How to Get Rid of Squirrels

18 Dec How to Get Rid of Squirrels

Squirrels can be a nuisance, but they don’t have to be. Squirrels are opportunistic and adaptable creatures who will take advantage of any food source or way into your house. Luckily, you can take steps to prevent squirrels from entering your home and doing damage. In this article, we’ll explore how to get rid of squirrels once they’ve moved in—and how to keep them out in the future!

trim your trees.

Trim trees to remove branches that are close to your house. The squirrels will have fewer branches and leaves available for nesting, as well as less food for their young.

Trim trees so that there aren’t any branches touching your roof or gutters. This will keep squirrels from climbing onto the roof, which can cause costly water damage when they defecate from high up on a branch and it falls onto the siding or into a gutter.

Trimming trees near your house also makes it harder for them to reach the gutters of houses with flat roofs in order to make nests there, because those branches would otherwise be used as handholds (and sometimes the only way) into these areas.

remove food sources by cleaning up your yard.

• Clean up your yard. Squirrels are opportunistic animals, and they will take advantage of any food source you leave out for them. If you want to get rid of them, you’ll need to remove all of their sources of food in the short term while getting rid of any other attractants in the long term. This means cleaning up after yourself when eating outside (which can be really annoying), taking away bird feeders and squirrel feeders from your yard or apartment complex, and making sure there aren’t leftovers or trash laying around anywhere.

prevent squirrel access to your attic with a chimney cap.

• Prevent access to your attic. Squirrels are notorious for being able to get into the tiniest spaces, so if you have a chimney cap, ensure that it is tightly sealed.
• Keep squirrels out of your yard. If you have a bird feeder or garden, consider moving it away from the house as far as possible and away from trees where squirrels might be able to jump on top of it. This will help keep them out of your yard and prevent them from climbing up onto your roof in search of seeds or nuts that may have fallen off the feeder into nearby bushes!

seal up holes and cracks on the exterior of your home.

• Seal up holes and cracks on the exterior of your home.
• Check for gaps in the foundation, around windows and doors, along pipe vents and utility lines, under decks and porches.

trap squirrels using live traps or caged traps.

For the most humane way to trap squirrels, use an electronic trap or a live cage trap. These traps will not harm the squirrels in any way and will allow you to release them after they are caught.

Cage traps are enclosed boxes with doors that open when triggered by vibrations on the floor of the box. They’re typically used for catching small animals like raccoons, squirrels and chipmunks. Live cage traps are similar to caged traps but have a larger opening so that you can easily put bait inside them before closing their doors. The bait should be something appealing to your target animals so they’ll enter your cage trap willingly without injuring themselves or destroying your equipment in effortless escape attempts! As mentioned earlier, live cages are designed specifically for smaller animals like raccoons and squirrels which makes using one quite easy if done correctly (I’ve tried using this method myself many times over).

Watch out for other animals that may try to move in once the squirrels are gone, too!

The squirrels are not the only animals that may try to move in if you get rid of them. Raccoons and opossums are also common predators of bird feeders, and rats love to eat birdseed. You should be wary of these animals when making your plan for how to get rid of squirrels.

If you have other pets or small children, it’s important to protect yourself from their spread as well as the spread of diseases they carry such as fleas and ticks. Once an animal has moved into your home or yard, it’s difficult (and sometimes impossible) to remove it without causing harm—especially if the animal is larger than a mouse!

Conclusion

To get rid of squirrels, there are several things you can do. You should make sure your trees aren’t too close to the house and that they don’t have any food or shelter. You can also put up a chimney cap or seal up holes on the exterior of your home so they can’t get in!