If you hear noises and scurrying in your attic or walls during daylight hours, there is a good chance it may be an eastern gray squirrel, better known as just a squirrel. The eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) may be the most commonly seen critter by many people. It is because of their teeth and incredible chewing ability that the eastern gray squirrel often find himself in conflict with homeowners. Gray squirrels are diurnal, meaning they are active during the day.
While they are cute and fun to watch, they can cause serious damage to a residence. Initially they may chew a hole just to get inside. Once they are inside, they are prone to chewing on just about anything, wires, pipe insulation, PVC pipe, boards, you name it they will try to chew on it. Some of this can be just a nuisance but when they start chewing on electrical wires and exposing the hot wires, this can pose a serious fire hazard.
Also, once they gain access they will urinate and defecate in the attic, usually in the insulation. If the problem gets neglected it can result in serious saturation of insulation and possibly even sheetrock, which poses health and sanitary concerns with urine and feces inside the home.
And of course, it can be unsettling to hear scurrying about INSIDE your house, especially since noises in the attic are generally amplified so a squirrel may sound more like a raccoon moving about the attic.
Squirrel Removal and Exclusion
CatchPro Wildlife Removal offers humane squirrel removal methods, most often with cage traps. The first step is to determine how the squirrels are entering the house by doing a perimeter inspection. Then we will do an attic inspection to get an idea of how much activity there is and how much damage may be in the attic.
From there we outline a plan for how to remove the squirrels and ensure that they cannot get back in in the future, which is what we call exclusion. This often involves applying some form of metal (to ensure the squirrel cannot chew right back in) followed by possibly an application of foam or caulk to completely seal the hole or holes up.
With some homes it is easy to narrow down a single access point, while others may have a multitude of access points that need to be sealed. The important thing throughout the process is to ensure that no squirrels get trapped inside the home once it does get sealed up.
Ultimately, we want your family to feel safe and secure inside your home and we want to remove the squirrels in a humane manner and repair your home to ensure no other wildlife can gain entry inside.
CatchPro Wildlife Removal offers squirrel removal and squirrel exclusion services in Clarke, Oglethorpe, Oconee, Walton, Morgan, Greene, Newton, Jasper, Jones, Henry, Gwinnett, Putnam, Monroe, Bibb, Baldwin, Hancock, Taliaferro, Wilkinson, Laurens, Washington, and McDuffie Counties. CatchPro Wildlife Removal offers squirrel removal and squirrel exclusion services in Athens, Bogart, Lexington, Watkinsville, Monroe, Social Circle, Madison, Greensboro, Crawfordville, Thomson, Eatonton, Covington, McDonough, Monticello, Gray, Milledgeville, White Plains, Sparta, Oconee, Sandersville, Dublin, Macon, Gordon, as well as the Lake Oconee, Lake Sinclair, and Lake Jackson areas.
Here is some more information about the biology and habits of the Eastern Gray Squirrel
Eastern gray squirrels are found throughout the eastern US even up into Canada. They are very prolific and thrive in suburban and even urban environments, particularly when they get supplemental food from humans. They work feverishly all fall storing up, or caching, nuts to make it through the winter. A common visitor to bird feeders, often unwelcomed, has caused many people to get creative in ways deter them from competing with their beloved birds for the feed put out.
This cute little critter lives up to its name by having gray fur, usually with a tinge of brown on its side and white belly. The bushy tail is as long as its body and is vital for helping the gray squirrel maintain his balance as he scurries and jumps from tree top to tree top.
The eastern gray squirrel is one of the few species that can come down a tree (or building) headfirst. They have the ability to rotate their hind feet so their claws are pointing backward, and they can ascend or descend a tree very fast!
Predators
Eastern gray squirrels have many predators, humans being at the top of the list in rural areas (and I can vouch that they are quite tasty!). Other predators include hawks, owls, snakes, feral cats, bobcats, raccoons, and foxes. Squirrels are keenly aware that many things like to eat them, and if you take a stroll through a wooded area where the squirrels are not used to humans you will quickly hear them barking to alert others that there is danger in the area.
Reproduction
Eastern gray squirrels can have up to 8 young in a litter, although 3-4 is much more common. They breed in the winter months, December-February, having young in early spring and in some cases they can actually breed again mid-summer and have another litter in early fall. As with many wildlife species the survival rate for the young is low, often only 1 squirrel out of a litter of 4 will live through a full year. If they can make it through that first year though their odds of surviving increase as they have a lot more life experience and knowledge to draw from.
Gray squirrels often nest in tree cavities or leaf nests which are often large piles of sticks lined with leaves, usually easily spotted by an observant onlooker scouring the tree tops. Tree cavities are usually preferred because they are more protected and usually the young have a higher survival rate than in nests. Of course, another common place for squirrels to nest is in the attics of houses!
Diet
Eastern gray squirrels eat a variety of foods throughout the year, from acorns, walnuts, pecans, hickory nuts, pine seeds, berries, bark, mushrooms, corn, and occasionally other garden vegetables. Very commonly they will gnaw on shed deer antlers and other bones they find, presumably as a source of calcium or some other mineral.
Like all rodents their front incisors never stop growing so they constantly must be chewing on very hard items to keep those teeth worn down.
In times of abundance, like the fall acorn crop, squirrels will cache as many nuts as they can. It appears to be a very unorganized and random burying of nuts but squirrels have a very accurate memory are quite successful in retrieving their cached nuts. Of course not all acorns are recovered by the squirrels, which is a benefit to us because those often grow into the trees that our children will hopefully enjoy one day. With this burying behavior squirrels can cause damage to lawns during the fall.