For any animal and rodent removal company, rats and squirrels are amongst the most challenging rodents to eradicate. Their gnawing, feeding, and chewing may appear similar, but they have dissimilarity.

How would you distinguish them?

Rats:

Rats mark their trails and passageways using urine. They use the same travel routes repetitively because they feel safer. Rats’ paths are technically known as ‘runs,’ and they include vegetation, tops of bricks, exposed piping, cinder block fences, areas behind bushes, and utility lines. With time, pathways become stained with urine, and scattered feces collect on the runs.

Squirrels:

Squirrels do not create runs. Their excreta group in one specific patch where they seem to have been feeding. If they have infested in landscapes, their droppings disperse in different areas. Often, squirrels abandon fruits after randomly sampling them. They can strip a whole tree and discard the harvest after eating a small part of each fruit.

Apart from these destructive animals infesting in landscapes and gardens, they can also invade homes. They hide in dark places, small holes, hidden spaces such as the inside of wall cavities. And they can cause more harm to humans. Rats and mice are likely to generate more than 35 diseases across the globe; this is, according to the United States Facilities for Disease Control and Prevention.

So, how would you eliminate rats and squirrels inside a wall?

1. Identify the Enemy

Whether it is a rat or squirrel hiding in the cavities of your walls, it must come out eventually to look for food. Squirrels emerge from the walls during the day while rats appear at night. Find holes at the base area of the walls where rats can go through. Examine the surroundings for chew marks. They show the presence of a rat. 

Squirrels exit and enter via the roofline, and so you can keep watch on those areas. You can also spot squirrels in the attic.

As you search, you may stumble upon the nesting areas. Be cautious of a squirrel families attack, especially from the mother squirrel protecting its young ones.

Squirrels fecal matter is sausage-shaped and measure around half to an inch long. Rats’ droppings measure about an eighth inch in length.

2. Eliminating the Rat

Run traps alongside the basement of your walls. Place the traps in positions where you hear scratching, and also in possible exits and entrances. The baited traps should be positioned close to the walls because rats tend to run along the walls. Use two or more snapping traps placed side by side.  Check back occasionally to see whether the trap was successful.

Avoid using poison because rats tend to go back to the wall openings to die. They’ll leave spiteful odors and perhaps attract other unwanted creatures. 

3. Getting Rid of Squirrels

The New York Times states that squirrels make themselves comfortable within the walls. Check for holes in the walls, which they use to get in. Position a one-way baited trap directly over the opening. After you catch the creature, take it away from your home as far as possible before releasing it – at least 3 miles.

If you discover a nest of young squirrels, it is humanly to leave them to grow until they can survive on themselves outside. Furthermore, you can consult a rodent removal company for a humane squirrel removal service.

Welcome Signs

To prevent future infestations, remove or control probable welcome signs that may attract rodents. They include firewood, pet food (dog and bird feeders), and home entrances. Construct the firewood area inches off the ground - repair entrances to your houses such as gaps on exterior doors and clean pet food leftovers.

Hearing scratching from your wall is a bit unsettling, especially when you are alone in the house. You are having dinner, or working on a custom writing order, and you hear the scratches. You can’t help it but imagine a horror movie. 

The good news is that the above three remedies can work efficiently in eliminating the unwanted guests.

If you still find it hard to get rid of rodents in your home, seek professional services – and it will be a fairly easy process.