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Squirrel Control & Removal

Squirrel Info: The Eastern Gray Squirrel is a common nuisance animal here in Orlando. They are one of the most likely animals to get into your house, and live in the attic, soffit, or walls. You may hear them scampering around in the ceiling in the morning and evening or throughout the day. The female squirrels give birth twice a year, in both August and February, and they love to have the babies in the attic. They bring nesting material into the house, and leave behind waste. They need to chew to wear down their ever growing teeth, and thus pose a risk of chewing on electrical wires in attics, which can cause a fire hazard. They also chew on the wood in the attic and outside the home. We remove all of the squirrels in the attic in a humane manner. We mount special traps right on the hole, so that we catch all of the squirrels as they come out (they leave and re-enter the attic several times a day, to forage for food and water). After we relocate the critters far away, we seal up the house and make sure that no more squirrels can get in again.

BIOLOGY: Eastern Gray Squirrels are members of the rodent family. The are very active year-round, and a mother squirrel bears young twice a year, usually in February and August, and nurse the 3-5 young for three months. Squirrels are arboreal, which means that they live in trees, but they also seem to love attics. They are primarily active in the morning and evening (crepuscular). They eat all kinds of foods, but prefer nuts and seeds. They especially prefer the seeds in your birdfeeder, and their amazing acrobatic moves allow them to reach almost anywhere they want to go. Many people think squirrels are cute, but they change their minds when they hear scurrying and scratching in the attic, and find their woodwork chewed upon. Squirrels are usually about one pound in weight, though squirrels in Florida can be a bit smaller with less dense fur. They usually live about 2-4 years in the wild.

Nuisance concerns: The most common complaint that I deal with regarding squirrels is that they have invaded an attic or soffit. They will often chew a hole in a building to gain access. Mother squirrels bear young twice a year, and they love to use an attic as a nest. Sometimes a baby squirrel falls down a wall. The young learn to live in the attic, and often choose to stay. Once in the attic, they chew, causing damage to wood, and worse, they chew on power lines, which can short out electrical appliances, or worse, create a fire hazard. They also bring nesting material and biohazardous waste into an attic. I also often have to remove dead squirrels in a wall or attic from time to time.

Or better yet, for a detailed explanation of how to get squirrels out of your attic, click the link.

In a nutshell, here is how to do do proper squirrel removal:
STEP 1: Inspect your entire house, top to bottom, particularly the roof areas, including all vents and eaves, soffits, etc. Find any an all open holes that squirrels are using to enter. It may just be one small hole, it may be a whole big open gap, like an open fascia board.
STEP 2: Seal shut all secondary entry holes, until there is just one small hole that squirrels are using to enter and exit the house (remember, they go out several times a day for water and food).
STEP 3: Set traps by the hole, mounted to the roof or fascia, or better yet, mount a repeater trap or one-way exclusion door right on the hole.
STEP 4: Once they are all trapped and removed and relocated, or excluded through the one way door, and you can't hear any more squirrel noises above the ceiling, you can remove the traps and seal that last hole.
STEP 5: Inspect the attic again for damage and biohazard feces. Repair all damage, such as chewed electrical wires, and clean and decontaminate the feces and urine with a special fogging cleaning agent.


PHOTOS: For great pictures of squirrel trapping and removal, click on my: Squirrel Photographs gallery.

If you don't live in Florida click my Nationwide Directory of Wildlife Professionals serving almost every town, in all 50 states.

Here is a complete list of my squirrel control pages:
Squirrel in the Chimney - Tips and tricks for getting a squirrel out of a chimney.
Squirrels Chew on Your Home - Photos of squirrel chewing on typical places they enter homes.
How to Get Rid of Squirrels - A general all-purpose guide to getting rid of squirrels.
How to Keep Squirrels Away from House - Prevention type advice, and analysis of squirrel repellents.
How to Catch a Squirrel - Methods for catching squirrels in a house.
How to Trap a Squirrel - A complete trapping guide, discussing types of traps and bait and more.

Click here for photos of barriers over attic vents used by squirrels.



Click here for photos of barriers over squirrel-chewed entry holes.



Click here for a photo of a flawed chimney cap - and the fix.



How To Go About Killing Squirrels In The House - A squirrel infestation in your home looks bad, not only can they damage your property, but they can also spread diseases. Because of that it may seem reasonable to think of killing squirrels in the house. You should know that the option of killing the squirrels should always be the last squirrel control option because in most situations it is not necessary to do so. If the squirrel is in a room where it can escape to the outside it will probably do so with a little encouragement and there are also plenty of live traps in the market today. If you have tried everything and killing squirrels in the house seems like the only option then you want to use lethal traps that will work effectively and fast. If the room does not have many places where the squirrel can hide and there is no escape route then poison can be tried, but it almost never works. If you set it, make sure that any poison that was not used is out of the reach of children and household pets, because I've seen more pets eat poison than it actually solving squirrel problem! Also make sure that the entire area is searched for poison that may have been moved by the squirrel so that traces of it are not left behind the squirrel. In short, it's a bad idea to use poison. Lethal traps do work, but they are rare to find and difficult to set. If you want this, you can call a wildlife pest control service to remove squirrels. For more info, read my How to Kill Squirrels - Can you use poison to kill squirrels and solve the problem?

Eastern Gray Squirrel Information

The native range of the sciurus carolinensis or Eastern Gray Squirrel is predominately the Midwest to Eastern parts of the United States. The fox squirrel which looks very similar crosses ranges with this guy and carries on further west. The Eastern Gray Squirrel is highly adaptable to new regions and has been known to displace other squirrel species when it gets introduced to their living areas, such as the red squirrel in Britain.

Biology:
These small mammals have dense fur that is usually grey and sometimes brown in color. Quite often in the cities there are many of these mammals that have brown or white coats. These colorations occur more often in the city because there is less risk for predation and white and black don’t offer much by way of camouflage. They are also known for foraging and making several caches that they will use to store food both for short term and long term recovery. It’s not unusual to go about some fall planting and discover you are on top of an area squirrels have used to bury their food. They can be aggressive when cornered and if a predator is after one, others have been known to attack and distract to save their companion.

Life Cycle And Reproduction:
These tiny mammals mate twice a year, often between December and January then again in May through June therefore they are usually born in either February or March and again in June or July. The females are pregnant for close to 44 days after which she will deliver between two and five young. She will nurse them for about seven weeks and they will leave the nest at about ten weeks. These babies are capable of having their own at just over five months, though more generally this first litter is born after they are over a year old.

Habitat:
In their natural home the Eastern Gray Squirrel likes to live in dense forests full of older trees. They will build nests in hollows and forks in wide branches. In thick forests such as this there is enough for them to easily feed off of. With the squirrels that live in more urban settings they enjoy living quite close to people as they can often scavenge off their rubbish and they will create nests and live in attics, lofts of garages and other tall, sheltered places. They enjoy eating insects, nuts, seeds, some tree bark, fungi and moss. It is also not unusual for them to gnaw on bones, antlers or turtle shells as well as eat small rodents, frogs and bird’s nests when food is low.

Common Diseases These Animals Can Spread:
In actuality these mammals don’t have many diseases that they can pass to humans. They do have problems with parasites, such as worms, fleas, tick and other parasites. In addition if a colony moves into an attic or the loft of a garage there can be a buildup of their scat. There can be so much bacteria and fungus that gets airborne, some of the leptospirosis or Salmonella.

Common Nuisance Complaints:
These critters are most often annoying when they move into your attic. This part of the home is ideal for them to create nests and dens and in addition, they love to chew so will work their way through wood, insulation and electrical cords. The destruction from a family of squirrels living in an attic can cause damage to the home as well as even start an electrical fire. Many times people hear them making a great deal of noise in the morning and early evening hours while they are in the attic building nests. It is often not unusual for people to complain of these guys tossing flower beds to steal bulbs or to plant their own caches to get through the winter as well.

24/7 Wildlife Removal operates in the Greater Orlando area of central Florida. This is a specialty wildlife removal business. Wild animal control is all I do - I do not spray poison for insect control. I provide squirrel trapping and removal for squirrel control. I do not run an exterminating business or a pest control business, I run a nuisance wildlife business. I do not provide extermination of squirrels, but humane trapping and relocation. I specialize in getting squirrels out of your attic, soffit, or ceiling. If you want to get rid of your squirrel problem once and for all, give me a call!

 

If you have any questions about squirrel control, email me, or you can hire one of the companies that I recommend. Or read more about squirrels here:

I have many educational articles available to help you with your pesky problem. Find out all about squirrels, from what do they do with their tails, how smart they are, how big they get, and how if they remember where they bury nuts. Learn if squirrels kill mice, rats, or birds, and how to identify squirrel tracks. I can offer advice about what to do about a squirrel in the fireplace, and how to identify squirrel feces. Learn whether or not a squirrel will chew through the ceiling, and what attracts squirrels to your yard. Find out how to get rid of squirrels in your attic, if they attack or bite people or if squirrels are active at night.

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