Can squirrels eat through gutters?
Squirrels climbing gutters isn’t just in your neighborhood. All across the country there are squirrels in gutters, trees, on rooftops, light poles, and telephone poles. These little critters are skilled climbers and can jump between light poles, telephone poles and trees with the greatest of ease. They scurry up drainage pipes and climb up onto roofs, from there, they find the gutter system, set up house, and cause gutter damage.
So, do squirrels live in rain gutters and why? They don’t necessarily live in gutters. Gutters fill with leaves, twigs, and other debris. Those are the primary ingredients squirrels use for building nests to hide from their predators. Sometimes, they can’t get out when the coast is clear.
Yes. Squirrels’ teeth grown continuously, and they gnaw on gutters and other items to keep them from growing too long. Therefore, squirrels will continue to gnaw all through their lives, and they seek materials they can chew on, usually wood or plastic, like decks, eaves, electrical wiring, fascia, and windowsills, even aluminum.
Why do squirrels chew on gutters?
Squirrels burrow up in the leaves, twigs, and other debris inside gutter to hide from predators. While there, they may have liter of baby squirrels and cluttered gutters make a great nesting for those baby critters. While nesting there, the adult squirrels gnaw away at your gutters, causing gutter damage.
Does aluminum foil deter squirrels?
Some people have found that when they cover their potted plants from the top with aluminum foil, punch a few holes for watering purpose, the squirrels won’t bother them? Why? It is believed that either they don’t like the shininess, or they don’t like the crinkling sound it makes when they gnaw on the foil. However, there are others that say squirrels will chew through aluminum without any issues.
What can’t squirrels chew through?
If squirrels can chew through aluminum siding, vents, flashing, gutters, and downspouts, it would only make sense they could chew through aluminum foil, right? Yes, that aluminum siding you had installed is durable, strong, corrosion resistant, and waterproof. It is even energy efficient and sustainable.
Many homeowners have discovered about these aluminum features to their home, they aren’t squirrel resistant. The next thing they discover is that squirrels chew through anything, except galvanized or stainless steel. As soon as you hear squirrels in your attic or walls, your first course of action should be to eradicate them from your home before they do more than gutter damage.
Look for places they could be entering your home then attached galvanized steel sheeting or heavy mesh wire over the entry points once you have rid your attic of the pesky critters. Blocking off their entry points while they are still in your attic will result in them making new entry points.
Do gutter guards keep squirrels out?
Squirrels are cute, but only at a distance. When they take over your gutters an attic, they are annoying and the gutter damage they leave behind is irritating. Here are some recommended ways to keep squirrels out of your attic:
- Trim all the tree branches around your home. Tree branches are roadways for squirrels and if they lead to your roof, they take call it home. Tree branches shouldn’t be any closer than 15 feet to your roof.
- Have your gutters cleaned twice a year or using your water hose, clean the gutters yourself. Get the leaves, nests, twigs, and other debris flushed out. Then with gloves on, manually remove any chunks that didn’t flush out.
- Have gutter wire toppers installed? This will keep critters, leaves, and most twigs out of the gutter run, so your gutters are clogged and possible gutter damage happening.
- Pour mothballs in the gutter runs, that is one smell that squirrels do not like, and it will run them off. Mothballs are poisonous, so never place them where other animals or children can get them.
- Put a squirrel gutter trap on the roof, available at most hardware and home improvement stores. Peanut butter is a great bait inside the trap, and once you catch the squirrel, call your local animal control department to get it.
- If none of these work, then you’ll need to call pest control service who will place custom traps around your home.
If you’re having squirrel issues other than gutter damage, here are some natural remedies to use that will keep the squirrels away from your garden:
- Spray urine from known squirrel predators on a regular basis.
- Sprinkle cayenne pepper, garlic pepper, and /or pepper flakes around your outdoor plants when they are about to bloom.
- Some gardening homeowners sprinkle blood meal around their garden.
- Scattering dog or human hair around a garden has proven to work for many gardeners.
- Plant marigolds, mustard plants, or nasturtiums as a border around a vegetable garden and the strong aroma keeps squirrels away.
- Most dogs love chasing squirrels and squirrels are scares of them!
Quality gutters can last your home a long time and provide quality water protection. Need gutter installation in Canton, GA? Call 770-735-4433 today.