Flying Squirrel Exclusion with One-Way Door

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Many homeowners are under the impression that bats are flapping around their roof at night, but it could very well be the flying squirrel that is behind all of the commotion. The name is actually a little deceptive, as these squirrels don't actually fly, but rather glide through the air.



Getting rid of these creatures is hard work, as you can probably imagine. To start with, their nests are likely to be quite high up, in the roof, just like with bats. The only way you will find out where and how they are getting in and out of your home is to monitor the situation, and this can be a long and tiresome task. You will need to perform a thorough investigation and inspection of the building, noting down any holes and cracks, as well as patches of damage that you can see. These are all areas that will need to be tended to, but not yet. You cannot seal up the holes unless you are one hundred percent sure all of the creatures have been evicted from your home. If you do not do this, you are locking the critters in, rather than evicting them. If you lock the youngsters in without their mother, they will all die, without a shadow of a doubt. If you lock the entire family in, blocking up all the holes they used to get out, the mother will either die in there with her babies, or she'll just make new patches of damage trying to get right back out again. It's a cycle that can go on for many years if it is not sorted out, and although the creatures are pretty cute to look at and they do help to keep bug numbers down, they do come with their fair of negative points that you will need to bear in mind.

Exclusion devices are your best option. Repellents very rarely work, although some of them can have varying degrees of success. With long-term and repeated use, you'll find that the repellents and deterrents are actually quite expensive, and in many cases, it would have actually been cheaper just to have hired in a nuisance animal removal technician.

What are exclusion devices?
In short, they are devices that are meant to exclude the creature … just as the name would suggest. Usually involving a one-way door idea, the device allows the flying squirrel to leave your home or building, but the door prevents it from being able to get back in again. If you are trying to get rid of more than one creature at once, such as with a colony or bats or with a small group of flying squirrels together, excluding them is often a much more sensible approach than trying to trap them one by one, or trying to eliminate the entire group by way of poison or other methods.

Other than an exclusion device, you could look at repeater traps. These are just as the name would suggest — a trap that can be used repeated times with one setting, so to speak.

Whatever you do and whatever approach you take, make sure you check the laws and regulations first. Secondly, make sure that you have removed ALL flying squirrels (or other wild critters) from the building before you make any attempt to seal it all up. This does seal something — the fate of the flying squirrel(s). The outcome will almost certainly be death.

For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does squirrel removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of squirrels - my main squirrel removal info guide.
Example squirrel trapping photographs - get do-it-yourself ideas.
Squirrel job blog - learn from great examples of squirrel jobs I've done.
Squirrels in the attic - what to do to solve the problem.