squirrel in my celing

jack707 · Jan 1, 2015

It chewed it way under my wood siding. Now the hole is fixed and thing is driving me nuts with all its chewing so how long can this animal live with out food because its been going on a year now.

/pine · Jan 1, 2015

moth balls should drive them out if there is a way out...

Bird · Jan 1, 2015

It sure hasn't lived up there a year without food and water. When my brother had a problem with squirrels in his motorhome, someone told him mothballs would drive them out, so he put lots of mothballs in there and the squirrels carried them all outside.

jack707 · Jan 1, 2015

The only way to put mothballs there would be take up the floor upstairs over the living room.

MossRoad · Jan 1, 2015

I hear him down there.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XZMC1M9o04

KiotiKowboy · Jan 1, 2015

What makes you think it has no food? He's eating the insulation off your electrical wiring. Get ready for some expensive problems.

Branchchipper · Jan 1, 2015

No mammal can go more than a couple of days without water, and none can "eat" wiring insulation to stay alive. Rodents can strip insulation for other reasons for sure, but your problem is multiple access points. I fought with a couple of Douglas squirrels in our crawlspace for a year. They still got in after I wired shut every visible hole. The problem was water damage to my sill plate, allowing them to go anywhere along a long stretch and wrangle a new opening just above the foundation. In my case, they left little damage behind- just a midden pile and the access holes. They were mostly under there just to escape winter weather.

2458n · Jan 1, 2015

Rat traps do a wonderful job on squirrels. It is a kill and release kind of thing. No smell left between floors. Peanut butter for bait. You must plug points of entry.

PILOON · Jan 1, 2015

Bird said:
It sure hasn't lived up there a year without food and water. When my brother had a problem with squirrels in his motorhome, someone told him mothballs would drive them out, so he put lots of mothballs in there and the squirrels carried them all outside.

Speaking of mothballs--My friend tried them to keep squirrels away from the bird feeder.
Blackbirds would pick up the mothballs and rub their feathers and when finished pass them on to other birds. Funniest thing we ever saw.
We only can assume that the birds discovered that the mothballs ridded them of lice or ticks, that or perhaps the females used them as perfume.

MountainGuardian · Jan 2, 2015

Not sure what advice I have for that one...... I can say... if he chewed his way in he can chew his way out, they can also chew through PVC and even metal pipes which could get it needed water.... Many cold water pipes can sweat which can act as a water supply as well, if it has been storing nuts and food in there all summer and fall it could conceivably survive for a while. I get birds in the upstairs wood stove all spring and summer long, but they are contained and can't get out so I just catch them with a towel and put them back outside, I had to rescue three woodpeckers out of there this last summer.

You might consider unblocking the hole it was using to get in and out of, and put a trap outside the hole, get it out of the house and in a trap so it cant get back in, just a thought anyways, it would beat tearing your house up and if it didn't work you could still tear the house up later. Good luck.....