Help! I’ve read your information on flying squirrels and bats and have a few questions. I live in a log home in the woods in the hills in north western NJ and have been battling these creatures for years. I’ve spent numerous hours inspecting the outside of the house for entry points and have sealed/caulked all openings/cracks. I finally found the entry point of the bats which was soffit lights, closed this up and I think they are finally gone. Do they hibernate? And if so will they awake in warmer weather? Do they store food? I could have trapped one inside.
The flying squirrels are the bigger problem. After removing them three times, one entry via space between rooflines, the other two from woodpecker holes from my other invader the BORING BEE! I still have something in my ceiling. We would go several months without a sound and then we would hear them again for a short period. Then it would stop for a while and resume again. The information presented by you and others say that they don’t hibernate and are not hoarders, so my original thoughts of them being trapped in the ceiling for months must not be true. They must be coming and going. As I stated before, I’ve inspected and sealed every inch of the outside, even including every inch of the ridge vent. We don’t have an attic because all the upstairs ceilings are cathedral. I hear it or them in the soffits which are two feet deep, also up and down between the rafters, sometimes they get into the walls, and also in the space below the ridge vent.
Since I can’t find a point of entry, what is my best remediation? I’ve taken a part of the soffit off before where I knew there was a lot of activity and used rat traps and have gotton several. But now that there seems to be no common activity area I’m not sure what to do. I like the idea of your pecan paste and liquid lure, peanut butter doesn’t seem to work ant more, but where is my best location? Also which kill trap works best for reuse. You state that if another sees his friend in a trap he will remember and not enter. Any advice would be helpful, I need to resolve this infestation before it gets any worse! Thank you.
You’ve covered a lot of pests in your questions and suffice to say that there is a lot of work to be done if you would like to reclaim your house from these “animal invaders”. Fortunately we have remedies for all of them. At some point in the next month you should review our sites which deal with these problems so you can best educate yourself on how to control each one. I suspect some of these problems are “cross related” so by dealing with them directly you should be able to stop all the unwanted intrusions. But this process will take a little time and some effort.
The sites I recommend for you include one for CARPENTER BEES, one for WOODPECKERS and one on ROOF RATS. No doubt if you treat the Carpenter Bees as explained in our CARPENTER BEE ARTICLE, you’ll stop them from damaging the home as well as help diminish the Woodpecker activity on the structure. By learning about Roof Rats, you’ll be able to rule out if they’re involved. Based on the information you presented above, it’s quite possible they are entering as well though you didn’t mention them. I just know they are nocturnal and love environments like you have so along with squirrels, flying squirrels and bats, roof rats would be just as likely to be invading.
Lastly, your course of action right now is difficult to plan out. There is a lot of “stuff” going on here and I don’t think I can adequately answer via e-mail. For now, it would really be best if you gave us a call on our toll free 1-800-877-7290 and ask for Mike or Chad. I think they’ll be able to offer some suggestions on how you can best deal with 1-2 of the “current” problems. After asking some questions, I’m sure they’ll be able to ascertain the best traps to use and where to set them out. But this can only be done with further questions so give us a call as soon as you can and I’m sure we’ll be able to further assist.
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