Squirrel Removal Cost Calculator

About $425 with three entry points sealed, $305 with one opening and $625 with six. Reported figures are $250 to $450. Removing droppings and soiled insulation adds about 45%, and work in a chimney rather than an attic adds about 15%. It is the cheapest mammal in this category to remove because the method does not require trapping.

Because squirrels do not have to be caught. They leave every single day to forage and return the same way, so a one-way door fitted over the main entrance lets them out and not back in — no trap, no daily checks, no relocation drive and no question about what happens to the animal. Fit the door, seal everything else, return in a few days to remove the door and close the last hole. A raccoon on the same house with the same openings is about $150 more.

Yes, and it is the most undersold part of this subject. A squirrel is a rodent whose incisors grow continuously, so it has to gnaw, and in an attic the available material is your roof structure and your wiring — which happens to be about the right diameter to be interesting. Chewed cable insulation in an attic full of dry cellulose is a genuine hazard. If squirrels have been in a roof for any length of time it is worth having the wiring in that area inspected, which is a cheap job against the alternative.

Two or three days outside the breeding windows. The door goes over the main entrance, every other opening is sealed first, the squirrels leave to forage and cannot get back, and the operator returns to remove the door and close the last hole. The exception is when there are young in the attic: they cannot leave through the door, so sealing regardless is the mistake that turns a $425 job into one where a wall has to be opened. If you hear scurrying but no chewing for a few days after an exclusion, report it immediately.

Twice a year in most of the country — late winter into early spring, and again in late summer. Those are the two windows when an attic is likely to contain young that cannot leave through a one-way door, and a competent operator checks before fitting one. If there are young, the options are removing them by hand or waiting a few weeks until they are mobile enough to follow the adults out. Outside those windows the exclusion is straightforward.

From something: usually a branch, sometimes a fence, a downspout or a trellis. Trimming branches back six to eight feet from the roof line removes the route, and it is the only preventive measure here that actually works — downspout baffles and repellents do not. Two caveats: six feet is less than it sounds for an animal that jumps well, and a mature tree may need an arborist rather than a pruning saw if the cut is substantial. The same branch is usually also what fills your gutters.

No, and it is worth saying plainly because rodent bait is sold for rodents and a squirrel is one. A poisoned squirrel dies where it is — inside your roof or a wall cavity — which is a worse problem than the one you started with: a smell lasting weeks, flies, and frequently a hole cut in a ceiling to retrieve it. Bait is also illegal for squirrels in many states and is indiscriminate about what else eats it. The method that works is the boring one: let them out and keep them out.

By time of day and by weight. Squirrels are active at dawn and during daylight and sound like scratching and rolling in short bursts overhead. Mice and rats run at night and the noise is inside walls rather than above the ceiling. Raccoons are nocturnal and heavy — thumps that sound like a person moving around, often with chittering. The opening tells you too: a squirrel needs about two inches, a raccoon four and usually leaves visible damage. Gnawed, enlarged edges around a hole point to squirrels.

Something will, if the openings stay open — and squirrels are particularly persistent about a route they know. A squirrel excluded from an attic will spend days trying to get back in at the same place, which is exactly why the sealing has to be screwed-down galvanized mesh rather than anything softer, and why a warranty on the exclusion is worth asking about. Keep the written list of entry points: it is what the warranty is really about, and it is also the checklist for your own look in a year.

Slightly, and it is worth identifying them correctly. Flying squirrels are much smaller, strictly nocturnal, and live in colonies rather than alone — so the noise is at night and there are usually more animals than people expect, which means more exclusion points and a longer one-way door period. They get through smaller openings, down to about an inch and a half, so the sealing has to be tighter. If you hear daytime activity it is a gray squirrel; if it is nighttime and sounds light and quick, ask the operator specifically about flying squirrels.