Critter in the Attic

We have a guest in ours too. My husband tried to shoot him down with the bb gun. ugh, men
Ask your pest control companies if they do rodents. I know ours that does our bugs doesn't so I have to look further.
There are squirrel traps out there, maybe the wildlife control in your area might have a suggestion.

Call your local animal control and see if they have any live traps that they would bring to you to set up. Then when the critter is trapped, they come get the trap.

K.: I am a huge wimp and because of a massive ant problem about 5 years ago, I was put in contact with THE BEST pest guy. I was referred to him by a close friend who had a flying squirrel and a bat problem, both of which he cured. He doesn't give up until he fixes the issue - - to get rid of our 8 foot by 6 foot ant colony it took him three separate trips but he eventaully got rid of them and they have NEVER come back (we have him treat every year as a precaution). And the best part - his prices are very fair and he doesn't charge to come back if the issue doesn't go away the first time. His name is Brian from C&B Pest Control. The number is ###-###-#### and you can tell him M. Tiews (pronounced twos) sent you.

Lots of good responses already! I definitely would call the roofer and ask him 1) to return and inspect, and 2) if he DID leave a hole, you could probably bully him into paying for the extermination after fixing it, and if he didn't leave a hole (the critter just jumped in during the process and it wasn't really the roofer's fault), you could ask his recommendation for an exterminator while you have his ear (to compare to the other suggestions here).

Good luck!!

We had this problem - 33 flying squirrels! They are little and they had bred a couple of generations in the insulation of the attic. They were so quiet because they slept during the day and were outside at night, so we didn't know for quite a while.

Get a trap (Hav-a-Heart is one brand) at the hardware store. They can be tricky to set so have the manager show you. There are 2 sizes, so it helps if you know what you have in the attic. One size is for mice, flying squirrels and even red squirrels. The next size up is for gray squirrels but will work for red squirrels.

We used peanuts as bait - you can put them on the "trigger" panel loose, but if it's easier, stick them on with a little peanut butter. Once you get someone in the trap, you'll hear it! Get it out of the attic though - in this cold, they can die in the trap overnight. We put our little friends in the basement overnight, then drove them to a nature area FAR AWAY. That is key - they can find their way "home" from 5 miles away so.... We learned this from our pest control guy.

Be aware that releasing these animals is illegal - you are supposed to drown them in a bucket of water. But we couldn't bring ourselves to do this, so we went to the nature areas and released them anyway. There are some nature sanctuaries that will take them - and our pest guy had a convent that wanted them, and put out all kinds of feeders! So they had a happy home with all their buddies.

But absolutely call your roofer to have him find the opening. If one critter found a home, others will. However, if your guest is something little like a mouse, it may not be the roofer's fault - they can find their way in thru the little spaces around pipes. There are one-way exits that the roofer or pest guy can set up so the squirrel can get out but not back in - but the trick is, you have to know for sure that he has gone out. You also have to be sure there are no babies in there!

Have a REALLY good time with this...!!! LOL

I love our exterminator. We originally called him to help with carpenter ants, but now we have a contract and he just comes four times a year, no matter what, and keeps things in shape so we don't have problems with any pests. His company is Walker Wildlife & Pest Control. He works out of Billerica, MA, but I know he serves a fairly wide area. I'm sure he'd go to Woburn. His name is Mike, and the phone number is ###-###-####. He's a great guy and does good work. If you do call, be sure to tell him K. in Littleton sent you.

We moved into a new house a year and a half ago and last winter we thought we had mice in the attic. Turns out it was flying squirrels- they're VERY common around here (esp if you live near the woods). Do you only hear it/them at night? If so, this could be your problem (flying squirrels are nocturnal). Apparently when they build houses...and maybe re-do roofs?...they leave the corners open- I'm not sure of the technical terms but it's basically so water can't get in and damage it- maybe something to do with ice, I can't remember?

Anyway, we had a company (NW Pest Control) come in and they set traps (rat traps since flying squirrels are bigger than mice) and then sealed all of the outside of the house/roof- they check the traps a few times to get rid of the live ones so you don't have to do a thing- I'm also VERY squeamish. And they said it should be good forever since the house is sealed up. NW Pest was $500 for the sealing and then $20/squirrel up to $100...so we paid $560 total. The other company we got a quote from sounded more humane- Precision Wildlife Services. Instead of traps, they put up these gates at all the corners so the animal(s) can get out of the house and then they come back and seal up the outside of the house so no more can get in. The price was more than twice that of NW Pest Control. Initially we were going to use them but then figured NW Pest has a 1 year warranty and, because of money, figured we'd rather spend $600ish now than come up with $1200. So far we haven't heard any more noises so hopefully we're good to go! I'd highly recommend NW Pest Control (but also thought Precision seemed very professional). Good luck!!

We own a live trap.. I know that in some towns they will rent live traps from animal control, the humane society or animal rescues groups.. Call around..

The only time we did not attempt to trap the animal was when we had a mama skunk and her pups under our house! It was suggested at night we throw moth balls under the house so that the skunks would not want to return.. It worked great and then we were able to close up the very small opening they were coming and going from..