Squirrel(s) in my attic! Help!

amother

Tue, May 08 2012, 7:35 pm

Don't know how brave you are, but you can do it yourself and save some money.

We had a few squirrels. We called a pest company (maybe aleph bais pest control or something like that. I don't remember). They charged to put out the trap and remove the squirrel. It was not rocket science but cost a lot of money.

We bought some traps (maybe lowes, I don't remember.) put in peanut butter and caught some squirrels ourselves.

You also have to take preventative measures or they will keep coming back:
Cut back any branches over hanging the house. It cost us about $500 but I think it helped a lot.
Patch any wholes in your roof, gutter, where the chimney runs along your house, siding. DH did some of it himself by buying a spray that expands. We also replaced the netting over our attic fan because they were coming through there. A good exterminator should be able to check that out (don't know of one off hand)
Don't block up any holes until they are gone or they won't be able to get out and create new holes.

And this is why I'm amother:
It is illegal in NJ to kill squirrels. Anyways don't put out poison in your attic. If they die there you can get bad maggots that are hard to get rid of and it can smelly really bad in the summer.
We did put rat poison and glue traps in our gutters and rat poison in our garbage can.
DH works with electricity and he is scared of squirrels. He said they can eat through wires and cause fires (which are not covered until home insurance if it can be proven)
We kill the squirrels that we find. It sounds horrible but I feel like we are saving our own family by doing this. I always feel bad, but am I going to feel bad for a squirrel over my own children?

Make sure any exterminator you get will do a good job getting rid of the squirrel so you don't keep paying to have the same one removed.

amother

Tue, May 08 2012, 7:54 pm

Thanks so much, amother!

Unfortunately, neither my husband or me are the type to climb roofs or set out and collect traps. I called an exterminating company, but they don't deal with squirrels. They recommended Wildlife Removal Co which is exactly the company I had found online: http://www.wildlife-removal.co.....d.htm After reading through the website, I see that they won't quote a price over the phone, but will come down and give an extimate for a fee. Of course, I want to pay as little as possible, but a quality job is a must. As you posted, amother, squirrels can cause lots of damage. If anyone's heard of this company or has a different recommendation, please post. Thank you.