what is that cat of yours doing besides eating your food and waking you up at 3:30am.

Put the cat in your attic.

[miss_kitty]

30. Quit storing peanuts in your attic

they'll get the message.

[welshTerrier2]

31. we had the same problem ...

here's what we did ...

we setup our vcr in the attic and started showing tapes from the republican convention ... we just let the tape run from start to finish (it has auto rewind) ... we let the tape run over and over and over and over for two straight days ...

and then, when we went back up into the attic to check on things, voila ... twice as many squirrels ...

i think the damn ones we got might be republicans ...

so, i have no idea how to help you ...

actually, one tip is to make sure there are no trees or tree limbs within about 10 or 12 feet from your house ... that might keep them from getting on your roof ...

[Renew Deal]

32. The guys in the gungeon should be able to help.

Here's your squirrel killer

[indigobusiness]

33. Have the bats in your belfry

kick their ass.