Squirrels often seem harmless when they’re outdoors. But if they decide to live too close to your property, they can quickly become a problem, going from the occasional visitor to a significant problem as squirrels begin to make messes in your yard, tear up your gardens, and potentially move into your home.

If squirrels have been hanging around your home and their numbers are increasing or they are becoming more aggressive, there are several steps you can take to deter them from doing any more potential damage around your property.

How to Get Rid of Squirrels Around Your Home

A range of habitat management techniques can help make your yard less appealing to squirrels, including:

• Limit Their Foods – Squirrels in NYC will try eating almost anything, so keeping your yard tidy is a great way to cut down on food sources that might attract them. In addition to removing trash, this also includes removing bird feeders that may scatter seeds, securing compost bins, and screening gardens after you have planted seeds.
• Add Items to Scare Squirrels – Installing motion-activated sprinkler systems or plastic predators like owls around your yard can frighten squirrels and make them less likely to try to get onto your property.
• Involve Your Dog – If your dog chases squirrels, let them help frighten these invaders out of your yard. The smell of your dog’s or cat’s urine in your yard will also indicate a predator nearby and potentially deter squirrels as well.
• Use Squirrel Exclusion – You can use different techniques to physically bar squirrels from entering your yard, such as placing PVC pipe over non-electrical utility lines so squirrels cannot cross them or adding metal collars around your trees to make it more difficult for squirrels to climb them. You also want to be sure there are no openings around the exterior of your home that a squirrel can squeeze through to get inside.
• Repel Squirrels – If squirrels are going after your garden, try repellents that make your plants taste bad. You can also use plant mint, daffodils, hyacinths, or snowdrops which all work as natural repellents.

While these steps can often reduce the number of squirrels around your home, some squirrel populations will simply be too aggressive. Rather than continue to fight squirrels, especially if they have made their way inside already, contact Animal Control NYC. Our advanced and highly targeted methods for squirrel removal in NYC will get rid of squirrels when other methods have failed. If squirrels have moved in the spring, contact us to start the process of removing them.