After a dreary winter with snow, rain, and ice, it’s finally spring! This isn’t just the time to start thinking about taking out your patio furniture and lawnmower, though. It’s also the time to start thinking about what you need to do with squirrel baby season quickly approaching.
As a homeowner, squirrel baby season might be a serious issue for you. A mother squirrel may make your house her home to raise her young, which are born naked, deaf, blind, and totally helpless. The mother requires a safe, warm place to care for her babies until they are independent. Your shed, attic, walls, or chimney may be the ideal location for a mother squirrel.
Here’s what you need to do when squirrel baby season approaches.
Understand the Damage Done by Squirrels
Though you might be all for helping a mother find a safe space to take care of her young, it’s important to realize squirrels do not make good houseguests. Though they aren’t carriers of diseases like many other wild animals, they can be quite aggressive and they can also be messy. What’s more, squirrels are destructive; they’ll gnaw and chew on just about anything your home is made of.
You might not think it’s a big deal to have squirrels in your attic, but a squirrel intrusion could be quite costly to you, as most homeowner’s policies don’t cover rodent damage.
Inspect Your Home
It’s best to prevent a squirrel infestation from the start, rather than deal with the mess and damage after the fact. With squirrel baby season near, inspect your home, from top to bottom. Because they’re small creatures, squirrels don’t need very big holes in order to get into your home. And because they’re prolific chewers, they can make their own holes if there are vulnerable areas on your roof or elsewhere.
Inspect your roof, walls, and foundation for holes, cracks, or other vulnerable areas squirrels could use to get into your home. Be thorough. Look at all vents, pipes, soffits, windows, and roof edges.
Reinforce
Reinforce any and all vulnerable areas with materials squirrels can’t chew through in order to prevent their entry into your house. Install drip edge on your roof. Fill in cracks. Replace old or broken vents. Fill in the areas around pipes.
This work might take some time, but it’s far less of an aggravation than dealing with squirrel infestation—and then still having to reinforce and repair afterwards anyway.
Too Late? Assume There Are Babies
If it’s too late to inspect, repair, and reinforce because you suspect—or know—you already have squirrels living in your home, then it’s best to assume there are babies too.
Chances are a mother squirrel has found her way into your home to create a safe nest for her babies. Even if you do not see or hear the young, it’s safe to assume they are there.
As a result, you shouldn’t attempt to evict the adult. This will separate her from the helpless babies, who will surely die without her caring for them.
Call the Experts
For the safety of all squirrels involved, as well as the successful removal and eviction of animals, it’s ideal to call wildlife removal experts during squirrel baby season.
A humane wildlife removal company’s specialists will be able to not only safely remove the adult female, but will also be able to find the hidden babies and hand remove them as well. Then, they will reunite the mother with the babies to ensure the survival of the baby squirrels.
Prevent Future Re-Entry
If squirrels already found a way into your home, the next step after removal of mom and babies is to prevent future re-entry with the repair and reinforcement tips we offered above.
A wildlife removal company that offers a guarantee of service will be able to perform this work for you. This will ensure the problem is solved permanently. Next time squirrel baby season comes around, you won’t have to worry.
Do you need wildlife removal services? Request a quote today!