How Much Does it Cost to Have Squirrel Traps
Placed in and Around My Home?
Source: Flickr - HerryLawford
While squirrels are cute, furry creatures, they can also be irritating, dangerous pests. Besides for digging holes in your garden and eating fruits off your trees, they can also nest in your attic and crawlspaces, gnaw at wood and wiring, and carry diseases. If you hear scurrying above your ceiling or find droppings, gnaw marks or small twigs lying around your house, you may want to contact a professional rodent control expert.
If you choose to get rid of these aggravating rodents on your own, the best solution is to set up traps in and around your home. Using traps is a humane, safe method, and they can be bought at your local hardware store for between $30 and $100 each. It may be difficult to reach tight, remote spaces where the squirrels live or enter from, in which case a professional exterminator should be contacted.
Professional squirrel removers typically charge an initial fee of $50 – $200 to inspect your home. Depending on the amount of traps they set, the accessibility of the squirrels’ location, and the amount of entry points they seal, a total charge can run between $300 and $1,000. Some squirrel removers even offer a one- or two-year guarantee against re-entry. The service should also include cleanup and decontamination if necessary. If you discover the squirrels have cause electrical damage by gnawing at wiring, a local electrician should be contacted.
Once you’ve trapped the squirrels, you’ll have to make sure no squirrels remain before sealing their point of entry. One way to do this is to cover the hole with newspaper for a few days. If the paper remains intact it’s safe to assume the squirrels are gone. If they entered through a hole in the roof, a roofer may need to be called in to patch it up. Roof vents should be covered with steel screens and air vents should be covered with hardware cloth to ensure the squirrels don’t return.
Alternatives
Aside from traps, other options for ridding your home of squirrels include poison, moth balls, repellent powders, specially-designed lights, and high frequency sound emitters. The poison option, in addition to being uncompassionate, is largely unsuccessful because squirrels tend to horde food for long periods of time before eating it. Additionally, a dead squirrel hidden away in your attic will be hard to remove and will leave a very unpleasant odor. The other options are more inexpensive than hiring a pest removal expert but they have a lower rate of success and squirrels can become immune to them over time.
Preventive Measures
If you live in a suburban, grassy city like Chicago, where squirrels are prevalent, you should take precautionary measures against squirrels. These include eliminating outdoor food sources, trimming tree limbs to at least 8 feet away from your house to eliminate access points for the squirrels, and filling in holes around the outside of your home.
Though squirrels may seem cute, they can do damage to your home and wiring. If your home is inhabited by squirrels, a professional pest control expert can solve the problem in a number of days.
