How Can I Prevent Squirrels from Entering My Home?
It would be nice if you could keep squirrels out of your home before calling a pest control company like ours. And we’ve got good news!
There are steps you can take to vastly reduce your chances of acquiring a squirrel problem.
Inspect Your Home
The best way to keep squirrels out of your home is to control potential entry points. Look for holes in the soffits, as well as for rot in the fascia. Check for holes in your siding.
Add a steel mesh to the top of the chimney. This will let smoke out but will keep squirrels from getting in. You should also screen off the attic and crawlspace vents.
Trim Back Trees
Trees create a little “squirrel superhighway” when they run right up to the roof. Here in Houston, a lot of us have huge Live Oaks in our front yards for shade. Those branches may have extended over your rooftops for generations, but it may be time to trim them back.
When it’s a short hop from the trees (a squirrel’s natural habitat) to your roof, it becomes a short leap of logic for squirrels to decide your home looks pretty great for nesting, too. Keep the idea out of their tiny minds. When you trim back your trees, they’ll naturally run up and down and around the trees. It’s a way to encourage them to “stay in their lane.”
Clean Your Gutters
When you let your gutters fill up with dead leaves and pine needles, you’re essentially creating a nesting box for squirrels. Think about it; it’s enclosed on three sides by something hard, and it’s filled with soft, warm stuff the squirrels can burrow into
Once they’re nesting in the gutters, the soffits, fascia, and roof shingles are right there for them to chew. Once they chew long enough, they’ll wander inside. Once they wander inside, they’ll never want to leave.
Limit Access to Foo
Squirrels are just like mice, rats, and raccoons. They’re opportunistic about food. They’re happy to dig in your trash.
Getting an animal-proof garbage can is an excellent investment that keeps all sorts of pests away.
If you love feeding the birds, then pick up a squirrel-proof bird feeder. There are several varieties available on the market. This will allow you to feed the songbirds you enjoy without encouraging squirrels to hang around your house.
Get Help When You Need It
Squirrels are persistent little creatures. There’s always a chance they’re going to get into your home despite your best efforts.
When that happens, call Elite Wildlife Services to schedule a free inspection. Our team will help you humanely trap, remove, and exclude squirrels. We can also find entry points you may have missed and help you seal them up.
Squirrels can do a lot of damage. It’s good that you’re taking them seriously.
Can Natural Repellents Keep Squirrels Away?
It would be nice if you could plant some garlic around your house and never worry about squirrels again, wouldn’t it?
Money is tight for Houston families this year, so it’s natural to wonder if you can end a squirrel problem with inexpensive ingredients that you can pick up at the grocery store.
We’ve heard questions about everything from cayenne pepper to vinegar. Peppermint oil is another favorite. Who wouldn’t want to get rid of squirrels and keep their home smelling nice?
We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but it’s not going to work.
The Nesting Drive is Stronger than the Smell Drive
Squirrels instinctively nest in cavities. They like having a dry, protected place to bunk down, and they love it when they find lots of nesting materials to burrow into. Attics are the perfect candidate.
They’ll put up with a smell they don’t like as a trade-off because they’re so well-protected from most predators when they’re inside a human home. And while their strong sense of smell does mean that capsaicin is unpleasant for them, you probably cannot get enough of it into your attic to truly keep them away.
You might not enjoy having that much pepper circulating around in your air supply, either.
“Natural” Smells May Invite Other Pests
Some of the natural smells people want to use to repel squirrels just smell like food to other animals. You could be rolling out a red carpet for rats by attempting to get rid of squirrels the “cheap” way.
Wild rats will chow down on hot peppers as quickly as they’ll eat any other food. It may not be good for them, but they’re happy to try.
Squirrel Control Isn’t as Expensive As You Fear
Our methods involve removing the squirrels from the attic entirely, blocking off their method of entry, and helping you clean up after their mess. Exclusion methods are the only sure-fire way to get squirrels out of your home and keep them out of your home.
If you think you have a squirrel problem, don’t buy 50 pounds of Irish Spring soap, hoping that spreading the shavings around your attic will take care of the problem. Don’t waste your money on ghost peppers.
Contact Elite Wildlife Services for a thorough and free inspection and to get a removal plan that will really work. Once we show up, squirrels don’t come back.
