Squirrel Bait

My buddy called me to get squirrels out of his attic. The exterminator failed. He used glue traps, and caught squirrel hair, or rat hair. But the critter escaped from the glue. The exterminator also used rat spring traps without bait on the pad. Not sure what he was thinking. He also used a hav-a-heart trap with peanuts in the cage. That didn't work either.

My buddy still hears them running around the attic.

So I just ordered 5 tube traps. What kind of bait do you use in tube traps for squirrels ?

I also recommended cutting down 2 beautiful trees that are up against the house. Not sure where that's going to go.... but the squirrels must go....

Sunflower seeds and field corn cant hurt.
If they are red squirrels, try raisins for bait.
Maybe try a 0 or #1 longspring.
Victor's traditional rat traps do work, but a guy told me you want to put 3 short drywall screws sticking up through from the bottom of the wood (if legal).

Depends on what kind of squirrels he has. We have gray and fox squirrels. They are both having young at this time. If you remove the adults, the young will die and cause a smell. For bait, we use On Target's "Squirrel Paste" in small cage traps.

Yesterday I saw juvenile gray's in the soffits that are moving as fast as their mama. This introduces the variable of animal weight, meaning you may need to consider your pan tension to accommodate adults vs. juveniles. It sounds like you are setting traps *in* the attic (not my first method of choice), but if that is the only option, you might want to try to capture mama alive and use her as a decoy to catch the juveniles (assuming this is a mother and juveniles). On occasion we will put the mother in a live trap in an area where the juveniles will go, and put other traps around her cage -- live traps or lethals.

Regarding cutting down those beautiful trees, could you post pictures of each side of the house? I'm sure the group here would be glad to comment whether it is advisable to cut down the trees. If the squirrels have other routes to the roof, then cutting down the trees would not provide a benefit, and potentially leave you with a very irate customer.

Peanut Butter has very rarely failed me.

NO Moes Never fails me on young squirrels.

Peanut butter with Walnut or almond oil added with some black sunflowers stuck in

I have also used half to 1 inch slice of corn on the Cob slid on the triggers of a 110

I have good luck with peanuts from the bird food isle.

I couldn't catch any in the attic. So I put 1 tube trap between the tree, and the gutter pipe that runs down the house. Had a Squirrel within 1 day. After that, the trap sat out there for a week, no more squirrels.

I'm pretty confident I got the 1 that was climbing the tree, and jumping on the roof. I started reading about squirrel home range; and it seems they only travel 200 yards. I never imagined it was that limited. But I really haven't seen another squirrel so close to the house. Plenty in the woods jumping around. Plenty on the fence surrounding the property. But none that seemed close to the house.

Do they really have a limited home range ?

A few years ago, we had a male fox squirrel in town. He had a very short tail, so it was not hard to tell him from the others. The town is 12 blocks wide and I saw him all over the town, including both side. I don't think females travel that far, but the males sure do.

Short Track, if you start doing the math, when an animal ranges 200 yards in any direction they are covering an area of over 100 acres (if I'm doing the math right). Seems like plenty of space to me.

Congratulations on nailing the little pest but don't sell off those traps. The den will hold the scent for quite a while and there will be plenty of other squirrels coming to check it out.

There are a couple real good squirrel/rodent baits available commercially that have just about every element wanted in a squirrel bait. I know that our formula has odor,taste and eye appeal. Squirrels smell much better then some realize. I have proven that over the years.

Like Bob just mentioned Odor and eye appeal are absolute in a good baits, And I will add one more to give just a little more and that is taste. Every one of my squirrel baits are formulated and made for all 3. All good baits will also last 5 to 10 days in high heat or low cold temps. hard rain is tough for any baits. A good commercial bait is hard to beat. I am not pushing Bob's or my baits or anybody else, but I will recommend that if a person makes their own at least add eye and taste to the odor and fix it to stay. that person will be far ahead both in effectiveness and costs.

Hi guys,
I am new to ADC and dont have much experience with trapping squirrels. When you say "eye appeal" what specifically do you mean? That may be a dumb question, but when I think eye appeal (from my fur trapping background) I am thinking things like a very visible dirt hole, or a white bleached bone at a flat set, things like that. How do you incorporate eye appeal in a squirrel trap or bait?
Thanks!

Nuts and seeds most likely.

Sorry! I couldn't help it.

Ponyboy hit the nail on the head. Eye appeal in this type of bait is the visual presence of various seeds, nuts, corn blended into a base of edible material with multiple attractive fragrances to support the presentation.

Black walnut paste or whole nuts, are hard to beat. If you're doing squirrel work, when the black walnuts start to fall or are able to harvest, gather up a bunch for future calls. They are easy to preserve, the hulls alone will attract squirrels in numbers.

I use Sunbutter on apple slices with David pumpkin seeds stuck in it.

Any type of seed, but having an additional odor works well. We use our rodent bait and it does very well on the females during breeding seasons.