How can you tell if it's squirrels or raccoons invading your attic?

My attic | 1/26/19 | Me, Myself, & I

[Hot Tabasco]

I once found a coon turd on my roof. It was likely trying to get into my chimney which fortunately is covered by a heavy screen.........

[Campion]

Go to a hunting supply store and buy some coyote urine. Spray around inside the attic where you think the critters might go. Stinks a bit, but squirrels especially will be looking to move out.

[Viking2002]

We had bats in the rafters of our old house. Threw up a few cut off panty hose leggings filled with mothballs and shut the crawl-way door. Didn’t bother the bats one bit, but the upstairs smelled like Granny’s attic for six months. Look for one of those wi-fi, El Cheapo, low-light baby monitors or deer cams with the little LCD screen or PC recording software, and see what’s turned your upstairs into a community park. Then any decent pest control company can tell you the quickest way to remove it.

[daniel1212]

Only mice with a death wish would come into my home (not talking about the attic). My little Zizu, a formerly feral kitty, would tear those things up into little pieces. My former rescue cat Kefira (Hebrew for "little lioness") was named for her ferocious attacks on mice, when I lived in an apartment with an infestation. At the ripe old age of 4 months, she ripped a mouse into little pieces during the night. I had her quarantined in the kitchen, and came in to find her carnage. She killed dozens of the darn things before I was able to move. I had stuffed industrial steel wool into all the openings I found in the walls and plastered them over. They just chewed new holes in. I kept all my food and cat food in Tupperware, so who knows what they found to eat. Kefira was "da bomb" as a mouser!! Even her predecessor Jester, also a rescued formerly feral kitty, was wiping out mice there at 16 years old. Boy, I was glad to move out of the Rodent Palace. The whole building was infested, you could hear them inside the walls

Them be some cats! We live in a densely populated low-income (per US standards) city and have dealt or are dealing with various issues, but we are here for the souls, not the climate, and have pretty good neighbors. We had a cat some years ago that adopted us (was kicked out and climbed up to us on the 2nd floor for food, which he got, and stayed). Got all his shots, and I made a small swinging door so he could go out and in as he pleased and do his business.

This was no cuddly cat, but a predator. Mice, snakes, birds. He ate all but the feathers of the latter. But the mice he brought in to play with. He had a different, a furtive look in his eye with the mouse in his jaws.

[dglang]

Gee, I always thought her attic was empty.

[daniel1212]

So they were telling me whatever it took to fob me off. All they wanted to do was put that squirrel sized Havahart trap with the peanut butter in there and leave. After a week, nothing was caught in that trap, so I’d just as soon not have something go into it and then starve. That’s why I insisted they remove it. They didn’t want to, but I put on quite a demonstration of “I don’t want that thing up there!” and they finally relented.

I think that was a mistake. You could have checked it every few days if you were concerned about them starving, and if you had left it there you might not be having this problem, unless it is larger than a squirrel. And if nothing was caught, then it likely is.

[eeriegeno]

My guess is that they are rats. Put an infrared trail camera up there!

[MayflowerMadam]

The attic in the farmhouse of the family homestead had a family raccoons invading it about 10 years ago. Mom was 85 then, and up there shooting the buggers. That would’ve been a sight to behold.

[savedbygrace]

I do not mean this in a cruel way, but if you do not have the ability or capability, for whatever set of reasons, then you must hire a professional if you want to solve this problem.

In fact, the one reason you tell us about, that you do not have a ladder to enable you to get up in the attic, means that it might cost you less money to hire a pro, than to buy what you need to solve the problem yourself.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Squirrels or raccoons in your attic?

Have you recently considered voting Democrat?

Do you believe that there are more than two genders?

Are you starting to accept the idea that “socialism never harmed anyone?”

Do you think that the males around you exhibit signs of “toxic masculinity” or “white privilege”?

Do you think having a wall with Mexico is immoral?

If your answer to any of this questions is “yes”, you not only have squirrels and raccoons in your attic, but they also have rabies.

[rlmorel]

I remember that I read about that in the book when I was a kid… So I figured somebody else must’ve read that same book and tried it

This is not sugar, but it’s cotton candy… Which is nearly the same thing!

Raccoon washes cotton candy

[Does so]

If you have a birdfeeder, you're likely to attract flying squirrels, which can land on an otherwise very-isolated feeder.

When they transition from tree to house, they'll land with a "thunk".

Any tiny opening under the eaves will allow them in to start a family.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

Call an animal control/exterminator to get rid of it and seal the entrance. It will cost a little money but the job will be done right.

[oldasrocks]

Go to Florida and capture some big snakes. Put snakes in the attic. Problem solved. Unless it is the boggy man up there walking around instead.

[READINABLUESTATE]

I live in the heart of minneapolis. My neighbors wife heard noises and sent him up the scuttle hole to investigate.
After scanning the attic with a flashlight he turned around to climb down and right in front of him was a raccoon in the corner 5 feet from him.
New roof vents were installed the next day.

[sheana]

We live in a country club area soo have lots of squirrels, possums, and rats. We had a possum break into our attic once. He was the easiest to get rid of. Find the hole, wait til night when he’s gone and block it. The rats were the worst. They can get in through a quarter size hole. Our pest guy went over the whole roof with construction foam and sprayed every nook and cranny he could find. Then a month of poison in the attic and throughout the yard until he saw no sign of them anymore. We also had all trees trimmed back from the roofline. I now put rat poison on the upper rungs of our fence to keep them under control.
Good luck!

[EinNYC]

If you have a birdfeeder, you're likely to attract flying squirrels

We don't have any bird feeders here--they're not allowed. I guess the management is afraid they will attract vermin!

[frank ballenger]

good one

[frank ballenger]

Wouldn’t that be bats in the belfry?
What IS a “belfry,” anyway?
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A belfry is an old name for the steeple or area where the church bells are.

Pelosi has something wrong with her brain and should have respected the needs of the American electorate and stepped down years ago. But like old time movie stars and rock stars they can’t give up the spotlight and the star power.

Since the Love Boat and Hollywood Squares aren’t in production this century, I wonder where today’s old timers go?

Imagine someday when 90 year olds like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry slowly make their way out to catch up with ex President Ocasio-Cortez and her walker on stage for a Mars-Moon-Earth mind communication pay per view show. Will bring nostalgic tears to people’s eyes.

Or maybe be happy we were young when we were young. To each their own.

[frank ballenger]

its probably flying squirrels
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Get someone to show them fan mail from some flounder. It’ll distract them long enough to catch them.

P.S.
If you are younger than Boomer age then I’ll tell you this was the lead-in to some commercial breaks on Rocky and Bullwinkle. Rocky was a flying squirrel.