Quick answer
To get rid of squirrels in a Long Island attic, find every opening they are using, get the animals out with live traps or a one-way door, and then seal every opening with metal, in that order. Done properly the whole job takes about 5 to 14 days. The two mistakes that turn a two-week problem into a two-year one are sealing while an animal is still inside, and trapping without sealing, which hands the attic to the next squirrel. Gray squirrels in New York have litters in March and April and again in July and August, so sealing during those months needs a check for young first.
You get squirrels out of an attic in three steps that have to happen in this order: find every entry point, remove the animals with live traps or a one-way exclusion door mounted over the main hole, and then close every opening with galvanized wire mesh or metal flashing. Skip the first step and you seal the wrong hole. Skip the third and the next squirrel is in by spring.
After thirty five plus years of this work in Nassau and Suffolk, the most common attic call is not really a squirrel problem. It is a hole problem. The squirrel is just the animal that found it first. Homeowners who buy a trap, catch one squirrel, and call it done tend to call back six months later with a bigger family upstairs, chewed wiring, and insulation packed flat with droppings.
The animal is the easy part. A gray squirrel in a cage trap is a two or three day job. Finding the second and third holes you did not know about, getting up on the roofline to fix rotted fascia, and screening every vent so the fix holds through next winter is where the real work is. That is why we find the entry, not just the squirrel.
Squirrels are active in daylight, so scratching, scurrying, and rolling sounds at first light and again in the late afternoon almost always mean squirrels. Raccoons are nocturnal and heavy, so slow thumping and dragging after dark points to a raccoon. Mice are light, constant scratching at night, and birds are chirping and fluttering near a vent.
Two other tells. Squirrels leave chewed openings with fresh, light colored wood showing at the edge, and they pack leaves and shredded insulation into a ball-shaped nest in a corner or against the chimney. Raccoons leave a single hole with fur on the edges, flatten a wider area of insulation, and often use one corner as a latrine. Getting the animal right matters. The New York State Department of Health lists raccoons among the wild animals in which rabies is most often seen, and a mother raccoon with kits in spring is not something anyone should trap casually. If the noise is heavy and after dark, read our raccoons in the attic guide before doing anything.
Squirrels get into Long Island attics through the roofline, not the ground. The entries we find most are rotted or gapped fascia boards behind the gutter, uncapped or plastic roof vents, gable vents with torn screening, the open corner where two rooflines meet, and soffit panels that have pulled away from the wall. University of Nebraska extension puts the number at 1.5 inches: a squirrel can squeeze through a hole that size and will chew a smaller one bigger.
The route to the roof is almost always a tree. Any branch within 8 to 10 feet of the roof is a runway, and on the older colonials and capes in Nassau and Suffolk that describes most of the block. Squirrels also climb brick, wood siding, downspouts, and cable lines. A house with a mature oak over it, gutters full of leaves, and thirty year old fascia is a squirrel house whether or not one has moved in yet.
A New York homeowner may take gray, black, or fox squirrels that are injuring their dwelling at any time, under Environmental Conservation Law section 11-0523. Doing it for a fee on someone else's property requires a New York State nuisance wildlife control operator license under section 11-0524. What happens to the animal after capture is regulated too. The DEC warns that relocating an animal can create problems for neighbors and can move diseases like rabies, and if a squirrel is taken during the closed season the DEC's guidance is that it must be buried or cremated immediately.
This is where a lot of well meaning homeowners get it wrong. The picture in their head is catching the squirrel and driving it to a park ten miles away. New York does not treat nuisance wildlife that way, and a squirrel dropped in unfamiliar territory in November generally does not survive the winter anyway. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice; it is how we run every job so the homeowner never has to think about it.
The practical version is simple. If you want to handle it yourself on your own house, you can, and the sealing is the part that matters. If you hire someone, ask two questions: are you licensed by New York State for nuisance wildlife, and what happens to the animals after capture. A company that hesitates on either one is a company you do not want on your roof.
Do not seal any opening from roughly March through May or July through September unless you have confirmed there are no young in the attic. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry describes two breeding periods for gray squirrels, with litters born in March and April and again in July and August, and the young do not begin leaving the nest until 42 to 49 days after birth. Sealing with a litter inside means the mother chews a new hole to get back to them, or the young die in the wall.
We have opened walls in Suffolk County in June to find exactly that, and the smell tells you the sealing was done in April by someone who did not check. It is the single most expensive mistake in squirrel work, because now you have a dead animal problem, a drywall problem, and the original hole problem all at once. Kansas State's wildlife extension says it plainly: make sure the animals are out before sealing, because a squirrel sealed in will do even more damage trying to escape.
Outside those windows, or once we have confirmed the attic is empty, the entry can be closed the same day the last animal comes out. In the birthing windows we mount a one-way door over the main entry, give the mother time to move her young, then show you what to close. It adds days, not weeks. Never rely on spray foam alone. Squirrels chew through it in an afternoon.
Free estimate. Wildlife jobs get a free estimate. On the phone we ask when you hear the noise, where in the house, and whether you have seen animals on the roof; larger jobs get a free on-site look before the quote.
Full inspection. We walk the roofline, soffits, vents, chimney, and attic interior to find every entry point, confirm the species, and check for young.
Removal. Depending on the season and the layout we set live traps at the entry or mount a one-way door over the main hole so squirrels can leave and not return. We check traps every day.
Sealing with metal. Every opening is closed with galvanized hardware cloth or metal flashing, fascia gaps are screened, and vents get metal covers. This is the step that ends the problem, and it is what the guarantee covers.
Exterior trapping where needed. For animals living under decks, in sheds, or in the yard rather than inside the house, we run a 10-day exterior trapping program.
Written 6-month guarantee. If a squirrel gets back in within 6 months, we come back at no charge. Exterior trapping programs are not guaranteed because a yard cannot be sealed.
Keep squirrels out by taking away the route and the door. Trim branches back at least 8 feet from the roofline, replace rotted fascia and screen the gap behind the gutter, put metal covers on roof and gable vents, cap the chimney, and screen the soffit returns. Penn State Extension's advice for buildings is to close openings with heavy half-inch wire mesh, and that is what we use. A house with no openings and no runway is not a squirrel house.
The bird feeder is the part nobody wants to hear. A feeder within sight of the house keeps a dozen animals on the property year round, and the one that eventually notices your fascia was fed by you. Move it well away from the house or take it down in fall when they start looking for winter dens.
Walk the outside of the house every October with binoculars and look at the roofline. Fresh chew marks, a dark stain where an animal has been rubbing at a corner, or a vent screen that has come loose is your warning. Fixing it in October costs a ladder and a piece of mesh. Finding out in March costs a trapping job, and it may cost a wall.
The quote depends on how many entry points the roofline has, how much fascia or vent repair the sealing requires, whether there are young in the attic, and whether the animals are inside the house or living outside under a deck or shed. Bobby Bugs gives a free written estimate before any work begins, the invoice matches the estimate, and attic wildlife jobs carry a 6-month written guarantee.
The spread between wildlife quotes is almost entirely whether sealing is included. Be careful with two kinds of pricing. The first is a low per-animal trapping fee that does not include exclusion, which is the cheapest way to pay for the same squirrel twice. The second is an open-ended per-visit charge with no written scope. Ask any quote one question: does this include sealing every entry point with metal, and is it guaranteed? If the noise is light and constant at night rather than at dawn and dusk, you are more likely dealing with mice in the attic, which is a rodent job with a different playbook.
Most Long Island attic jobs are functionally done in 5 to 14 days. Trapping or one-way door exclusion usually clears the animals in a few days, and sealing follows immediately or on a scheduled return. Jobs during the spring and late summer birthing windows can take longer because the young have to be out before anything is sealed.
Not while it is warm, dry, and open. Squirrels leave to feed during the day and come back to sleep and nest. Some move out on their own once the young are grown, but the hole is still there, and the attic gets reoccupied the next fall.
No. The National Pesticide Information Center says using mothballs in any way the label does not specify is illegal and can harm people and pets, and using them against wildlife is a common misuse. Squirrels tolerate ultrasonic devices. The only method that works long term is removing the animals and sealing every entry point with metal.
A homeowner may take gray, black, or fox squirrels that are injuring their own dwelling under New York Environmental Conservation Law section 11-0523. You still have to follow the state's rules on what happens to the animal afterward, and you should not seal anything until you are sure no young are inside. If you hire it out, the company needs a New York State nuisance wildlife control operator license.
Penn State Extension notes that squirrels chew the insulation around wires, and bare wires can start a fire. They also gnaw framing and PVC, shred insulation for nesting, and soak it with urine and droppings. They chew new exit holes from the inside too, which is why a squirrel that spent the winter in an attic often leaves two or three openings where there was one.
Fast scratching, scampering, and rolling sounds, mostly at dawn and again in the late afternoon, sometimes with chattering. Heavy, slow thumping after dark is more likely a raccoon, and light constant scratching at night is more likely mice.
New York State rules control what happens to nuisance wildlife after capture, and the DEC cautions that relocation can spread disease and create problems for neighbors. Bobby Bugs follows the current state rules on every job and explains exactly what happens to the animals before work starts.
Through the weak spots at the roofline: loose siding, damaged vent screens, rotted fascia boards, the gap at the roof edge and construction gaps at dormers, reached from an overhanging branch. Penn State notes squirrels find their way into buildings through loose siding or ventilation screens and chew siding and under eaves to make openings for their nests.
Through wood, yes. They chew fascia, soffit, cedar shakes, plywood sheathing and vinyl or wood siding, which is why Penn State's exclusion material is heavy half-inch wire mesh, not caulk or foam. They can't chew through metal flashing or hardware cloth fastened properly.
Listen to the clock. Light scampering and scratching in the early morning and at dusk is gray squirrels, which are active in daylight. Heavy thumping, dragging, and movement at night is a raccoon. Small, fast nighttime scurrying in groups is flying squirrels. Whichever it is, the animals have to be removed before the hole is sealed.
Fall, when they look for winter shelter, and again around the two breeding seasons, late winter and June.
Yes. Raccoon rabies is widespread in New York and their droppings carry roundworm. Don't handle the animal, and treat the attic as contaminated until it's cleaned.
Trapping and removing problem raccoons is done by licensed nuisance wildlife control operators. Prevention, sealing after removal, and removing food sources are the homeowner's part.
Related reading
Sources: NYS Environmental Conservation Law 11-0523; NYS Environmental Conservation Law 11-0524; NYSDEC, Remove or Take Nuisance Wildlife Legally; NYSDEC, Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator License; SUNY ESF, Gray Squirrel; Penn State Extension, Tree Squirrels; University of Nebraska Extension, Controlling Tree Squirrels; Kansas State Wildlife Extension, Tree Squirrel Prevention; NPIC, Mothball Regulation; NYS Department of Health, Rabies Fact Sheet.
Still not sure? Call (516) 509-6001 and we'll tell you what you're dealing with.
This article is general pest information for Long Island homeowners, not a diagnosis of your specific situation. Pest behavior varies by home, season, and species, and every job is quoted in writing before any work begins. Pesticide applications are performed by licensed New York State applicators in accordance with label requirements.