Many people don’t think of squirrels as pests, but if squirrels find a way into your California home, they can cause significant damage. Squirrel control is essential for saving your home and sparing you from major long-term expenses, including the need to replace ruined insulation and wiring.
Along with responding quickly to an existing problem, it’s critical to use preventative strategies that lower the chances of squirrels getting into your attic and other indoor spaces. To figure out the best solutions for your home, enlist the services of a reputable company with decades of experience in pest control.
What Makes Your California Property Attractive to Squirrels?
When considering how to keep squirrels out of your home, you first need to evaluate your outdoor spaces. Squirrels sustain themselves with a varied diet and will search your property for food. If your property is highly attractive to squirrels, they’re more likely to make their way into your home and establish nests.
Squirrels are drawn to vegetable gardens, fruit trees, nut-bearing trees, and bird feeders. If the garbage you leave outdoors isn’t secured in tightly sealed bags and cans, they’ll treat your leftover food like a buffet.
Realistically, you can’t get rid of everything in your yard that attracts squirrels, but you can take some steps to mitigate risks.
- Planting trees or dense shrubs farther away from your house reduces the chances that a squirrel will make its way from a branch to your home.
- Keeping bird feeders at a distance from the house is helpful. Some feeders are also designed to be much less accessible to squirrels.
- A layer of mulch around plants makes it more difficult for squirrels to tunnel into the ground and get to seedlings.
- Covering a garden bed may keep squirrels from feasting off of your vegetables. Row covers and chicken wire are among the possibilities.
- Pets can deter squirrels. A dog in your enclosed backyard may chase at least some squirrels away.
- Squirrels get scared by sudden motions. For instance, a sprinkler system that turns on at random times can frighten them.
- Tidiness makes your property less enticing. In addition to securing the garbage you place outdoors, make sure there aren’t many fallen fruits, scattered seeds, or other attractive foods left around your yard for a long time.
- Because squirrels search for water, minimize access to water sources. These include leaking garden hoses and water left in an inflatable pool.
How Are Squirrels Getting Into Your Home?
Making your outdoor spaces less attractive to squirrels is only the first line of defense. Your home needs to be as impenetrable as possible.
Unfortunately, squirrels can get inside your home through small openings. They discover holes, cracks, and gaps to slip through, and they can enlarge an opening by gnawing away at it. The most common places for entry points include:
- The roof structure, including gaps in the soffit and the drip edge.
- Vents, including the gable vents and the vents for your kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room.
- Chimneys.
It’s important to have your home professionally inspected. As a starting point for residential pest control, inspections uncover potential entryways into your home for squirrels and other pests; they also reveal signs of squirrel activity, such as chewed wood. After an inspection, professionals will seal as many entryways as possible, significantly lowering the chances that squirrels will infest your home.
Inspecting your home may also uncover other problems that need to be addressed. For example, moisture damage may have weakened your roof structure, making it easier for squirrels to slip inside. Fixing the source of the moisture damage can prevent a variety of long-term problems.
Squirrel Control California: Contact O’Connor Pest Control
We encourage residents of Ventura County and Santa Barbara County to reach out to us for essential services, including squirrel control. You can contact us at 866-219-8649 or through our site. Our services save you from costly problems and protect your home and your loved ones.