Lateley we have had squirrels in our yard & late last night my wife heard something in our attic..WE think it is a squirrel that got in thru the crawl space & got up in the attic area..Any suggestions how to get rid of it..I know they could pose a problem..also do squirrels scurry around at night?..Please let me know what to do..THANKS..John
Squirrels and raccoons etc love to move in to an attic. I regularly have to go up there and refill a pie-tin with ammonia. This smells pretty bad and stings the eyes so wear gloves and goggles. I can't stand up in my attic, so I got some good knee-pads at Loew's, and a flashlight that straps on to my forehead so I can have hands free to crawl along.
Night scurrying sounds more like raccoons, but if you start going up there you might see one and know for sure. More likely, they will disappear when they hear someone coming. When they catch on that humans own that space, they will not want to live there, and they don't want to live in a place that smells of ammonia, either.
Agree that nightime activity in the attic would be raccoons, not squirrels. At sundown, squirrels go back to the nest and to sleep, while raccons are active at night. I'd also suggest finding out how they can get in and sealing it off. I'd seal it off during the day if you suspect squirrels, so they are likely to be out. You can also make or buy a one way type gate that lets them out, but not back in. You use that for a few days before sealing it permanently.
Not sure what part of the world you are in but nightime scurrying in attic walls could also be flying squirrels, bats, mice, or even your standard daytime squirrel freaked out because they are trapped. Raccoons will need a bigger access then the above list and not a usual find in most attics, but again still possible, and raccoons are not happy critters when you come between them and their exit. If you can figure out what it is you'll have a better chance a targeting it directly.
Inspect the entire house outside for possible access points (especially the roof line/soffet area) and seal them up with copper mesh.
Get some traps (and recipes.)
Bats in the belfry
Meaning
Crazy, eccentric.
Origin
The allusion is to bats - the erratically flying animals, and 'belfry' is the head. So, 'bats in the belfry' refers to someone who acts as though he has bats careering around in his head.
-- Oren
"The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!"
Once you get rid of the ones there now, look for the way they are getting in the attic. If you have vinyl siding, the corner posts are usually hollow and sometimes they may extend into the soffits, depending upon which was installed first. I had chipmunks in my pool house soffits (no attic: a cathedral ceiling) that were getting in the same way. Seal up the bottoms of the corner posts with stainless steel wool and spray some expanding foam insulation in there to hold the wool in place.
Get some>large rat traps, look like large mouse traps..bait them with peanut butter, they love the stuff, nouff said!
I got 3 in 2 hours when i had them in my attic, they chewed into my wires in the attic and caused damage
I had them in my attic and bought fox urine (fox pee) at the sporting goods (hunting) section of Wal-Mart and sprayed it in the hole that they had created. They left since a fox would be a predator. Also, a cat outside will run them off.
we used a Havahart 1030 trap quite effectively:
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