Squirrel Removal

(256) 636-1168

Open Everyday From 7:00 am to 5:00 pm

PLEASE NOTE: We do not remove dogs, cats, mice or rats.

Squirrel Removal Services.

Bothered by squirrels on your property? You’re not alone. As it happens, squirrels are some of the most common wildlife intruders on human properties across the United States, and we’re here to help you!

On this page, we look at what attracts squirrels to human properties in the first place, as well as what your removal and exclusion options are, once you discover squirrels living on your property. We also advise you on some preventive measures, so that your home can be well cared for.

How do we remove squirrels from the property?

General, at Nuisance Wildlife Control, we believe in humane and safe removal practices. We do not use products or traps that will in any way harm the squirrel, but rather focus on the safe capture and relocation of the animal. We offer exclusive removal and exclusion services so that depending on where on your property the squirrel is, you can make sure it gets out.

What is humane squirrel removal?

Humane squirrel removal practices involve the use of various entrapment devices, mostly cages, that will capture the animal, without actually causing it harm. First, we will inspect your property, and figure out the squirrel’s entry point. If you’ve got a squirrel nesting in your home, it’s quite likely that it’s using that entry point fairly often to gather food. By inspecting the home, we are able to determine the squirrel’s usual path, and then plant our trap along the way.

We only use live traps, which lure the squirrel inside by the use of bait (often peanut butter). Once the squirrel is inside, it will step on a plate that will then cause the door of the cage to fall shut. All through this, we are checking regularly on the trap, to make sure we don’t leave the squirrel trapped inside, suffering needlessly.

Once the squirrel has been safely captured, we then relocate it to a safe area, where it won’t be able to bother you or your neighbors anymore. We then set it free into the wild, without harming it.

Alternatively, we can recommend exclusion practices, if we consider them a more efficient way of getting rid of your squirrel troubles.

What is squirrel exclusion?

As mentioned earlier, when you’ve got a squirrel on your property, it’s quite likely that it’s using a specific entry point, to get in and out. Often, this is a hole or crack in the wall that’s just big enough for the animal to squeeze through.

Now, we only work with the best exclusion devices. An exclusion device is basically like a sort of misshapen gate that we attach to the exterior of the squirrel’s entry point. The exclusion device allows the squirrel to get out, no problem, but because of its unusual shape, it doesn’t allow the animal to get back inside, thus effectively solving your squirrel problem.

The best method of squirrel removal will be decided by our team of wildlife removal experts, after an inspection of your home.

What’s next?

Once the squirrel has been safely removed, we need to focus on fixing the entry point, and sealing it in such a way that it won’t permit the access of other animals in the future. This usually means using a material like wire mesh, or something similar that doesn’t allow an animal to chew or claw its way in, since wild animals have been known to do that when discovering a weak point in a building.

Taking preventive measures…

We always tell our customers that prevention is a lot better than having to remove a wild animal from your home. This is why, if you’ve had squirrel problems in the past, we recommend that you follow a few squirrel prevention tips to minimize the chance of a new invasion.

Keep edibles to a minimum – consider that food is the main point of attraction for a squirrel, inside a human home. By reducing the number of edibles on your property, you also deter squirrels from approaching. This can include picking up fallen fruit in your yard, fencing your garden patch, bringing in pet food overnight, and keeping the home clean of leftovers, crumbs, and so on.

Reduce clutter – this goes for both the outside and the inside of your home. Squirrels, like most other wild animals, will look for rooms like the attic, where they’re less likely to be detected. Since these rooms are often used for storage, they also offer ample hiding space for animals. This is why we urge you to regularly clean up around these rooms, and get rid of stuff you don’t need. Similarly, in your yard, keep log piles to a minimum and trim your bushes, to give the squirrel a little hiding space as possible.

Keep your trees in shape – squirrels are often entering the home by climbing a tree, and following an overgrown tree branch to your roof or attic space. By keeping your trees neat, you don’t allow them to do that.

Who are we?

At Nuisance Wildlife Control, we specialize in the removal of various wildlife pests from human homes. With over thirty years of experience at our back, we’ve seen pretty much everything there is to see when it comes to wildlife invasions, so let us show you how it’s done.

We are based in the Decatur, Madison, and Huntsville, AL, areas, and we service pretty much all of Northern Alabama. We also offer free estimates on how much wildlife removal is going to cost you, so give us a call!

Do you have a squirrel problem in the Northern Alabama area?

We wouldn’t recommend attempting squirrel removal on your own, as this can result in injury, and usually proves inefficient. Instead, if you’re dealing with or worried about a squirrel invasion in the Decatur, Madison, or Huntsville, AL, areas, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 256-636-1168. Our team of wildlife removal experts will inspect the property, and figure out the best way to solve your squirrel troubles quickly and efficiently.

How to Keep Squirrels Out Of Your Attic?

Squirrels are crafty animals that can easily find their way into your attic. And, once these pests enter your property, they could wreak some serious damage to your home. Property damage includes biting through wires, tearing through insulation, and even damage to the baseboards in your attic. Here is a great resource at squirrelattic.com to find out how to handle squirrels in the attic.

Still, how exactly can you keep squirrels out of your house and away from your attic? Throughout the rest of this post, we’ll provide you with some helpful solutions that will keep squirrels away for good.

Inspect Trees Near Your Property

The first thing you want to do is check any trees around your home. Trees are not only a prime breeding spot for squirrels, but they also allow these animals to climb into your attic. Long tree limbs, in particular, make it especially easy for squirrels to hop onto your roof and into your property.

So, try to cut or trim tree limbs that are close to your house, especially if they are near entry points like windows. You don’t want to give squirrels any chance to enter your home.

Check For Entry Points In Your Attic

After you check your trees, we recommend looking around your attic for entry points. If there are no holes or spaces for squirrels to crawl through then they can’t enter your attic. But, if you have any openings for squirrels, even small cracks, these animals will enter your home.

Check both inside and outside your house. Use a flashlight to find any entry points. And, once you find these entry points, you need to seal them. You can use hardware cloth to seal the holes or other durable materials that act as a sealant.

Use Squirrel Repellent

Squirrel repellent can also be used before squirrels enter your home. The best thing to do with any repellent is to spray it around the perimeter of your home. Squirrels have a strong sense of taste and smell.

So, if you spray this around your home, then squirrels are less likely to return to your property and come into your attic. You can even spray repellent in your attic, but make sure you use all-natural ingredients like pepper and garlic, and water to mix it all together into a repellent.

Seal Your Chimney

Chimneys are another entry point that squirrels will use to break into your home. Make sure to seal up your chimney with chimney caps or a cover. You can also look for holes in your chimney to make sure squirrels aren’t sneaking in this way.

Secure Food Sources

Food sources can attract squirrels to your home and get them to crawl into your attic. Keeping this in mind, you want to be careful of what kinds of foods you leave out, especially if you have a bird feeder on your property.

Squirrels like anything with nuts, seeds, or corn. You’ll want to change your bird feeder with some different food or protect it from squirrels with some sturdy mesh wire.

Use A Sprinkler System With Motion Detection

Finally, try using a sprinkler system with motion detection to get squirrels away from your home. Powerful sprays of water will keep squirrels and other animals far away from your property and prevent them from crawling into your attic.

Contact Nuisance Wildlife Control Today

If squirrels have already entered your home, then contact Nuisance Wildlife Control today. Our company has over three decades of experience dealing with wild animals. We quickly and humanely get rid of squirrels in your attic and prevent any further damage from occurring.

How to Get Squirrels Out Of Your Garden

Squirrels may be entertaining to watch as they scurry around tree branches and hop from tree to tree. But, the damages that they cause to your garden and property is usually nothing to laugh about. The common squirrel, with its taste for fresh fruits, veggies, and flowers, has been a constant source of frustration for home gardeners. A squirrel’s typical diet consists of acorns, pine cones, nuts, bark, fruit, berries, fungus, and insects, it’s also known to steal plant bulbs. They’ll even damage your flowers for the sheer pleasure of it! If these pesky garden pests are ruining your hard work, here are some suggestions for getting them out of the garden.

Make your garden unattractive

Squirrels, like all wild critters, are opportunistic, and will take advantage of any garden they have access to. Bird feeders are one of the most common squirrel attractants. Even if you use squirrel-proof feeders, stay very careful, there will always be seeds falling off of bird feeders, which will attract squirrels and other rodents like mice and rats. It may be in your best interest to stop feeding birds entirely, or you can switch to bird seeds treated with cayenne pepper because squirrels find cayenne pepper repulsive.

Also, maintaining a clean garden can help deter squirrels. Make it a point to always remove any fallen fruits or vegetables from the ground. Don’t forget to remove other foodstuffs that attract squirrels, such as leftover pet food, acorns, tulips bulbs, and black walnuts that have fallen to the ground.

Protect your plants

Squirrels are drawn to newly disturbed dirt because they believe it contains nuts hidden by other animals. But you can conceal freshly turned soil by watering it, squirrels will be less interested if you water the soil properly. Another option is to cover the soil with chicken wire weighed down with pebbles. Which is removed after a few heavy rains. Squirrels detect mulch and how it feels beneath their feet. As a result, mulch borders are likely to discourage squirrels from getting into your garden. You can even mulch over bulbs that you’ve just planted, but remember to provide enough room for the bulb to grow. Finally, fruit cages and netting can be used to protect bulbs and blooming plants, this will ensure that squirrels don’t get to them. Protecting your plants with netting works great for plants that squirrels like to eat, such as tomatoes and eggplant. It’s also effective on berry bushes. Cover the plant with netting and place rocks around the edges to weigh it down, this way squirrels will be unable to access the plants.

Apply squirrel repellent

Many squirrel repellents are available on the market, but the majority of them are based on predator urine or spicy pepper. Garlic or onion, vinegar, or peppermint oil can all be used for DIY homemade squirrel repellent. When used in combination with other deterrents, repellents can be effective, but gardeners must be diligent about reapplication.

You can also sprinkle cayenne pepper around your garden to keep squirrels. This is a wonderful method if there are certain plants you don’t want the squirrels to touch. Squirrels don’t like the cayenne peppers, therefore they’ll skip it. Sprinkle it on the plant’s leaves that you don’t want the squirrel to eat. The downside to most squirrel repellents is that they become ineffective after a heavy rainfall, or even wind can blow them off. So, if you decide to use one of these repellents on your garden, you have to be very intentional about reapplication. Reapply them as often as possible, and make it a part of your daily or weekly gardening routine.

How To Keep Squirrels Off The Roof?

Squirrels may be cute, but they have sharp teeth and cause lots of damage. These small animals can ruin furniture, wires, and pipes, so it’s crucial to keep them off your roof and out of your home.

You can do just that by following some of these tips.

1. Use Repellents

Squirrels have several natural predators, so they need to be very cautious. You can keep them at bay by convincing them that predators are around using these tools:

Scare crows. Squirrels are hunted by many birds of prey, from eagles to owls. You can place statues of these animals on your roof and elsewhere on your property to scare these rodents away.
Predator urine. You can convince squirrels that predators are nearby by introducing their scent. Fox and coyote urine can be purchased and sprayed around your property to ward off squirrels.

Keep in mind that repellents are not an effective method. Squirrels will quickly adapt to these things unless you take other measures to deter them.

2. Remove Bird Feeders

Squirrels and other wildlife enter your home in search of food, and they often find it in the form of bird feeders. That is why you should remove bird feeders from around your house, because the lack of food will deter wild animals.

If you insist on keeping the birdfeeders, there are a few alternatives you could try.

Change the bird feed. You can swap the food you give birds with squirrel-proof or spicy variants. The chemical responsible for giving spicy food its heat only affects mammals like squirrels, so the birds will be completely unaffected.
Squirrel-proof your bird feeders. There are several squirrel-proof bird feeders on the market, and they are worth checking out. These will let you feed your birds, without giving squirrels access to the food. Keep in mind that some clever squirrels may still be able to steal some food from these.
Move the bird feeders away. Another option is to move your bird feeders farther away from your home. This way you can still feed birds, without running the risk of squirrels climbing up on your roof. Obviously, this method is not possible for everyone.

3. Cut Nearby Plants

Squirrels are excellent at climbing and jumping, which is how they often end up on your roof. These furry rodents scale nearby trees and then jump onto your roof, giving them easy access to the rest of your home.

To stop this from happening, you should trim nearby trees. Cut their branches to extend the distance between them and your house. It is recommended that you maintain at least 10 feet between any trees and your home.

Squirrels are also very cautious, so they spend a lot of time hiding. It’s during this time that they decide their next move and quickly sprint to another safe location. You can prevent this from happening by taking away their hiding spots. Do this by clearing shrubs and bushes on your property, which leaves squirrels vulnerable to predators and stops them from approaching your home.

4. Install Squirrel Guards

Squirrels can climb metal poles and lamps, which you often can’t get rid of like trees. In these cases, you can purchase and install squirrel guards. These devices make it very difficult for the rodents to climb up your metal poles, so they won’t be able to jump to your roof.

5. Secure Roof Wires

Another recommended approach is to secure any wires or cables on your roof. The idea is to wrap them in PVC pipes so that squirrels slip off the roof when they walk on these wires.

6. Call A Professional

If you currently have a squirrel problem, make sure to call a professional. Experts will help you remove and prevent squirrels, so you can get your tranquility back. Call a professional today!

How to Prevent Your Garden from Squirrels?

One of the most irritating feelings in the world is when nuisance animals destroy things that you work so hard to create. One of the most common things destroyed by nuisance animals, and particularly squirrels, is your garden. Whether it is a flower or vegetable garden, squirrels will cause some serious problems. If you are tired of having your garden decimated by squirrels, continue reading to learn how to prevent squirrels from getting into your garden.

Clean Up Your Yard

One of the best methods available to you for preventing squirrels from getting into your garden is to clean up your yard. The best part about this method is that it is completely free, as it only requires some time and effort. To understand why you should clean up your yard, it is important to understand how squirrels view your property. When there is a wide variety of debris scattered across your yard, this creates hiding places for small critters that squirrels like to eat. In addition, some larger debris can even serve as a hiding place for squirrels. When you begin to clean up all of the fallen leaves, tall grass, and other debris in your yard, squirrels will be much less comfortable in your yard and will not have as many reasons to go to your garden.

Deterrent Plants

A great squirrel prevention method that will look great in your garden actually uses certain species of plants. There are many plants that squirrels do not like, and are even repelled by some of them. There are a couple of ideas that you can use when you implement these plants into your garden. You can build a barrier out of the plants or you can spread them throughout your garden. Some of the common squirrel deterrent plants are marigolds, mustard plants, and a variety of mint plants. Depending on the layout and composition of your garden, you might place these deterrents near any plants that squirrels like to destroy.

Build a Fence

One of the most direct ways to keep squirrels out of your garden is to build a fence around your garden. Not only will squirrels not be able to get to your plants, but many other common garden pests will also be kept out. Since squirrels are able to climb almost anything, they require a specialized fence design. This usually means that you will be forced to use chicken wire to build a fence that covers not only the sides of your garden, but also runs over the top of all of your plants as well. This will be effective for squirrels, birds, and all of the other garden pests.

Scent Deterrents

One great way to keep squirrels away from your garden is to use a variety of deterrents that smell like substances squirrels cannot stand to be near. One of the cheapest ways to do this is to mix water and hot sauce in a spray bottle. Take this spray bottle and go out to the boundary of your garden and spray liberally all around. You will have to replace this occasionally, especially when it rains.

Professional Help

Nuisance wildlife control is difficult, especially when your garden is full of plants that attract pests. One of your best options at your disposal is getting some professional wildlife control company help. The experts who work at these companies have plenty of experience in dealing with all kinds of squirrel situations. Not only will they be able to remove any pre-existing squirrels or other nuisance animals, but they can figure out ways to prevent any future infestations.

How to Prevent Your Attic from Squirrels?

Squirrels are a very destructive nuisance animal. Much of this is due to their habit of chewing on so many different materials. They can find their way into virtually any area, and once inside, they will tear things up. A very bad place to get squirrels is in your attic, as there are many ways that they can cause potentially expensive and dangerous damage. Continue reading to learn how you can prevent squirrels from getting into your attic.

What attracts squirrels to an attic?

Figuring out why squirrels even want to get into your attic can go a long way towards finding a way to prevent them from getting in. Attics are a favorite place to shelter for many different nuisance animal species, and for good reason. Nuisance animals tend to stay away from humans when possible, which makes the secluded space of an attic so attractive. The main reason that most squirrels want into an attic is because attics are a great place to find shelter from the rain, snow, wind, and other predators. In addition, living in a person’s attic offers close proximity to all of the food sources that humans frequently provide nuisance wildlife.

What problems do squirrels cause?

Squirrels are one of the worst nuisance wildlife species that you can get in your attic. This is due to the fact that they cause health risks and property damage. The health risks are very serious. Squirrels, like other rodents, carry many different diseases that can potentially put you, your family, or your pets into the hospital. These illnesses can be spread from direct contact with infected squirrels or they can be spread through coming into contact with an infected squirrel’s feces, urine, or saliva.

Beyond the issue of health problems, the property damage that squirrels can cause is unreal. These critters will chew entry holes into your attic, which could allow other animals to get in. Once inside, squirrels like to chew through drywall, lumber, wires, and many other materials. If they get adventurous enough, squirrels may even try to get into more of your home by chewing through different drywall and insulation.

How can squirrels be prevented?

When it comes to preventing squirrels from getting into your attic, there are a couple of major steps you can take that can make a big difference. The most important thing is to inspect your home’s interior and exterior. Look for any holes, gaps, cracks, or other problem areas, especially along your attic and your roof line of your home. If you find any problem areas, you will want to repair them as soon as possible. Many common problems can be quickly fixed with some aluminum sheeting, all-weather sealant, or new lumber. If the repairs are beyond your level of competence, it might be time to hire a professional, as this prevention step can save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

How should squirrels be removed?

Squirrel removal is a very difficult task, as these critters can hide in many hard-to-reach places of your home, particularly when they make your attic their home. Many times, squirrels will have their young in your attic and if you remove the mother on your own, the babies will die slowly and smell terrible in your home. For this reason, it is recommended to hire a professional nuisance wildlife control company to remove your squirrels from your attic. Not only do these experts provide removal, but they can also perform prevention services as well. This can be a very valuable service, as it could end up saving you thousands of dollars down the road.

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(256) 636-1168

"Jim was very responsive and knowledgeable. I highly recommend Nuisance Wildlife Control." - Roger W.

Squirrel Removal

PLEASE NOTE: We do not remove dogs, cats, mice or rats.