Squirrel Damage & Related Health Hazards
If you hear squirrels in your attic, acting quickly can save you massive amounts of stress!
Squirrels have two mating seasons each year, and pregnant femals love nesting inside of warm attics. They provide a safe wpace, where squirrel colonies can grow very quickly. Unfortunately, they can cause a massive amount of damage (including structural) in a short period of time. They also leave beind dangerous contaminates, like parasites and disease in their urine and feces.
Squirrels find a way: While squirrels often seek out preexisting holes and entry points, they also have the ability to simply chew their way inside. Squirrels have very powerful jaws, and actively work to keep their teeth incredibly sharp. This allows them to gnaw through most building materials, including: fascia boards, venting, plywood sheathing, soffits, etc. Once inside, they'll move onto chewing support beams, shredding insulation, and even destroying personal belongings.
Squirrels are a major Fire Hazard:
Squirrels are reportedly responsible for thousands of house fires each year in the united states. This is because squirrels chew on everything, including electrical wiring. Exposed electrical wiring and dry nesting material (such as leaves and shredded paper) create a very dangerous situation, just waiting for a spark. Because of this, we highly recommend that your attic space be checked by an electrician, after the squirrels have been captured.
Serious Health Risks Include:
Urine and Feces Contamination: Strong odors from urine and feces can saturate your attic space very quickly. While these smells are offensive to us, it serves as a big neon sign to the other animals in the area, that your home is a perfectly place to inhabit. Bringing in more squirrels that can carry everything from fleas and parasites, to potentially serious pathogens:
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome is a severe upper respiratory disease that can be carried in the urine, saliva, and feces of the common squirrel. A person may be exposed to Hantavirus by breathing in contaminated dust, after disturbing (or cleaning up) droppings and/or nesting material. Symptoms can include: fever, muscle aches, shortness of breath, severe coughing, and even needing to be hospitalized.
Leptospirosis: Humans become infected when exposed to water, food, or soil, containing urine from a squirrel carrying the disease. The disease can also be transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluid, as the bacteria can enter through broken skin, or through the mouth, nose or eyes. Symptoms include: fever, headaches, weakness, and severe vomiting.
Salmonella: This bacteria is once again transmitted when humans consume food contaminated by the animal's feces. This can also occur through secondary contact. Salmonella can lead to severe cased of Gastroenteritis, and Enteric fever septicemia (blood poisoning), resulting in death. This is most dangerous in the very young and the elderly.
Dead Squirrels: When squirrels die inside of a wall or attic space, rat poison is often to blame. Much like the rodents that consume the poison, the squirrels are unable to make it outside of the house before dying. Dead squirrels cause unimaginable odors, and their decomposing bodies become a breeding ground for flies and other disease vectors. Dead Squirrel Removal is usually a matter of simply following your nose, though retrieval often requires cutting open walls and/or ceilings. We complete countless dead squirrel removals each season. One way to help avoid this expense is by discontinuing all use of poison inside your home.
If you have squirrels living inside your attic, Call Montgomery Wildlife Today! - (267) 647-6674
Squirrel Proofing - Warrantied Exclusion Barriers
Squirrel proofing a structure (home or building) is often a very involved and challenging process. Finding current access points is only ever half of the battle. Preventing continued infestation often requires thorough and meticulous exclusion procedures. It can also be a hazardous process, which is why we always recommend having a professional undertake the task.
Not a Job for Exterminators: Squirrels are considered Nuisance Wildlife, which sets them apart from mice and other rodents. Humane, non-toxic methods of capture, relocation and exclusion should be used to solve an infestation. Unfortunately, our customer's experiences with exterminators in this regard have been predominantly negative. If you're planning on hiring a company to solve your squirrel problems, make sure their solution is backed by an extended warranty!
Our Process:
Once we've determined all of the vulnerabilities in a roof-line, and have discovered all current entry points, we can begin a targeted trapping program. This usually gets carried out over 3-7 days, depending on the size of the existing squirrel infestation. Because most infestations involve recently pregnant females, we work hard to keep family groups together. If babies are present, a technician will locate and remove them from the attic space by hand. If their mother has abandoned them, they will be delivered to a Wildlife Rehabilitator, who will care for them until they reach maturity.
When all of the squirrels in the attic have been trapped and relocated, all damage repair and necessary preventative work can be completed. We use the highest quality materials possible, which allows us to provide an industry leading warranty on all of our work!
• If Hazardous Contamination has occurred, an Attic Decontamination Process can be completed, restoring the health and safety of your home.
Why Choose Montgomery Wildlife?
Montgomery Wildlife is different from most wildlife management companies, because we always aim to provide a permanent solution the first time around. It can be scary to find that your home is hosting wild animals, and that they may be causing serious damage. That's why we take so much pride in our work. Getting to provide our customers peace of mind is the greatest reward for a job well done.
We provide targeted and humane Squirrel Trapping programs, but we specialize in the permanent exclusion of nuisance wildlife, from both residential and commercial properties. Our family comes from a background in finished carpentry, giving us a unique advantage in the fight against animal infestation. We can preserve the beauty of your home, protect it against every form of wildlife infestation, and provide industry leading warranties for all of our repair work. We stand behind our guarantee, that once we've solved your nuisance wildlife issue, you won't have to worry about it again!
Servicing: Montgomery County, Bucks County, and Chester County Pennsylvania
