I have a customer who has a flying squirrel/s, and so far my trapping efforts are not sucessful. The activity is only happening at night, customer is hearing running and scratching in ceilings and door jams, and "chirping" noises, which Mike Hurley Identified for me in an audio clip as a flyer. I have never had a flyer call and have never seen a flyer in my 28 years in west central IL. Anyways I would prefer to trap them for the learning experience and just because I want to see them. so far I have 2 traps on the outside of the house at openings ( no chewing or scratches, insulating etc present) and have several other traps in the attic spaces i can access with no success for a week. The home is a hip and ridge roof with 2 porches only 1 porch attic i can access and the activity is around the porch with no access unless i open a metal roof vent. So i have found no toilet or any other signs. So far the activity is not every night night lows are between 25-35 degrees, is this normal? From what i have read they can be difficult to trap but i was assuming the activity would be heard almost every night. So far I am using PB, bird seed, WCS squirrel bait, and Jameson's night flyer lure.

Jordan, sounds like you're doing everything right. I went through the same thing as you years ago. Finding the openings that they are

using to get in and out and forcing them into a cage that repeats would be the ideal situation. I didn't find them all that more

difficult to catch than a red squirrel. I assume that you will be able to check out their activity more, once the snow flies?

I almost never use multi-catch traps over the holes for GRAYS, but for flyers that is my preferred method. Too many problems with grays chewing in OR out with posi-sets in my area. 25 years is plenty long to figure it out!

Illinois DNR suggests cage trapping flyers and relocating. Talked with a DNR wildlife biologist about flyers a few times, and they prefer NOT using rat snap traps, however nothing in print (black and white regs).

Just finished a flyer job in Litchfield (Lake Lou Yaeger), and of course they were entering at the most difficult area to access on the home. Large home, steep hillside, steep roof. Flyers remind me of bats in that respect.... always enter at the most ridiculous places. Had to combine my boom lift with a single section of 32-foot extension ladder (w/ridge hook) to access the dormer corners. Body harness and safety lanyards and some climbing.

I had captured 2 in small cage traps on the gutter, but the last 2 required the posi-set multi-catch to nab. Installed sheet metal exclusion panels (bent in "V" and painted to match) at both corners where soffit meets shingles, even though they were only using one.

As in any squirrel trapping...... cages in attics are very ineffective. They seem to ignore them for at least a week, regardless of bait. However, traps on the roof near the entry or along travel routes hook up quickly, as they forage for food OUTSIDE and IMO that's why they enter the traps quicker when set outside. I know a lot of guys use snap traps (inside) for flyers, but I refrain due to my conversations with DNR folks.

Just as with bats, it is imperative you locate the entry point(s) to successfully solve the issue.

Paul I was hoping for some snow so I could see the activity but we only seem to be getting rain lately. Ron I agree there seem to be a lot of gray area laws in Illinois. I plan to keep them alive which is part of the reason for setting traps inside attic with our freezing temps at night, don't know how hardy flyers are. My next move was to place traps on the roof though, so far I have 2 positive sets and no flyers since Sunday. Is it normal for the homeowner to not hear activity every night this time of year?

I do agree with Ron about the snap traps ( We never use them on squirrels ) Not because of any restrictions, but because when the

customer sees what a flyer looks like, they may tend to hate you for killing it! Flyers are still fairly new to our area and we have

yet to catch one in the county I live in. Their teeth do not seem very hard or sharp ( Can you tell I've been bitten? ) so many of

there entrances, at least up here, were made by someone else. Woodpeckers, raccoons, other squirrels, and in many cases, terrible

construction of the building in the first place. Keep that in mind when looking for access points.

P.S. We had our first tracking snow and I was really happy; until my wife spotted vole tracks by our front door. Nailed him with a

Ron Scheller vole set almost immediately.

I would put a couple piles (small)of sun flower seeds on the rail I see or by the bird feeders if there are any around they will eat them. You have to do this later in the evenings. If the seeds are gone in the morning, just put out a couple live traps. Use elec ties to hold them I place. You can put several feed sta. out.

I have had very little experience with flyers, but in my experience! 1) they seem to live in colonies , 3 jobs in one neighborhood, 2 in another. 2) they are not great chewers , my exclusions for flyers are very similar to bat seal ups. 3),the most efficient method is a multi catch excluder, when multiple entry points are present or not as obvious i have gone with baited rat snap traps and had very good luck

Quick question for you experts. When using multi catch excluders, how big a trap do you use? I guess, what I am asking is how big a door can a flier push open? Have caught a few, but not many.

I make all of our flyer traps and attachment nose cones for the housing units. 2" square attachment mounting cones fit in most tight places. (The holding area will hold 25 -30 flyers if need be.) If not some mods will be done to accomadate the fit.Our door systems are gravity motion with no spring closure assistance. I have caught 15 in one trap in one nite however avgs. are 4-6 to date per initial set up and check in our service areas.

Usually a few nites we are done in most cases however weather can at times impact the completion time.We have been doing flyer work very similiar to bat work as stated. Except we use colony devices instead of exclusion methods. Many can't or don't find the primary or the potential multiple flyer entry points.

If you arent a detail person and cant think out of the box at times to realize how small of a configuration they can get through, you will be haunted by call backs or the job will likely go else where in time. Most of us in this business for 25 to 30 years have done some clean up work and with the pest control industry climbing aboard in many corporate pest control branches our work is slowly becoming a mop up service company.

Like Paul and Lundy we do alot of seasonal pest control as well as wildlife work. It is far easier to teach a tech pest control then it is to train them for all the biology and areas of training needed for nuisance wildlife work.

Any more I do not trap flyers in my area, except for cedar sided and cedar shake roof with no deck. The most I have trapped in one home that I can remember is 25. My flyers do not chew like the greys in my area, so I will exclude them most of the time. and seal the house like a bat job.

The flyers In my area tend to be noisy for 2 to 4 nights then no noise to speak of for 3 or 4 nights unless it is one of those mega jobs where the droppings are every where, then the noise will be there most nights, then again a lot more on what I call party nights and bad weather nights where they do not want to go out.

If the customer is at their end of the tolerance level, which is when I get the call most of the time. I will go into the attic and set snap traps if I see it is a big population, or I just go up and nose around. Put my stink up there good, my flyers most of the time in my area will take off for 3 to 5 days. If I do trap I will do as Ron stated a multi. I make my own for flyers, or use the double door multi safeguard has.

Thanks for the info guys, i will give it a few more days. Weather is supposed to warm up to 45 degree lows at night this weekend so maybe there will be some activity in the house. I think my next move will be to set some traps on the roof edges, and gutters and see if i can connect that way. I think i put my roof anchor on the house and take a closer look at the dormers and roof edges i cannot get to with a ladder easily. I think the best training i have had in this business so far is from sites like this and by making mistakes, or tricky jobs like this that i have to make multiple visits and think outside of the box at times.

I'm working on flyers in a log cabin and it is driving me crazy but where else can you get paid for your education. I remember the excitement when I caught my first one how cute and entertaining they were. That has since worn off. I am starting to look at moles as a blessing. No ladders and he doesn't have any friends. The flyer is nothing but ladders,ropes etc. and everyone loves him and you are expected to risk your but to be nice to him. God bless the mole even peta people hire you to kill him and some even want you to do it slowly.

Paul, do you know how bad that makes this Paul feel? I have no moles and four species of squirrels coming out of my ears at this time of the year!

Well then imagine how busy southern Paul and I are Wink, we have 4 varieties of squirrels and moles and it's warm enough to still trap moles. And the coons are going nuts here!