Squirrels in the Attic in Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire.
The grey squirrel population in North West England has grown over the last twenty years to the degee that they have grown to be a major pest species dealt with by Squirrels in Attic Pest Control
The grey squirrels which we see in our gardens (Sciurus carolinensis) are not native to the British isles, having been introduced here less than two-hundred years ago.
Like other members of the Sciuridae family, the Grey Squirrel is a hoarder; it hoards food in many small caches for later recovery. Some caches are temporary, particularly those made near the source of a sudden surplus of food.
Other hoards are more permanent and are not retrieved until weeks later. It has been observed that each squirrel makes several thousand of these caches each year. They have very good spatial memory for the locations of these caches, and use far and near landmarks to find them. Smell is used when the squirrel is within a short distance of the hoard.
The nest of the grey squirrel is called a dray (or drey) and it is usual for the female to have two litters per year, each of two to four young..
They can be minor pests in the garden, uprooting bulbs and taking food intended for birds but become major pests when they come into our homes.
It is increasingly common for Trafford Pest Control to attend homes where a nest has been made in a loft or attic space.
Squirrels are true rodents and as such have continually growing teeth; the very word rodent derives from the Latin word rodere which means to gnaw and this they do extremely well.
It is rare to enter a loft space where a dray has been made and find that they have not chewed cables, indeed it is estimated that forty percent of fires without an obviously attributable cause may have been started by rodents chewing on the wiring.
Unfortunately they can also chew through water-pipes, especially with the recent trend towards plastic push-fit piping.
As if that was not enough, many household insurance policies do not cover damage by vermin so if a squirrel floods your house by going through a pipe in the roof void you may find yourself without any insurance cover.
Dealing with Squirrels in Loft requires professional help, often because the law regarding squirrels needs to be obeyed. You cannot simply buy a packet of rodent poison from your local store and deal with them that way as you would be breaking the law.
Furthermore you cannot trap them and release them some distance away, quite apart from the fact that removing a squirrel from the area of its food hoards probably starve it to death, it is also commintting an offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 under which it is illegal to release a grey squirrel in in the British Isles.
That applies also to rescuing and/or rehabilitating and releasing injured squirrels.
In the majority of cases trapping is the the only option and this must be done in a specified manner with routine, regular inspections of the traps.
Trapped squirrels should be then despatched humanely.
If you have a squirrel problem in Lancashire, Cheshire or Manchester phone us on 01925 670375
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 1:30 am and is filed under Antidote.
