Cleaning & Organizing Pest Control Rodent Control

How to Get Squirrels Out of Your House

Here are tips for squirrel removal and when to call a professional.

Squirrels in your home should be removed swiftly in order to prevent damage and prevent indoor nesting, which can make the problem worse. Squirrels typically go through two breeding cycles a year in late winter and early spring, and a nest of squirrels in your attic, walls, or rafters can do substantial damage as they gnaw through insulation, wood, or even electrical wires and plumbing pipes.

How to Get Squirrels out of Your House

The Spruce / Ellen Lindner

The good news is that a squirrel is usually more scared of you than you are of it. You should try to encourage the squirrels to leave on their own or try to catch them yourself, before taking lethal measures. Whether squirrels are loose in the house or have found their way into your attic, walls, or chimney, there are multiple steps you can take.

Warning

Squirrels are not naturally aggressive, but they may get frantic if cornered. Bites or scratches are possible, so use care if you are trying to chase a squirrel or when trying to release one you have caught. A bite or scratch can become infected or lead to transmission of a viral disease.

What Causes Squirrels in the House?

Squirrels enter your home for the same reasons as mice, rats, and other rodents: They are seeking food, warm shelter, and nesting areas. If your home has easy access points, squirrels will have an invitation to come indoors and attempt to set up housekeeping.

Signs of a Squirrel Infestation

While these animals are widely tolerated, even admired in their outdoor habitat, make no mistake—these rodents are closely related to rats and mice, and if they infest your home, they can be even more damaging. Squirrels take residence inside the walls, floor boards, chimneys, and attics of homes where they can use insulation to build their nests.

Look for these signs if you suspect you might have squirrels in your house:

  • The sound of scurrying, scratching, and chewing through the walls, floors, ceiling, chimney, or from the attic.
  • Interior damage to your home: chewed insulation, wood, wiring, duct work, or air vents.
  • Nests made from insulation.
  • Piles of acorns in the attic.
  • Excrement in your attic or garage: Small, foul-smelling pellets with rounded ends littering your property (rat poop has pointed ends). Urine can also seep through walls and ceilings that look like water stains.
  • Foul or decaying odors from urine, feces, or a deceased squirrel. 
  • Exterior damage to your home: The minimal common entry points sizes a squirrel can create or get through can range from 1½ to 3 inches. Look for damage to shingles, eaves, soffits, panels, and the roofline.
  • Tracks: In the winter, you may spot squirrel footprints in the snow around entry points and on the roof.
  • Squirrel activity near your home, on power lines, fences, nearby trees and branches, and your roofline.

Removing Squirrels from the House

Tip

If a squirrel is simply loose in your house, isolated and not nesting, then it likely does not want to stay. It may have wandered in for a quick snack or accidentally. The squirrel will do what it can to escape on its own.

Wait for It to Find Its Way Out

If a squirrel gets into an inhabited space—such as down a chimney and into an open room—its natural instinct will be to get out, and get out quickly. It does not want to nest or make a home in a house with lots of human activity. The first solution to try is to make it easy for the squirrel to find the exit.

Remove any pets from the room where the squirrel is running or hiding. Also, remove any foods or snacks that might give the squirrel a reason to hang around. Close any doors that open into other parts of the house, but open all doors and windows that open to the outside.

Then, leave the room yourself, and let the squirrel find its way out. If the squirrel is in an upper-level room, open only the windows that are above grass and trees. Do not open windows that fall steeply down to concrete or hard surfaces. In most cases, the squirrel will vacate the premises within a few minutes.

Catch the Squirrel With a Blanket

If the squirrel is cornered but not moving, put on heavy gloves and hold a blanket in front of you. Slowly approach the squirrel, then quickly drop the blanket on it and roll it up. Don't roll it too tight or push too hard, or you risk injuring the creature.

Carry the blanket-wrapped squirrel outside, close the door to your house, open it onto the ground away from you, and let it make its escape.

Removing Squirrels from Attic, Walls, or Chimney

Tip

Once squirrels are found nesting in other areas of your home, it may take some work to get them to leave. It's possible that they will still leave on their own, but it may take a bit more coaxing.

Remove Squirrels From the Attic

Attics and other unoccupied upstairs spaces are common places for squirrels to take up residence, since they are usually uninhabited, and holes or missing fascia boards along the roofline often provide easy entry points. But squirrels will be unlikely to stay if these spaces suddenly become active and inhabited.

If you have squirrels in the attic, try frightening them out of the house with loud noises. Rap on the ceiling, walls, or rafters; talk or yell loudly; bang pans; or turn on a radio, television, or other ongoing music or sound and leave it playing day and night.

If the loud-noise method doesn't work, set up a bright light in the area and leave it on through the day and night. And, you can soak rags in cider vinegar and set them around the attic. Squirrels do not like the vinegar smell, so they are likely to leave.

Continuous sound, bright light, and certain smells will also deter squirrels from entering an attic in the first place.

Metal pans being banged together to cause a loud noise

The Spruce / Adrienne Legault

Remove Baby Squirrels From the Attic

If pesky adult squirrels refuse to leave the attic, you may have a nest of babies that is preventing the adults from abandoning the house.

If you can, it is best to wait until the babies grow enough to leave on their own. They may do this naturally in a few weeks when they are old enough to move around with the mother. If you don't want to wait, it's best to hire a professional who can safely relocate the family.

If you seal the entry points into the house and you notice the squirrels keep trying to get back in, it may be that there are babies trapped inside. In that case, a professional should be called.

Remove a Squirrel in the Chimney

Squirrels sometimes climb down the chimney flues on traditional wood-burning fireplaces, seeking a place to nest. On rare occasions when the fireplace has not been operated for a long time, they may even create a nest in the space above the fireplace damper.

Make loud noises at the fireplace to scare the squirrel up the chimney and encourage it back out to the roof. You can also carefully attach a long, thick rope (at least 3/4 inch thick) to the top of the chimney, and drop it down. This will provide the squirrel with a way to climb out. Normally, though, the squirrel will react to noise and attention by climbing out of the chimney on its own.

Long rope hanging in middle of brick fireplace to remove squirrels

The Spruce / Adrienne Legault

How to Prevent Squirrels in the House

Once you have gotten the squirrel out of your house, try to find out how it entered your home and block those entry points. Look for tracks around the chimney, inspect the attic for nests, and check the foundation and exterior for holes. Trim back any overhanging tree branches that allow squirrels to reach your roof or eaves.

Seal any potential entry point to prevent another squirrel or another wild animal from getting in. Metal flashing can be a sealant, as the animals cannot chew through it to get back in. Cover chimneys with chimney caps. Keep all exterior doors closed when not in use.

Do not feed squirrels or provide easy food sources like open garbage cans. Take measures to keep squirrels from stealing the birdseed from your feeders. If pet foods or birdseed are stored in the garage, place them in sealed metal containers.

The more squirrels congregate around your home, the more likely they are to find a way into your house or garage, so do whatever you can to make your property unappealing to these rodents.

When to Call a Professional

A professional exterminator may be the best choice when all other methods fail, or when you suspect that the squirrels are nesting within wall or ceiling cavities. These hidden squirrels will be very hard to get rid of without the tools and materials used by professionals.

If you do hire an exterminator, specify if you wish for the animals to be live-trapped only. Where allowed, some exterminators may use spring traps that kill the squirrels.

In addition to trapping and removing squirrels, exterminators can inspect your home to identify entry points, sanitize areas of infestation, and provide a home exclusion where points of entry are sealed and repaired to prevent future infestations. 

FAQ
  • Can squirrels carry rabies and other diseases?

    Although transmission to humans is rare, squirrels can potentially carry some of the same diseases carried by rats and mice, including encephalitis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, leptospirosis, and even rabies. Don't take any risks when chasing or trying to catch squirrels.

  • What do I do with a trapped, live squirrel?

    Carefully release any squirrel you have caught into the yard outside your home. Take steps as soon as possible to seal your home to ensure it doesn't return. Take care when releasing a trapped squirrel, as it will be agitated and could possibly scratch or even bite you.

  • What about spray repellants?

    The same spray mixes that are used by gardeners to protect plants and buried bulbs from being consumed by rabbits, squirrels, and woodchucks may also work to chase squirrels out of an attic or other indoor space. But these concoctions have a powerful odor that may waft through your house if you apply them heavily in your attic.

  • Can I poison or hunt squirrels?

    The same poison baits used for rats are sometimes mistakenly used to try to kill squirrels, chipmunks, and other rodents. This is not only illegal but cruel, as these larger rodents may incur serious internal but nonfatal damage from consuming rat baits. Further, squirrels very often will drop rat bait into yards, where family pets can eat it.

    Your state or community may, however, have legal trapping or hunting seasons for animals such as squirrels and rabbits. This might be an option if you live in such an area and have no moral qualms about hunting. In some regions, squirrel and rabbit meat are often consumed in stews or used in other recipes. In others, though, trapping a live animal and moving it off your property is actually illegal: Research your local regulations before taking action.

  • Do ultrasonic devices work?

    Triggered by motion, these electronic devices emit a high-pitched sound that is inaudible to humans but very irritating to squirrels and other rodents. These can be expensive devices but are worth a try if other methods have failed. However, some pets may be affected by the high-pitched noise emitted by these devices.

  • Is a squirrel house a good idea?

    A squirrel nesting box is a human-fabricated squirrel house that can be installed on trees in your yard. You can buy one pre-made or make a DIY version. A squirrel nesting box can provide an attractive alternative to your home. To eliminate a squirrel’s nesting options, make sure there are no squirrels in your own home and that it has been sealed and squirrel-proofed, which can redirect the squirrel’s interest toward the nesting box.

The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Tree Squirrels Management Guidelines. UC IPM.

  2. Tree Squirrels. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

  3. Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Tree Squirrels. University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, 2016.

  4. Aflitto, Nicholas and DeGomez, Tom. Sonic Pest Repellant Devices. University of Arizona College of Agricultural Sciences, 2015.

  5. Building Homes for Squirrels. Mississippi State University Extension.