Flyers in the House

[Joan]

Flying squirrels will readily take residence in a house if access is available to a sheltered area. Trimming scrubs, vines and pruning overhanging limbs may discourage flyers from entering a home. Flyers will enter through small holes around dormers, ridge vents, eaves, attic vents and similar vulnerable areas. All such holes should be closed to prevent entrance.
If flyers are already inside, close all holes except one, for their exit. If chewing persists in any of these areas, heavy, 1/2 inch wire mesh can be temporarily placed over the problem areas.
Flyers should be removed as a family unit if young are involved. If the mother is out and the babies left inside, she will try to tear down the house to get to them. Babies found alone should be placed in a rainproof container with their nesting material next to the entrance hole outside the attic ... the mother will come and relocate them. Be sure to keep an eye on them and if she doesn't return within a reasonable time (3 to 6 hours depending on age of pups), call a rehabber to take them.

Infested Attic
   There may be points of entry in the house that need to be found and repaired. First see if you can find where they got in. It had to have a way to get in; so if you release it near by, it will probably be back in your house.  An opening only 1" across will allow them to get in. That will need to be fixed or you will have more.  You might want to check your attic and other places for openings and get them sealed off. 
   Try putting a few electronic "pest controls" in outlets where they are found. They seem to work well at driving rodents out of the house. Some people spread moth balls around an infested attic.
  A Hav-a-hart live trap works well. Some nature centers and animal rescue organizations will loan them out. Find a Hav-a-hart humane trap and bait it with nuts, apple, grapes, peanuts, peanut butter, fruit, etc., OR kleenex (flyers LOVE kleenex for nesting material). Don't set the trap for several days so you can be sure they are eating the food or taking the kleenex. Then, see if you can catch them and transfer them directly from the Hav-a-hart into a nest box. Install a few nest boxes (bluebird boxes are good to use) in some of your trees so that the flyers will use them instead of the house.
  Or you could put a nest box in your attic or near the places they are staying. Give them a day or two to get moved in, then take the whole box outside (put something over the entrance hole) and fasten the nest box to a tree. Then uncover the entrance hole and hope for the best. And keep plenty of food outside for them -- pecans, hickory nuts, hazel nuts, acorns, dried corn on the cob, etc.
Check out the small Squirrel Controller on this website. It has a one-way gate that lets flyers exit from control area, but prevents them from entering. http://petsafe-warehouse.com/live_anima ... /index.htm
It is much better for the squirrels to remain with their own colony than being relocated. If you can fix the place(s) that they are getting in, you won't have any further problems with them. They will not do any real damage to the outside of your house. If you could put up some nest boxes out in your trees -- they will very much like to use those!

Chemical Repellents Recommended by the Humane Society for Flying Squirrels
PRODUCT/ MANUFACTURER/ ACTIVE INGREDIENT
Ro.Pel/ Burlington Bio-Medical & Scientific Corp./ Dentonium saccharide

GET-AWAY/Intagra, Inc./Capsaicin & Oil of Mustard

Miller's Hot Sauce/Miller Chemical and Fertilizer Corp./Capsaicin

Chaperone Squirrel & Bat Repellant /Sudbury Lab. Inc./Napthalene

How to Get Rid of Flying Squirrels in the Attic of a House: http://www.wildlifeanimalcontrol.com/fl ... rrels.html

Inside The House
  Another simple simple method is to place a mitten in a pet carrier that had wire too small to let the squirrel escape. Place the cage on top of the fridge ... up high on a refrigerator, being the safest in the mind of a squirrel. Leave food ... see that he has diluted fruit juice and water, fresh veggies, peanut butter, yogurt, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, hazel nuts, walnuts or pecans in the carrier and then ignored it.
  Soon, the flyer may be sleeping in the mitt during the day. If so, close the door to the carrier and take the squirrel outside. Tack his mitten inside a bird house. Before long this birdhouse will be home. Make sure he has food, seeds and nuts in a nearby place. You may also place a mineral block and a cuttle bone inside the nest box.

[dl353]

I know that this is an old posting, but it still may help me get the wild flyer out of my kitchen now. Thank you for leaving this information on the message board.

[Boatingwingding]

Just feeling sad, and mad at my husband and myself and glad I found this site although too late. In the late 90’s Southern squirrels were coming into our home via chimney, which we had fixed. We had no idea what they were until I did some research. One was on our dresser and glided onto the bed. I had a havahart live trap in the garage, captured him within the hour. It was below zero so I released it in the basement. Over the years I saw a flyer in our attic, they or it hid acorns in my laundry oxiclean and Christmas decorations in the basement, messed up our q-tips in up stairs bath cupboard, always bringing a smile. They or it had the run of our home inside the walls. Each night our dog would go after it between floors as I knew it’s nest was on top of the foundation between rooms, our family room was the warmest so it stayed close to me and warm room. Last year we had our home repaired of suspected flyer holes leaving the attic vent unscreened for the summer closing it up near winter. I know we didn’t do things right due to critter control cost. Now our crawl space is smelling and my husband set a sticky trap last weekend and he then acted extremly quilty and without words I know he caught my wild pet or the last of this family that we’ve housed for years. I had caught this guy or an other flyer a few other times always letting him free outside in warm weather. Now, today, I’m so sad. I haven’t discussed this my husband as he had reached his limit.