what's eating my house?

[coyote]

something's in the attic gnawing on my house...only at night...drives me NUTS!

I'm thinking flying squirrel, but it SOUNDS bigger than that...norway rat?

access is not the best...thick fiberglass insulation throughout...have to crawl through it to do much.

[Bob Jameson]

You are in my area I see. Typically depending on your location and house in proximity to hardwoods it may be flyers and could be rats. Both are noctournal to a degree. Rats are day active as well. I would put my money on flyers.

[coyote]

appreciate the reply, Bob!

so, if there's one...how many can I expect?

I guess it's payback time...when I was kid (and before it was illegal)...I had a flying squirrel as a pet. it's mother was killed by a friend's dog and we raised it.

[Bob Jameson]

Unfortunanately when u have one you will have several in our control work experience. Low end numbers would be 4-6 flyers. On the higher end we have captured 11 in two nites in a colony trap. We get several calls each year with structure squirrels and most turn out to be flyers. Most have had litters by now .

[SgtWal]

Flyers have a walnut sized entrance somewhere. And are a pain do to size and the way they love company in an attic. Largest job was 52 from an A frame in river bottom woods.


wayne

[coyote]

sgtwal said:

And are a pain do to size and the way they love company in an attic. Largest job was 52 from an A frame in river bottom woods.
wayne

anybody wanna buy a house? ;D

had a visit last night to a Havahart trap, but no catch...ate the bait, but didn't trip the trigger...round one: squirrel.

ding ding...

[Bob Jameson]

You should use a spring loaded door trap appropriate for the animal you are setting for or you may have this occur.Some havaharts may not be suitable if too large.

Larger gravity door live traps may have too stiff of a pan tension for the squirrel to fire the trap. Flyers are just about the size of a chipmunk. A 5"x5" cage trap is probably as large as you want to go if attempting to capture one at at time.

[coyote]

appreciate the reply, Bob!

this is a model 1025. I moved the bait back and closed one of the doors.

(it's running around in the attic as we speak).

next step is a snap rat trap, I guess.

[Bob Jameson]

Colony trapping is the most efficient removal procedure. Finding the entries and getting them as they all exit at nite. An excluder can be used but if they have young it will promote them to chew in at another point.

As I said if they are flyers there will mosty likely be young in the attic as well. Single set trapping may take a while and you may not get them all. Females are hesitate to accept and enter certain configuration traps at times during this rearing period frame. Depends alot on the age of the young also at this time.Good luck

[coyote]

Thanks, Bob.

I looked around the outside of the house some, and didn't see an OBVIOUS hole, but there are small gaps they could enter...actually, I think they may be coming in through the attic vents...hardware cloth tacked inside is on my agenda...just hate the thought of crawling through all that insulation I put in years ago.

how about bringing a jar of your flying squirrel bait and a colony trap to the banquet...if I haven't done any good by then, I'll buy them from you.

might have to have you stop over, too. I'd guess we're about an hour or so from each other.

[Bob Jameson]

Attic vents , cobra ridge vents. louver side attic vents, soffit and facia, dormer inside and outside corners are all possible flyer entry points. A trained individual should be able to find the hole in a reasonably quick time frame once on site.Sometimes a consumer can find the entries also if he knows what to look for and where to look.

Let me know how you. I dont sell my colony repeaters yet. I am going to apply for a patent registration and have a company build them for me in time. For now just our personel use them on jobs. They sell different type models for this purpose but the install and application may not be as easy as one thinks without prior understanding of forcing and preventing other exiting points once the traps are in position.

We can talk at the banquet if you are not successful.

BJ

[coyote]

Thanks, Bob!