How to Efficiently Trap Squirrels
Squirrels have chewed their way into your house.
They are running around the walls and attic and you’ve decided to get rid of them.
What’s next?
Our first recommendation is to remove the specific squirrels that are living in your house. This is accomplished efficiently by:
- Identifying entrances/exits
- Putting traps with one-way doors over those entrances/exits
- Blocking off any other ways to get out of the house so the squirrels are routed into the exit covering traps
- Setting standard, baited live traps around the trap covering the exit
We recommend trapping the holes into the house because this is the quickest way to remove the squirrels using this space.
We don’t recommend setting traps on the ground around the house; it is inefficient. When squirrels are captured, you’ll still be wondering if these are the squirrels that are living in the house. This method can capture the specific squirrels living in your structure, but you may catch a lot more curious and hungry squirrels as well. Going to the specific entries/exits give assurance the problem is solved.
Before we continue, take a look at this video to help visualize the process.
Squirrel Trapping Process
When Ryan showed up at the job he saw the young squirrels out on the roof.
As he approached they ran inside the den which is gnawed into the fascia of the house.
Ryan looked around and found that this was the only way in and out. Locating this entrance was pretty easy in this case; step #1 from above was complete.
Ryan next placed a one-way door trap to cover the exit and used wire to wrap the area and funnel the squirrels into the trap. When placed correctly, squirrels exit the hole and their travel is restricted by the wire. They follow the path of least resistance which is through the trap’s door. Once inside, they can’t get back out. This covers steps #2 and #3 from above.
The one-way door trap is intended to catch squirrels that are INSIDE the home when the traps are set.
See this page on the Safeguard web site for a better look at one-way door and “repeater” squirrel traps.
Finally, Ryan placed two live traps with bait in the immediate vicinity to catch squirrels not inside at the time the one-way trap was set. In the video, one is seen to the left of the main set on the roof line. Another live trap is around the corner on the flat roof to the right of the main set. It is visible in the video, just watch carefully.
This style of trap will capture any squirrels that were OUTSIDE of the home when the traps are set and are in the vicinity of the exit/entrance.
See these traps from Tomahawk Live Trap or Safeguard.
Squirrel Removal Complete
Hopefully, this description and video help you visualize what efficient squirrel removal looks like.
If you could use another example please watch another short example video.
In it, you’ll see the two types of trap and their placement.
The mother squirrel is caught on the outside in a cage style trap while the juvenile squirrels are caught coming from the inside in the one-way door/repeater style trap.
You’ll see the temporary blocking Ryan has put in place to seal off one side of the soffit and narrow the other side down for the one-way door.
The only thing you can’t see is the big smile on another happy client’s face–but, it is definitely there.
Squirrel Removal and Repair for Akron / Canton / Kent
When these steps are followed, squirrel problems are resolved efficiently.
Unless there are baby squirrels inside that aren’t coming out on their own, this is the method we recommend.
The traps stay in place until the problem seems resolved.
Noises in the attic or walls will no longer be there because the squirrels are gone. Nothing more will be caught exiting. The outside traps will be empty too as the squirrels seeking that entry/exit are captured.
Then, the REPAIR needs done: but we won;t tackle that in this post.
If young, noisy squirrels have alerted you to a squirrel issue or a squirrel damage issue and are interested in learning more about squirrel removal: we strongly encourage you to look through other blog posts and pages of our web site. We may have some pictures, videos, or descriptions that are oddly similar your current squirrel issue.
You may want to start with:
And, if you live in the Stark, Summit, Portage County, OH area and need a reliable and professional squirrel control company, please contact us today.
