| Author |
Message |
    
Chasm
Citizen
Username: Chasm
Post Number: 151
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 10:44 pm: |     |
TREE RATS. I have squirrel problems. They get in my attic, and they have eaten through three plastic trashcans. Does anyone know how to get rid of them? Exterminator perhaps?
thirdgearrocks |
kathy
Citizen
Username: Kathy
Post Number: 753
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 11:01 pm: | |
Exterminator, definitely, to get them out of your attic. (Eating through the trash cans I don't know about--we haven't had that problem.)
The exterminator built us some one-way squirrel doors that went over the vent louvers that they were using to get into the attic. Once they used them to go out, they couldn't get back in.
One problem--since our house is so tall, the exterminator wouldn't actually install the contraptions and I had to get a contractor to do it.
In our previous house, squirrels got in after we had a power vent installed in the attic--it was screened with nylon mesh and they ate right through it. The exterminator that time put a baited hav-a-heart trap on the roof near the vent; when the squirrels went in he took them away. Then he replaced the nylon with steel mesh.
Good luck! |
las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 17
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 8:50 am: | |
We recently used Ron from KRB Pest Control, 973 669 8030. Over a three week period he baited traps in the attic then would transport the captured evildoers to a 'nice place five miles away.' He found and sealed their entry point and we haven't had a squirrel in over a month. |
jgberkeley
Supporter
Username: Jgberkeley
Post Number: 3464
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 10:51 am: | |
Purchase HaveAHeart traps from Home Depot.
Bait them with most anything, peanut butter works great, and put them in the attic, outside, where ever.
Then when you catch a critter, take the trap at least 7 miles away, and let it go.
I had, HAD, this problem two years ago and it took me about a year to trap and release all the critters who wanted to move in with me.
The chewed thru electrical wires, cable TV, even my gas lines for my central AC.
Glad they are gone now.
later,
George
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic. |
Chasm
Citizen
Username: Chasm
Post Number: 152
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 3:33 pm: | |
Thanks for the suggestions - I didn't see the other post on the same subject. Sounds like I need to mount a multi-tiered attack: trap them myself and get a contractor to seal up the access points in the roof.
thirdgearrocks |
compsy
Citizen
Username: Compsy
Post Number: 116
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 7:24 am: | |
There is a website on this which is find-able through google, and when we had this problem I searched it, and learned how territorial these critters are. It is important to get rid of the whole family, especially the "kids." Squirrels have a memory from one season to the next, and will come back to your house if they are in the neighborhood, "insisting" on getting back in to re-claim their lovely home. Therefore, make sure that after you've arranged for their departure to destinations FAR AWAY, seal up any possible port of entry that accidentally un-caught and un-transported ones might use to get back in. We used NJ Pest Control, and they solved the problem, but it took one way tunnels, baited traps, and a thorough climb-through of our attic by one of their smaller and more agile workers, to locate and remove a nest of babies that had been just born several days earlier. I shudder to think what the company did with these rat-like newborns, but I shudder as well when I think what would have happened if we hadn't found them.
--Squirrel-free on a Saturday morning |
Maplewoody
Citizen
Username: Maplewoody
Post Number: 465
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 6:49 pm: | |
Have Ed May come over and do his comedy act! |
Chasm
Citizen
Username: Chasm
Post Number: 153
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 9:55 pm: | |
HEY NOW - Maplewoody, be nice. I haven't seen Ed's act, but I was a student of his, and that wasn't funny 
COMPSY - thanks for the advice.
thirdgearrocks |
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 716
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 10:09 pm: | |
I was 10 years old when my dad took me to Pennsylvania to buy a BB gun. He brought me home and said “Don’t shoot anything but squirrels”. I must admit they're hard to shoot, the trick is not to lead the tail, you have to lead the head. Needless to say I got in trouble two weeks later for shooting a blue jay, all of the squirrels were gone. |
Chasm
Citizen
Username: Chasm
Post Number: 154
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 7:10 pm: | |
Ahh, yes. I have wanted to resort to firearms, but the wife won't let me.
Did your mom ever say "you'll put your eye out!"?
thirdgearrocks |
ML1
Citizen
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 1573
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 10:25 am: | |
Turn your amp up to 11 and play for a couple hours, that should send the critters running.
 |
Chasm
Citizen
Username: Chasm
Post Number: 155
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 10:21 pm: | |
You should have been working at 10:25am, ML1. What a life
Yep, my amp goes to 11, cuz it's one louder than 10.
thirdgearrocks |
ML1
Citizen
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 1577
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 11:17 pm: | |
I was working. I've got 2 PCs, one for work, another one always logged in to MOL.
 |
naborly
Citizen
Username: Naborly
Post Number: 297
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 8:11 am: | |
Are you sure it was squirrels that ate thru your garbage cans? Couldn't it have been raccoons? |
Chasm
Citizen
Username: Chasm
Post Number: 156
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 4:50 pm: | |
nope - definitely squirrels. I actually "caught" one once. I surprised him when I got out of my car, and he fell into the can. I covered the hole with a large rock, then tried to figure out what to do. I lifted the rock slightly to check things out, and he squeezed his way through. It was a squirrel alright. Fattest damn tree rat I ever saw. In Arkansas it would be called lunch - or an appetizer before a dinner of possum
thirdgearrocks |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page