How to Get Rid of Squirrels Without Harming Them

Do not feed squirrels if you do not want them near your home.

Prevention is best when it comes to keeping squirrels out of your home. But if squirrels have already made their way inside, you may need a humane option for getting rid of them. Once you have successfully evicted the squirrels, you will need to implement preventative measures to keep the same squirrels or others from coming back into your home. Consult a professional humane wildlife control outfit rather than an exterminator if you want help. Otherwise, you can try to get rid of the animals on your own.

Things You'll Need

• Strobe light or ultrasonic device
• Steel screen
• Tree trimmer
• Squirrel bafflers and / or chicken wire
• Ropel Animal Repellent or pepper sauce

Instructions

1. Install a strobe light or ultrasonic sound device in your attic, crawl space or any other place where squirrels have taken up residence. Often, this will irritate and disorient squirrels enough to make them abandon the house. Alternatively, a one-way "animal excluder" can be installed over the squirrel's point of entry so that when the squirrel leaves to forage for food, it cannot return. A company called Tomahawk Live Trap makes such a device.

2. Identify and seal shut any entry points to your home with a heavy steel screen. The most likely areas are where the eaves meet the roof, roof or dryer vents, plumbing stacks and chimneys.

3. Trim back branches of trees near your house. Squirrels usually enter at roof level, so trimming back branches that lead to your roof may help. Tree branches should be at least 15 feet from your home.

4. Remove sources of food for the squirrel. Remove bird feeders, or at least fit them with squirrel bafflers, clean up seed that falls to the ground, and seal your garbage. Do not feed pets outdoors, and squirrel-proof your vegetable garden with chicken wire.

5. Ropel Animal Repellent or pepper sauce can be used to keep squirrels from chewing on your home. They often chew simply to keep their teeth trimmed or gain access to your home.

Tips & Warnings

• At all costs, avoid separating a mother from her helpless babies hiding in a nest in your home. Nesting season is usually winter and late summer. A mother squirrel may have missing fur, pulled out to make a nest, as well as protruding nipples.

• Humane traps such as the Havahart can be used for capture and relocation of squirrels or if you have accidentally sealed a squirrel up inside your home. But relocation of wild squirrels is problematic and sometimes illegal. The squirrel will have to re-establish a territory among the squirrels already living in the new area. Many relocated wild animals die of starvation or predation.

References

• The Skunk Whisperer: Suburban Squirrel Relocation Study Results
• Rodent Strobe