Nuts! I've got a squirrel!

February 17, 2008 2:13 PM

A squirrel has built a nest on my fire escape. What's up with all that? If I just leave it there, will it go away come springtime? Or will I be facing a summer of squirrels trying to get into my window?

Should I dismantle it? What if the nest-builder is pregnant (seems like a good reason to build a nest, but no observation to back this up), would it be better to dismantle her nest before or after birth, or will they just hang out there a few weeks and begone so I shouldn't make a fuss?

posted by DenOfSizer to Grab Bag (8 answers total)

You can try to dismantle it, but you may face confrontation from the squirrel, which is not always a pleasant thing. Plus, if the squirrel isn't afraid of you, he'll just build it again.

Worse, he'll start trying to find a way in, eat your trash, possible introduce mites and fleas to your house, and generally be a pain.

Squirrels can dig in for a while, make more squirrels, who then want to hang out with their families - I suggest a prompt call to animal control.
posted by beezy at 2:45 PM on February 17, 2008

Not a squirrel expert by any means, and don't know what the weather is like in 'gotham', but I'd leave it alone until about May. Once you get to the point of wanting to open the windows, the weather should be sufficiently warm for the squirrel and any potential baby squirrels to deal with being evicted.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 3:10 PM on February 17, 2008

I second the concerns about mites and fleas. I recently removed the beginnings of a squirrel hangout from my fire escape and soon got lots of little bites on my body. It was terrifying because I could only imagine bedbugs or SCABIES (it wasn't bedbugs or scabies). Of course, I'm not sure if this is reason to move it now or let it alone.
posted by unknowncommand at 3:23 PM on February 17, 2008

Destroy it now, before there are babies that you might feel guilty about evicting. Squirrels build nests, pregnant or not.

If you don't, they won't go away. Squirrels are a giant pain in the ass. My neighbors trapped the little fuckers in my trees, and he had to take them past two (!) rivers before they stayed gone.
posted by notsnot at 4:09 PM on February 17, 2008

Squirrels got into the eve of our apartment and began building a nest. Nothing would frighten them away. I used some methods that I thought would be annoying to the squirrels (ammonia soaked rags) and found that their instinct to nest was stronger than my will to evict them. The were climbing the tree in the front of my apartment and hopping onto my roof. I trimmed the tree back, using a pole pruner, with no branch close enough for them to jump. This distance is about 9 feet. Those freaking squirrels sat on the branches facing the apartment, crying, for over 2 weeks before they made a nest in my neighbor's roof.

Get rid of them ASAP. Once the brood is born, you are going to have issues.
posted by zerobyproxy at 4:52 PM on February 17, 2008

All the squirrel hate. :( Leave a couple whole walnuts out every week in front of the nest, but don't let it know it came from you (they're smart lab rats with fuzzy tails and they'll harass you). You might be evicting baby momma from her hard, energy taking, self built home in the middle of February...

We fed squirrels all the time, brave ones would come and sit on your knee waiting for a piece of walnut. Even red-birds (Cardinal) would chirp while sitting on the power lines and then fly down and sit on the armrest of the porch swing waiting for a piece of walnut.

Maybe urban squirrels are nastier than rural squirrels, but let them be until summer just in case. When you want them gone, wait and watch until they're home, blast an air-horn at them 'till they scamper. Repeat. They'll move.
posted by zengargoyle at 5:27 PM on February 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Sorry, you gotta get rid of 'em now. I had a a couple of squirrel problems. A little research shows that they survive on their spatial memory. If they can't temember where their food is buried they don't live. In short, they don't forget anything. So quickly disabuse yourself of the thinking they'll move out and forget where they were warm and safe. They'll never forget. And it sounds to me thet'e just a short jump from getting in your home. That happened to me. I guess I could've lived with the urine all over the house but they chewed about a dozen window frames trying to gnaw their way out ... imagine taking a chisel to the wood around most of your windows. So if you're okay with changing your carpets and furniture and spending for all new windows ... then I'd say feed them nuts and let them stay. (And oh yeah, when I blocked off another vent they were trying to make a nest in, they sat in a tree and screamed at me.)
posted by lpsguy at 6:11 AM on February 18, 2008

Appears to depend on your own opinion about squirrels. Cute outdoor pets, or vermin to be exterminated.

If the squirrel is pregnant, it should be reasonably obvious from the rows of nipples and/or being fatter than you'd expect. From what I've read in the past, squirrels do tend to mate in late winter.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 9:03 AM on February 18, 2008