Squirrels in the attic belong to the harmless fellows. The situation is different with rats, mice, dormice or raccoons. The squirrel is usually harmless. The only thing that may be disturbing is the noise they make while running and hiding their nuts. You don't really have to do anything about this.

Squirrel attic - Are there impairments?

Except for the sounds during the day, you will hardly hear anything from the squirrels in the attic. Squirrels sleep at night, as they are diurnal creatures. In dark corners you will occasionally find the dry and odorless droppings of the animals. This is usually the size of a wood pellet and can be easily disposed of.

Aesthetically questionable, but harmless

From a construction point of view, squirrels in the attic do not pose a threat. In rare cases, they gnaw on insulation material, but that's all. In fact, the nut lovers disdain cables and other materials in the attic. You may find the following reasons disturbing.

• You will find the dark and odorless droppings in the form of pellets in the attic.
• When you walk around, you make noise.
• The rattling of the nuts can bother you.

However, you can't call the sounds noise or racket. Even their snapping communication has at best a decibel value of rustling leaves. Squirrels are diurnal animals, so they sleep at night and you have your peace. At best, the rodents' background noise can become an aesthetic acoustic problem.

If the squirrel feels very comfortable in the attic, it can become louder for a short time. Mostly this happens when it builds its nest, the Kobel. For this it must drag branches and twigs. These must be broken, which you may perceive a little louder.

The Squirrel droppings is an aesthetic problem in very rare cases. You can easily sweep up the small pellets. However, in many cases they are blown away by wind or a simple breeze.

How can you drive the squirrel out of the attic?

Among the most common methods of driving squirrels off the roof are:

• Lockout
• Catch
• Defend

The small and clever rodents can get into the attic through almost any passage. If you have already hermetically sealed your attic, then you must also close all ventilation holes. Then no more bats will come into the attic.

If a squirrel has already moved into the attic, you can beat it with its own weapons. Especially at night and in the evening, rodents abhor noise, because then they want to sleep.

If all this is of no use, you can occasionally send your cat up to the attic to see what's going on. It will quickly drive the squirrel out of the attic. If you don't have a cat, you can also catch the squirrel with a live trap and release it into the wild far away from your house.

Instructions to lock out the squirrel

• You need to do this practically seal the attic. This includes:
• Putting a chimney cover or wire mesh on the chimney.
• Cover all ventilation openings with fine wire mesh.
• Plug all holes leading to the outside, leaving only one hole as an exit.
• Seal any opening between the attic and the living area.

Instructions to catch the squirrel

If the squirrel does not want to leave the attic voluntarily, you can try a live trap. Put food that is attractive to squirrels into the live trap as an attractant. You must make sure that you place the food in the trap in such a way that the intelligent rodents cannot get it from outside. Once you have caught the squirrel in the live trap, you should travel at least 16 km away from your house into nature. In a forest area you release the animal into the wild. Pay attention to the regulations of your municipality or the federal state regarding the release of wild animals.  

Instructions to repel the squirrel

There are a number of ways to repel the squirrel from the attic. One is noise sources with very high frequencies, repellent sprays or chemicals. The latter deter squirrels by their smell. Cloths soaked in ammonia are well suited for this purpose. The animals do not like the strong smell. Do not use rat poison to repel squirrels. After about 48 hours, the animal that ate the rat poison will begin to bleed to death internally in agony. Also good to use are flashbangs. However, you should never go so far as to kill a squirrel. This will result in a heavy fine.