Squirrels are destructive pests that feed on plants and nuts. They'll ravage your kitchen garden uprooting everything you've planted, even climb over trees to eat fruits. Squirrels often make their way into our homes and hide everywhere, from the attic, wall voids to the tiny spaces all over our homes.
We will look at how to:
Signs to look out for a squirrel infestation
How to locate and seal their entry points
How to get rid of the squirrels from your home
Squirrels have a biological urge to mate, eat, nest, drink, and explore. Their tendencies to explore are probably how they end up in your home. This exploration characteristic is the best form of elimination.
People are sometimes confused as to whether they have been infested with a squirrel or rats. There is a difference between these two infestations. Both of them are classified as rodents, and there is a difference in droppings, behavior, and how they nest.
The two rodents are competitors, which means that a high rat population would mean a low squirrel population and vice-versa.
Ways to identify a squirrel infestation
Listen to the sounds
Squirrels tend to be a little noisy. They run across power lines, skip from tree branches, or ascend the gutters. They are majorly active in the daytime. The fact that they are more significant than rats will correspondingly mean the sound they make will be louder.
Do you smell anything?
Squirrels will mess up your ceiling and attic. Their urine overtime will get noticed as it might start to leak from your ceiling. If you smell a distinctive odor around your ceiling or attic, it might be a sign that you have been infested.
Check for squirrel tracks
Squirrels hop, and their movement leave tracks behind; if you identify tracks resembling a skeletal five-fingered hand, that would be the squirrel's rear paws.
Check for nests
Squirrels make their nests from all kinds of materials; the nests are usually prominent and easily noticeable. If you notice such a nest, it would mean that you have been infested.
Have you seen any entry points?
Squirrels will readily chew their way into your home. You must check for holes and seal them. Their chewy nature may lead them to chew on electrical wires, which can cause house fires.
How to get rid of squirrels?
Baits and traps
Place the traps at specific exit points with the bait. The exploring nature of the squirrel will undoubtedly drive them to check out the foreign object, and that is where they get trapped. Be careful when setting traps up, as you can snap your fingers if you are using the spring traps. If you want a safer trap, invest in the caged traps.
Ultrasonic Devices
These devices can scare squirrels away. They use a motion sensor that sets a very irritating noise to the squirrel but inaudible to people.
Repellents
If the squirrels are using your plants as food sources and are destroying them in the process, you can invest in various repellents that will offer a quick solution.
Squirrel Poison
If everything else is not working and you need a solution, then you can purchase squirrel poison. This solution will eliminate the squirrels, but you have to put in more work to find and dispose of the dead squirrels.
Fencing
Fences take time and resources to construct, but they are a worthy investment as they will effectively keep the squirrels out, and you are guaranteed that they will work for a long time.
Safflower Seeds
If you own a bird feeder that squirrels keep messing with, you can mix these seeds with the feed. Squirrels can't stand these seeds and will keep them away from the feeder.
The process of eliminating squirrels requires patience. Sometimes results are not instant. If one method is not working, you could always switch to another. Also, be careful when using pest control methods as they can be dangerous if not handled properly.
If these squirrel options are not working for you, then there is always the option to call a professional pest control team like Empire Pest Control for consultancy or advice on how best to handle the pest menace.