How Did I Get Squirrels in My House?
Don’t blame yourself…it’s most likely not your fault. The squirrels probably moved in because of either:
- high populations and lack of good denning trees OR
- they just took advantage of a design element that gave them an easy opportunity
This blog post highlights squirrels that take advantage of design elements and discusses what can be done to resolve such problems.
Design Leads to Squirrel Problems
Our urban and suburban nuisance animal species, including squirrels, are opportunists. Give them an inch (or some food and a safe/warm/dry shelter) and they’ll take a mile.
When they do, they often end up living in our structures and becoming pests.
When squirrels move into attics, it is our job to 1) get them out of the structure (trapping) and 2) suggest ways to keep out future intrusions (repair/exclusion).
Trapping is pretty straightforward…Overcoming squirrel-prone design is often the challenge.
Squirrels can and will get into any home they want but, some homes are just simply prone to animal intrusions because of their design.
Specific elements that squirrels love to exploit are homes with overhangs, gaps of some sort, and the areas where distinct roof lines intersect.
For a visual of this take a look at this picture.
Click to make bigger
What do you see beyond all the squirrels in the trap?:) Try to look at it like a mother squirrel would. There is a wall on one side, a chimney on the other, and a slanted roof to work off of. This small gap behind the chimney provides a great little place to explore. It sort of resembles the hollow of a tree, right?
Well, a squirrel investigated this gap and found safety from the elements and predators. She proceeded to make a hole into the house up where the overhang of the roof met the roof that the traps are on. The next thing the homeowner knew, there were squirrels in the attic.
We got called to trap the squirrels and we did so.
The Squirrels are Trapped…Is The Problem Solved?
For the time being, yes. But if it happened once, what’s to stop it from happening again?
We offer that quality nuisance animal removers offer suggestions on how to keep the problem from recurring, especially if a design element of the home was partially to blame for the squirrel intrusion.
The hole needs patched for sure. But, what else can be done?
Could this area be squirrel-proofed in any way? Could something be done about the squirrel-inviting design to lessen the odds that a squirrel will choose this spot gain.
Click to enlarge
How would you do it?
Here’s what we came up with.
The goal of this repair is to keep squirrels and other animals out of that little spot behind the chimney and under the overhanging roof.
Letting squirrels into this design element is just asking for trouble.
By solidly blocking this area, the design which invited the squirrels has been nullified.
This area is definitely much less inviting to squirrels (as well as raccoons, birds, etc).
Removal. Exclusion. Solution.
When nuisance animals get into homes, it is important to remove the offenders AND make a quality, thoughtful repair.
When an animal points out the weakness in a home’s design, take the opportunity to address this design element so the problem doesn’t happen again.
Frontline Animal Removal traps squirrels and other nuisance animals in the Akron / Canton / Kent, OH area.
If you are interested in our trapping and repair services please contact us today or continue on to other parts of our website.
