Do you have squirrel babies in your attic in Memphis TN? If you suspect you have squirrel babies in your attic, you are not alone. The gift of life is wonderful, but not when it’s going to chew through your walls or electrical wires. Squirrels love to nest inside attics because of warmth and safety. If you find baby squirrels in your attic, most of the time the mother is not too far away.

The mating season comes twice a year, between December to February and May to June. The male squirrels will start to act out and chase the females. You will hear tons of running around outside and on your roof.

Once the male catches the female and wins the game of chase, he will mate with her. The female squirrel will then start to prepare a nest if she does not already have one. The gestation period for the squirrel is around 44 days. Typically, squirrels can give birth to two to four babies in a litter. The babies will stay with the mother between seven to nine weeks before they are weaned.

Female squirrels use numerous materials to build a nest, including trash, paper, plastic, sticks and insulation. A quick way to know if there is a squirrel in your attic is to look for fecal droppings. If you see nesting materials in the insulation or near your vents, there are most likely babies nearby.  Baby squirrels can often be heard crying and crawling around in the ceiling.

Squirrels are wonderful mothers, but they tend to choose nesting materials that can be flammable, such as wood, leaves, pine needles, feathers and even man-made materials such as plastic. These nesting materials pose a threat because they could easily catch fire. And if the materials are near wiring, they must be removed immediately. Squirrels will chew through almost anything, and one of their favorite things to chew is wiring. If a squirrel chews into the electrical wires, this could easily start a fire.

At first, the mother squirrel will stay with the babies at night to feed and protect them. She will go out during the day to eat and gather food to store for them. This is why you typically hear most of the squirrel activity in the early morning and evening hours.

Once the babies are bigger, they will begin to move around and make more noise. The mother squirrel will take each baby in and out to teach them to forage. At this point, you will hear much more noise. Once the babies have been raised in your home, they will continue chewing on your home. They will also view your home as THEIR home. As the squirrels multiply, the problem will continually get worse and the damage will continue to increase.  

If you hear crying or scratching in one area of a wall, you may have a stuck squirrel. This is bad for many reasons. It's quite easy for a baby squirrel to fall down in between the walls and get stuck.  If a squirrel gets stuck in the wall, it can die from dehydration within a day or two.

It is always easier to extract a squirrel when it is alive.  Squirrels can be easily located by the sounds they make while scratching or crying for their mother. Our technician will drill a small hole and thread a boroscope into the hole to see inside the wall. This method helps reduce the damage to your wall.

When we remove a live baby squirrel, the technician will notify a local wildlife rehabilitator who is licensed by the State of Tennessee.  The rehabilitator will raise the squirrel in a manner that will allow it to be released as an adult.  Adult squirrels are relocated and released into a wildlife reserve over twenty miles away so that it will not find its way back to your home.

Sadly, we are sometimes too late to rescue the squirrel, and it has already died.  When a dead squirrel starts to decay, it will give off a horrendous odor that is difficult to ignore. The smell can take weeks to months to dissipate. This depends on its size and where it died. If not taken care of quickly, the squirrel will decay and create issues with flies and maggots.

If this happens, the odor will attract other wildlife to your home such as raccoons and rats. It is best to have our technician come out and handle the dead squirrel immediately. This needs to be done not only for the odor, but basically for sanitation reasons. Squirrels carry bacteria that can get into your home and possibly make you sick.

The technician will use a boroscope in the same way to detect the location of the dead squirrel.  He will remove the squirrel if possible.  This is not guaranteed as the animal may have fallen into an inaccessible location, such as behind a stove or fireplace.

If you think you have baby squirrels in your attic, give us a call. We can perform a detailed interior and exterior inspection of your home, and provide you with photos documenting the damage from squirrels, plus an estimate for not only trapping, but also sealing up your home. Squirrels may be small, but they can do major damage to your home.

Remember, typical signs of squirrels include chewed holes, scratches, and noises in your attic or walls. We know they're cute, but squirrels just don't belong in your home.  Don’t let your squirrel problem get too big or costly before you seek professional help.

So if you think you may have baby squirrels in your attic, give us a call today!  We are here to help!