Squirrels in the Attic

Squirrel Feces in the Attic

When squirrels live in your attic, they poop in your attic! This waste is unhygenic, can possibly (though rarely) spread disease, and encourages new squirrels to enter.

Squirrel Feces in the Attic - How to Identify and Clean

Of course squirrels always deficate and urinate in the attic. This can cause odor problems, a breeding ground for mold, is host to potential pathogens and health risks, and the odor can contain phermonones that attract other squirrels into the attic. Sometimes the feces or urine can leak through the drywall and onto your ceiling. I have seen that many times. Be sure not to touch or even disturb squirrel feces in an attic. It is often a good idea to clean it up, with a full attic restoration.

As for how to identify squirrel feces (or droppings, poop, scat, turds, latrine, whatever you want to call it), look at the below photographs. The feces are small brown pellets, usually with rounded ends, about a half-inch in length. They often become drier and thus more chalky in appearance with age. They look very similar to rat feces, so don't confuse the two.

Photographs of Squirrel Feces in Attics

Squirrel Feces with Nuts

Sometimes the feces are mixed with chewed nuts or other debris. This is a good clue that it's squirrels as opposed to rats since squirrels mix this stuff.

Squirrel Nest with Feces

Here's a photo of some squirrel droppings near a squirrel nest area at the edge of the attic. The droppings can help you find the nest sometimes.

Closeup Photo of Squirrel Poop

Here is squirrel feces. The feces are small brown pellets, usually with rounded ends, about a half-inch in length. Sometimes the feces are stacked really thick.

Be Sure to Clean the Attic

You might want to remove the squirrel feces by vacuum, and maybe even all the insulation if the problem is heavy, and decontaminate with a microbial fogger.

Information About Squirrel Feces in the Attic

Squirrel Feces In The Attic – How To Identify And Clean
After getting animals out of your attic, (read my Squirrel Removal Guide) you still need to spend some time cleaning up and making sure that more wildlife doesn’t get inside. Preventing more animals involves sealing up every hole or gap they may use an entry point, which can be very time consuming. You will then have to spend even more time cleaning up the leftover waste. In the case of squirrel feces, you will want to follow these basic steps, which also work well for waste products from other wildlife as well.

Identifying Squirrel Feces
An expert will be able to instantly recognize squirrel feces and most people can do so with some help from a few pictures and a basic description. Squirrel droppings will be cylindrical in shape and feature rounded edges. They are typically around 3/8 of an inch in length and have a diameter of around 8 mm. It is fairly easy to tell squirrel waste apart from that of other animal because it has a unique smell. It also tends to get lighter with age and be red or brown, something that isn’t true for other animals. In most cases, squirrel feces will be randomly distributed, but you may find some clusters by areas of the attic where they ate or found food.

Removing Squirrel Feces
The first step to cleaning up squirrel feces in your attic is obviously removing them. Put on a mask of some sort and gloves for protection and start cleaning up the mess. You will likely have to pick up the pieces one by one, but luckily squirrel waste will not fall apart when touches like bat guano does. Never touch the waste directly. If you have a filter vacuum, you can use this to collect the droppings quickly and easily. Just remember that you will still need to sanitize the entire area afterwards. Just because you don’t see any more droppings, it doesn’t mean that the bacteria and fecal particles are all gone. Don’t forget to remove and replace items like insulation that may be contaminated.

Sanitizing The Area
There are two main methods of sanitizing the attic after removing the squirrels. Most homeowners will find cleaning with bleach and water to be easiest since you probably already have the materials on hand. For a more through clean, however, you should use an enzyme-based cleaner and apply it as a spray with a fogging machine of some sort. This will allow the cleaning solution to penetrate every area of the attic and get rid of all bacteria and remaining fecal matter.

The Bottom Line of Squirrel Poo

How to get rid of squirrel droppings in the attic - the best approach is a full cleanup, with either vacuuming of feces or insulation removal, and fogging of the attic with a special enzyme cleaner. But if your attic isn't too dirty, you may want to skip this expensive step. If you just have some poop in your attic and want to know which animal caused the poop, look at the above images of squirrel droppings, and you should be able to identify if squirrels are the culprit.