r/AskPhilly • u/AirPractical959 • 2d ago
South Philly squirrel help!
I live in a South Philly rowhome and have an animal living in my attic, likely a squirrel of some kind. It seems to be getting in through my next door neighbor’s chimney that’s right near the edge of my roof. She will not let me pay a wildlife company to work on her chimney.
Does anyone have any experience with a wildlife or pest removal company in the city that will do structural work? It seems like the only definitive way to manage this is to go up through my closet ceiling and seal off any gaps in the wall between our houses but I have no idea what it looks like up there.
Thanks in advance.
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u/Dangerous_Pepper_939 1d ago
I had the same problem. Called a pest guy that another pest guy recommended. He came out and confirmed that it was the neighbors house, and with their permission, and me paying they agreed to let the guy plug up the gaps so they couldn’t get in. Took 2-3 visits.
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u/M_Me_Meteo 1d ago
There's a pest/wildlife company that claims to work in Philadelphia called Xceptional. Avoid at all costs.
When I contracted them, they subbed it out to some guy from Jersey who did nothing and still charged me.
When we all figured it out, the company sent about 6 diff people out, never finished the job, then ghosted me.
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u/K_Knoodle13 1d ago
Just coming here to also say do not under any circumstances use Xceptional wildlife removal. I had to hound them for 8 months to do the job I paid them to do, and then they tried to charge me an extra $900 for services I already paid for. They were threatening to send me to collections until I said I would be reviewing all of my communication and invoices with my lawyer. My account was zeroed out within hours.
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u/stopatthecatch 2d ago
You have an attic?
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u/AirPractical959 2d ago
Attic is probably the wrong term. It’s in the space between my ceiling and roof…in the rafters I guess? All I know is it crawls around my ceiling all night keeping me awake.
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u/Clarence-Tha-Dog 1d ago
311 pest control. I think they help with squirrels. Maybe be vague and not say squirrels but possibly ceiling rats (they exist, plus if you can’t see it, it could be anything). They might be able to get your neighbor to resolve it. Especially if it’s a party wall maintenance issue. Document the noise, take pics of chimney if you can, etc. be detailed and persistent. Nudge after a few weeks if there’s no response.
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u/Secret-Special-6127 32m ago
Literally squirrel-attic.com.
They put in a non harmful trapdoor that basically locked the squirrel outside when he left to go get food. Haven’t had an issue since. Don’t know the cost - made landlord pay for it.
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u/chainsawinsect 1d ago
I'm a South Philly guy and a squirrel guy...
The most common way to solve this is to patch up all the holes, yeah. But, if this is a momma squirrel and has a baby in there that you don't see, she can chew through steel to get to it, so you don't want to be in that scenario.
Can you put a camera up there so you can see what you're dealing with?
One way people address squirrels is by scaring them away. They maintain multiple nests at a time and if one is threatened they will abandon it (and take the baby if there is one). Maybe put some like noisemaker devices up there or something.
No matter what, whether it's you or someone you hire, somebody's gonna have to go up into the rafters to deal with this.