Squirrel Removal and Squirrel Control is a very common service that is provided throughout Central Florida including Tampa, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie and the surrounding areas. Squirrels are used to being around humans and a majority or their food sources are from scraps of food that can be found on your property. We specialize in Squirrel Removal, Squirrel Trapping, and complete Squirrel Control solutions.
We understand the complexities of dealing with these animals and can provide you with the best solutions.
While a squirrel looks more innocent than other rodents, it can still be as troublesome as rats or mice. Thanks to their great climbing ability and sharp teeth, a squirrel can do more than its fair share of damage, as you’ll find out below.
A squirrel problem will almost certainly start from the outside, and your garden will usually be these pests’ first victim. Fruits and vegetables might start disappearing and turning into squirrel food. You’ll start seeing some flowers being munched up or dug out. The garden you worked so hard to create will also slowly resemble a minefield, as squirrels dig up holes here and there to stash some food for the winter.
Once established in your garden, squirrels will start making their way inside your home. While they’re small and can fit through a one-inch hole, they’re known to create their own openings by chewing and gnawing at your walls. That means that your beautiful house will be reduced to Swiss cheese.
While that may seem pretty bad on its own, a squirrel’s real work doesn’t begin until they get inside your home. Squirrels are infamous for their love of wood. Any wooden furniture they come across is likely to be used as a tooth sharpener, and slowly ground up into sawdust.
Squirrels are excellent climbers who sometimes end up in your chimney to build a nest or because they are stuck. This is very frustrating because it stops you from using your fireplace, since doing so would kill the animals.
After waiting days or weeks for them to leave on their own, you may be tempted to burn your problem away. But you should not use the fireplace. It is very inhumane to burn the squirrels alive, but you also run the risk of burning the nesting material which could burn your house down.
Another way to make squirrels uncomfortable in their new home is with the use of eviction fluid. These liquids smell like raccoons and other predators, so it will scare the squirrels and force them to flee. Like with loud noises, this method does not always work. Exclusion is a complicated but effective method, and it is often used by professional wildlife removal companies. It involves installing one-way exits to the chimney. These allow the squirrels to leave, but stops them from getting back inside.
Trapping is another difficult but effective method used by professionals. You set up live traps near the fireplace and use peanut butter as bait. You then open the fireplace doors to let the squirrels into your home. (Make sure to leave the room and close all doors.) Once you’ve caught the squirrel, you can relocate them away from your home. With this method, you should be cautious of squirrel kits in the chimney. These need to be manually removed and then relocated with their parents.
From a squirrel’s point of view, a chimney is a very cozy spot. It’s close to their sources of food, it keeps them safe from the elements, and it keeps them away from predators. You can change that by making loud noises and making the chimney an uncomfortable place to live in. The sudden loud noises from banging pots and pans or the radio will scare these rodents and make them leave. Just keep in mind that this method does not always work. Sometimes the appeal of safety outweighs the sudden loud sounds.
Sometimes a squirrel gets too curious for their own good, so they wander into your chimney. Once inside, they find it difficult to scale the smooth walls on the inside, and they are effectively trapped. When this happens, the squirrel wants to leave as much as you want them to, but they can’t. That’s why the best thing you can do is to drop down some rope to help the squirrels climb out of the chimney.
Squirrel removal is a difficult and time-consuming process, which is why we recommend you contact a professional to assist you. These experts will be able to effectively eliminate the wild animals in your chimney, saving you plenty of time and effort. They have the know-how and expertise to solve the issue, so we recommend you call a professional.
Chimney caps are crucial for keeping wild animals out of the chimney, so it is recommended you install one. If you already have a chimney cap, you should do regular maintenance to ensure it’s in great condition.
Both removing and preventing squirrels can be challenging, so you should consider leaving it to the professionals. It will save you lots of time and effort, and you can get better results.
Nuisance Wildlife Rangers have years of experience and can remove and help prevent squirrels from entering your attic. So call us at (877) 741-7703 to schedule our services today!
Squirrels may look innocent, but these small animals can cause big problems. Not only do they chew through furniture, but they can also destroy any pipes or wires in your attic — which can lead to water damage and fires, respectively.
For those reasons and more, you should remove squirrels from your attic as soon as possible.
Like most living things, squirrels get scared of sudden bright lights and loud noises. You can use this fact to make squirrels uncomfortable by placing strobe lights, radios, or specialized devices in the attic.
This sometimes gives the desired result, especially if the squirrels have recently entered the attic. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work if the squirrels have already made themselves at home.
You can sometimes use mothballs and other repellents to remove small animals like squirrels from your attic. But this isn’t always effective. Mothballs also put small children or pets in danger, and do not guarantee results.
A live trap is an excellent choice for removing squirrels, because of how effective it is. You can remove wild animals even if they’ve made themselves at home. To improve the effectiveness, you could use nuts or apples as bait. After capturing the animal, you should relocate the squirrels at least 3 miles away to prevent them from finding their way back in.
When trapping squirrels in an attic, keep two things in mind:
Exclusion is the best way of removing squirrels from an attic. It uses their behaviors against them, and is guaranteed to work. You simply need to follow these steps:
Like with live traps, you need to be cautious of newborn squirrels in the attic. It is recommended you contact a professional for squirrel exclusion.
Removing squirrels is important, but other squirrels or wild animals will quickly replace them unless you take preventative measures.
1. Remove Food Sources
One of the main reasons that squirrels enter your attic is because it gives them easy access to food. By removing the food, the squirrels have less of a reason to stick around.
You should secure garbage cans whenever you throw out the trash. Make sure the lid is fastened on, so squirrels and other animals can’t rummage through it.
You should also remove bird feeders because squirrels are attracted to the seeds you leave. Alternatively, you might want to try squirrel-proof bird feeders (though they aren’t always effective). Or you could try using squirrel-proof bird food, which is spicy to irritate squirrels but leave birds unaffected.
2. Remove Access
You should also find out how squirrels are getting into your attic and remove their access.
One approach is to cut nearby tree limbs. Squirrels are great climbers, and they often use nearby trees to jump onto your roof or attic. By removing trimming the branches, you make it harder for them to reach your attic.
Chimneys are one of the most common ways that squirrels get into your home. That’s why you should check and repair chimney caps frequently.
Keep in mind that squirrels are small animals, so they can sneak in through the smallest of holes. You should find and seal holes on the roof or walls.
Your furniture isn’t the only thing they like to chew on, however, as one of their favorite chew toys is the wiring in your home. The rubber insulation that surrounds most wires serves to sharpen and strengthen their teeth. Unfortunately, this can cause plenty of its own problems as various electronic devices in your home might give out and fail. The health and safety of your family could also be threatened, as the chewed rubber would leave the wire exposed and could result in electrocution. If that doesn’t happen, it could still overheat because of the lack of rubber insulation and start a fire.
Yet the squirrels chewing habit doesn’t end there. Not even your PVC pipes are safe, as squirrels start gnawing at them. This causes your pipes to crack or burst. If left unchecked, you’ll soon find a chewed pipe doing plenty of damage as it starts flooding your home.
Even if they don’t damage your wiring or pipes, they’re known to start stealing some of your things to help build their nests. They’re particularly fond of soft material. Anything from blankets and towels to mattresses could be ripped and used to construct their little homes. Your favorite book might also be torn up as they use the cover or pages as nest insulation.
That’s not all, as a squirrel will usually build its nest in your chimney or in your home’s vents. Try to enjoy your fireplace or turn on the heat, and those soft and cozy materials in the nest will start to burn, bringing your whole home down with them.
Squirrels may appear innocent enough, but they’re just as devious as rats. They’ll rip up your garden, chew through your walls, treat your wooden furniture like chew toys, cause plenty of damage by chewing on wires and pipes, and steal your stuff to build nests that could burn everything you own.
That’s why you should always get rid of a squirrel the moment it’s spotted before it gets the chance to wreak havoc. If you live in Florida, be sure to call Nuisance Wildlife Rangers to help fix any and all squirrel related issues before it’s too late.
Attic restoration is the next big step you need to take, once you’ve had your nuisance wildlife problem handled. Whether you opted for DIY animal removal or called a professional, you will need to invest in proper attic restoration, to bring back your property’s former glory.
While many wildlife removal services also offer professional attic restoration, you may be wondering why you ought to pay for something that, seemingly, you can take care of yourself.
Well, that’s precisely what we set out to clarify in this article.
The idea behind attic restoration is that nuisance wildlife that take up residence in your home tend to also be responsible for quite a bit of damage to your home. Obviously, the precise sort of damage you can expect will depend on the animal you’ve been housing.
But nuisance wildlife is often responsible for trampled insulation, damaged electrical wires, ruined furniture, weakened support structures, and lots of other debris in your attic.
The simple answer to that is, it’s a lot safer. Obviously, as we were just saying, you don’t want to play fast and loose with the stability or safety of your home, and that’s essentially what you would be doing, attempting to restore damaged structures or wires on your own.
Another argument for hiring a pro to do your attic restoration for you is that many people assume they’ll be saving a lot of money in doing it on their own. But once you consider all the replacement materials, cleaning and protective equipment (not to mention the things you’ll need for sealing entry points), you end up with quite a steep tab.
Add to that the time and effort you will need to put in, which will be considerably more than experts who’ve done attic restoration hundreds of times, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster.
At the end of the day, hiring a pro to do your attic restoration is safer, and more efficient (as you get a guarantee of a job well done), and less time consuming.
Gutter cleaning is a task that most people don’t want to mess with. Whether it’s because gutter cleaning can prove time-consuming, expensive, or difficult, there are countless reasons people use it. Even still, it’s a particularly important aspect of home owning, or even owning property in general. Gutters provide a high level of protection and security to your property during any season and any weather, and it’s important to clean them. So, here’s why you need regular gutter cleaning:
With just these four reasons, it should give you a good idea as to why regular gutter cleaning is worth it. The potential danger and costs of not cleaning out your gutters are definitely worse than the day or two spent cleaning it. That’s even ignoring the potential for you to call a team, like ours at Nuisance Wildlife Rangers, who can take care of the hard work for you.
Sure, gutters can be either difficult, expensive, or time consuming to clean, although it is definitely less of all of the above, then the alternatives. As mentioned, overflowed gutters can cause serious damage to your home, and potentially you. The erosion presented can remove the foundations of your home, whether by expanding during different temperatures or removing support, and broken gutters can fall and injure. Insects spawning in still water aren’t great either and that’s ignoring the fact that all four of these issues can happen at once.
That’s why it’s important to put a day aside, at least once a month, for either you or a professional team to clean. As mentioned, at Nuisance Wildlife Rangers, we offer not only wildlife services, but also gutter cleaning and guard installation. We’re more than happy to take your call for either questions or service requests. After all, Nuisance Wildlife Rangers is only one call or message away!