Many rodent species that share urban areas in Peterborough are highly adaptable, but few are as clever as squirrels. These mammals have powerful hind legs and double-jointed wrists that allow them to climb in almost any direction and turn quickly. Here at Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control, we handle the removal of squirrels in Peterborough homes and guide our clients with information about the damage squirrels can cause, how it might affect a home and the processes we use to handle and remove these rodents, as it was with one such recent incident.
Squirrel Agility
While many rodents can climb and squeeze through gaps around a home’s foundation, squirrels have the ability to climb up and down the exterior of a home, gripping the material with their sharp foreclaws. They can also access a home’s roof in a variety of ways, including:
- Climbing up a chimney
- Jumping from overhanging tree branches
- Chewing through soffits and fascia
Once squirrels enter a home, they can do a great deal of damage with their tendency to chew as they nest. Squirrel damage can include ripped insulation, chewed electrical wires and gnawing damage to building materials. Over time, squirrels in Peterborough homes can cause problems that affect the entire structure.
Water Damage and Mold From Squirrel Nesting
When squirrels go unnoticed by a homeowner for weeks or even months, the damage these animals can do to a home’s roof often results in water damage issues, such as mold. Mold needs only moisture and humidity to grow and spread to other areas of a home, where spores travel through the ductwork and find other places to thrive, such as in a bathroom or under a kitchen sink.
Squirrels will gnaw through a roof’s fascia in several places along the roofline, creating several entrances and exits to provide them with a quick escape from predators. the more holes they open, the higher the risk of roof damage. Over time, wet weather and melting snow may further degrade the fascia and cause sagging. This, along with prolonged squirrel nesting, can cause serious damage to any residential structure, as it happened with the previously-mentioned Peterborough job.
Residents Discovered Squirrels In Home
Residents of this home did not discover the squirrels until mid-summer, as the mother squirrel began to come and go more often and the growing pups made noise. More mouths to feed meant more food to gather, and the residents of the home could hear the scratching and rustling. The exterior of the home featured a tall roof, which made any do-it-yourself squirrel removal operations impossible for the homeowner.
Our technicians used advanced video technology to view the squirrels and confirm their presence. Before they could remove the animals, however, they needed to examine visible entry points around the roof to note them for repair once they evicted the squirrels.
Squirrel Entry Points
Once our technicians arrived at the home, they inspected the property and the exterior of the roof. They noted many different entry points and types of damage the squirrels caused with their gnawing and nesting:
- Vent damage: Squirrels have sharp front teeth that they must constantly file down with chewing and gnawing. They can easily chew through any plastic vent covers on your roof to gain access to the attic. Older vents damaged by time and weather can also provide a squirrel with a simple way inside.
- Wood damage: Poorly-insulated attic windows can grow cracks and crevices squirrels can squeeze into. They may also gnaw on wooden window frames to gain access.
- Damaged fascia: The fascia around a home holds the building’s gutter system in place and supports roofing tile along the structure’s edge. When squirrels disrupt and damage this roofing support, it could cause gutter pipes and connected hardware to collapse.
Our Eviction Process for Squirrels in Peterborough
Once our Skedaddle technicians verified the presence of a squirrel family in the attic of the Peterborough, they moved forward with the eviction process by placing one-way doors at the exit points so the mother squirrel could leave but not return. They then collected the baby squirrels by hand and placed them in a warming box until the mother came to collect them and choose a new nesting site elsewhere.
Once our technicians evicted the squirrel family, they assessed the damage left behind before cleaning out all the nesting material and squirrel feces. Finally, our technicians sealed all the entry points with chew-proof screens after making repairs. Future regular maintenance and inspection of this property, along with year-round squirrel prevention from Skedaddle, can help protect this property.
Contact Us for Squirrel Removal in Peterborough
When squirrels invite themselves into a Peterborough home to escape predators and raise their pups in safety, the resulting damage is usually severe. Luckily, the team at Skedaddle is trained to remove squirrels from your property in any way that is safe and humane for both you and the rodents. Call us today or complete an online request form for services and for more information regarding squirrel removal.
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