Squirrel Removal and Squirrel-Proofing

Athens-Clarke County Regional Office of Rid-A-Critter

Squirrels are small to medium-sized mammals in the family Sciuridae. There are many species of squirrels, but the two species that tend to make nuisances of themselves in the Athens, Georgia area are the Eastern gray squirrel and the flying squirrel. This page is about the Eastern gray squirrel. You can read about the flying squirrel here.

Appropriately enough, most gray squirrels are predominantly gray in color. But there's a great deal of color variation. "Gray" squirrels can be found in any color from jet black to pure white. But most of them are predominantly gray or brown and gray.

During the summer months, gray squirrels usually live in trees. As would be expected, they're skilled aerialists with excellent balance, effortlessly running along tree branches, roof peaks, and power lines. They go about their squirrel lives doing the squirrely things that squirrels do, like gathering and burying nuts and avoiding cats and other predators.

When the cooler weather comes along, however, squirrels look for a nice, warm, comfy place to sit out the winter; and all too often, the place they settle on is in the attic of a house. And once they get inside, they surely do make a nuisance of themselves.

Squirrels as Nuisance Pests

Squirrels are classified as "nuisance wildlife," and they certainly do the name justice. Despite their small size, squirrels can create big problems when they get into your attic, roof soffits, or anywhere else in your home. That's why squirrel removal and squirrel exclusion (or "squirrel proofing") are among the most common jobs we're called upon to do.

One of the problems with squirrels in your attic is that they hoard things. They're hoarders by nature, and they hoard the oddest things sometimes. We've found toys, jewelry, beads, and all sorts of small items "squirreled away" in attics over the years. What a squirrel needs with jewelry, we can't rightly say. But we've found them hoarding it anyway.

Squirrels also create a very unsanitary situation in an attic. They stink the place up and contaminate the attic with their urine and droppings, and also damage and contaminate stored clothing and other items. Their droppings can harbor bacterial and fungal pathogens that can make humans sick, and their fleas, ticks, and other parasites can vector arboviral diseases.

That's why we also provide clean-up and sanitizing services as part of our squirrel-removal protocol. If needed, we also offer contaminated insulation replacement as an optional add-on service.

Squirrel Damage

Like all rodents, squirrels are gnawers. They gnaw pretty much anything they can get their teeth around, from nuts to roof flashing. This habit is another reason why squirrels inside your house are not something you can ignore.

When squirrels get into your home, they gnaw on anything that's handy. They gnaw on PVC pipe, HVAC duct work, stored clothing and other personal belongings, furniture, the structural wood of the house itself, and worst of all, electrical wiring. Squirrels and other rodents in houses cause many home fires every year when the wires they gnaw on short out and catch fire.

The long and short of it is that that squirrels in a home can really can do a whole lot of damage. They can even start a fire that destroys your home.

How Do You Know that You Have a Squirrel Problem?

There are a lot of symptoms that suggest that you might have a squirrel problem, including:

• You actually see the squirrels getting into the home from the outside, or see them inside the house when you go into the attic.
• You find squirrel droppings or urine inside the attic or dripping through the ceiling and making a stain.
• You hear scratching noises or the pitter-patter of little feet in the attic.
• You find acorns, nuts, or other objects squirreled away in the attic.
• Your personal belongings have been gnawed at, or you see signs of gnawing activity on the wood, electrical wiring, or plumbing in the attic.

Of course, there are other critters that can cause any of these signs, and proper control begins with identification. No worries. Our highly-trained technicians can identify the critters in your attic by careful inspection. In difficult cases, we even have newfangled, motion-triggered, infrared cameras we can set up to catch your critters in the act and identify them.

Squirrel Removal and Exclusion in Athens, Georgia

Squirrels are nuisance animals, not pests. That means there's no such thing as a "squirrel exterminator." The only way to legally control squirrels in to humanely trap them, remove them, and release them. If you come across an exterminator who wants to "set poison out" to kill squirrels, that individual is breaking state and federal law.

In addition, even if it were legal, it wouldn't make sense to poison squirrels. There are few things that smell worse than a dead squirrel's carcass rotting away in a wall, and that's exactly what would happen if you poisoned squirrels in your home.

The way we handle squirrel problems is to remove the squirrels that are already in your home and relocate them elsewhere, and then seal up your house so no "new" squirrels can get in and replace the ones that we removed. That's called "squirrel exclusion" or "squirrel proofing," and it's what we do to keep squirrels out of your home permanently. We're Georgia's leaders in humane, non-toxic squirrel removal.

This is not the kind of work that handymen, roofers, or do-it-yourselfers should attempt. Squirrels are very resourceful, determined animals. A poorly-done squirrel-proofing job won't keep them out for long, if at all. More likely they'll just enjoy a good laugh at your expense. Besides, squirrel control requires specialized equipment and can be hazardous because of the heights involved.

That's why at Rid-A-Critter, all of our technicians complete an intensive training and apprenticeship program, and are provided with everything they need to do squirrel exclusion safely, effectively, and permanently. We provide ladders, scaffolding, cherry pickers, safety equipment, or anything else they need to make your home squirrel-proof. More importantly to you, the homeowner, we back up our work with the best warranty in the business. It's even transferable to new owners if you sell your home. That's how confident we are in the work we do.

If you have a squirrel problem and you live anywhere in the Athens, Georgia area, please call us for an on-site consultation. We look forward to your call.

Squirrel Removal Gallery

Here are few pictures of some of our squirrel removal work.

We have the tools and personnel to handle any squirrel control job, so please call us today.

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The Athens, Georgia office of Rid-A-Critter provides squirrel removal and squirrel-proofing in Athens-Clarke, Greene, and parts of Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, Banks, Jackson, and Oconee Counties in Georgia, including Athens, Auburn, Bogart, Commerce, Good Hope, Greensboro, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Watkinsville, and Winder. Your town not listed? Contact us.