How to Chase Squirrels Out of Your Attic

A squirrel can jump off the branch of a nearby tree and onto your roof, and before you know it, it is inside your attic and making a nest. You may hear it occasionally running around or smell it. If you don't want to kill the squirrel, there is simple method you can employ to drive it out of your attic.

Things You'll Need

• Common household ammonia
• 4 to 8 plastic dish pans
• Household rubber gloves
• Paper face mask
• Rope or clothes line, approximately 50 feet
• Old towels or heavy rags
• Chicken wire

Instructions

1. Make sure that your entry door into the attic from your home has a tight seal when the door is closed and there are no openings that a squirrel could fit through. Keep the door closed while doing this work.

2. Tie pieces of rope around the towels or rags, allowing long pieces of rope to hang as a draw string.

3. Put on your face mask because ammonia has a very strong smell, and use rubber gloves when handling. Place the pans around the edges of the attic perimeter. Make sure you have one pan set up in each of the four corners of the attic and particularly where you think the squirrels may be living.

4. Fill the pans halfway or three-fourths of the way with ammonia, being careful not to get too close and breathe it in. Also, fill a pan halfway up and place it in the middle of the attic.

5. Dip the towels into the ammonia pan in the center of the attic, and then place the wet towels into the corners of the attic and along the perimeter, in places where you don't already have pans set up. Drag the soaked towels along the edges as well, where you can. Try to permeate the perimeter of the attic with the ammonia.

6. If you see an opening you know the squirrels are using, you don't want to stuff it will the ammonia soaked towel. Leave that as an escape route for them. The squirrels will leave the area as quick as they can to avoid the pungent smell of the ammonia.

7. Refresh your pans and towels with ammonia for one to two weeks, until the squirrels have left and repairs can be made to close their entry points.

8. Seal off the entry routes from the outside with 1/4-inch chicken wire, once you have chased the squirrels out.

9. Remove the dried ammonia towels and all ammonia pans after they have served their purpose, for fire hazard precautions. This is one of the reasons the towels are tied with rope leashes -- so you can locate and remove them easily.

Tips & Warnings

• There is a chance that baby squirrels were not able to leave or be carried out by the mother. In this event, they will die off due to lack of food and water. Any temporary foul odors should rise up and out and not effect your home below.

• When sealing off entry points, nail 1/4-inch chicken wire first or screw in sheet sheet metal, then the wood repair over it. A squirrel can gnaw a new opening into your fresh wood at a corner, but they can't chew through chicken wire or metal.

• Consider eliminating their routes for entry, like the branch hanging over your roof for instance.

• Remove the dried up ammonia towels and all ammonia pans after they have served their purpose, for fire hazard precautions. This is one of the reasons the towels are tied with rope leashes, so you can locate and remove them easily.

• Ammonia vapors can be flammable under specific conditions with a strong ignition source so keep flames away.

• The odor of the ammonia should rise up and out through the roof vents and not float into your lower living area. If however, due to drafting or venting, you experience the ammonia in your living space, remove the ammonia until you can create an up draft.

• Never stick your hand into an area that you think squirrels are living.

• Do not corner or confront a squirrel. Leave and come back later if you need to finish your work or call in a professional. Generally though, the squirrel will only be thinking about how to get out of there.

References

• Colorado State University: Wildlife Management