Squirrel damage to shop and house

[DAVE VAN]

How can I get rid of squirrels on my roof.They are chewing on the soffets and gutters and causing a lot of roof damage. I live in the city limits so 22 shooting is not allowed. Need some ideas!

 

[bluedog225]

Look up squirrel catapult. Fun stuff.

 

[seanq]

use a havahart trap, then dispose of body

 

[CombatNinja]

Look up simple snares. Probably illegal but they fall or it over and over without fail. Lean a branch up against tree with a snare on it, they will take the easy way up the tree every freaking time and get caught and die. They sometimes make a little noise for a minute or two so if you have nosy neighbors, be advised.

 

[four.cycle]

air-powered pellet gun will take them out, but you have to be a damn good shot (or buy a model with a scope.)

kill them all.

make no apologies.

I own a little HavaHart. It's a pain in the ***. You've got a pissed-off animal and you're supposed to relocate it? When I lived up in West Seattle, I called the city about the squirrels.
"Just... whatever you do, do NOT take them down to Lincoln Park," she told me.
"What do I do with 'em?"
"You can relocate them to another part of the city, but you cannot take them outside the city limits. Dropping them off in a wooded area is suggested."

There used to be an old creosote plant just west of Harbor Island - on the eastern shore of Elliot Bay.
I figured "Hey, WOODED area!"
I sure hope those squirrels found a happy little home down there before they demolished the site and built the new container facility.

 

[Wrench97]

Usually they live near where there is food for them to eat, you can trap them by the 100's but as long as there is a food source more will come. Eliminate the food source and they will leave.

 

[ambenz]

....smart advice IF acorn trees are not involved....
I have an acorn tree....and bought a pellet gun.
Cheaper than an axe.
One thing about having squirrels is they eat mice!
I have seen it. So you can chop down the acorn and walnut tree but then, you might get mice, then cat and fox to eat the mice, then cat loving women to feed the feral cat and more and more.
Best to just keep the squirrels honest and scared of your property, wound but don't kill.

 

[four.cycle]

Eliminate the food source and they will leave.

oh.. you mean murder all of your neighbors that are feeding the damn things?

 

[Stuart in MN]

use a havahart trap, then dispose of body

This is what worked for me. You have to eliminate all of the current population, before repairing all damage - if any are left they'll know about the spots where their brethren were chewing and they'll come right back to those spots and resume the chewing within minutes. More squirrels will come later but they won't know about the previously damaged spots.

 

[BMW Rider]

I own a little HavaHart. It's a pain in the ***. You've got a pissed-off animal and you're supposed to relocate it?

The ones I catch get to go cage diving in the rain barrel. We have eastern grey squirrels that are not natural to the area and thus are an invasive species and not protected.

I used to catch quite a few when I first got after them, now we have a few bobcats frequenting our neighbourhood and the squirrel (and jack rabbit) numbers have declined noticeably. A few neighbourhood cats have disappeared too, but then they shouldn't have been out roaming loose anyway.

 

[Spud McGee]

I've got a break action pellet rifle. 1400fps, 0.177 pellets. That with the expanding pellets blow the back side out of a squirrel from across the yard.

Its weird, though. Any pellet over like 1100fps is gonna break the sound barrier and be kinda loud. Ive got a 22 lever gun with the CCI quiet ammo thats stupid quiet. But somehow the louder pellet gun is legal to shoot more places than the quieted 22lr.

 

[four.cycle]

We have eastern grey squirrels that are not natural to the area

The Eastern Gray Squirrel's original habitat range did not extend west of the Mississippi.
Anecdotally, it is reported that both the Eastern Gray Squirrel and the Virginia Opposum were brought west by loggers from the southeastern U.S. beginning in the 1920s.
Neither animal is indigenous to the western half of the North American continent.

Some will argue that "they're all God's creatures."

I would posit that my actions are making them closer to their God.

 

[ncornilsen]

I lived in Portland OR and had a neighbor who fed squirrels. A coffee can of peanuts off her back porch every evening. The squirrels proceeded to destroy all kinds of things on my property, and the feed attracted rats who got in my garage all the time.
I had another neighbor who was tired of it. After talking to her several times, confirming that they were all invasive eastern greys, This is what he did.
He got a Conibear 220 bodygrip trap, and consulted with a lawyer about the legality of the situation. He read the laws and prepped a script for the police, who we all knew squirrel lady would call.
Set the traps, baited with peanut butter, on the paths they took to her feeder.
The squirrels, when trapped, were visible from where she fed the squirrels. The calculus was clear - feed the squirrels, you attract them to the traps. He trapped almost 100 squirrels over the course of a summer. for a long time, the traps were all full every afternoon.
she DID call the police, several times. They threatened charges the first time, but the script and lawyer thing stopped that. Eventually the police quit bothering us, and the horrible lady moved.
When that happened, we stopped trapping, and the squires were still around but not out of control. They were 100 times as fearful and didn't stick around and damage anything.

 

[four.cycle]

^ A neighbor of my mother's, when she was living in Fircrest, was feeding the squirrels raw peanuts.
Not only was I pulling up peanut plants out of her flowerbeds when I went over there to do the weeding, I also had to replace a portion of the deck railing where squirrels had chewed off the end of it.
After three days of fiddling around with wires and connections, my oldest sister finally called the Cable TV company to see why Mom couldn't get a signal. Their field repairman came out the next day and discovered that the wires coming in from the street had all been chewed up by squirrels.

That was all before the rats discovered that plentiful treasure trove of peanuts and the crawl space under my mother's house.

NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS later, she had all new black poly sheeting and insulation under her house, after a five-man crew wearing full haz-mat suits spent an entire week cleaning rat **** and pissed-on insulation out from under the house.

Again, kill them all.

Make no apologies.

Your homeowner's insurance policy does not cover vermin infestations. You're on your own financially on that one.

 

[BMW Rider]

The Eastern Gray Squirrel's original habitat range did not extend west of the Mississippi.
Anecdotally, it is reported that both the Eastern Gray Squirrel and the Virginia Opposum were brought west by loggers from the southeastern U.S. beginning in the 1920s.
Neither animal is indigenous to the western half of the North American continent.

Some will argue that "they're all God's creatures."

I would posit that my actions are making them closer to their God.

The population we have is fairly local to our city and general area but are spreading causing concern for native species which are much smaller and can be out competed by the larger greys. They escaped from captivity back in the 1930s due to a flood.

 

[paredown]

The only thing more destructive than squirrels are raccoons. And yes, I helped a neighbor completely redo the attic insulation because a pregnant mother got into their attic to raise her litter--and it was over $12k--pros to do the removal of old material and spray de-stink/disinfectant, and me and a friend doing the replacement.

Their insurance did cover repairs--so that was good.

To remove, we found a local guy who showed up with his ladders and cages, and who dove into the blind dormer of the attic through one of those decorative octagon vents and emerged with caged raccoon momma and babies. We still have no idea how he managed it without bleeding.

Post infestation, we went around and put solid material under the cheap-*** vinyl soffits on all the easily accessible corners, replaced the vinyl porch roof material with solid PVC beadboard, added simple scuppers on the gutters. And screwed/pop-riveted the **** out of every piece of snap-together material on the corners.

She's had multiple break-in attempts since--so far no critters in the attic, so we'll call that a win.

 

[seagravedriver]

^ A neighbor of my mother's, when she was living in Fircrest, was feeding the squirrels raw peanuts.
Not only was I pulling up peanut plants out of her flowerbeds when I went over there to do the weeding, I also had to replace a portion of the deck railing where squirrels had chewed off the end of it.
After three days of fiddling around with wires and connections, my oldest sister finally called the Cable TV company to see why Mom couldn't get a signal. Their field repairman came out the next day and discovered that the wires coming in from the street had all been chewed up by squirrels.

That was all before the rats discovered that plentiful treasure trove of peanuts and the crawl space under my mother's house.

NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS later, she had all new black poly sheeting and insulation under her house, after a five-man crew wearing full haz-mat suits spent an entire week cleaning rat **** and pissed-on insulation out from under the house.

Again, kill them all.

Make no apologies.

Your homeowner's insurance policy does not cover vermin infestations. You're on your own financially on that one.

I lived in Edgewood WA and a neighbor fed EVERTHING! 4k damage from rats under our house. I was catching 5 to 10 rats a day, countless squirrels, and what a flipping MESS they left. The man moved to an assisted living center, his wife paid us to clean up the mess in their yard. Food source gone, problem gone. My kids came home from school and would sit in the window with a pellet gun and "pop rats" and other vermin. Our latest move into un-incorporated Pierce County gives us neighbors with chickens, but I am on acreage, so I expect it. I am aggressive with trapping, and I have learned a lot about it. Agreed, no apologies!

 

[four.cycle]

^ Ugh. Chickens. our cabin on the Nisqually was right across the river from Wilcox farms. I love eggs, but damn chickens stink!

I have neighbors who put food out for the deer. Lady across the street had a $35,000.00 fence taken down and removed so she could watch the deer in her front yard. Later she planted six apple trees across the front so the deer would have more to eat.

Don't know if you saw the photo I posted during the last few hours looking off my back deck at the smoke. The string and flag tape and all that "structure" in the foreground is my attempt to keep the damn deer away from my tomato plants! GAH!

@paredown

I would agree that raccoons are even more vile creatures than squirrels. For reasons I don't understand, the local population plummeted recently. I cannot help but think that the closure of "Five Mile Drive" to vehicular traffic down at the Park had something to do with it; people would drive around the park and feed the raccoons all kinds of ****.

Raccoons have destroyed ancient Buddhist temples in Japan.

Bringing back "Davy Crockett" to television and marketing more coonskin caps (Number One Christmas gift of 1956) might result in some positive change.

 

[Sumboodie]

The only thing more destructive than squirrels are raccoons. And yes, I helped a neighbor completely redo the attic insulation because a pregnant mother got into their attic to raise her litter--and it was over $12k--pros to do the removal of old material and spray de-stink/disinfectant, and me and a friend doing the replacement.

Their insurance did cover repairs--so that was good.

To remove, we found a local guy who showed up with his ladders and cages, and who dove into the blind dormer of the attic through one of those decorative octagon vents and emerged with caged raccoon momma and babies. We still have no idea how he managed it without bleeding.

Post infestation, we went around and put solid material under the cheap-*** vinyl soffits on all the easily accessible corners, replaced the vinyl porch roof material with solid PVC beadboard, added simple scuppers on the gutters. And screwed/pop-riveted the **** out of every piece of snap-together material on the corners.

She's had multiple break-in attempts since--so far no critters in the attic, so we'll call that a win.

Was it this guy?

 

[Sumboodie]

I lived in Edgewood WA and a neighbor fed EVERTHING! 4k damage from rats under our house. I was cathing 5 to 10 rats a day, countless squirrels, and what a flipping MESS they left. The man moved to an assisted living center, his wife paid us to clean up the mess in their yard. Food source gone, problem gone. My kids came home from school and would sit in the window with a pellet gun and "pop rats" and other vermin. Our latest move into un-incorporated Pierce County gives us neighbors with chickens, but I am on acreage, so I expect it. I am aggressive with trapping, and I have learned a lot about it. Agreed, no apologies!

Chickens eat mice, rats, snakes... pretty much anything that moves... and lots of stuff that doesn't too. They at the blue board insulation around the bottom of their house even.

 

[gahrajmahal]

During the day the squirrels are out of the nest. That’s when you set your have a heart trap. Place a bag of moth balls on a string in the hole while it’s open. They will avoid going back in there. Once you have caught them all, repair the hole with Hardi masonry board And 1/2” wire cloth.

For raccoons just reverse the time of day to night time setting the traps and adding the moth balls.

This has worked for me.

 

[paredown]

During the day the squirrels are out of the nest. That’s when you set your have a heart trap. Place a bag of moth balls on a string in the hole while it’s open. They will avoid going back in there. Once you have caught them all, repair the hole with Hardi masonry board And 1/2” wire cloth.

For raccoons just reverse the time of day to night time setting the traps and adding the moth balls.

This has worked for me.

We did this at my mom & dad's place--waited for the warm-up on a fall day--sure enough, the squirrels left the attic to forage, and we blocked all the vents with a couple of layers of hardware cloth/mesh covered with some molding. Then we cleaned up.

(It was an old school attic with limited vent openings in real material (shiplap and a stucco coat) so it was relatively easy to limit access--not like the plastic houses built now.)

We didn't kill or trap the squirrels--and you should have heard them trash-talking us at the end of the day!

Around here, both foxes and coyotes are getting more common--and the small rodent population dropped pretty precipitously when the foxes moved in.

 

[Rst277]

Many good ideas - no mercy is the proper mantra. Trap, do not release, drown. I have had good success with mouse poison mixed with peanut butter for both squirrels and raccoons AFTER you have sealed access to the house.

 

[gahrajmahal]

This was last year outside our kitchen window. We had 10 squirrels. This year I put the bird seed out about two weeks ago and we have zero squirrels. Mother Nature is funny that way. We mostly make peace with nature As long as they stay out of the house!

We had a rabbit that was eating our new plantings and the wife said “trap that rabbit!” I caught two squirrels and a raccoon but not the rabbit. After three weeks trying, the rabbit disappeared. I hear they are rascally!

 

[DAVE VAN]

Thanks for the ideas. I used Hav-A-Hart traps last year and caught about 20. This year I can't catch any. They are too smart I guess. I will get some quiet ammo and try that. I am not waiting for them to do thousands of $ in damages.

 

[rayra]

Aquila makes a line of .22 ammo tailored for this situation.

22 LR COLIBRI

SILENCE IS DEADLY. Perfect for hunting and target shooting at close range, this specialized powderless round is ultra-quiet and eliminates the trouble and investment of using a suppressor. It’s great for young shooters, thanks to its lack of recoil. Designed for bolt-action or revolver platforms.

www.aguilaammo.com

 

[Metal-Marc]

How can I get rid of squirrels on my roof.They are chewing on the soffets and gutters and causing a lot of roof damage. I live in the city limits so 22 shooting is not allowed. Need some ideas!

Birdshot!

 

[southalabama]

Rat trap works on squirrels too

 

[Uncle murph]

How can I get rid of squirrels on my roof.They are chewing on the soffets and gutters and causing a lot of roof damage. I live in the city limits so 22 shooting is not allowed. Need some ideas!

Tastes like chicken!

 

[mogandave]

Get a cat, make sure it has a way to get on the roof. If you have a nice tree close to the house, it's perfect.

 

[mmb617]

I once had a squirrels in the attic problem. There was a walnut tree close enough to the house that some of the branches overhung my roof. Squirrels used that tree to jump over to the roof and then chewed a hole in the fascia and got in the attic. First I tried rat traps baited with peanut butter on the roof, but they were too smart to fall for that.

I didn't really like that tree so close to the house anyways so one day while the squirrels were out foraging I cut down the tree. That evening we saw a squirrel run down the top of our fence, hop off and go to the tree stump. He sat there looking for a while like WTF? But it ended the squirrels in the attic problem. There was one other walnut tree a little farther from the house and I cut it down as well just to be sure.

As for the neighbors feeding wild animals, the lady next door to us used to take food scraps and throw them in her yard "for the animals". Coincidentally at that time we started having a skunk problem. It was hard to convince her that her throwing food out was a big part of why so many skunks were hanging around, but she finally stopped. And the skunk problem eased.

 

[LexusLover]

Have you tried fox urine granules?

 

[MBfreak]

Hi. Pest is common in Sweden. We had a hoard chewing up parts of our roof and bastards also had a nest up there.
0,22" BB gun, hi speed. Shot straight thru them at 30 yards. Took 18 months to get all. In city, forbidden.
Who cares?

Ola

 

[BFBOB]

The only thing more destructive than squirrels are raccoons. And yes, I helped a neighbor completely redo the attic insulation because a pregnant mother got into their attic to raise her litter--and it was over $12k--pros to do the removal of old material and spray de-stink/disinfectant, and me and a friend doing the replacement.

Their insurance did cover repairs--so that was good.

To remove, we found a local guy who showed up with his ladders and cages, and who dove into the blind dormer of the attic through one of those decorative octagon vents and emerged with caged raccoon momma and babies. We still have no idea how he managed it without bleeding.

Post infestation, we went around and put solid material under the cheap-*** vinyl soffits on all the easily accessible corners, replaced the vinyl porch roof material with solid PVC beadboard, added simple scuppers on the gutters. And screwed/pop-riveted the **** out of every piece of snap-together material on the corners.

She's had multiple break-in attempts since--so far no critters in the attic, so we'll call that a win.

Ditto on the '*****. I had a family of six in the attic. They were different enough I could tell them apart. Fortunately I cottoned on to the crew before breeding began. My solution was a .410. I had a place I could cover their entry/exit point from inside the house which kept noise down, with a large chimney that would stop any stray pellets. It took three solid days of vigilance, but I got them all, then repaired their access point. Six shots, six kills, no further problems.
Fortunately, they didn't do any significant damage to the insulation, just the roof at the entry point. Could have been soooo much worse.

 

[LexusLover]

has anyone tried granulated predator urine?!? Just asking on behalf of the cure poor squirrels

 

[Kuma601]

Some areas there are specific laws restricting these types of pest control measures other than it has to be done by a licensed company. My neighbor traps them and they get the .177 meal ticket. The stray cats deal with the long tails.

Some graphic solutions at this YT channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/EDgunLeshiy/videos

 

[four.cycle]

^ The civil infraction penalties for harming or injuring wildlife pale in comparison to what it costs to remove an entire wall from a house to remove a dead litter of raccoons, or repair the damage done in an attic by a family of squirrels.

They can pass laws about it until hell freezes over twice, but squirrels are still just rats with fuzzy tails.

 

[Kuma601]

I find that lame when cities have laws to protect these critters. A buddy had $4K of damages to his garage when they chewed through the siding which also allowed long tails to enter as well. I view them as rats in different packaging.

 

[Alchase]

Get yourself a Gamo Whisper Silent Cat .177 pellet rifle. They are almost perfect for taking out problem animals where restrictions or nosy neighbors may be an issue.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024XEXQS/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[rancherbill]

Get hold of that Jed Clampett guy, I hear him and his family find squirrel mighty tasty especially the way Granny cooks it.