Dealing With Squirrels

How Mississauga Pest Control Services Deals With Squirrels

If you’re not sure what animal is in your attic, call us 905-270-1916, our trained operators will identify the culprit with a few quick questions. Once we identify the pest as a squirrel our technician will come out to your home go up on your roof, do a thorough inspection and give you a free quote. We will show you the places where the squirrel has gnawed holes to gain entry to your attic. We will also inspect your roof to determine any other vulnerable areas and secure these areas using rust proof screens to prevent them from getting back in. During baby season we will go into your attic to inspect for a den site. Babies will be removed and placed in an incubator box on the roof where the mother will find them. She will take her babies to one of her other den sites. By ensuring that the mother has her babies we significantly reduce her drive to reenter your attic preventing her doing damage to your roof. Squirrel baby season starts in early March. This process not only humanely removes the animals from your attic but permanently prevents reentry in the future.

Why don’t we trap?

Live trapping is effective in catching squirrels but does not prevent reentry. Sometimes trapping in an attic or on a roof will catch 20 or 30 squirrels in the first week. If you are lucky enough to catch the squirrel living in your attic, another squirrel or other animal will smell out the den site and take up residence, often in less than 24 hours. Mississauga Pest Control Services exclusion system simply locks them out and keeps them out, usually within hours. There are occasionally situations where live trapping is effective but on the whole exclusion provides the best results for the lowest cost. We warranty all our work and will protect your financial investment.

Tips for Prevention

Make sure you clean your eavestroughs at least once a year. Clogged eavestroughs will gradually rot the fascia board behind it and make it much easier for squirrels to gnaw through. Check your roof for wear and tear by looking for missing shingles or areas where the edges of shingles may be curled. Don’t feed them if you don’t want them around and be aware of bird feeders, as they are a good source of food for squirrels and other pests as well. Even if squirrels can’t actually get to the bird feeder, birds are notoriously sloppy eaters and spill far more seeds on the ground than they eat. These steps certainly won’t prevent squirrels from coming onto your property but should at least help keep their numbers lower.

Squirrels in your attic

An attic vent is an easy access point which they can gnaw through to gain access to the attic.

At the base of the plumbing stack is a plastic or rubber seal that prevents water leaking into the attic space. Squirrels will gnaw the seal making a large hole in the roof and creating an entry. In some cases, squirrels will gnaw at the fascia vent gap at the edge of the roof to gain entry.

Since squirrels are incredible climbers, they have access to some of the most remote parts of the home or business. A majority of chimneys do have some sort of cap on them, but some aren't "squirrel proof", and some chimneys don't have any protection from wildlife. Squirrels will sometimes either fall down a chimney and become trapped in the fireplace or occasionally if they are able to climb the flu they will take up residence in a chimney and even raise a litter of young directly on top of the damper.

Once the squirrel has gained entry to your attic, you will immediately notice how loud and annoying they can be. Squirrels wake early, usually around 6:30am and seem to enjoy running laps of the attic as soon as they are up. Running around in the attic and jumping several feet from the joists is usually loud enough to hear from 2 floors below. That is only the beginning of the problems associated with squirrels in your attic. Your home or business has become the home of the squirrel, worse still; other animals are attracted to the scent of a den site making it a target site for more unwanted pests like squirrels or bats.

What sort of damage can they do to my home?

Squirrels are the second most common cause of power failure after weather. The wires in your attic look like sticks or roots to a squirrel and they will often gnaw them to add to a nest site. Squirrels are also a very common cause of fires. Feces may contain leptospirosis and salmonella.

Attic restoration

In some cases squirrels may establish a den site in your home or business undetected. Nearly all houses built today have blown in insulation which is very delicate and easily damaged by being trampled. Insulation resembles light snow in that when an animal walks through it a deep trail is left behind.If the animal is not removed heating bills will gradually increase, sometimes by 100%. Re-insulating may become necessary and is very expensive. The squirrels can cause extensive damage over the course of several months, especially if there are babies. Squirrels also gnaw through vapour barrier and drywall, and gnaw or damage electrical wiring. They are a major cause of fires. At this point, after the animals have been removed our technician will recommend conducting an attic restoration. This is an additional service offered by Mississauga Pest Control services.

Ready to deal with your Squirrel issue?

Let the experts at Mississauga Pest & Wildlife Control Services at 905-270-1916 or 1-888-390-PEST(7378), as one of our trained, experienced professionals will be able to determine how we can help with your squirrel issue.

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