If you’re hearing scratching and scurrying inside your walls, the fastest way to get a squirrel out is to locate its entry point on the exterior of your home and install a one-way exclusion device that lets it leave but not return. Before you do anything, though, you need to confirm it’s actually a squirrel, check for babies, and understand a few things that can make the difference between a quick fix and a much bigger problem.
Confirm It’s a Squirrel, Not Something Else
The biggest clue is timing. Squirrels are active during the day, so if the scratching and thumping happens in the morning and late afternoon, you’re almost certainly dealing with a squirrel. Mice and rats are nocturnal, and raccoons are mostly active at night too. Squirrel sounds also tend to be louder and more erratic than mouse activity, with bursts of fast scrambling rather than the quiet, steady gnawing you’d hear from rodents.
Squirrels typically stay in the upper half of a house. They enter at the roofline and move through attic spaces and upper wall cavities. If the noise is coming from a ground-floor wall near the floor, there’s a chance a squirrel fell down inside the wall cavity and is trapped, which is a more urgent situation covered below.
Find the Entry Point
Squirrels only need a gap of 1.5 inches to squeeze into your home, and they’ll chew to widen anything smaller. Walk around the exterior of your house and look carefully at these common entry points:
- Fascia boards: The thin boards running along the lower edge of your roof. Some homes have construction gaps above the fascia for ventilation, and squirrels use gutters to reach them.
- Soffits: The underside of your roof overhang. Squirrels chew holes through damaged or aging soffit panels.
- The roof return: Where the exterior wall meets the roof under the eaves. This is one of the most accessible spots for squirrels because they can easily climb onto the roof and find loose materials here.
- Ridge vents and gable vents: Two of the most common squirrel entry points. Ridge vents span the entire peak of your roof and often have gaps large enough for a squirrel to push through.
Look for chew marks, fur, and droppings near these areas. You may find more than one opening. Squirrels often have a primary entry hole and one or two secondary ones.
Check for Baby Squirrels First
This step is critical and easy to overlook. Squirrels have two breeding seasons per year: one in early spring (February through April) and another in late summer (July through September). If you’re dealing with a wall squirrel during either of those windows, there’s a real chance babies are inside.
If you seal the entry point or install an exclusion device while babies are still in the wall, the mother will do whatever it takes to get back to them, including chewing new holes through your siding, fascia, or soffits. You’ll end up with more damage than you started with. And if she can’t get back in, the babies will die inside the wall, creating a serious odor problem that can last weeks.
Listen for high-pitched chirping or squeaking sounds, which baby squirrels make when calling for their mother. If you suspect babies are present, your best option is to contact a licensed wildlife control operator who can safely remove the entire family, or wait until the babies are old enough to leave on their own (usually about 8 to 10 weeks after birth) before installing exclusion devices.
Install a One-Way Exclusion Device
Once you’ve confirmed there are no babies, a one-way exclusion door is the most effective and humane removal method. The concept is simple: you seal every secondary opening, then mount a device over the main entry hole that lets the squirrel push out but not get back in.
You can build one yourself using quarter-inch hardware cloth (a rigid wire mesh). Roll it into a tube about 8 inches long, with one end sized to fit over the entry hole and the other end angled inward with pointed wire edges that prevent the squirrel from pushing back through. Leave flanges on the attachment end so you can screw or bolt it to the building. If screws won’t hold, use a strong sealant to secure it.
Before mounting the exclusion device on the main hole, seal all secondary openings with hardware cloth or galvanized steel flashing. The squirrel will try every alternative route before using the one-way door, so every gap needs to be closed. Leave the exclusion device in place for at least a few days. Once you’re confident the squirrel is out (no more daytime noises), remove the device and permanently seal that final hole.
Live Trapping as an Alternative
If a one-way door isn’t practical for your situation, live trapping can work, but it comes with legal complications. In many states, including New York, it’s illegal to relocate a trapped wild animal off your property. You can’t drive it to a park or release it on public land. Violating these laws can result in fines, and relocating wildlife can spread diseases like rabies. Check with your local animal control or wildlife agency before setting any trap.
If trapping is legal in your area, use a cage-style live trap baited with mixed nuts. Place it near the entry point, in the shade. A trapped squirrel left in direct sun can die within hours from heat exposure. Check the trap twice a day, morning and evening, and never leave an animal trapped for more than 24 hours. Remove competing food sources nearby to improve your chances, including pet food, fallen fruit, and bird feeders.
What to Do if a Squirrel Is Trapped in the Wall
A squirrel nesting in your attic and traveling through wall cavities is one situation. A squirrel that has fallen down inside a wall and can’t climb back out is another, more urgent one. You’ll hear persistent, desperate scratching concentrated in one spot, often near the floor. The sound won’t move around the way normal squirrel activity does.
If you can pinpoint the location, you have two options. First, check whether there’s an accessible opening at the top of that wall cavity (from the attic side) and lower a thick rope or piece of knotted fabric down to the squirrel. Sometimes the animal can climb the rope and escape back into the attic, where you can then deal with it using an exclusion device. Second, if that’s not possible, you may need to cut a small hole in the drywall to release the squirrel into the room and then guide it out an open window or door. This is stressful for both you and the animal, so wearing thick gloves and having a clear exit path ready is important.
If you can’t locate the squirrel or aren’t comfortable cutting into your wall, call a wildlife control professional. Time matters here. A trapped squirrel without food or water will die within a few days.
Dealing With a Dead Squirrel in the Wall
If the scratching stopped suddenly and a strong smell develops within a day or two, the squirrel likely died inside the wall. Flies are a reliable indicator. Blow flies (the ones with shiny green backs) can find a carcass in less than ten minutes, and you’ll see them clustering near the wall where the body is.
Removing a dead squirrel from a wall usually means cutting through the drywall. You may not hit the right spot on your first try, so be prepared to patch more than one hole. Wear rubber gloves and a respirator with a carbon cartridge to block both the smell and airborne particles. A flashlight and a small shovel or scraper will help with retrieval. Bag the remains in heavy-duty trash bags.
The smell from a dead squirrel in a wall typically lingers for a couple of weeks in warm weather, sometimes returning faintly with temperature changes after that. Odor-neutralizing products designed for decomposition can help if you can’t fully access the area. If you’d rather not deal with any of this yourself, dead animal removal is a standard service offered by wildlife control companies.
Seal Your Home to Prevent Re-Entry
Getting the squirrel out is only half the job. If you don’t seal the entry points with the right materials, another squirrel will move in, sometimes within days. Squirrels can gnaw through wood, plastic, thin aluminum, and standard window screening. The materials that actually stop them are:
- Galvanized steel flashing: Use around vents, chimneys, ridge caps, and roof edges. It resists both gnawing and weathering.
- Quarter-inch or half-inch hardware cloth: Choose wildlife-grade mesh that won’t stretch or deform under pressure. Standard screen material is not strong enough.
- Rigid vented soffit panels: Replace any damaged soffit panels with rigid alternatives that maintain airflow while eliminating weak spots.
- Corrosion-resistant screws: Fasten every repair with screws, not staples. Seal all intersections to prevent water leakage.
For ridge vents, which span the entire peak of your roof and are one of the hardest spots to protect, specialized ridge vent guards made from heavy-gauge steel clamp over the existing vent and block animal entry while preserving ventilation. Trim back any tree branches that come within 6 to 8 feet of your roofline. Squirrels can jump surprising distances, and overhanging branches are often how they reach the roof in the first place.