A family of gray squirrels have taken up residence in my attic. I had
been hearing them for a week or two, but I figured they were on the
roof, because I didn't think there was any place in the attic for the
sustained galloping I was hearing. However, last week I went up there
in the daytime and I could see that they had chewed a hole in the
fascia by the rain gutter, and I actually saw one of the *******s in
the hole. Apparently there's a long running area along the eaves. They
are able to enter the hole and scamper along the length of the roof,
and must have made a nest somewhere under the fiberglass insulation
near the edge of the roof.

There started off to be at least three or four. One of them fell to its
death during a storm a few days ago. It seems to have been blown off
the roof and it fell 3 stories in a puddle and drowned. I found it in
the back of the house. One down.

I bought a Havahart trap (model #1030). I baited it with bread 'n
peanut butter. The trap got sprung a couple of times, but I finally
caught one of them. I drove it about 5 miles away and released it in
the woods. I'm not sure it will survive in this cold winter weather,
but I don't much care. Two down.

There are still one or two up there. I'm afraid they're starting to
ignore the trap - maybe the loud noise it makes when going off has
scared them into avoiding it. It's been about a day now, and the trap
is still set and the bait is still on the trigger (although the stuff I
scattered near it was taken.) I just moved it to a different area and
re-baited it, thinking they might not recognize it in its new spot.
We'll see.

I'm anxious to get them out, of course. It's disconcerting to hear them
scrabbling around up there and I worry about what damage they may be
doing.

Any thoughts about what I can do to move them along more quickly?