The squirrel population in Manchester, Lancashire & Cheshire has boomed over the last twenty years to the degee that they have now become a major pest dealt with by Squirrels in Attic Pest Control
The grey squirrels which we see in our gardens (Sciurus carolinensis) are not native to the U.K., having been imported here less than 200 years America and Canada
Like many members of the family Sciuridae, the Grey Squirrel is a scatter-hoarder; it hides food in lots of small caches for later recovery. Some caches are temporary, especially those made near the source of a sudden glut of food.
Other stores are more permanent and are not retrieved until many weeks later. It has been seen that each squirrel makes several thousand hoards each season. Squirrels have very accurate spatial memory for the locations of these hoards, and use far and near landmarks to retrieve them. Smell is used when the squirrel is within close range of the cache.
The nest of the squirrel is called a dray (or drey) and it is standard 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 eating food intended for birds but become major pests when they enter our houses.
It is increasingly common for Trafford Pest Control to attend homes where a dray has been built 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 meaning to gnaw and this they do very well indeed.
It is rare to visit a roof space where a dray has been constructed and find that they have not chewed electrical wires, indeed it is estimated that forty percent of fires without an obviously attributable cause may have been started by rodents damaging wiring.
Unfortunately they can also chew through water-pipes, especially with the modern movement towards plastic piping.
As if that is not enough, many household insurance policies exclude damage by rodents so if a squirrel floods your house by eating through a pipe in the roof void you may find yourself without cover.
Dealing with Squirrels in Loft needs professional help, not least in as much as the law regarding squirrels is ever changing. You cannot simply buy a packet of rat poison from your local store and deal with them that way as you would be committing a criminal offence.
Furthermore you cannot trap them and move them some distance away, not only would removing a squirrel from the area of its food hoards probably condemn it to death by starvation, it is also breaking the law under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 under which it is illegal to release a grey squirrel in Britain.
That pertains also to rescuing and/or releasing injured squirrels.
In the vast majority of cases trapping is the option of choice 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 problem with squirrels in Lancashire, Cheshire or Manchester phone us on 0800 019 8382
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