How to trap or exclude flying squirrels

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Out of the two methods, we would definitely recommend looking at excluding flying squirrels, rather than trapping them. There is never just the one flying squirrel on its own when you've spotted signs of one in your attic. They live together, usually in maternal colonies, and if you've noticed them during the spring, there is a 99% chance that you have an entire family of flying squirrels up there. That means as many as eight females, although no males stick around, and a whole bunch of babies. One trap isn't going to solve that problem. Even a couple of traps won't solve that problem. The youngsters aren't able to crawl around into the traps, staying in the nest until they are at least a good couple of months old.



Rather than looking at trapping and then releasing these creatures, exclusion devices are a better approach. With these, you allow the animal to leave your building as it wishes, usually around sunset to hunt for food. When it comes back, however, around sunrise, it won't be able to get back in. The one-way door system allows the creature to leave but not get back in again. It will try to get back in, of course, but it'll be impossible. After a while, it will give up and find somewhere else to call home.

You cannot do this while the youngsters are in the nest. You must wait until they are old enough to survive on their own, otherwise you'll just lock the mother out and the babies in. After two or three months, the young flying squirrels are old enough to leave the nest.

If you can't wait this long, we would definitely recommend hiring a professional to remove the creature for you. There are a lot of laws and regulations that you must take into account, and there are even endangered subspecies of flying squirrels that you can't harm at all. Doing this the wrong way could result in death or injury to the animal, or stress, and it might even land you in hot water too.

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 flying 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.