Can I trap the squirrel in a cage and drive it to a park?

No. Ontario law prohibits relocating wildlife more than 1 kilometre. It spreads disease and usually results in the animal's death. One-way doors are the legal solution.

Squirrel Removal in Toronto

A squirrel in your attic isn’t just an annoyance — it’s a fire hazard. Toronto’s Eastern Grey Squirrels (and their black variants) are rodents. Their front teeth never stop growing, so they chew constantly to file them down. When a squirrel sets up a den in your attic, they chew on the wood framing, the PVC plumbing stacks, and most dangerously, the electrical wiring. Chewed wires are a leading cause of undetermined residential house fires in older Toronto homes. Pestisect provides humane, permanent squirrel removal across Toronto. We don’t use traps or poisons. We use specialized one-way doors, physically extract babies during the two breeding seasons, and seal the entry points with chew-proof steel to guarantee they can’t get back in.

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entry points

Common Toronto Entry Points

Roof Vents: Builder-grade plastic or thin aluminum roof vents are no match for a squirrel’s teeth. They chew right through the louvered plastic to get into the warm attic.

Soffit Intersections: The area where a lower roofline meets the siding of a second story is highly vulnerable. Squirrels push up the aluminum soffit panels or chew the wood fascia behind it.

Roof Edges (Drip Edge): In older Toronto homes with deteriorating roof sheathing, squirrels chew right through the roof decking at the edge of the shingles, often directly above the eavestrough.

Plumbing Mats: The rubber or lead gasket around the plumbing stack pipe on your roof. Squirrels chew through the rubber, squeezing down the side of the pipe into the attic.

The "Double Baby Season" Factor

Squirrels in Toronto have two breeding seasons: spring (March to May) and late summer (August to September).

If you hear squirrels in your attic during these months, you almost certainly have a nest of babies. Squirrel babies are hairless, blind, and immobile for several weeks.

If a pest control company simply installs a one-way door on the entry point, the mother will be locked out, and the babies will slowly die in your attic. The mother squirrel will also cause massive damage to your roof chewing through shingles and plywood trying to get back to them.

Our humane approach to baby squirrels:

During baby season, we physically enter the attic, locate the nest (usually buried deep in the insulation near the soffits), and remove the babies by hand. We place them in an insulated reunion box on the roof next to the one-way door. When the mother exits the one-way door, she finds her babies in the box and carries them, one by one, to her secondary den in a nearby tree.

Squirrel sign

Signs of a Squirrel in Your Attic

Light, rapid scratching

Unlike raccoons, which sound like heavy thumping at night, squirrels sound like frantic scratching and scurrying.

Daytime activity

Squirrels are diurnal (active during the day). You will hear them leaving the attic at dawn to forage, and returning at dusk. (Mice and raccoons are active at night).

Rolling noises

The sound of acorns or walnuts rolling across the drywall ceiling above your bedroom.

Exterior damage

Visible chew marks on wood fascia, chewed plastic roof vents, or a hole the size of a baseball at the roof edge.

Squirrel Removal

Our Squirrel Removal & Exclusion Process

We follow Ontario’s strict wildlife regulations. We do not use lethal traps, and we do not relocate squirrels miles away (which is illegal and usually kills the squirrel). Our focus is on getting them out safely and keeping them out permanently.

Inspection

We conduct a full roof inspection to locate the main entry point and any secondary gaps. We also inspect the attic for wiring damage and babies.

One-Way Door

We install a small, squirrel-specific, heavy-duty steel one-way door over the main hole. The squirrel can push its way out to forage, but cannot get back in.

Reinforcement

We wrap the area around the door in 16-gauge PVC-coated galvanized steel mesh. Without this, a frustrated squirrel will just chew a new hole two inches away from the door.

Removal & Sealing

After 3–5 days, we return, verify the squirrels are gone, remove the one-way door, and permanently seal the hole with steel mesh and roofing sealant.

screening

Preventative Roof Vent Screening

Squirrels are territorial. When we lock a squirrel out of your attic, she will often run across your roof to the next plastic roof vent and try to chew her way in there.

To prevent this “whack-a-mole” problem, we highly recommend preventative screening. While we are on your roof, we can install heavy-gauge steel mesh covers over all your vulnerable roof vents, plumbing mats, and exhaust vents, essentially squirrel-proofing your entire roof.

Squirrel Patterns

Toronto Neighbourhood Squirrel Patterns

The Annex, High Park, Rosedale: Massive mature trees overlapping complex, multi-peaked rooflines of older homes. Squirrels here have easy access to roofs and exploit aging woodwork. Tree trimming (cutting branches back at least 6 feet from the roof) is critical.

East York, Scarborough: Classic post-war bungalows and 1.5-story homes. Squirrels commonly enter through plastic roof vents or chew through the wood fascia behind the eavestroughs.

Leslieville, Riverdale: Attached and semi-detached homes. A squirrel in a shared wall or continuous attic space can affect multiple homeowners. We often coordinate with neighbours to seal the entire roofline.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I just put rat poison in the attic to kill the squirrel?

No! It is illegal to use poison on wildlife in Ontario. Furthermore, if you use rodent poison, the squirrel will die inside your walls or attic. The smell of a decaying squirrel will permeate your home for weeks, and the carcass will attract a massive infestation of blowflies and maggots. Humane exclusion is the only safe, legal method.

Will the City of Toronto help with squirrels in my attic?

No. Toronto Animal Services only responds to sick, injured, or rabid wildlife on public property. Removing wildlife from a private residence (like an attic) is the homeowner’s responsibility, requiring a private licensed wildlife control company.

Can't I just trap the squirrel in a cage and drive it to a park?

It is illegal under Ontario’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to trap and relocate wildlife more than 1 kilometre from where it was caught. Doing so spreads disease and is inhumane — a relocated squirrel doesn’t know where food, water, or shelter is in the new territory and will likely die. Our one-way door system is the legal solution.

How much does squirrel removal cost in Toronto?

Typical humane squirrel removal (inspection, one-way door installation, baby extraction if necessary, and final seal of the primary entry point) ranges from $300 to $450 depending on roof access and height. Preventative screening of your other roof vents is quoted separately as an optional add-on.

Does home insurance cover squirrel damage to my roof and wiring?

Standard Ontario home insurance policies typically exclude damage caused by “rodents, vermin, or insects.” Since squirrels are scientifically classified as rodents, the damage they cause to your roof, insulation, and wiring is usually not covered. This makes prompt removal critical before they chew through electrical lines.

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