Squirrel baby season comes up twice a year, and sometimes squirrels cause serious issues for property owners. The good news is that it’s easy to prevent these issues from occurring with a little bit of knowledge and preventative measures. Here’s what you need to know to handle it with ease.

How to recognize a baby squirrel

First, you need to know how to recognize a baby squirrel, including how they’re different in appearance from fully matured ones.

A fully grown squirrel will have a big fluffy tail and be able to run, jump, and climb with ease. They are completely independent and able to take care of all of their needs. You’ll often see them running around alone.

In contrast, if everything is going the way it’s supposed to, baby squirrels will stay with their mother until they are fully grown and independent. When they’re first born, they won’t have any fur, and their eyes will be shut. Within a few weeks, they’ll start to have “peach fuzz” fur showing up, but their eyes will still be closed. At about six or seven weeks of age, they start to look more like a mini version of fully grown squirrels. By the time they’re 10 weeks old, they’re usually ready to go out on their own.

If you see a baby squirrel without its mother, don’t touch it, but wait and see if the mother comes back. She could be out gathering food for her little one, and this may take hours, involving several trips to and from her baby — if you take breaks from watching for her, you may miss her and make the mistake of thinking she never came back at all. However, if you are 100% certain that the mother isn’t coming back, contact your local humane society for instructions on what to do.

There are two baby squirrel seasons per year

Squirrels can have babies twice per year, usually in early spring (March or April) and again in late summer or early fall (August or September).

Important — If you have a squirrel problem at these times of the year, be sure to handle it with babies in mind — you should never evict a squirrel family if the babies are too young to be fully independent.

Preventative maintenance is key

If you don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’re stuck waiting several weeks before being able to take action and evict squirrels from your property, here is what you should do.

Make time twice a year — before squirrel baby season begins — to give your property a thorough inspection. You’re going to look for places that squirrels may use to gain access to your home and seal those up as a preventative measure.

Important — Do not seal up any holes if a squirrel will be trapped inside once you do so. The idea is to prevent squirrels from getting in, not to seal up animals that are already inside.

Squirrel baby season can be an enjoyable time of the year if you play your cards right

The main difference between an enjoyable baby season and one that isn’t, is whether or not they’ve invaded your home or shed. Use the knowledge you’ve just learned to prevent squirrels from becoming a problem so you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of squirrels romping around and not have to worry about how to get rid of them.

PS – you might not want to leave chocolate lying around…they’re known to be bandits!

Have a squirrel problem and need professional help? If your home or business is in the Oakville, Burlington or Hamilton area we’re near you! Contact us Halton Wildlife Services for a quick quote.