Help animals in attic

[lightens]

At my mother's house, whom I live 8 hours away from, are unwanted guests in the attic. My mother lives in a two story house and it is somewhat difficult for her to get upstairs where her attic is. So when I am in town I am looking for a safe, humane way to remove mice, possibly rats, and maybe squirrels. I know squirrels were there during the winter but I don't know if they are there now. I do not want her to put out traps (box traps) for the mice because I did that that at my house and it took several months to get them humanely them out. They are tearing down the insulation and pooping up there, so something has to be done. She is threatening to call someone but she hasn't yet because she knows how much love squirrels. I have heard a lot of bad stories about companies who are supposed to be humane removal and are not....

[Mel1959]

The best way to humanely trap squirrels is with a hav-a-heart trap. Put some peanut butter or nuts inside. Two things are very important. First, you have to know where they are coming in and be prepared to seal up those areas immediately once all the wild animals are removed. This may require a specialist to determine all the compromised areas in the attic. And second, I have heard if you are actually relocating a squirrel, which is never the best choice, you have to take them about 5 miles away or they may return. Obviously, this presents a problem since you could be separating a momma from its babies or just creating a problem for squirrels by removing them from their "known" neighborhood. Clearly the best choice is to be sure they can't re-enter the attic. Some municipalities will let you borrow the traps, if they have them to lend. Otherwise places like Tractor Supply sell them.

As for mice, I have no idea how one humanely removes them. We don't have many mice where I live. Sorry.

[TubeDriver]

The only way to humanly remove the nice is to limit available food and use small humane traps like this:

https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/sto...FR5MDQodoMQAAA


Mice have a right to live their lifes too (just not freely in your home)!

[Lighten-Up]

Hello Lightens,

I'm not sure that I have the answer, but I want to thank you for searching for a humane way to remove them.

I too am on the same adventure, with those that are in my own house, wild deer mice.

Since not many have responded, I'll just toss out zany ideas...and share my own path. I'm not there yet, but I'm working out my own solutions.

I realized that I was giving the wild mice in my house lots of food by the cat food dishes that were out all the time. Mice were taking cat food at night and storing it in many other places! So I now take away the cat food at night; so they no longer have a full buffet. Note, the cats have no interest in chasing mice....

No longer having a buffet has not stopped them, but it has noticeably limited their numbers, they still want to come in for a safe warm place to nest, even if it has no food. So I'm partway there.

I have an old house, so I realize that one solution would be to seal up all entrances, and either trap, or put a one way out door for them. Of course, I would hate the idea of a nursing mom going out the door, and not being about to get back in.

The other issue is, that in an old house, I don't know how long it will take me to find and seal all possible entrances, that might be near impossible....

Thus, I am exploring the zany idea of making an alliance with them.

I once read a true story of a man who was an animal communicator. He came home to find his kitchen invaded by thousands of ants marching through the food he had on his counter top. He was ready to spray the whole place with raid in his anger, but stopped, because he loved animals at heart. He communicated with mammals, but had never tried ants, so he quieted himself, and spoke to them all, he told them that he had the means to kill them, but that he did not want to, and that he recognized that they had a reason to live and be, just as he did, but that he had every right to want his own kitchen and food to be his own, safe from their marauding. He asked them to respect his kitchen, and to move back outside, and that he would let them live their lives out there. Nothing happened, and the man left it all as it was, and went out to a comedy show to try to relieve his frustration. Hours later when he came back home, there was not an ant in his kitchen, even though all the food was still out, just where he left it. He was more than amazed. He relayed that 10 years had passed, and that he had never had another ant invade his kitchen, even though he had never sealed up anything. He feels that the ants had respected the gentleman's agreement that he had proposed.

I know the story might sound like fantasy, and I do realize that it did not happen because the man just wished it, there really was a truth based animal communication that went on. I don't think this is the kind of thing you can just play with, I think you have to actually understand it in order for it to actually work.....

But considering the alternative of all the work required to try to seal up all the entrances; I love the concept of a simple gentleman's agreement between human and ant, or human and mouse, or human and squirrel, or whatever...

Maybe I'm writing this, to make this all sound more real and less fantasy to myself. I know it is possible, I just confess, I haven't gotten to this place, but I will.

Food for thought...laughs, or action...

[Dixie]

I know there are squirrels in my attic. My son and I believe it was just one, and she became a mama up there. We heard her coming and going, but then there was more squirrelly sounds. We are guessing two - three.
We were hoping they would move on when big enough, as we had this experience a couple of years ago. We've seen mama come and go, always settling in for the night, over my head. Thing is, seems mama stopped coming back. The little ones seem fine, based on activity sounds, but without mama's guidance, I'm concerned that won't happen. We don't want any harm to come to them, just want them to have a normal squirrel life.
My son wishes he could safely relocate them himself, but he is disabled with a foot injury and it is a rather awkward and difficult to navigate space. It's not something I can do myself. Input?