To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Fluffy tailed rat problem

mackrmnn

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Messages
74
Location
Midlothian, VA
I'm having a problem with squirrels in my garage. When I bought the house, squirrels were already living and nesting in the garage. They were entering through a rotten piece of fascia. I have since had that repaired and vinyl siding installed on the garage and house. I thought that would fix the problem until I started hearing them in the attic again. This weekend I found their new entrance. They have chewed through the shingles and roof sheathing near the gutter on the back of the garage. I tried trapping them back before the new siding and caught two before they wised up and stopped going in the trap. Now I'm at a loss. How can I get rid of them and keep them out?!?!?!?!?!
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Striker

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 28, 2006
Messages
131
I would suggest calling a professional exterminator who can either give you DIY tips or can come out and take care of the issue for you.
 

38 Special

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2009
Messages
105
Location
Irondale, Alabama
This worked for me years ago. Take a full roll of toilet paper and pour ammonia on it till it can't hold anymore, lob it as close to their entrance as you can. The ammonia smell drives them away. I heard they associate it with the smell of urine.
 

jay50

Banned
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
3,894
There is only one manly way to do it, and it is a lot of fun.......:bigun2::rocketwho
 

Brad54

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
4,646
Cat and a BB gun will cure 99.9 percent of all rodent problems.

We've got a woods out behind our house, and Boy Wonder killed one squirrel two years ago, and has took shots at several for the rest of that year. All last year and this year, the woods can be thick with squirrels, and we can go out onto the back deck without them taking notice. But as soon as they see him come out with the BB gun, they evaporate.

We've also got three cats, and they've brought in a fair share of them too.

I have yet to see anything small, furry and brown or gray in my house or shop, though we have an empty overgrown lot next door, and woods behind us.

-Brad
 

NO1SMAD

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
59
Location
Cincinnati, Ohio
Always remember do not (I repeat do not ever kill a squisrrel) as you will have all of their relitives show up for the funeral which will last for about two years.
 

krusty the clown

Member Emeritus
Joined
Nov 18, 2007
Messages
7,535
Location
niangua, mo
i have a squirrel problem as well........just the other day a buddy and i were in the shop and watched two of the little vermin mate. we now have a new shop slogan "home of the squirrel ****"
 

-B-

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 4, 2009
Messages
1,567
Location
Northshore of Boston
The first thing to look at are the proximity of trees and tree branches to the house/ garage trim and cut get rid of the highway. Then you can rid yourself of the tree rodents trap / or exterminate my preference is
contool.jpg
 

Junkman

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2006
Messages
6,626
Location
Northeastern CT
The love the mouse poison that I put out, and it keeps them under control with no extra effort. Just make sure that any animals that you want, are kept away from the mouse poison. One added benefit is that so do the chipmunks love it also..
 

67pete300

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
342
Location
East Lyme, CT
Chase them out with a boombox blaring rap music (they particularly hate anything by Easy-E or NWA) and by banging on the eaves (progressively towards the entry/exit) with a broomhandle. When your spotter sees them come out (duck!) fix the hole in the wood with new wood. There is a poison you can mix in the paint when you repaint the new wood. Repair the shingles and slip a piece of aluminum (crawlspace vent covers work perfectly) underneath and bent over the edge of the wood a bit.

Ask me how I know :bounce:

After all that the buggers came back by running up the lines from my AC unit through an aluminum duct leading up to the attic. Get them out again and plug up the space around the lines with steel wool or more cut up aluminum vent cover.

If you trap them inside, trap them with a trap you can get from the county animal control. Be careful walking down the attic ladder with the cage after you get him, he will be pissed. Animal control will pick him up and let him go near your mother-in-law's house.
 

Stuart in MN

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 8, 2005
Messages
23,052
Location
Minneapolis
I had problems with squirrels getting into the soffits of my house. I found the only real cure is to get rid of all the squirrels that are hanging around...if you patch a hole but the squirrels are still around, they'll just chew their way in again. Once they're all gone, make the repairs. More squirrels will eventually come around but they won't be familiar with where the old ones were nesting so they won't try to get in.
 

dreamingmuscle

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2005
Messages
3,472
Location
Tryon Oklahoma
Oh yeah, clean out the nest and spray with something that will cover the nest smell for sometime. Maybe some skunk masking scent from your local hunting suppy isle. Or a roll of toilet paper soaked in ammonia as stated above. Refresh both masking scents until the first of the year.

Glen
________
marijuana hemp
 
Last edited:
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

volvo

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Messages
1,304
Location
PNW 45th Parallel

Torque1st

MEMBER EMERITUS
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
5,668
Location
KC Metro, Kansas
You can trap or kill them forever and you WILL NOT GET RID OF THEM. Others will just move into the habitat that was vacated.

You can however get rid of the ones in a structure. Once a pair have set up a nest in a structure they will chew through just about anything to return to their nest. The only way to stop that is to kill the nesting pair and seal up the structure so others will not enter the structure after they are gone. Transporting the nesting pair away from the area will not work either. They will return to their nest.
 

nissan_crawler

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
9,638
Location
Wichita, KS
Try a high powered pellet gun. By the way, squirrel dumplings are great for hiding the evidence

x2

You can trap or kill them forever and you WILL NOT GET RID OF THEM. Others will just move into the habitat that was vacated.

Not in my experience. The lady next to me feeds the things, then wonders why they are all running around with 3 hairs on their body when there are 2000 of them on the block.

Me, I started picking them off the fence and out of the trees in my yard any time I saw them. The orange crackers she gives them makes great targets.
I probably killed 200 of them in one year...3 years later, I still RARELY see one in my yard, even though her yard and the neighbors is covered. Although, that reminds me...I have one in the gutter to pull out. ******* rolled from the ridge all the way into the gutter.:lol_hitti

KILL THEM ALL. I had $2500 of damage done to ONE DAY OLD kitchen cabinets, and various trim around the house. That one got split in two with a tile mutt. Try explaining that to insurance...:spit: My pickup has been scratched, my siding has been clawed under, I've been trapped on top of my workbench while one went ******* in my garage. That one got a 3/4" steel plate dropped on it's head. If I see one, it's dead. My current trick is to put a cat in the window so the dumb squirrel chatters at it while I sneak out another door and then drive a pellet through it's gray matter.
 

Full Size 66

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
298
Location
Wa.
Man there is some serious squirel anger here. Can't say as I blame you though. Our problems were rats in the crawl under the house. I run a tree service and I get calls all the time to cut back or remove trees that are to close to the structure. The little f@#%*r's will crawl almost anything to get where they want to go.
 
OP
M

mackrmnn

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Messages
74
Location
Midlothian, VA
Man there is some serious squirel anger here. .
I can understand the anger. The Little Bastards have destroyed all the insulation in the garage and it will have to be replaced before I finish the walls and ceiling!

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have tried live traps and now have rat traps and Decon out. So far they have tripped the rat traps twice and have not touched the live trap since the first two were caught. (I'll have to wait and see on the decon but it doesn't look like much has been eaten yet.) I'll try the ammonia but I hesitate to start shooting at them because I don't want to perforate the new vinyl soffits.
 
Last edited:

Brad54

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
4,646
Cat. Go get a free one from the local shelter. Leave it as an outside cat... the squirrels will get the message. Maybe get two. Get females, because even fixed males will mark stuff.
I'm not a big cat person. We have three, mostly against my will. But they're all outside cats, and our yard is vermin-free, while Boy Wonder reports frequently seeing mice and moles in yards all over the neighborhood.

-Brad
 

Torque1st

MEMBER EMERITUS
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
5,668
Location
KC Metro, Kansas
If you go on vacation or quit shooting them for a few weeks they will be back. Besides anytime you are not around they are probably all over your yard. They are cunning little things.:beer:

A squirrel can do a number on a cat so be prepared for vet bills. We have cats, male, female, neutered and not, all over the neighborhood and lots of squirrels also so cats are not the ultimate defense.

Squirrels use overhead wires like highways, power lines, phone lines, cable, they run them all.
 
Last edited:

kbs2244

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
14,065
You have to get rid of at least 2 generations after clearing out the current one.
The kids remember where they grew up.
I have had them chew through galvanized steel.
You also have to clear away any branches that let them jump to and from your roof.
Once they are on the roof they will smell out any warmth come fall and try to get to it.
 

idoine in toronto

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
168
Location
Toronto Ontario Canada
Try putting putting moth balls (the smelly kind) in the areas that they are entering & nesting. Most rodents will avoid this smell. Of course so will most people, so you won't have to worry about any other house guests either.
 

Torque1st

MEMBER EMERITUS
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
5,668
Location
KC Metro, Kansas
The only damage the squirrels have done around my house is to chew on the cedar battens while they sit on top of the gutter downspouts. They have about chewed through in several spots which is not bad for 40 years. When I install new windows this spring they will be trimmed in cedar so I will replace the battens at that time. I will be long gone before they need replacement again.
 

jay50

Banned
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
3,894
The only damage the squirrels have done around my house is to chew on the cedar battens while they sit on top of the gutter downspouts. They have about chewed through in several spots which is not bad for 40 years. When I install new windows this spring they will be trimmed in cedar so I will replace the battens at that time. I will be long gone before they need replacement again.

Get the....:rocketwho after them....
 

hetkind

Banned
Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
995
Location
Johnson City, Tennessee
Between the four cats and two dogs (lab and boxer), our vermin problem is under control. We see the boxer eating a rodent at least once a week. Haven't had any damage yet:)
 

Brad54

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
4,646
A squirrel can do a number on a cat so be prepared for vet bills. We have cats, male, female, neutered and not, all over the neighborhood and lots of squirrels also so cats are not the ultimate defense.

Well, one of our cats IS particularly bad-***. I threw him out of the house 5 years ago because he refused to use a litter box anymore, and the vet said that's the number one reason house cats are put down. Since he was supposed to be a house cat for life, and because he was chewing up the furniture with his rear claws, we had him declawed on all four paws. (he was 5 years old at that time) It was either "take your chances outside" or "the one-way trip to the vet."
He taught himself to hunt, and of the three cats we have (the other two were raised outside), he's the best hunter.

He brings home squirrels a few times a year, and when he does he eats everything but the tail. Everything. CRUNCH!

He also chases off the other toms in the neighborhood. Can't even fathom a squirrel getting the best of him. (Georgia squirrels are a bit smaller than northern squirrels though.)

-Brad
 

Torque1st

MEMBER EMERITUS
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Messages
5,668
Location
KC Metro, Kansas
Cats don't mess with the big gray bastards we have up here. A cat only has a slim chance if they catch one on the ground. In a tree a cat is at a severe disadvantage. Even the big old feral tom next door does not mess with them.

I don't mind the chewing they have done on the house. It will get fixed this year and will be good for the rest of my life.
 

Dagowrench24

Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
11
Location
Akron/Cleveland, OHIO
I had a squirrel problem in a house I was living in most of college. A tree overhang the back of the house and rotted the roof away every year. The landlord never dealt with the tree so we had a pretty interesting array of visitors from spring time to spring time. One year it was a possum one year it was mice and right before I moved out it was squirrels. The best way to get rid of squirrels is to shoot them in the head with a bb gun. When you stop hearing them dancing above your ceiling you know it is time to get on the ladder and patch the entrance they've made. Mine was a corner of flashing right above a gutter where the roof overhang... This way isn't very efficient but it made me feel better!
 

bookman51

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Messages
820
Location
Kearney, Nebraska
As a kid I saw an old old tom cat we had kill a weasel. Cat went under a feedbunk after him. Came back out. Shook his head and went back in. Second time the cat came back out, he had the weasel. We have a feral cat in the area for several years who lives off the prairie dogs in the local prairie dog town. When hungry enough, cats can be pretty tough.

Bookman


Bookman
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom