Squirrels in the Attic in Warrington, Knutsford and Lymm,.
The grey squirrel population in the North West U.K. has rocketed over the last twenty years to the degee that they have now become a major pest dealt with by Squirrels Pest Control
The grey squirrels which we see in our gardens and parks (Sciurus carolinensis) are not native to the British isles, having been brought here less than two-hundred years ago from America
Like the other members of the family Sciuridae, the Grey Squirrel is a hoarder; it hoards food in lots of small caches for later recovery. Some hoards are temporary, especially those made near the source of a sudden surfeit of food.
Others are more permanent and are not collected until many weeks later. It has been observed that each squirrel makes several thousand hoards each year. Squirrels have very good spatial memory for the positions of these hoards, and use far and near landmarks to find them. Smell is used once 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, with two to four babies each.
They are minor pests in the garden, digging bulbs and stealing food intended for birds but can be major pests when they come into our houses.
It is increasingly common for Trafford Pest Control to call out to properties where a nest has been made in a loft or attic space.
Squirrels are rodents and as such have teeth which never stop growing; the very word rodent coming from the Latin word rodere meaning to gnaw or eat away and this they do extremely well.
It is rare to visit a loft space where a dray has been built and find that they have not chewed wires, indeed it is estimated that up to 40 percent of fires without an obvious cause may be started by rodents chewing wiring.
Unfortunately they can also chew through water-pipes, especially with the recent movement towards plastic piping.
As if that was not enough, most household insurance policies specifically exclude damage by vermin so if a squirrel floods your property by chewing through a pipe in the loft you may find yourself without cover.
Removing Squirrel Pest Control requires a professional, not least in as much as the law regarding squirrels restricts your options. You cannot simply get a packet of poison from your local store and deal with them that way as you would be committing an offence.
Furthermore you cannot catch them and release them some distance from your home, not only would removing a squirrel from the area of its food caches 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 applies also to rescuing and/or releasing injured squirrels.
In most cases trapping is the option of choice and this must be done in a specific manner with routine, regular inspections of the traps.
Trapped squirrels are then despatched humanely.
If you have a squirrel problem in Lancashire, Cheshire or Manchester telephone us on 0800 019 8382