Because of squirrels’ innate potential to cause extreme harm, it is essential to utilize the measures required to prevent them from becoming an infestation and claiming your property. Considering the amount of damage they can potentially cause, a squirrel removal cost is generally the least of a property owner’s concern once they start to infest your property
Having to cope with hairy pests gnawing structures to the ground and breaking cables badly enough to trigger fire outbreaks may be too costly and frustrating for anyone to handle. In cases where they are only a little nuisance, easy home treatments can thoroughly address the problem.
Getting a dog, installing motion-activated sprinklers, and installing squirrel traps, among other things, can go a long way toward preventing squirrels from making massive messes in your yard, damaging your plants, and simply being noisy pests that interrupt pleasant afternoons and nights of rest at home.
When should you call a wildlife company?
However, it is critical to recognize when squirrels entering your property have become severe enough to necessitate consulting a wildlife exterminator and having them carry out a removal.
They are well-equipped and know exactly what tactics to use to ensure you are free of troubles and pests. You eliminate any risk of fixing the problem independently and receive a quick, effective, and compassionate removal.
They will not only ensure that you are never bothered by these rodents again, but they will also clean any contagious droppings they may have left behind that may have been harmful to your health, as well as discover and seal entry spots that you may have overlooked.
With that said, let’s look at the methods pest control professionals employ to get rid of squirrels, as well as the associated costs.
Methods Used by Pest Control Professionals to Get Rid of Squirrels;
Live Trapping
Trapping squirrels is a complex undertaking that demands patience, keen observation, and dedication. The person conducting it must be highly proficient in what they are doing and educated about wildlife removal rules.
Professionals employ live traps to remove a limited number of squirrels from a property. In this situation, they set traps near any opening they anticipate squirrels frequent, such as rooftops or regularly trafficked roads. They then use nuts, peanut butter, berries, fruits, and other delicacies the rodents enjoy as bait. These traps must be checked and reset at least once daily until the squirrel consumes the trick and is trapped.
Once apprehended, the professional will carefully relocate the squirrel to a state-regulated place where it can have access to food, water, and shelter and live out its life without bothering anybody else.
Exclusion
Professionals frequently use the exclusion method of squirrel removal since it is one of the most successful and humane methods.
They first locate all available and open entry points on a property before carrying out the exclusion procedure by sealing them and leaving only one open for the squirrels to escape the premises.
The remaining aperture will be sealed to prevent reentry once the expert has established that any available squirrels that could have been in the attic or any other portion of the home have fled through it. This effectively permits the rats to depart the property in the most natural way possible, fully protected from harm or stress.
In some ways, it’s a win-win situation: the property owner avoids infection, and the squirrels can return to their natural habitat unharmed. After the squirrels have left the house, the exclusion procedure seals and protects any remaining openings, even if they are as little as a buttonhole.
Fumigation
This removal method is frequently employed on squirrels, which spend most of their time tunneling underground and seldom ever come out for warmth, and they are as common as they are difficult to remove.
Ground squirrels’ decision to construct a home under your building could prove disastrous, as their propensity to dig through property foundations in quest of food can completely collapse its structure. In this scenario, professionals detect and identify their tunnels before using C02 machines to fumigate them with fumigants such as gas, cartridges, aluminum phosphide, and the like.
During the process, the fumigant’s smoke assists the expert in determining whether there are any other holes or borrows in the vicinity. Following fumigation, the tunnel aperture and any other existing tunnel are tightly filled with earth to trap the gas and assure effectiveness.
This removal method is most effective in the spring when soil moisture peaks because moist soil helps keep fumigants in a tunnel or burrow for an extended period. During that time, the soil pores are more receptive.
Professional removers will inspect after 24 hours to see if the rats have reopened the burrows and will execute a second re-treatment if necessary.
Squirrel removal methods.
Live Trapping
Given how annoying squirrels may be, live-catching them can be complicated and time-consuming. While it is possible to catch them, the rodents are highly cunning creatures, and patience is required to have them make their way into a trap.
With how intelligent squirrels are, it might take days to weeks to remove them from a property, from determining where they live to create the bait that would entice them. In this situation, the cost of live capturing a squirrel can range from $300 to $600, depending on the number of squirrels trapped, where they are captured, and where they are relocated.
In cases where the infestation is severe, the cost can reach $1,500.
Exclusion
While live trapping and relocating squirrels may be useful because the fundamental cause of most squirrel infestation problems is open entrance points, having every opening you can think of sealed shut will be more effective. The exclusion strategy provides a more permanent solution.
The experts will identify and seal any remaining openings on your property and use a cage with entrances on both ends, one side slotted into your home and the other facing outdoors, to allow the critters a way out with no reentry, after which any remaining openings will be sealed.
The cost of an exclusion technique might range from $275 to $600 depending on the size of your property, how many locations require an exclusion, and the complications of carrying out the activity.
After the exclusion procedure is complete, you may incur additional charges for sanitization of areas where there may be odor from squirrel droppings, urine, and other microorganisms that might be dangerous, which can range from $300 to $800.
Fumigation
Fumigation is less common than the other two methods; it is mostly reserved for ground squirrels, and the costs are dependent on the sort of fumigant used to carry out the process.
For example, using gas cartridges is more likely to result in a high service cost than using aluminum phosphide, which is a less expensive material in contrast.
Fumigation requires a specific type of weather to thrive, but the results are quick, and the quantity of toxicity has less of an impact on the ecosystem. This removal technique may cost between $200 and 550 dollars, depending on the size of the property and the material utilized.
Factors that affect the cost of squirrel removal;
The cost of squirrel removal varies based on the size of your property, the number of entry points it has, how accessible specific spots are, and the type of cleanup that will be required.
Squirrel Inspection
In some cases, where the property owner has a confirmed location of where the squirrels reside, spending money on inspection can be avoided; however, in situations where the owner is simply operating on suspicions, they can pay from $125 to $275 for the experts contacted to perform the removal to assess the home, determine the location, and come up with the best course of action that can be taken to solve the problem and ensure effective removal.
Location
The position of squirrels in your home significantly impacts how much money you will pay to get rid of them. The overall cost will rise if the location they chose makes it difficult for professionals to locate traps and complete the operations required to make their removal and cleanup efficient. As an example, consider the following locations:
Ceilings
If you are unfortunate enough to have squirrels create a home in your ceiling, be prepared to spend anywhere from $750 to $1500 to have them removed. Because of the huge and crowded ceiling, experts find it challenging to identify squirrel nests.
Furthermore, additional costs may be incurred if the rodents have destroyed the insulation, wiring, or anything else you may have had up there.
Attics
It is a well-known fact that squirrels prefer to construct their nests in attics since it is a dark, quiet, and warm environment, which is unfortunate because it takes a lot of money to have experts go up there to remove and sanitize the nests. A typical homeowner should expect to pay between $300 and $600 to clean their attic.
Recognizing that attics are not accessible locations to clear out, the removal process becomes considerably more complicated when experts must deal with angry squirrels or a female squirrel with kits. These minor details contribute to your overall removal cost being more than others.
Squirrel population;
The number of squirrels to be removed from your property is another aspect that may influence your removal cost. The higher the number, the higher the cost, as more work and possibly more than one trip will be required to ensure effective removal.
In the case of a female squirrel with kits, removing the mother will necessitate removing the kids before they starve and die, posing a new problem.
In such circumstances, the professional remover will have the mother removed. It will almost certainly make a second trip to withdraw the infants and deposit them in a position where the mother can securely transfer them elsewhere.
Removing a single squirrel may cost between $200 and $300, removing a family of squirrels will cost between $300 and 600, and removing an infestation will cost between $500 and 800.
Property Size;
If you own a large property and fear a squirrel infestation, hiring professionals to examine the entire property and undertake a comprehensive clearance would be costly. In this situation, the amount of work put into small-sized dwellings will be quadrupled or tripled to accommodate enormous buildings.
Properties of 1,000 to 3,000 square feet will incur a squirrel removal cost of $300 to $700, while those measuring 3,000 to 4,000 square feet would incur a $700 to $1,000 charge.
Damage;
Squirrels will not hesitate to cause damage after making themselves at home, partially to gather nesting materials and parts to manage their ever-growing incisor teeth.
They can chew through your telephone wires and bite at your electrical wiring band enough to represent a fire hazard. They will even chew through anything plastic, even your water pipes, causing leaks and, in unfortunate circumstances, flooding.
As a result, consulting and hiring an electrical wiring and plumbing expert to diagnose and fix these damages would ultimately add to the entire squirrel removal cost.
Clean Up/ Sanitization;
After ensuring that squirrels have left your property, the following step is to examine and remove all of the droppings, debris, urine stains, and possibly dead and decaying squirrels to guarantee that you continue to have a thoroughly clean and safe environment.
The extent and cost of the necessary cleanup will be determined by the size of the affected area and how highly discolored the droppings and other fluids are. If there is a dead squirrel, cleaning it up, depending on how far it has rotted, is another area of work that will add to the expense.
Regardless of the ultimate cost, experts will dispose of any residual bodies properly and remove any stains and odors that may cause you harm throughout the sanitization procedure.
How to Save Money on Squirrel Removal Costs;
Act quickly;
If you suspect squirrel activity in your home, do not hesitate to contact professional squirrel removalists to get them off your property. The sooner you act, the less time these rodents have to inflict significant damage that will cost you a lot of money to repair.
Seal off every possible entry point;
Pay close attention to your property and seal off any entry points you suspect squirrels may use to access your home. Remember that no hole is ever too little for these rodents to exploit; as long as a hole exists, they can use it.
This includes inspecting your roof and chimney and screening any available vents. Having no way for squirrels to enter your home would free you of them, and you wouldn’t have to worry about any difficulties they might bring, including expenses.
Trim Your Trees;
Trim any overhanging branches that could allow squirrels to jump onto your roof and try to enter your home. Squirrels adore trees and usually construct their nests in them; having trees in your yard or anywhere near your home should make you suspicious, and hanging branches should be chopped off without delay.