Category Archives: Squirrels

Pest Management, Squirrels

Squirrels: Nuts for Your Walls

Squirrels are seemingly harmless. They’re cute, fluffy, and playful when gallivanting around one’s front yard, picking up acorns and playing tag with one another. One wouldn’t expect a darker side to them, but if you let your guard down for even just one second, they’ll attack! Not really, but they do love to throw nuts at parked vehicles or unsuspecting hikers. Funnily enough, squirrels can be quite the nuisance to homeowners in many ways, including nut chucking. Just don’t judge a book by it’s cover. You might find out how sinister these pests can be.

Squirrels like to nest in your walls. It’s a harsh reality of life; your walls are not safe from these little buggers. Many a person has woken up to the pitter-patter of a squirrel making its nest from bits of insulation and dry wall. They also can be a threat to your electrical wiring. They have been known to chew right through them, which can leave you with two problems: lights out, and dead carcass. Not fun. Another problem is that squirrels are family pests and love to invite thier kin to stay at the free (your name here) motel. Imagine an orchestra of squirrel feet playing just for you.

There are ways to rid you of your squirrel issue. One popular way is to use strobe lights as a way to off set their sense of comfort in your home. This will cause them to leave on their own, and not leave thier bodies laying around. Another way is to seal up thier doors to get in and out. This will ensure that you won’t have a Best Nestern that is open 24/7. Or gee, you could just have an exterminator come in a nuke them. Whatever you do, do it fast before they start checking in and not checking out.

Animal Control, Squirrels

Getting Rid of Squirrels – A Guide

Have you ever awoken in the middle of the night to the seemingly never-ending sound of a dog barking in the distance? How about that one little bird who decides to wake up at three o’clock in the morning and sing his heart out? Just as unpleasant is attempting to find solace in the comfort of your favorite pillow after a long day, but being interrupted by the pitter-patter of little feet scurrying across the attic floor above you.

Squirrels can be a serious problem for some. Getting them out of the house can be a real problem, but there are, in fact, some ways to rid your home of our furry friends, while remaining at peace with your wallet, as well as with the heart of the animal lover.

One thing you can do is to find an animal relocator who will catch the animal in a trap and take them away safely. You can also put out your own traps, baited with peanut butter or sunflower seeds, and drive the trapped animal out to another environment, preferably in the wild, as opposed to another neighborhood. Make sure not to touch the animals, and wear heavy leather gloves when handling the cage.

Moth balls patched into entrance holes are quite effective for driving out squirrels. Also, because of the highly developed senses of most animals, squirrels will be likely to stay away if you wet rags with ammonia and spread them around the general area that the animal is infesting. In addition, leaving a light on and a radio playing non-stop will drive them crazy and, hopefully, away from your home.

Stern Environmental Group, a company that prides itself in innovative and effective ways of ridding homes and other locations of pests, offers 24-hour emergency squirrel control services. The services they provide include: 24-hour squirrel removal, humane squirrel trapping, and quick squirrel removal services, as well as treatment for raccoons, skunks, pigeons, bed bugs, cockroaches, ants, and many other pests.The first step to ridding yourself of your squirrel problem is to take prompt action today!

Animal Control, Squirrels

Squirrels Can Cause Serious Attic Damage

They’re so small, they’re so cute, they’re great acrobats, but when they’re in your attic, they’re incredibly destructive. And I mean really destructive! Now only can squirrels be a destructive problem to the structural wood in your attic and eaves, but they are incredibly tenacious in regards to finding their way into your home and once they have gotten in staying in and coming back.

One summer while we were on vacation, squirrels got into my garbage can. They must have worked all week long chewing through a 1/2 inch thick plastic lid to get to the garbage. Now this was not any can this was one of the professional waste company cans that is maybe 100 gallons in size, huge and on wheels. The squirrels chewed a hole about the size of a large grapefruit into this super hard dense and thick plastic can, just think what they can do to wood which is much softer in just a short period of time.

My sister had a problem with squirrels in her attic. She tried stuffing the holes in the eaves from the inside, she tried putting shields on the drainpipes, as they would jump from the trees and then shimmy up the drainpipe and scurry into their hole and into her attic. She finally had had it when she saw the Mom squirrel teaching the baby how to make the jump and get around the shield. Finally enter the professionals, the squirrels were caught, removed, nesting material cleaned up, and then a roofer had to be called to repair the damage that they had caused. Such small cute little furry creatures caused such a big problem that was a big drain on her pocketbook.

The lesson learned here is that to not wait too long if you think you have a squirrel problem. The longer your delay in dealing with the problem, the more costly the damage and more extensive the repairs. Squirrels are chewers. They don’t have those big chompers up front to eat grass, they like to gnaw like beavers! Once squirrels have nested in your attic, they will return each year to raise their young. Don’t let you home become the new “squirrel resort” on your block, take action now to remove these pests that just look too cute to be a problem.

Nuisance Wildlife Control, Squirrels

Squirrel Antics Amaze and Amuse

We’ve been watching the squirrels gathering nuts and scampering up and down the oak tree in the backyard. Their amazing acrobatics are a continual source of entertainment. Having had the unpleasant experience of sharing my attic with them, I know these rodents can be destructive and unbelievably persistent. But in the yard, I can appreciate their death-defying leaps and sneaky attacks on the bird feeder.

The word squirrel comes from the ancient Greek words skia meaning shadow and oura meaning tail. Translated, a squirrel is an animal that sits in the shadow of its own tail. As a squirrel watcher, it is their tails that have always fascinated me. Beautiful and bushy (except during July when they look more like a rat’s tail during the annual molt), a squirrel’s tail serves many functions.

  • It provides balance as squirrels race up and down and leap between tree branches.
  • It allows them to perform their daring tightrope walks across telephone lines and narrow fence tops.
  • It regulates heat, serving as an umbrella to provide shade on hot, sunny days and becoming a warm, fuzzy blanket on cold, winter nights.
  • Flicked side to side it distracts predators. If caught, it conveniently breaks off, providing a last chance to escape.
  • It acts as a rudder when a squirrel is forced into water. Actually, they’re quite good swimmers, even though it may not be their favorite sport.

Exhibiting excellent muscle control, a squirrel can twist his tail in any direction and make it bush out or lie flat. Squirrels have a host of defensive mechanisms with the tail doing its part. Watch a startled squirrel. First he will freeze, hoping to blend with his environment and become less noticeable. He’ll then scamper up the nearest tree, keeping the trunk between himself and the predator. Once safe himself, the squirrel will make an alarm call, chattering his teeth and making clucking sounds to warn his mates of approaching danger. Bushing his tail and jerking it quickly back and forth to warn other squirrels, he’ll perch on a tree branch, chittering invective down upon his nemesis, trying to warn off the predator.

The best time to catch squirrels at play is two to three hours after sunrise and again two hours before sunset. They spend their afternoons snoozing and rarely leave their nests at night. If there’s not enough squirrel action in your own backyard, click here to watch some amazing videos of these acrobatic fuzzballs in action. My favorite is the little guy who filches a Baby Ruth from inside a candy machine. Amazing!

Nuisance Wildlife Control, Squirrels

Squirrels Fly In to Snack on Your Home

I saw my first flying squirrel today. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing at first. When he leaped off the branch, I was afraid the little critter had a death wish. But he just seemed to glide through the air for an impossibly long time before catching a distant branch and scrambling away. The squirrel’s flight seemed amazing, though I’m not sure I would have thought so if he had been using his skills to soar over to my rooftop for a little destructive munching.

Squirrels like to nest in eaves and attics. It’s easy for flying squirrels to drop in on your roof. They can chew right through your shingles and the underlying wood in their effort to get into your attic to build a cozy nest. They’ll gnaw holes in your soffits and fascia. They’ll sharpen their little teeth on electrical wires, creating a fire hazard. They’ll build nests in your insulation, creating a mess and spreading fleas, ticks, mites and disease. They’ll have babies which will disrupt your sleep with noisy wailing and nighttime scamperings across your ceiling.

Stern Environmental Group provides humane, fast and efficient squirrel removal services. If squirrels fly in to set up home in your attic, our squirrel experts will get rid of them fast. We provide 24-hour squirrel removal. Click here for more information on our squirrel removal services. Click the post title for complete information on Stern Environmental Group’s wildlife removal services. You’ll sleep well tonight when you get “Stern” with your pests.