flying squirrels!!

I've got a pest problem and need some advice! First I live in Bergen County, NJ. I've had many flying squirrels in my attic over the years -- they're quite cute when they're not chewing! And I've managed to trap and release them. I've done 6-8 at a time over several days, and it's been pretty easy. done this 3-4 times over the years. but that was in an enclosed attic. here I've got at least one who chewed a hole in the facia board above the gutter and just below the roof edge (it's a cedar shake roof which is why it looks like it does). I've trail-cammed him/them coming out over several nights, and then started putting my hav-a-heart on the gutter as you see here. it really wont stay on the rood itself but is pretty stable where it is. using peanut butter on a piece of bread which as always worked great in the past. but now on the trail cam I see him/them coming out and just going right past the trap. I've upped the anti tonight and added some sunflower seeds including trailing them from the hole to the bait in the trap. also, note that there is a second hole to the left with a piece of paper towel in it -- that was an old hole from a few years ago, and I used paper towel to see which they would push out so I knew which was active. On the old hole I just blocked with steel wool and it worked out, but I know you don't want to tap them inside so not going that route this time. DO I just ned to be patient, or do they not like traps by their front door? thanks as always!

 

PS my pic posted rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise sorry!

 

no thoughts on this ? I gotta think someone has some experience with these critters!!

 

Look for the Moose!

Seriously, I think you should be using the poison at this point.

 

Using poison is animal cruelty, as far as I'm concerned. Sorry, but I think that's an awful answer.

 

Squirrels are vermin, no different than rats. They may look cute but are very damaging, very often worse than mice or rats. I agree, it's cruel, but when everything else fails, its you or him. I choose it to be me.

 

It looks like you know what you're doing as far as strategy, bait, placement, etc which makes it all the harder to give advice. Sometimes the animal just won't co-operate. Typically, they aren't trap shy as one time I set multiple rat traps with expanded triggers in an attic. Upon inspection, I caught one "tail". Several days later I caught a "tailless" flying squirrel.

Maybe they need a new look. Have you considered using expanded trigger rat traps? Same bait with seeds on it should work well. One area of problem would be birds getting in the traps during the daytime. Maybe you could fashion a type of roof or cover over the snap traps.

I get that it's hard to kill something so cute, but even relocating animals this time of year can turn into a death sentence anyway as they don't have harborage/food supplies established in the new location, and they will run into the "territorial instinct" of other partially hibernating animals.