[Shop-talk] Squirels in the attic

[Peter Schauss]

We had a similar problem with one or more raccoons when I was about 17,
living near Chicago.  The raccoons where apparently crawling through the 4"
gap between the ground and the bottom of the siding, up through one of the
square columns on the two outside corners, and into the attic.  We tried to
block off the gap between the bottom of the siding and the ground with
rocks, but the raccoons simply pushed one of them to make an entrance.

I built a small wooden frame, just large enough for one of the animals to go
though and nailed a piece of aluminum foil to each side.  I took an old
extension cord and connected one wire to each piece of foil.  We could tell
where the raccoons were entering by their tracks in the snow, so I placed
this frame there, and plugged in the cord.  The following morning we found
one of the rocks on the opposite side of the porch had been pushed aside
with what appeared to be a good bit of force.  We never heard from raccoons
again.

HTH,
Peter Schauss

> -----Original Message-----
> From: shop-talk-bounces+schauss=worldnet.att.net at autox.team.net
> [mailto:shop-talk-bounces+schauss=worldnet.att.net at autox.team.net] On
> Behalf Of john matthews
> Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 8:48 PM
> To: shop-talk at autox.team.net
> Subject: [Shop-talk] Squirels in the attic
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Any tips on getting ground squirels out of our attic? The exterminator guy
> put sticky traps up there but my wife doesn't like the idea of killing
> squirels. When we thought they were rats she was OK with it but now....
> 
> BTW, it's a tile roof in Arizona. The "attic" is really just a crawl space
> with blown in insulation so it's really hard to get around up there
> without
> destroying the ceiling. Also, it's really hot here this time of year so
> anything we could do without going up there would be good.
> 
> TIA,
> 
> John