Photo Album: Squirrels chew into Colts Neck, NJ home.
Hole in gable.
Upon arrival, I start by inspecting around the roofline for potential entry points. Here, I immediately saw a wide opening. One of the gable vents above the garage was missing. Considering that was the area of the attic where the homeowner was hearing wildlife noises, this was the likely entrance point.
Climbing up to set the trap.
Once wildlife with good climbing skills (like squirrels and raccoons!) gain access to the roof, they have an amazing knack for zeroing in on weaknesses in the building structure, and often do a bit of their own "construction" to expand the opening for them to travel back and forth.
Easy entry for wildlife.
Once inside the attic, I did not see any active wildlife. However, I saw plenty of their remains including droppings and nesting materials - and this was more than enough to tell me that we were dealing with a squirrel infestation.
One-way trap.
Eastern Grey Squirrels are actually quite small animals, weighing only about a pound give or take. They look much bigger because of their tail and fur. As such, their droppings are small oblong pellets, about 3/8" long and 1/8" in diameter with rounded tips (they look like rat droppings, but rat poop has more tapered ends). Fresh droppings start out dark brown and then get lighter with age.
Multiple trap set up.
This was a very straightforward set-up to exclude the animals from the attic and, hopefully, capture them for relocation to a more suitable habitat. I installed a one-way device directly over the open vent, and placed a few baited traps on the roof along their likely pathway to and fro. The one-way device, just as the name implies, allows the animals to exit the structure, but it's a one-way trip. They are blocked from re-entry. After all of the squirrels have been removed, we will clean up the nesting materials and toxic droppings that are filled with parasites and all sorts of pathogens, and finally, install a new gable vent to prevent further infestations.