Gray, red and flying squirrels · Orange County, NY
Squirrels are fun to watch on the bird feeder and miserable to live with. Once one finds a soft spot in a soffit or a gap at the roofline, it moves in, chews wiring, packs insulation with leaves and raises young over your bedroom. A licensed local wildlife operator gets them out and makes sure they stay out.
Rodent calls peak in November. Mice and rats are pushing into heated spaces as overnight temperatures drop into the 20s. Sealing gaps now saves a long winter of traps.
Orange County has all three species that commonly invade homes in the Northeast, and each one behaves differently once inside.
The familiar gray squirrel with a white belly and big bushy tail. The most common attic squirrel in the county. Active at dawn and late afternoon, so the noise you hear is running and thumping early in the morning, then again before dark. Chews large, rounded holes through soffits, fascia and gable vents.
Smaller, rusty red with a white ring around the eye and a loud, chattering call. Common near pine and spruce, in the woods of the Highlands and up toward the Shawangunks. Red squirrels are bold and territorial, and they are quick to get into cabins, garages and sheds, where they cache cones and seeds in heaps.
Soft gray-brown fur, very large dark eyes and a flap of skin between front and back legs that lets it glide between trees. Small enough to fit through tiny gaps. Fully nocturnal, so you hear them scurrying and rolling things after dark. They often live in groups in winter, so there is rarely just one.
Noises at night in an attic are often blamed on mice or rats, but heavier, faster runs and rolling sounds after midnight frequently turn out to be flying squirrels.
That is classic gray squirrel. A licensed operator can often inspect within a day or two and get one-way doors up before more damage happens.
27 pest calls from the Orange County area today. Most recent: 35 minutes ago.
From the outside, look along the roof edge. Fresh chew marks show as light, raw wood or bright aluminum on soffit and fascia. Gnawed corners of the roof where gutters meet the fascia are a favorite, along with plastic ridge vents, gable vent screens, rotted soffit boards and the gap where a dormer roof meets the main wall. You may see squirrels coming and going from the same spot, or a trail of shredded shingle granules below it.
Inside the attic, squirrels flatten tunnels through fiberglass insulation, drag in leaves and twigs to build nests near the eaves, and leave droppings and urine stains. They also chew. Squirrel teeth grow constantly, and electrical wire, plastic plumbing vents and the corners of roof sheathing are all fair game. Damaged wiring in an attic is a fire risk, and insurance companies and electricians take it seriously.
Flying squirrels are tidier with their chewing but messier with their bathroom habits. They tend to use the same latrine spots over and over, leaving piles of small droppings and heavy urine staining that soaks through to ceiling drywall.
| Late winter (Feb – Mar) | Gray squirrels give birth to their first litter. Attic nests are common, and mothers become very defensive of entry holes. |
|---|---|
| Spring (Apr – May) | Young grays start moving around the attic. Red squirrel litters also arrive in spring. |
| Summer (Jul – Aug) | A second round of gray squirrel litters in many years. Repeat entries happen as young squirrels look for homes of their own. |
| Fall (Sep – Nov) | Squirrels gather and store food and look for a dry winter nest. Many new attic invasions start now. |
| Winter (Dec – Jan) | Flying squirrels gather in groups in warm attics and walls. Gray squirrels stay close to shelter in cold snaps. |
Squirrels follow the nut trees, and Orange County is covered in them. The oak and hickory forests of the Hudson Highlands, Schunnemunk Mountain, Sterling Forest and Harriman produce big acorn crops in good years, and squirrel numbers jump the following spring. When those populations crash or the next year's crop fails, squirrels go looking for new food and shelter, often in neighborhoods.
Mature street trees do the rest. Old maples and oaks hanging over rooflines in the village of Goshen, Warwick and Cornwall give squirrels a direct bridge to the gutters. In wooded developments around Highland Mills, Central Valley and Monroe, houses sit inside the forest, and squirrels treat them like another tree.
Older housing adds weak points: wood soffits that have rotted, gable vents with flimsy screens and gaps around old chimneys. Newer homes are not off the hook. Vinyl soffit panels pop loose easily, and the open ends of plastic ridge vent are a favorite way in for flying squirrels.
Good squirrel work is about the roof more than the squirrel.
The legal side of squirrel removal in New York
Anyone who removes nuisance wildlife for a fee in New York must hold a Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator license from the DEC. Squirrels also cannot simply be trapped and driven to a park in the next town. State rules limit where wildlife can be released, and moving animals spreads disease and usually kills them anyway. A licensed operator will explain which options are legal for your situation.
Squirrel jobs are priced on the access and the repairs. A two-story house with a steep roof, multiple dormers and several entry points needs more ladder time, more materials and sometimes a lift. The species matters too. Flying squirrels can get in through small gaps along the whole roofline, so sealing for them is usually more extensive than for a single gray squirrel hole. Attic cleanup, insulation replacement and chimney caps add to the total, and so does any repair of rotted soffit or fascia before it can be sealed.
Homeowners try the usual remedies: ammonia-soaked rags, mothballs, loud radios, bright lights. They sometimes work briefly. The squirrels move to the other end of the attic or come back once the smell fades. Sealing the hole without confirming every squirrel is out is the big mistake, since a trapped squirrel will chew a new hole, often into the living space. And in late winter or late summer, sealing out a mother squirrel while her babies are inside creates a much bigger problem than you started with.
Most people find us by searching "squirrel removal near me" or "squirrel in attic removal near me" after a couple of rough mornings. We keep it simple: you call, describe the noise and where you live, and we connect you with a licensed wildlife operator who works in your area of Orange County.
That might be someone who covers the Port Jervis and Delaware Valley river towns, or someone based closer to Middletown. Either way, it is a local person who knows how to work on the kinds of rooflines your neighborhood has.
Every Orange County town and hamlet, from the Highlands to the Shawangunk foothills. Pick yours below.
Timing and weight. Gray and red squirrels make heavier running and thumping sounds mostly in the early morning and late afternoon. Mice are lighter and scratchier and are active through the night. Flying squirrels are the exception: squirrel-sized noise, but at night.
Relocation is restricted in New York and generally a bad idea for the squirrel. It also does nothing about the hole in your roof. Exclusion with one-way doors plus sealing is the long-term fix.
Many jobs are done in about a week: one visit to install doors and seal, a few days for the squirrels to leave, and a return visit to close up. Big repair work or babies in the attic can stretch that.
It helps a lot, but squirrels can climb siding, downspouts and utility lines. Trimming branches back several feet from the roof is one step. Sealing the roofline is the other.
Get matched with a licensed squirrel removal pro anywhere in Orange County, NY. The referral is free.
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