Hello All,

A man called me with gray squirrels getting into his home. He has killed 42 gray squirrels in ten months. A competitor did a home inspection and could not find where they are entering. The house is a single story ranch with attic sitting on a cement slab. He claims my competitor went through every inch of the house and could not find where they are getting in.

I told the gentleman I could do the job when the snow melts.

Where do I start?

I have just started doing squirrel work and have not had problems finding entry points. (A blind man could have found them)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Chuck

go over it inch by inch. from the ground up to the roofline to vents and chimneys. check the attic itself foe light/airflow. check the attic for sign. perhaps it isnt greys. maybe its flyers or mice who dont need larger entrance/exit points. if theyre in there theres a hole

Obviously the likely spots for squirrel entry are close to or on the roof, but I have had squirrels gain access to walls beneath patios/decks or underneath siding close to the ground. also, when inside an attic, i look for feces as well as footprints in the settled dust. footprints and droppings will tell you for sure whats there

If there is snow, look for footprints. It might lead you to the entry.

I once had them using the corner covering of an aluminum sided apartment building. That footprints in the snow thing is usually pretty surefire.

Do they have a chimney?

Make sure your customer is hearing grey squirrels. I have seen many jobs that had both greys and flyers. you know the sounds and times the flyers are working I assume. For greys they should hear them every morning right before light till just after light, and maybe just after dark in the evening. if there are young they may hear some noise in the middle of the night for a little while. If they are hearing them at those time frames, if you ask the customer where they are hearing the noise, and they point to a lower wall check ground level. if there has been a repair lately, by someone, like in Be last week could be young squirrels, they can last a long time without mom. if the noises are in the greys time frame. and mom is going in and out someone missed something.

Start by changing your approach. TAKE ADVANTAGE of the snow and do the inspection ASAP. It will allow you to either locate the entry OR to determine he may not have a squirrel problem. I had at least 10 calls this winter for "squirrels in my ceiling" (or attic) that ended up being mice.

Couldn't agree with Ron more.

I love watching roof tops looking for tracks in the snow. I stop and knock on those doors.

Dont forget to look for damaged gable vents.

42 squirrels in a year? to do that, most likely means, in a cage trap outside in the yard, That means nothing, other than there is a food source. learn to see what is Really there and believe what you see.

Jonesie, what's the most gray squirrels that you've caught in and on a home?

Paul my average is 4 to 7 per single dwelling home. unless the female is in heat, or she is ready to drop. If I let the hole stay taped for more than 3 to 5 days,after I take the last one in the family group out, Because I am too lazy to get it closed or took the force down and not make the repair right away I will get another 2 to 3 squirrels checking the home out. it is almost like a sign goes out after 3 days the squatters start to move in LOL. On large building where the squirrels can nest away from each other, that number will go up, but again it seems that is I have say 3 tenants in that building that is complaining and they are say middle and both ends I can still figure at 4 per family group, plus maybe a few breeder males this time of year. For the life of me I still can't figure out where the breeder males are living LOL thought I had a male only job this week, I forced right off the get go one in one out. caught male first day in trap facing out, no more sounds in the ceiling for 3 days, then found the female dropped down to the lower roof line and started chewing out the vent. she wanted nothing to do with that trap. I was afraid that she dropped young that is why she was qt for 3 days inside but no sign of her dropping, must have been in heat.

The reason I ask is because I had one job in the city where the house was owned by the city. It was occupied but nobody lived upstairs except the squirrels and they were everywhere.

It had at least five holes and I had a cage by every one of them. I caught at least 23 squirrels in the first week and then the cages stayed empty. They must have all been related because after 10 days I pulled the cages and there must have been a least another dozen grays on the ground around that house eating black walnuts and hickory nuts.

It's always hard to tell if squirrels are related because they don't wear name tags that say "Hi, I'm Rocky's uncle" or "Hi, I'm Rocky's great aunt." But they do seem to be very territorial when it comes to non-family interlopers.

hey city squirrels are just like the homeless, they live in big buildings in cardboard boxes and share the food LOL