Pest Control Squirrels
Pest Control Squirrels
Learn about Squirrel Control Products - What works and what does not. Pest Control Squirrels gives recommendations for the most effective long term Squirrel Control. Learn how to get rid of squirrels in the attic for good.
Approximately 15,000 Residential Fires are caused each year by rodents, such as squirrels, chewing on attic wiring. A lack of effective squirrel control could cost you your home - and even your life.
Do Not Let This:
Become This:
Squirrel Wire Damage In An Attic:
The product that solved this home's 10 year squirrel problem was Rodent Strobe's pest control strobes. And the squirrel that caused wire damage - he still plays in her yard but it will not go back into her attic.
Her testimony and others:
"I have had problems with squirrels getting in my attic for about ten years. The noise they made bothered me and I hated the holes they made in my house. I called a nationwide pest control service and they gave me the name of a man who would come out and trap the squirrels. The man charged me $250.00. I hired him two different times but did not notice a difference. Then I had the strobe lights installed. They work. They ran the squirrels out".
A.M. Memphis, TN
"We had a terrible experience with roof rats in our attic. We tried pest control companies, traps and poison and nothing worked. Finally, we heard about the Rodent Strobe pest control strobe lights. After installing them, the rats were gone within just a couple of days and have not been back - we kept the strobes on to keep the rats from coming back in. These strobes are the only thing that worked! I highly recommend them".
C.P. Phoenix, AZ
"I can testify that the Rodent Strobe solution to invading squirrels in the attic works! After several continuous repairs to chewed entrances I became desperate when it would happen again. I heard about Rodent Strobe on the radio and contacted them right away. The results were almost immediate. After a couple of days they left and they haven't been back! Thanks to this ingenious plan, I can now relax".
C.S. Memphis, TN
For seven years I had problems with roof rats in my Scottsdale, Arizona home. I tried everything to get rid of them. We had our home sealed twice and set traps numerous times, but we still kept having problems. We hired 3 or 4 pest control companies and they could not solve our problems. We had periods of no attic noise and no smell, but the rats would come back following previous generations’ urine scent trails (which can last for years). One day after a recent re-infestation we heard a rat in the attic above our living room. As I heard it near a ceiling light fixture the light started to flicker and made an electric buzzing sound. I realized the rodent was chewing on the wires in the attic and it dawned on me that “the smell” was not our biggest concern – A house fire was!
My efforts to solve this problem once and for all intensified. These efforts led me to strobe lights for pest control. After trying strobes from several different manufacturers, I found what I believe to be the best strobe lights manufactured to date-and solved my own pest problems.
After two years of research, patent searches and counsel, product development and testing, field research and lab experiments, consultations with pest control professionals including owners of pest control companies and leaders in the academic arena, I have developed a line of sturdy and long lasting pest control products which have been proven to work. Rodent Strobe is “the long term solution™”.
Kevin Peterson
President
Rodent Strobe Inc.
Squirrels in the Attic means wire damage:
Did you know that 25% of house fires of "unknown cause" are attributed to Attic Squirrels, Roof Rats, Norway Rats and Mice chewing on wires?
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The term “rodent” comes from the Latin verb rodere (to gnaw). Rodents, such as Squirrels and Roof Rats, are constantly gnawing on wood and wiring because their teeth are continually growing. For instance, the grey squirrel’s teeth grow a half a foot in length each year. Rodents, such as Norway Rats, Roof Rats, Mice and Squirrels, have to chew and gnaw constantly to keep their teeth’s length in check otherwise their teeth would grow too long - rendering the Norway Rat, Roof Rat or Squirrel unable to eat and thus starve to death.
As a result of this constant need to gnaw twenty-five percent of fires of “unknown cause” are attributed to rodents, such as Roof Rats, Attic Squirrels and Mice, chewing on electrical wires. A lack of Squirrel Control or Rat Control could lead to your house catching fire in the middle of the night.
Squirrels in the Attic Means Wire Damage and House Fires
According to the US Fire Administration, a house fire occurs every 79 seconds. There are usually about 50,000 – 60,000 residential fires of “unknown cause” each year in the US. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security estimate that they receive reports from fire departments on only half of the actual number of fires that occur each year. This means that the number of fires of “unknown cause” each year could be double the 50 to 60 thousand average. That’s possibly up to 120,000 fires of “unknown cause” each year in the US as a result of inadequate Squirrel Control or Rat Control. And remember that 25% of these fires are attributed to Squirrels in the attic, Roof Rats and Mice chewing on attic wiring. Therefore, based on government statistics and statements made by government authorities, the number of residential fires cause by the failure to get rid of Attic Squirrels, Roof Rats, Norway Rats and Mice are approximately 15,000 fires annually and could be as high as 30,000 fires. If you have rodents, such as squirrels or mice, in your attic – you probably have wire damage too.
Click here to see photos of how a lack of Squirrel Control led to wire damage in an attic.
Rodents make up more than one-third of the known kinds of mammals - they are the most abundant mammal in many parts of the world. Most rodents are nocturnal or crepuscular; tree squirrels and ground squirrels are strictly diurnal; others may be active either by night or by day.
Squirrel Control
The average squirrel lives for 3-5 years. Squirrels mate between February and March and also between July and August. Adult female squirrels have two litters a year with 1-3 infants per litter. The young remain in the nest for about 10 weeks. Squirrels’ teeth are continually growing. Squirrels have 22 teeth. They gnaw and chew on just about anything. They even grind their teeth in their sleep. City officials of New York City attribute at least one power outage each day to squirrels. Squirrels actually cause more power outages than lightning in some states. In Georgia in 2006 there were 16,750 power outages caused by squirrels. Not all of these outages were caused by the squirrels’ chewing on the wires – some were just contact electrocutions but many were via contact with the metal wire after the squirrel chewed through the soft plastic wire jacket covering and the squirrel was electrocuted.
How to get rid of squirrels in the attic? - House sealing, squirrel trapping and removal, live traps, animal removal, squirrel removal, squirrel traps, rat traps, mice traps - what’s best?
The scent glands of squirrels are located in their feet. As they run they leave little scent road maps for other squirrels to follow. The pheromones in rodent urine (squirrels are rodents) can last up to two years. Tree squirrels love to live in attics. It’s warmer, drier and safer from predators. Unfortunately most attics are not equipped with squirrel toilets. But this is not a problem for the squirrels - they will just urinate and defecate all over the attic. And I do mean all over. It is amazing to see an attic where squirrels have been residing. Raisin sized dung all over the place and matted down insulation which is stained with and smells of urine. It is truly nasty – but not to the squirrels. The urine and glands in the squirrels’ feet leave pheromone trails which are like a welcome mat or “attic for rent” sign for future squirrels. This is why squirrel trapping, poisoning, or house sealing has to be done over and over and over by homeowners at great cost each time and most definitely accumulatively. I know from experience and so does my pocketbook. I am in the pest control industry. I am, and have to be, familiar with many aspects of the industry. In one of the pest control classes I attended, taught by a pest control inspector, the inspector informed us that integrity was a big part of keeping our state license. As part of ensuring this, the inspectors would “shadow”/observe unawares a pest control operator and before an inspector does a site, chemical, equipment, paper work, and service vehicle inspection he/she would often watch the pest professional from a distance without the pest control operator’s knowledge he/she was being watched/inspected. The inspector teaching the class said that in the vast majority of the times an animal was live trapped at a customer’s residence or business the animal pest was unethically released within two blocks of where it was caught. In this case the pest would just return to the capture site. Pest control operators in most states are required to take the pest at least two miles away from the capture site before releasing it. The inspector told the class that our license would be in jeopardy if we were caught doing this unethical practice.
So if you hire a pest control company to live trap and/or seal your home or business - what certainty do you have that the pest control employee won’t just let the squirrel, mouse, or rat out of the live trap just down the street? Again this was not the exception but the majority according to the inspector’s class. And if you snap trap the pest, or glue trap the pest, or zap trap the pest – What keeps other animal pest from following the scent trail to your home or property?
Squirrels will migrate – in mass. In 1791 in Ohio the squirrel population exploded and squirrels in mass migrated to the town of Belpre and consumed the entire area’s corn crop. They then in mass swam across the Ohio River into West Virginia and began devouring the corn crops there.
Squirrels usually cluster in groups up to about twelve. So, if you hear squirrels in your attic you may have a migrating population that will stay in numbers of one to a full dozen in your attic. An acre of area may contain multiple groups of squirrels. If you get rid of some – well, if you’ve built it they will come.
Squirrel Control - How to get rid of squirrels in the attic or rats without additional problems.
The Grey Squirrel's latin name is Sciurus Carolinensis. Grey squirrels mate twice a year - in the early spring or late winter and in the summer. The mother squirrel will give birth to her young about 45 days after mating. A squirrel has 4 to 6 baby squirrels per litter. A pair of healthy squirrels could produce a dozen offspring each year. In twelve months the offspring become breeding adults. Each litter does not leave its mother's nest for the first 10 to 12 weeks of its life. It is totally dependant on its mother's milk to live. If you have squirrels in the attic there most likely are baby squirrels in your attic 40% of the year. Squirrel trapping or poisoning could leave baby squirrels up in your attic in a nesting site to die of starvation. A mother squirrel will nest in the safest place she can find to protect her young. Attics are ideal places. The cavities in the your home's walls are many times chosen by nesting squirrels - the radiant heat in the winter and the cool air from air conditioning make the interior house walls good nesting sites for mother squirrels. These cavities are accessed by the squirrel through top of the wall openings in your attic. If you use rat poison or a squirrel trap to try to get rid of squirrels in the attic, then you could be smelling dead, baby squirrels rotting in your attic or walls for weeks. And if you use a rat poison to kill the squirrels, the squirrel will often retreat to its nest in your attic to die and you will be smelling its rotting body for weeks. Often interior walls have to be cut into to remove the dead squirrels. An attic squirrel may nest under attic flooring and the flooring will have to be removed to remove the dead squirrel in the attic. AND PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT, IF YOU HEAR SQUIRRELS IN YOUR ATTIC THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, YOU MOST LIKELY HAVE 4 TO 6 BABIES PER EACH MOTHER SQUIRREL IN THE ATTIC 40-50% OF THE YEAR. A MOTHER SQUIRREL IN A SQUIRREL TRAP, WHETHER CAUGHT IN A SNAP TYPE SQUIRREL TRAP OR A LIVE SQUIRREL TRAP AND CARRIED AWAY - OR - A POISONED MOTHER SQUIRREL - OR - A MOTHER SQUIRREL SHOT WITH A PELLET GUN COULD RESULT IN DEAD YOUNG SQUIRRELS IN YOUR ATTIC OR INTERIOR HOUSE WALLS LEFT TO DECAY AND SMELL.
Rat traps used as squirrel traps. Rat traps are designed for rats - not for squirrels! I am speaking of the snap trap variety of rat traps. I have seen a squirrel that was trapped in one of these rat traps and it did not kill the squirrel. The rat trap used as a squirrel trap was placed in an attic by a well meaning husband trying to get rid of his squirrels in the attic. He had placed about a dozen rat traps in a 2,000 square foot attic space. The traps had been up in the attic for seven years! A squirrel ran past one and tripped the rat trap trigger. The rat trap snapped shut on the attic squirrel's foot. Where do you think this injured squirrel with a rat trap attached to its broke leg ran to? It ran to a interior house wall where its nest was. There's no place like home. The squirrel managed to force its broken leg through the wall opening in the attic with the rat trap still attached. But as it tried to leave the interior wall space to go back up into the attic the rat trap used as a squirrel trap became stuck and so was the injured squirrel. Unfortunately the squirrel had to be put down.
If you use a rat trap as a squirrel trap the squirrel will usually not face an immediate death being as the rat traps are not designed to be used as a squirrel trap. The squirrel will definitely suffer and if it is able to move it will often retreat to its squirrel nest in your attic to die and rot and smell.
If you use a rat poison to poison a squirrel, besides the risk of it or its young dying in your attic or home's wall, is the risk of a sickened or dead family pet.
Every year there a hundreds of cases of secondary poisonings from a dog or cat chewing on or partially ingesting poisoned rat, mouse or squirrel. If a dog or cat finds a dead rodent - and they can smell them out, they find what to them is a chew toy and/or an extra meal. As they carry around the dead rodent in their mouths, as some kind of trophy, they are ingesting the very poisons that killed the rat. At least, your pet could get sick and sometimes they die. This death will occur some times because there is often, over time, more than one dead rat or squirrel that they find and the poisons accumulate in the pet's blood stream until it becomes sick and dies, or at least runs up a considerable veterinary bill.
With the Rodent Strobe line of pest control strobe lights these problems are addressed. First, we have found that if a squirrel or rat is living in a house wall that it accesses through a space that is protected by a high intensity strobe that the squirrel or rat will give up going to its nesting area in the wall. It just is not worth it - see our How It Works page.
Second, Attic squirrels and rats are good mothers. If their young are in what the rodent mother deems an "unsafe" area she will move them to another place that she sees as safe. We recommend that a person using our pest control strobe lights simply turn off the strobes for a few hours at a time during the first few days to allow the mothers to move their young. Then when all the attic squirrels, attic rats, raccoons, etc., are gone - turn on the strobes and leave them on. Problem solved! No dead, rotting squirrels or rats. No dead or sick family pets. No repeating and repeating the squirrel trapping, or rat trapping nightmare.
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SQUIRREL FACTS:
Grey Squirrels
Squirrels’ teeth are continually growing. Squirrels have 22 teeth. They gnaw and chew on just about anything. They even grind their teeth in their sleep. City officials of New York City attribute at least one power outage each day to squirrels. Squirrels actually cause more power outages than lightning in some states. In Georgia in 2006 there were 16,750 power outages caused by squirrels. Not all of these outages were caused by the squirrels’ chewing on the wires – some were just contact electrocutions but many were via contact with the metal wire after the squirrel chewed through the soft plastic wire jacket covering and the squirrel was electrocuted.
Squirrels like to chew on wiring in particular. They do not chew on the wiring to sharpen their teeth. They chew on wiring to clean their teeth. Squirrels are the cleanest of the rodent family. A male grey squirrel will groom itself twice as much as a female squirrel. Squirrels use the bark of trees to keep their teeth clean. Squirrels use a back and forth motion when chewing on the tree bark. This serves as a sort of squirrel dental floss. And squirrels floss very regularly. The soft plastic outer jacket on home wiring is a perfect teeth cleaning material for a squirrel in the attic. Every attic with squirrels I have inspected has had wire damage. Every single one has had wires that an attic squirrel has chewed through to the copper wire center. If a squirrel in the attic chews through the wire outer jacket and exposes both the positive and the negative copper wires then the squirrel in the attic becomes a dead squirrel in the attic by means of electrocution. A squirrel in the attic that makes "contact" while chewing on attic wiring will often catch on fire as the electric currents cook the squirrel. Also, the "contact" made by a squirrel in the attic chewing on wiring can cause an electrical "short" in the wiring. An eclectic short caused by a squirrel in the attic or other wire chewing rodent in an attic causes an estimated 15,000 residential fires per year in the US.
Squirrel Control - How to get rid of squirrels in the attic without additional problems.
How to get rid of squirrels in the attic? - House sealing, squirrel trapping and removal, live traps, animal removal, squirrel removal, squirrel traps, rat traps, mice traps - what’s best?
Rat traps are designed for rats - not for squirrels! I am speaking of the snap trap variety of rat traps. I have seen a squirrel that was trapped in one of these rat traps and it did not kill the squirrel. The rat trap used as a squirrel trap was placed in an attic by a well meaning husband trying to get rid of his squirrels in the attic. He had placed about a dozen rat traps in a 2,000 square foot attic space. The traps had been up in the attic for seven years! A squirrel ran past one and tripped the rat trap trigger. The rat trap snapped shut on the attic squirrel's foot. Where do you think this injured squirrel with a rat trap attached to its broke leg ran to? It ran to a interior house wall where its nest was. There's no place like home. The squirrel managed to force its broken leg through the wall opening in the attic with the rat trap still attached. But as it tried to leave the interior wall space to go back up into the attic the rat trap used as a squirrel trap became stuck and so was the injured squirrel. Unfortunately the squirrel had to be put down.
If you use a rat trap as a squirrel trap the squirrel will usually not face an immediate death being as the rat traps are not designed to be used as a squirrel trap. The squirrel will definitely suffer and if it is able to move it will often retreat to its squirrel nest in your attic to die and rot and smell.
If you use a rat poison to poison a squirrel, besides the risk of it or its young dying in your attic or home's wall, is the risk of a sickened or dead family pet.
Every year there a hundreds of cases of secondary poisonings from a dog or cat chewing on or partially ingesting poisoned rat, mouse or squirrel. If a dog or cat finds a dead rodent - and they can smell them out, they find what to them is a chew toy and/or an extra meal. As they carry around the dead rodent in their mouths, as some kind of trophy, they are ingesting the very poisons that killed the rat. At least, your pet could get sick and sometimes they die. This death will occur some times because there is often, over time, more than one dead rat or squirrel that they find and the poisons accumulate in the pet's blood stream until it becomes sick and dies, or at least runs up a considerable veterinary bill.
With the Rodent Strobe line of pest control strobe lights these problems are addressed. First, we have found that if a squirrel or rat is living in a house wall that it accesses through a space that is protected by a high intensity strobe that the squirrel or rat will give up going to its nesting area in the wall. It just is not worth it - see our How It Works page.
Second, Attic squirrels and rats are good mothers. If their young are in what the rodent mother deems an "unsafe" area she will move them to another place that she sees as safe. We recommend that a person using our pest control strobe lights simply turn off the strobes for a few hours at a time during the first few days to allow the mothers to move their young. Then when all the attic squirrels, attic rats, raccoons, etc., are gone - turn on the strobes and leave them on. Problem solved! No dead, rotting squirrels or rats. No dead or sick family pets. No repeating and repeating the squirrel trapping, or rat trapping nightmare.
Squirrels will migrate – in mass. In 1791 in Ohio the squirrel population exploded and squirrels in mass migrated to the town of Belpre and consumed the entire area’s corn crop. They then in mass swam across the Ohio River into West Virginia and began devouring the corn crops there.
Squirrels are solitary creatures. Each squirrel usually lives alone in its nest. In the cold winter they will share a nesting area to keep warmer. Squirrels usually cluster in loose groups up to about twelve. So, if you hear squirrels in your attic you may have a migrating population that will stay in numbers of one to a full dozen in your attic. An acre of area may contain multiple groups of squirrels. If you get rid of some – well, if you’ve built it they will come.
There are about three hundred varieties of squirrels.
A squirrel has a brain about the size of a walnut.
Squirrels communicate with each other through different chirps.
Squirrels can run fast. Squirrels can run up to a speed of about twenty miles per hour.
Squirrels eat up to 2 pounds of food each week. A squirrel's diet consists of nuts, acorns, bird seed, bird eggs, mushrooms, corn, wheat, insects, garbage, and berries. Squirrels scent mark their food before they hide it for the winter.
Squirrels have double-jointed hind legs. This aids squirrels in their ability to run up and down trees quickly.
A squirrel can fall up to 100 feet without injury.
Squirrels have 4 toes on their front feet. The nails on their front feet are very sharp which helps them hold onto surfaces they are climbing.
Squirrels have 5 toes on their back feet.
The Eastern Grey Squirrel can also be found in Western states as well as in Ireland, England and South Africa.
The name "Squirrel" comes from a Greek word meaning "shadow tail".
A male squirrel can "scent" a female squirrel in heat a mile away.
Squirrels can jump a distance of approximately 20 feet.
Squirrels are found on almost every continent.
Squirrels have eyes on the sides of their head which allows them to see behind themselves.
Squirrel predators include snakes, cats, owls, hawks, foxes, bobcats and raccoons to name a few.
A Squirrel will clean a nut before burying it. The squirrel will first crack the nut open with its sharp teeth. The squirrel will then lick the nut clean. The squirrel will also rub the nut on its face to clean the nut. Both the licking and the rubbing of a nut by a squirrel will mark the nut with the squirrel's scent and make the nut easier to find after it is buried. The squirrel can find the nut even under a foot of snow. If you have squirrels in the attic they will also hide nuts in the attic. I have been in a attic where multiple squirrels lived and it was littered with peanuts and peanut shells that a neighbor threw out in his yard to feed the squirrels. The squirrels in the attic had done extensive wire damage - with multiple chewed through and copper exposed wire. Attic squirrels may be cute in the yard but they are a fire hazard in an attic. This is why it is so important to get rid of squirrels in the attic.
When a squirrel senses danger its first instinct is to stand perfectly still. I remember a particular squirrel in an attic that upon seeing me "froze" and stood still for a minute or two looking straight at me without so much as a twitch. The squirrel in the attic did not run away until I moved towards the "frozen" squirrel.
A squirrel's meandering path while crossing a road is its way of confusing an on-coming car. This very squirrel behavior causes the death of thousands of squirrels each year as this squirrel behavior causes them to run right back in front of the car they are attempting to evade. Many a homeowner has had to call a pest control professional to "fish out" dead baby squirrels in the attic - squirrels that have been orphaned by a neighbor's car.
When a squirrel's nest becomes infested with parasites and fleas it will move to a different nest.
Squirrel Control, Roof Rat Control, and Pest Control Products - What Works and What Does Not?
Knowledge is the first step towards effective, safe Pest Control.
Attic Squirrel Control and Rat Control by means of wolf urine, coyote urine, fox urine, predator urine, or scents? Will these get rid of squirrels in the attic?
Squirrel Repellents
Squirrel Control and Rat Control by means of wolf urine, coyote urine, fox urine, predator urine, or scents? Will these get rid of squirrels in the attic?
Why shake away your hard earned money on odor repellents, that the academic pest professionals say do not work?
In the first place - been there done that. I can tell you from personal experience that this does not work for long - In my case it did not work at all. Besides I do not want more urine smell in my attic. Enough is enough. Oh! (But the web sites say) this will scare away the pest because the rat, mouse, mice, squirrel, raccoon will smell the predator urine and it will be frightened away. Please do not waste your hard earned money on these products. Too many people do.
Here's Something Else to Think About:
The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for one of these products lists fox urine as a main ingredient. Where is all this dried fox urine coming from? Are there fox port-a-potties placed in the forest? It takes a lot of fox urine to produce these products. Where is it coming from? The largest source of fox urine on the market is supplied by the fur trade industry. Hundreds of foxes in cages with trays beneath each cage to collect the marketable urine. Do you want to purchase a product that does not give long term results? Do you want your money going to support the fur trade industry?
Plastic Owls
There is a restaurant with a giant Paul Bunyan statue in the parking lot with a big axe in his hands. Is this scaring the human customers away? Have you ever seen a picture of a scarecrow out in a corn field with a bird sitting on it? – I have. Again, please don’t waste your money on a plastic owl – unless all you want is one or two days of squirrel control until the pest figures out it’s not real.
Will a radio in the attic get rid of squirrels in the attic?
This will work for a day or two but that is about it. I know people who sleep with a radio or a television on all night with the volume up. When asked how they could sleep with such noise they respond “Oh, I’m used to it”. The pest will get used to it too. No one likes to be kicked out of their home – rodents are no exception.
Pellet Gun to get rid of squirrels in the attic?
What if you just wound it and it runs to its nest – IN YOUR ATTIC – and dies? Well, happy smells to you Annie Oakley. Besides, in many towns this is illegal.
Squirrel Traps and Rat Traps: some things to consider before you purchase.
This is a way to control pests. BUT, there are several drawbacks. First, be careful for your fingers – if it can snap a mouse’s spine it can certainly break or severely hurt a finger. Children can get hurt. Family pets could get hurt. Emergency rooms are expensive.
Mouse traps, mice traps, rat traps are meant for smaller rodents. Squirrel control via this method could mean a squirrel caught in one of these could suffer for hours. A large rat (and rats can get as large as a small cat) might possibly have to be killed while still caught in the trap. Pest control manuals recommend attaching snap traps to a larger board so a larger wounded animal caught in a trap doesn’t drag it elsewhere where it will die and smell and be hard to retrieve. I have personally seen a squirrel in an attic that caught its foot in a snap trap. The squirrel then retreated with the snap trap attached to its foot into an inner house wall and became caught in between the attic wall and the open attic space because the trap would not fit back through the space between the wall and the attic. This animal would have died in the wall and would have rotted and smelled had it not been found and removed.
If you use a rat trap, or a mouse trap, or a squirrel trap that is designed to kill the pest - what if it has babies living in the attic or wall spaces of your property? They die and the smell is horrible! Plus then you have to go through the expense of having a pest control professional crawling through your attic and possibly cutting into your walls to remove the dead litter. But with Rodent Strobe if the strobes are turned off for short periods of time (several hours) during the first few days - the rat, or squirrel has a chance to remove its young and the whole family leaves. This is squirrel control and rat control that does not leave a rotting dead animal in your walls or attic. This is truly the best way to get rid of attic squirrels, raccoons, bats in the attic, rats in the attic, skunks under the house and opossums in the attic or crawl space.
Pest control manuals give guidelines on disposal of trapped and killed or injured pests. First, warnings are made that a wounded animal can be very dangerous. Secondly, dead pests can carry diseases so wear the proper protective equipment. Third, It is recommended that the dead animal be sprayed thoroughly with a clorox and water solution before removal and disposal. Also be aware that the dead pest may have fleas that have been feeding on its blood and if one of its fleas bites you then you could be infected with a pathogen. Lyme disease, a disease that was once thought only to be in deer ticks, has now been found in fleas. The “black death” was spread by fleas on roof rats.
Moth balls in the attic for squirrel control or rat control is illegal and toxic to humans.
The use of moth balls in an attic or other spaces to get rid of squirrels in the attic is illegal in all 50 states. If you use moth balls to get rid of squirrels, bats in the attic, and raccoons in the attic or any other vertebrate pest or even suggest their use to someone you are committing, at least a misdemeanor, and even a felony in many states. If you are considering using Moth balls to get rid of squirrels in the attic then you need to read this - Moth balls are toxic to humans and pets. Most moth balls are made from naphthalene which is derived from coal tar. The gas emitted from moth balls is heavier than air and will seep from your attic into the lower levels of your home – your living areas. Many people will recommend moth balls to get rid of squirrels in the attic and other pests. In states such as Arizona, California, Florida and New York this simple recommendation is a felony. Moth balls take oxygen out of the air. Their purpose is to suffocate moths in a contained environment. It is similar, very similar to running a car engine in a garage with the garage door closed. Several years ago a friend had a yard man tell her to put moth balls in her attic to drive out the squirrels. It worked for a while but the amount of moth balls she had to put in the attic spaces to drive out the squirrels made her house stink of moth balls. Now, my friend could not smell the moth balls after several days, but everyone who entered her house was over-whelmed by the odor. I have asthma and when visiting her it greatly bothered my asthma. Two years later the lowest places in her house, such as bathroom cabinets, linen closets, etc. still smells of moth balls. Many people who make this huge mistake then spend years trying to get the moth ball smell out of their house. Good luck! To this day, freshly laundered towels that have been placed in her bathroom cabinets soon acquire the smell of the moth balls. Again, my friend could not smell the moth balls but everyone who entered her house could. Same thing with squirrels and mice - they get used to the smell - unless you use so many moth balls that the toxic vapors are so heavy that the squirrels or other rodents can’t stay – which means these heavier than air toxic vapors are seeping down into your living areas and into your lungs and into your blood stream. Did you know that babies that have been wrapped in blankets which were stored with moth balls have been found to have high levels of naphthalene in their blood streams? Moth balls for squirrel control, been there – smelled that, in most cases it is illegal and very toxic.
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Nose, eyes, and lung irritation.
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Difficulty breathing, asthma worsening, asthma attacks.
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Headaches, nausea, dizziness.
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Cancer – moth balls are possible carcinogens.
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Effect on babies- skin rash, anemia, jaundice.
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Attic Squirrel Control and Rat Control by means of ultrasonic pest control, ultrasonic repellents, ultrasonic repellers?
Been there, done that too! I wish I had my money back. That ultrasonic thing was expensive and the owner of the company told me how great it would work. Yeah buddy. Did you know that several of the leading vertebrate pest specialists - PhD. Professors, experts in the field have tried to get the Federal Trade Commission to ban ultrasonic pest control devises because they do not work? The Federal Trade Commission has published a warning to all ultrasonic pest repeller manufacturers and retailers. There may be an initial effect but research shows that the pests return and become habituated (get used to the noise). How long do ultrasonics work? Research shows that the repelling effect last for 1-3 days, but after 3-7 days the pests become habituated to the noise and continue living in the space not bothered enough to leave their home. Additional research confirms that ultrasonic pest repellers may have a partial or transitory effect, but have no persistent effectiveness. Most academic researchers urge legislatures and consumers to view ultrasonic pest repellents with skepticism. The New York State Consumer Protection Board cautions against using ultrasonic repellers. In addition to this, contrary to the claims of many ultrasonic pest control device sellers, there is scientific evidence that some of these devices cause hearing loss in pets, most especially dogs . Even the US Army does not approve of ultrasonic pest control devices.
I traveled to San Diego to speak with the vertebrate pest expert who does the pest control products investigations for the Federal Trade Commission. When I told him I had a pest control product that I needed some help in designing container and field experiments for product testing the first thing he asked me (with a look of disgust) was “this isn’t another one of those ultrasonic pest repellers is it? – Those things don’t work”. I am pleased to say that he seemed very impressed with my product, especially when he was in a dark room with my strobe flashing and he was commenting that it was making him dizzy as he moved around the room. Then I observed him try several times to turn on the lights with the wall switch and his hand was meandering around for several seconds before he was able to secure his hand on the switch and turn the lights on. I was one happy camper.
With the Rodent Strobe line of pest control strobe lights the problem of habituation is completely solved. The rodents can not adapt to the constant high intensity lightning bright flashes. We have found that if a squirrel or rat is living in a house wall that it accesses through a space that is protected by a high intensity strobe that the squirrel or rat will give up going to its nesting area in the wall. It just is not worth it - see our How It Works page.
Attic squirrels and rats are good mothers. If their young are in what the rodent mother deems an "unsafe" area she will move them to another place that she sees as safe. We recommend that a person using our pest control strobe lights simply turn off the strobes for a few hours at a time during the first few days to allow the mothers to move their young. Then when all the attic squirrels, attic rats, raccoons, etc., are gone - turn on the strobes and leave them on (they are extremely energy efficient - only 4.8 watts). Problem solved! No dead, rotting squirrels or rats. No dead or sick family pets. No repeating and repeating the squirrel trapping, or rat trapping nightmare.
Squirrels are rodents - So for better squirrel control it helps to know about their cousins the rats.
In the United States it is estimated that there is one rat for every two people. A typical large city in the United States annually receives more than 10,000 complaints about rodent problems. Rodents, in the consumption of food, also contaminate food with their fur, urine and feces. Rats cause an estimated one billion dollars each year in terms of direct economic loss. A rat’s home range is generally within a 50-foot to 150-foot radius of the nest. A mouse usually lives within a 10-foot to 30-foot radius of its nest.
Rat traps and Roof Rats aka. Attic Rats.
Been there, done that. If you have roof rats – good luck, I had none. With literally dozens of traps and multiple baits – over seven years I didn’t catch a single roof rat. I could smell them. I could hear them. I saw their droppings. I just couldn't’t catch them and neither could four pest control companies. You have got to have a really bad problem with roof rats to catch them – by “bad problem” I mean an over population and fierce competition for food sources. And to solve the problem you have to catch them all and then you have their lasting scent trail to worry about.
Roof Rat and Norway Rat behavior towards Rat Poison and Rat Traps
Mice tend to investigate new objects in their home range. Rats, especially Roof Rats, are suspicious of objects that suddenly appear in their midst. Roof Rats are Neo-Phobic (afraid of new things). Norway Rats and Roof Rats typically ignore Rat Poison and Rat Traps for 3-5 days or even weeks, especially if other food continues to be routinely available to them. Many Roof Rats will not consume a food source even when placed in its regularly traveled path unless it smells another rat’s breathe on the food source. Roof Rats are much more cautious than Norway Rats. Norway Rats seem to be as dumb as dirt and thus are much easier to entice to a Rat Trap or Rat Trap bait station. Norway Rats like to stay at ground level. They are low level rats. They mostly travel along the ground. Norway Rats follow regular paths next to walls. They do this for several reasons. First, Norway Rats and Roof Rats have very poor eye site they rely on their whiskers to feel their way along a wall. Secondly, Norway Rats and Roof Rats are incontinent - no bladder control. Norway Rats' and Roof Rats' running movements cause them to urinate in small amounts everywhere they go. An infant Roof Rat will die if its mother does not lick its belly. The licking motion on the belly is the only way a baby Roof Rat can pee. The urine constantly left by running rats leaves a scent trail that the rats follow. These scent trails can last for two years. The average Roof Rats and Norway Rat live for about one year. So, the scent trail left by a single rat will be followed by other rats, and other rats etc.
Roof Rats are accomplished climbers. Roof Rats prefer to live in trees or attics where it is safe. Roof Rats are incredibly cautious and intelligent and thus hard to entice to rat poison or a rat trap. Roof Rats are cannibalistic. A roof Rat wile at another dead Roof Rat. This cannibalistic behavior is one reason why Roof Rats are becoming immune to rat poisons, because at times a dead rat will have died from eating a poison and the secondary poisoning that occurs to the cannibalistic rats will not be enough to kill them but instead helps them develop a resistance to the poisons which is passed down to their offspring. A Roof Rat’s favorite food is dog manure. Dog droppings are a gourmet meal for a Roof Rat. One of the odors give off by dog manure is the same as in a roof Rats breath. The Roof Rat smells this and knows it is safe to eat. If you or your neighbor(s) have dogs you could have a nasty Roof Rat problem in no time. And Roof Rats smell bad – no wonder!
Citrus trees and Roof Rats. Did you know that Roof Rats do not eat oranges for food? Rather, as I was told by one of the leading academic Roof Rat scientists, they use the oranges as a safe source of fluids. Again, Roof Rats are very cautious and there usually has to be a serious overpopulation problem before any are caught in a rat trap or eat a rat poison.
A mouse may accept a new food source more readily; but a mouse’s smaller home range means that a rat poison or a mouse trap has to be located very near its nesting site.
Roof Rats, Norway Rats and Mice are mostly active at night. They have poor eyesight, but they have keen senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Rats, especially Roof Rats, explore and learn about their environment, memorizing all the elements of their domain. They quickly detect and avoid anything new. This behavior is very pronounced in Roof Rats. This was dramatically demonstrated in one experiment. In this experiment there were two rooms separated by a common wall. In the wall there was a hole through which the Roof Rat could pass. One room was the harborage (safe place) room for the rat. The harborage room was kept dark and had no food or water source. The other room was outfitted with furniture, lighting and a food and water source on the far side of the room from the access hole. The Roof Rat would routinely leave the harborage room at regular times, run along the floor always keeping next to the wall and eat and drink and then leave via its routine wall hugging path. The experimenters then re-arranged some of the furniture. The next time the rat returned it came through the hole, looked around and noticed things had been changed and immediately stopped and returned to the harborage room. The rat would regularly look through the hole but did not re-enter the room to go to its only source of food and water until three full days had passed since the furniture had been rearranged.
In a field experiment, described to me by the Vertebrate Pest Specialist who does the pest control device claim inspections for the Federal Trade Commission, a Roof Rat was observed for several days. The setting was a yard with a wooden fence. Inside the fence was a home with a porch and a dog with its food and water bowls. There was also a Roof Rat. The Roof Rat shared the dog's rations. The Roof Rat would appear from it hiding place about the same time every night (the dog's bedtime). The Roof Rat world then sit on the fence and observer the dog falling asleep and then sleeping. The pest specialist were intrigued that the Roof Rat would patiently wait for a long while after the dog had fallen asleep. Why didn't the Roof rat go eat out of the bowl. The dog was fast asleep. The pest specialist told me that they observed the dog more carefully and noticed that as soon as the dog displayed the physical signs that it was in REM sleep ( the deepest dream stage of sleep) the Roof Rat went down and ate and drank out of the dog's bowl. That's careful. That's smart!
The metropolitan area of Phoenix has a serious Roof Rat problem. Several years ago the government placed 1,000 Rat Poison bait stations in infested areas in order to curb the Roof Rat problem. The local government left the bait stations out for one month and then checked the rat poison bait stations and found that only 1% of the rat poison had been touched by the rat population.
Rat Control and Disease
Rodents can carry infectious diseases. The roof rat, also known as the black rat and the ship rat, spread bubonic plague through Asia and Europe hundreds of years ago. As much as 50 percent of the populations died. Most rodents are resistant to the effects of the bacteria that cause plague. They become infected and carry the disease as host. On a visit to the Grand Canyon years ago, the group I was with was told by our guide not to feed the ground squirrels because if you were bitten you would be taken to the hospital and treated for rabies and bubonic plague.
In northern Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico plague, aka “the black death”, has been found in the rodent population. In the Phoenix, Arizona area the local prisoners have been put to work making bait stations for the roof rat problem. This makes me wonder if the Phoenix area health authorities are worried about the roof rats of Arizona becoming infected with bubonic plague. If this occurs, via fleas, the plague could quickly be spread to pets (dogs and cats are also resistant carriers) and then humans in rapid succession.