Get Rid Of Attic Squirrels

 

Learn about Attic Squirrels Control Products - What works and what does not. Get Rid Of Attic 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 failure to get rid of attic squirrels 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 attic squirrels 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". (This testimony was emailed to Rodent Strobe Inc. 10 months after the strobes were installed.)

A.M. Memphis, TN

 

Rodent Strobe Also Worked for:

 

"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".(This testimony was emailed to Rodent Strobe Inc. 2 months after the strobes were installed.)

C.S. Memphis, TN

 

"My attic had a nest of the fury tailed rats living in it. They were chewing on the rafters, they were chewing on the wiring, they even tried to chew on the blades of the exhaust fans. I installed 3 Rodent Strobes and then after a few days I closed the entrance holes and I havn't heard them up there since". (This testimony was emailed to Rodent Strobe Inc. 7 months after the strobes were installed.)

D. S. Fort Collins, CO.

 

 

 

"Kevin, I just wanted to let you know that the rodent strobes we purchased for our fire station have worked perfectly. We have a station located in the middle of the Everglades and had a severe rodent infestation problem which resulted in $10,000 dollars in damages. We installed the rodent strobes and have had no infestation since. Thanks for a great product!" (This testimony was emailed to Rodent Strobe Inc. 10 months after the strobes were installed.)

Alan McLaughlin CHS-III

Fire Chief

Ochopee Fire Control District

Everglades City, Florida

 

"No more traps! No more smells! No more Norway Rats! Dear Sir, Thanks to your innovative approach to rodent control I have been able to say good-bye to a problem we've had for years. A conventional-foundation home in a dense urban area I have learned is a natural gathering spot for our pesky friends. About the only good thing coming from this is the friendship I have developed with my Terminix man. Smelling "that Smell" and cleaning out the traps in my basement had become a nearly weekly ritual. No more! I knew there had to be a more effective solution. After visiting your website, I decided to give Rodent Strobe a try. Installation was a snap, and I have not had a problem in months. Now I only get to see my Terminix man for his regular quarterly visit, but we're both okay with that. I have told my friends and neighbors about your innovative approach to rodent and squirrel control. Best Regards -"

R.S. Memphis (Central Gardens), TN

 

 

 

"I ordered some of your strobes on 4/15/09. (this email's date 6/1/09) I must say, I am SO delighted! I could hear the monster squirrels in my attic, chewing chewing, playing, Lord knows what. Every morning I awoke to the sounds of their party. Tried trapping, and yes, even poison too, before I knew it was illegal to poison. Anyhow, they never ate it, and I never caught a thing in my traps smeared with peanut butter. I even hired a guy to take care of it.....and still, the evil squirrels remained in complete control of my attic space. After 4 months of fighting the infestation, I was literally in tears and did not know what to do. I'm widowed, and couldn't afford thousands of $$$ in repair bills and pest control companies. I spoke with you, and ordered 3 lights. The day after I installed, the sound stopped. The next day after the sound stopped, I awoke to sound and activity over my bed (that was their spot, right over where I sleep!) and I thought "OH NO, the lights are not working!" However, after I listened for a few seconds, I realized it was a "different" sound than their normal sound. It was a very ANGRY sound. The squirrel, or squirrels making it were simply furious, the excessive chattering was very intense and angry. I did not hear so much scrambling and playing, as angry, angry chattering. It lasted for two days. After two days, I never heard another sound--they apparently gave up and left. I was delighted they were so angry, because they'd been making me angry for months!!! Oh, hallelujah!!!!! I never even bothered to call the handyman back to check again for holes (which the monsters had literally CHEWED into my house near the chimney to gain access!!!), just left the light flashing in my attic. I just want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU for such a wonderful, useful product!! It's really saved my bacon!"

T. B. in Flower Mound, Texas.

When Rodent Strobe asked T. B. in Flower Mound, Texas for permission to use this email on our testimonies page she responded on 8/27/09(4 months after the strobes were installed.):

"Kevin: By all means, yes, use the testimony. I am so delighted with this product, I tell everybody about it. It remains one of the best things I have ever bought. And the light still up there flashing away, not a squirrel, not a rat to be heard. One thing tho....when I got a lightning hit awhile back that fried my air conditioner unit, cable/internet, and phone lines, the HVAC guy and the insurance guy......and the cable guy.....and the phone guy....were all pretty freaked out when they went into my attic to assess the situation. Particularly the HVAC guy -- after I'd told him the lightning messed up my AC, and he opened the attic door to all this flashing when he went up there to check it. He jumped back and exclaimed 'WHAT IS THAT????" har de har har. Guess he thought it was the 220 volt cable that broke loose and dancing around, maybe. And I explained to him it was my squirrel chaser off-er, and he says skeptically "And that REALLY worked for you on the squirrels???", and I said 'YOU BETCHA, I wouldn't trade it for nuthin'!"

T.B. in Flower Mound, Texas.

This might be a good time to mention that Rodent Strobe's High Intensity Pest Control Strobes have built-in surge protection.

 

 

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.

 

 

High Intensity Pest Control Strobe Lights:

A pest control strobe light in an attic space. The flash last only 1/30th of a second.

The High Intensity Pest Control Strobe pictured uses only 4.8 watts of electricity - about the same as the average night light. This get rid of attic squirrels strobe covers a maximum of 900 sq .ft. (30X30) of space/area. For a greater "shock and awe" type of effect to get rid of attic squirrels - 500 sq. ft. (25X25) of coverage gives the maximum effect.

 

How it works to get rid of attic squirrels:

The ciliary muscle in the eyes of attic squirrels' controls the expansion and contraction of the pupils. The usual adjustments made by this muscle are small. In response to the strobes in a dark (naturally dark or becomes dark at night) environment this muscle in the attic squirrels' eyes has to make dramatic adjustments (140-180 times per minute). An ophthalmologist I spoke to, at a world-renowned clinic in Scottsdale AZ, likened it to this: Imagine you lift a ten pound dumbbell weight one time. Then imagine that you lifted the same weight 1,500 times in a ten minute period. Your arm would be hurting for days. The ophthalmologist said the strobes would have the same effect on rodent (and other animal pests’) eyes. RESULT: YOU GET RID OF THE ATTIC SQUIRRELS - FOR GOOD!.

 

The High Intensity Pest Control Strobe in the Photo above is made by Rodent Strobe Inc.

 

Rodent Strobe - Click Below:

 

 

Rodent Strobe is guaranteed to work or your Money Back Less Shipping (shipping not refunded) - for details click on the Home button above.

The Science behind the Effectiveness:

 

 

If you want to get rid of squirrels in the attic then the science validates using Rodent Strobe.

 

Pest Control Strobes work in conjunction with a number of physiological factors:

 

 

First, there is its effect via the ciliary muscle as described above:

 

Rodents such as Roof Rats, Norway Rats, and Bats (bats are not blind as commonly believed - they just have extremely poor eyesight) have a very small ciliary bodies in comparison to humans and other rodents such as squirrels or rabbits. But, the scientific principles have been shown to be effective on even the under-developed ciliary bodies of these pest in field experiments. Roof Rats and Norway Rats have extremely poor eyesight. This is one reason they are nocturnal and rely mainly on their highly developed senses of touch (whiskers) and smell to move around. Their poor eyesight is one reason that they follow the scents trails left by themselves and other rodents and why they travel close to walls - so they can feel their way around.

 

Second, Circadian Rhythms (day/night internal clock), and Cognition (thought processes) :

 

Pilots who have stared at runway strobes for too log while waiting to take off have had their circadian rhythms (day/night internal clock) offset to the point that their sleep patterns have been effected up to about eight hours after they stared at a strobe.

Police cars and emergency vehicles have had to change their strobe patterns because the the models of strobes were believed to be the cause of a growing number of serious accidents. It was observed by police departments that too many police officers were being injured as a result of drunk drivers running into police vehicles that were pulled over on the side of the road in a routine traffic stops. It was discovered that drunk drivers would stare at the strobe lights (especially red and also white high intensity strobes) on the pulled over police vehicle and would continue to stare at the strobes as they approached the police car. While staring at the strobes several things happened. The drunk drivers would steer their cars toward the strobes and as they observed the strobes they became sleepy and fell asleep just before impacting the parked police cars. This phenomena is now referred to as the "moth effect".This discovery has played a part in the redevelopment of strobes and many advances in strobe technology.

In another study, performed by the Federal Aviation Administration, pilots and non-pilots were observed in the presence of strobes. Both groups reported sensations of dizziness, nausea and half the participants reported that they were having extreme difficulty staying awake, as the strobes seemed to be making them very sleepy. The FAA is very interested in strobes and pilots. In the early 1950's Cornell University discovered that strobes can cause pilots to crash. This discovery has led to FAA guidelines that a pilot turn off his/her wing strobes in a fog bank or cloud because it has been found that the strobe lights reflecting off the cloud/fog back into the cockpit can cause the pilot to become disoriented and crash. One effect that high intensity strobes have is Positive After Images. In the presence of high intensity strobes the brain makes an after image of the environment as a compensation for the suddenly dark environment - although this darkness is only for a fraction of a second. This after image conflicts with the new visual image of the environment the next time the strobe flashes. basically the strobe exposed brain has two images to deal with each time the strobe flashes - the last image (held in the brain as a positive after image) and the present flash image, which immediately becomes a positive after image when the environment becomes dramatically darker between flashes. Pilots are trained in special eye movement practices which help to counter this problem. In one study it was found that, in the presence of strobes, the experiment's subjects which were exposed to strobes during simple cognitive(thought) tasks took twice as long to perform the tasks as subjects which were not exposed to the strobes while performing the same cognitive tasks. In laboratory experiments strobes have been used to reset the circadian rhythms in rodents. If a vertebrate pest (rats, mice, bats, squirrels in the attic, raccoons, etc.) is exposed to a pest control strobe its circadian rhythms are disrupted and not only with it have sore eyes from the ciliary muscle effect, but it will also have difficulty re-establishing its normal sleep patterns because the strobe's effect on the pest's brain basically causes a temporary erasure of set biological patterns: In plain English it's like giving the pest a serious case of jet lag, slowing down their brains to half speed and making them dizzy and nauseous.

 

Third, Saccadic eye movements:

 

Saccadic eye movements are the tracking movements made by the eyes. If someone throws you a tennis ball the tracking movements that your eyes do as you observe the ball coming towards you are saccadic eye movements. Also, as you move through a space, such as walking through a room, the tracking movements that your eyes do as they monitor your movement and the environment you are moving through (recognition of the placement of objects in relation to your movement -furniture etc.) are saccadic eye movements. It has been found that the brain literally "unplugs" cognition during these small movements. In most cases the suppression of cognition during saccadic eye movements is a brief as the eye movements themselves - fractions of a second. But in the presence of Pest Control Strobes the saccadic eye movements are so numerous as a pest tries to move through the environment that it literally causes the suspension of reasoning processes. If the exposure is prolonged and/or repeated as the rodent tries numerous time to return to its nesting area a sensitization occurs in the rat's, Squirrel's, Raccoon's, Bat's and other pests' brains. Put in simple terms the pest's brain actually becomes allergic to the strobes and this allergic reaction has been measured in rodents' brains up to a month after the initial exposure immediately upon re-exposure to the strobes. In addition to this rodents exposed to strobes have been shown to have a lower brain oxygen level during strobe exposure and in depression/heart study strobes (alone and in conjunction with other stimuli) were used and found to cause symptoms of depression and irregular heartbeats in prolong strobe exposed rats.

 

Fourth, Saccadic eye movements and REM sleep:

 

Saccadic eye movements and REM sleep are extremely similar. REM stands for "rapid eye movement". REM sleep is the deep dream phase of sleep. It is called REM because of the eyes' rapid movements while the eyes are closed. Your eyes are actually moving as you observe things in your dreams. REM is a form of saccadic eye movements. I hypothesis that certain flash patterns coupled with saccadic eye movements accounts for the sleepiness of drunk drivers and the pilot sleepiness upon strobe exposure. It is my conjecture that the brain "switches" into sleep mode when exposure to certain strobe flash patterns coupled with the saccadic eye movements associated with such things as looking at numerous instrument gauges on a cockpit dash board. The dizziness and nausea, I believe are a result of the fact that a body is not actually in motion during REM sleep, and since the brain apparently supposes itself to be asleep any actual physical movement detected by the fluids in the inner ear causes the nausea and dizziness as a body defense mechanism. In effect your body is saying: "stop moving - you are asleep".

 

Fifth, The accumulative effect:

 

It has been found that even if a rodent lives in a wall area, and it passes through an attic area covered by the strobe light, that after a couple of days the rodent or other vertebrate pest gives up its abode even if it is not being directly hit by the light. Just having to pass by it on their way home is enough to drive them out.

 

The History of Strobe Lights in Pest Control:

 

Strobe Lights have been used in pest control since 1964 when a company marketed a one million candlepower strobe for avian (bird) pest control. It was an AC powered strobe with wires hanging out of it with instructions to mount the strobe to a 1/2 inch conduit pipe and/or a junction box for connection to a power source whether hard wired or to a plug. It had an extremely limited bulb life (about 3 months) and therefore the instructions recommended that it be attached to a timing device to conserve bulb life. This avian pest control strobe is still available and costs around $200.00.

The next use of Pest Control Strobe Lights was in 1982. These strobes were waterproof being as they were hung underwater to keep eels out of an inlet. This application was deemed a success. Since then Pest Control Strobe Lights have been used in dams and estuaries to keep the fish (stocked trout) from swimming to close to the dams and thus being sucked into the power production turbines. Strobes have also been used for orchard fruit bat control in Australia. Pest Control Strobe Lights have been use to deter livestock predation by wolves in the American West. Pest Control Strobes have been used for deterring deer, bears, coyotes, etc. In most of these applications the strobes were effective. In some applications they were not effective because what was used was not actually high intensity strobes but instead low intensity rotating flashing beacons incorrectly termed as "strobes". I most academic and field application of high intensity strobes satisfaction has been achieved and sustained (sometime initial test were unsuccessful but upon re-examining the number and position/placement of the strobes success has been achieved).

After testing a number of strobes and shopping numerous factories I believe that Rodent Strobe strobes are the highest quality available!

 

Click Here to go to Rodent Strobe Products

 

 

Squirrel Traps - Live Traps or Snap Traps: Are these the best way 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 CAUGHT IN A SQUIRREL TRAP, WHETHER SNAP TRAP OR LIVE TRAPPED, AND CARRIED AWAY - OR - A POISONED SQUIRREL - OR - A SQUIRREL SHOT WITH A PELLET GUN - COULD, 40% TO 50% OF THE YEAR, 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.

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 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?

 

 

 

A Squirrel's Motto:

"There's No Place Like Home"

Squirrel Traps and the Homing Behavior of Squirrels

Eighty percent of squirrels that are trapped in live squirrel traps and released within two miles return will return to your their home.

This number drops in percentage with each mile that the squirrel is taken from the capture site. At a 5-7 mile range a significant, but reduced, number of trapped and released squirrels still return to the capture site. In field experiments approximately 5% of trapped and released squirrels returned from as far a 10-12 miles from where they were caught in live squirrel traps. One squirrel trapped and carried about twenty-five miles away from the squirrel trap site returned to its home.

In the two experiments, from which the figures were taken, over 100 individual squirrels were trapped and released. One squirrel trapping and homing behavior study was performed  by the University Of Connecticut. The other squirrel trapping and homing behavior study was performed by a large pest control company over a three year period. In each case the trapped squirrels were caught in live squirrel traps and transported with special attention paid to the prevention of the squirrels having visual cues along the traveled paths aka. they could not see where they were going. This was done because squirrels that are trapped and then can see along the route to their release site almost always find there way back. Hey, a squirrel can turn left at the park and then right at the McDonalds too.

Still if they can't see the relocation route - how do they find their way back? One study by University of Laval in Quebec, Canada found that red squirrels, when released from the squirrel traps, had a basic sense of the direction which they needed to travel back to the place where they were trapped. But, the trapped and released squirrels did not seem to have any knowledge of how far they were from the place where the squirrel traps were set and they were captured. Seventeen squirrels were trapped and released in this squirrel trap and release homing behavior study.  This squirrel trapping study suggest that the squirrels use two strategies to return the the site where the squirrels were trapped. The first is the squirrels innate sense of direction orientation. The second was the exploratory trips the squirrels made toward the place where the squirrel traps were placed and they were captured. Since the squirrels did not see the travel route  form the squirrel trap placement to the release sites how did they find their way back home if they had no visual cues by which to orient themselves. Was it a re-adjusting of their internal sense of direction or their keen sense of smell that enable them to pick of the pheromones of familiar squirrels? In another study done on a different member of the rodent family suggest that visual cues or a lack of them may not be the only mechanism of squirrel homing behavior. In this other rodent homing study the mice (cousins of squirrels) were trapped. Half of the mice were blinded. The blind mice found their way back to the place where they were trapped equal to the seeing mice. This study was repeated ten times with a new set of mice each time and the blind mice found their way home just as well as the seeing mice. Still thinking about using squirrel traps to solve your attic squirrel problem? Still thinking about using squirrel traps to solve your attic squirrel problem? Still thinking about using squirrel traps to solve your attic squirrel problem? Sorry for repeating myself  - but squirrel traps can put you into a repetitive cycle too. And if you hire a professional squirrel trapper the cost are very often repetitive too.

The preponderance of the returning squirrels in most squirrel tarp studies are males. Within a two mile range this male to female returning squirrel ratio was not as pronounced. Closer to, and up to, the two mile range most of the returning, trapped and released squirrels were males. After two miles the number of trapped and returning female squirrels dropped significantly. The two experiments were performed in opposing seasons. The University of Connecticut experiment was conducted in the middle of winter. The pest control company's experiment was conducted over three consecutive summers. The term of the pest control company's experiment would have cover the period during which the female squirrels would have had nursing/blind baby squirrels in their nests. Again, few of these female squirrels returned to their nesting sites to care for their baby squirrels if they were carried more than two miles away from the live squirrel trap site.

In the University of Connecticut experiment the trapped squirrels were individually identified and marked via toe clippings and released. The squirrels that returned to the capture site were recaptured and taken a farther distance away and still half of them returned - all of theses second trip squirrels were males.

Very little is known about the internal mechanisms of a squirrel's homing ability. Other rodents show the same abilities.  In one experiment of the homing abilities of mice almost all of the trapped and release mice returned to their nesting areas when taken and release up to two miles away.

In each of these squirrel trapping experiments the miles measured were in straight lines ("as a crow flies"). In the pest control company's experiments the milage was measured also in a straight line but in some cases the additional precaution of traveling in a zigzag pattern was employed and this additional measure did not seem to confound the squirrels innate homing abilities. Again, 'There's no place like home" - even for a squirrel in the attic.

 

The Reason Squirrels Return? - NUTS!

Squirrels spend a great deal of their time foraging for food. A squirrel will scent mark and bury hundreds of acorns to see itself through the winter. Imagine if you had all your winters food stored in one place. Imagine that you spent a great deal of your time protecting your territory and food hidden on it. Ever heard of a Fort?, Castle?, Bank Vault? And imagine that your saved stores could last for two years. And someone kidnapped you and took you far away from your home and its food. I'd be back too! And  if you don't return? Another squirrel will scent out your hidden food stores and move right in.

 

 

 

Solution:

With 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 Rodent Strobe's 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.

 

Squirrel Control:

The Foraging Behavior of Attic Squirrels and How it Relates to Effective Squirrel Control via Squirrel Traps.

The most active foraging time for the squirrels that live in your attic is the fall. As the fall season progresses the squirrels spend a greater percentage of their time foraging and hiding their winter food stores. The attic squirrel's typical behavior is to carry a nut, such as an acorn or pecan, about 50 feet from the tree from which it is harvested and then pretend to bury it. Yes you read right - squirrels are smart. We protect our money with passwords and pin codes. An attic squirrel protects his or her food stores by pretending to bury it as many as three times. The squirrel will dig a hole. Then the squirrel will pretend to put the nut in the hole. The squirrel covers the hole with leaves and dirt and repeats this process. And, if a squirrel sees that it is being watched it will then repeat this process with the same nut for several days. The squirrel will dig up its buried acorns and relocate each nut with the same deceptive behavior for each nut. Then after a full day of foraging and hiding its winter stores it will retreat at dusk and will be a happy squirrel in attic - with food stores in your yard. Researchers have even dug around areas where a squirrel has buried a nut in the sight of the squirrel and the squirrel will then multiply its deceptive tactics in order to protect its winter food.

Squirrels are very territorial, especially the male squirrels. This makes squirrel control via squirrel traps very difficult. If a male squirrel is caught in a cage squirrel trap and released into an area with other male squirrels which are protecting their nut stores the trapped and relocated squirrel is chased away.  Squirrel Control by other squirrels! This is another reason why the preponderance of squirrels that are caught in a squirrel trap that return to their capture sight are male. Females are more readily accepted into a new squirrel community especially by the male squirrels in the area. Squirrel trapping professionals love this because you will be calling them back to fish dead baby squirrels out of a wall. I talked to one pest professional who owns a rather large pest control company which is back-logged with squirrel control work setting squirrel traps and house sealing for at least a month in the months from October to May. He told me that by the time he gets through with the added up squirrel trapping and house sealing charges to the typical home it averages from $1,200 - 2,600 per home. Squirrel Control can be expensive! And, if the pest professional who trapped the squirrel in the attic releases the squirrel within 2 miles of your attic (and according to pest control inspectors most do) the squirrel eighty percent of the time will make it back to your attic within about 2 weeks.

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