Got a call from a neighbor lady that a squirrel somehow has gotten into her basement. She asked if I could get rid of it for her? I have handled some nuisance beaver, coon, possum, and wood chuck complaints, but never a squirrel. I know some of you have. I was planning on either a live trap or 120 bodygrip. My question is, what bait do I use? Peanuts?

Chunky peanut butter on a slice of apple works.
Tom

Go down with a net and catch that sucker.
Tom

Peanut butter, peanuts trailed into a cage... shell corn trailed into a cage... I use mainly LT Grey's Black Walnut bait, but you probably won't get that for just one job. I like to put the bait in the back of the cage in a mini white cupcake paper. They can see the white in the dark.
Some ADC guys even put a small amount of white bread in the back, probably has the same affect.

Did she say what type of Squirrel? if it is a small Red/ Pine you can even use a Rat snap trap very successfully.

She said grey squirrel. They have a tree that hangs over the house. I'm guessing it jumped onto the roof and got in through a roof vent.

You have to walk around the whole house... roof vents are only 1 of the many ways they could have gained entrance... more likely there are 1 or more chewed holes along a roof line or where the roofline meets another corner of a dormer etc... They will be looking to Nest now and have their young.

I only have used a cage traps with walnuts that I pick up in a cage or peanuts in the shells in the cage.if they are a problem around bird feeders I have used bird seed

there was a very good article I think in trappers post about using 110s I think it was with cloth wrapped around the trigger at the end and peanut butter smeared into the cloth that they stabilized the trap on the narrow edge of a 2x4 with nails that they would put up against a tree near where they were making attic entry.

the 1 1/2 inch wide board at a 45* angle lined up so that the trap wold fire and hit the back of the neck nearly every time

pellet gun

Her son sat in the basement for almost 2 hours with a pellet gun waiting for the squirrel to show up. It never did. She said it somehow gets into the vents. I have a RWS pellet gun, but not 2 hours. I have firearms training classes this week.

I was thinking entry was either vents or a hole in the soffits. I'll see if I can find the entry and her husband can fix it when he returns from Portugal.

You Need to make sure that All the squirrels are Trapped or Outside, BEFORE you do any hole plugging or Exclusion work. Thats the biggest problem homeowners have is trying to Close up an Entry hole. Those entry holes are Also the animals EXIT hole. When you think you have the squirrels Caught or Out fill in the hole they are using with Tissue paper or wadded up paper stuffed in losely for a few days, if nothing disturbs that soft plug after a few days you can make the Seal job and do any Repairs. Do it backwards and you will have an animal trapped inside and sometimes that leads to quite a Mess.

I'm just there to catch the squirrel or squirrels. Her husband will be back in a week and he can do the patch job. If a week goes by and there's no more activity from squirrels, it's his problem to stop any more from getting in. I'll see if I can find the entry. That's about it.