Bright Lights & Squirrels: Do They Work?

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Bright lights do not work to repel squirrels, and neither do sound or high-pitch noise frequency devices either. To start with, squirrels aren't nocturnal animals so a bit of light won't affect them too much, but moving along from that, squirrels are much more tame than they were a few years ago. A device that might have had some success a decade ago just won't have the same effectiveness now. These animals have evolved and adapted. Our removal and control methods, on the other hand, have not.



Bright lights would work on animals who don't like the daylight — nocturnal animals. Intruder lights in the back and front yard, for example, would work to repel a raccoon from a garbage can in some cases, because the raccoon doesn't appreciate the beam of light. It's a good idea in theory, but, once again, raccoons are now more tame than they were a few years ago. Lights have shown to be less effective now against wild animals.

When animals are active during the day and night, you'll have more problems trying to get rid of them. Using lights no longer works in your favor, because these creatures aren't affected by them, but you lose the element of sound too, because everything else during the day is quite loud.

At night, wild animals are louder in your home. This is because the surroundings are much quieter than during the day, and also because wild animals tend to be more active at night. Opossums, skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, etc., are all nocturnal animals.

Squirrels are more active first thing in the morning and in the early to late afternoon. Midday isn't a great time for them — the sun can be too hot, so they use the time to nap and hide away in the shade. The times at which they are active, however, coincides with the times that you are most active — when the kids are getting ready for school in the morning, everyone else is getting ready for work and a busy day ahead. In the humdrum of daily life it would be easy to miss the sounds that a squirrel would make as it scuffled and rustled around your home.

Sound doesn't work in your favor when you want to get rid of them too, usually for the same reasons. Squirrels have associated humans with food — we leave bird feeders out for them to gorge from, as well as hand-feeding them in parks and other public places. The sound of humans no longer scares these animals — and plenty of others like them — making noise and sound devices almost pointless.

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.