Squirrel Trap, What To Do When A Squirrel Nests in Your Home
Squirrel Trap, What To Do When A Squirrel Nests in Your Home
Squirrel Trap, What To Do When A Squirrel Nests in Your Home – The grey squirrel population in North West England has rocketed over the last 20 years to the degee that they are now a major pest species.
The grey squirrels which we see in our gardens (Sciurus carolinensis) are not native to Britain, having been imported here less than 200 years ago.
Like other members of the family Sciuridae, the Grey Squirrel is a scatter-hoarder; it hoards food in lots of small caches for subsequent recovery. Some caches are temporary, especially those made near the site of a sudden surplus of food.
Other caches are more permanent and are not used until many months later. It has been observed that each squirrel makes several thousand hoards each season. The squirrels have very accurate spatial memory for the positions of these hoards, and use distant and nearby landmarks to retrieve them. Smell is used once the squirrel
- Image by ifijay via Flickr
is within a short distance of the cache.
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 problems, rooting up bulbs and taking food intended for birds but can be major pests when they come into our houses.
It is increasingly common for pest controllers to attend homes where a nest has been constructed in a loft or attic space.
Squirrels are true rodents and as such have teeth which never stop growing; the word rodent coming from the Latin ‘rodere’ meaning ‘to gnaw’ and this they do extremely well.
It is rare to enter a roof space where a dray has been made and find that they have not chewed electrical wiring, indeed it is estimated that forty percent of fires without an obviously attributable cause may be started by rodents chewing wiring.
Unfortunately they can also chew through water-pipes, especially with the modern trend towards plastic piping.
As if that wasn’t enough, many household insurance policies specifically exclude damage caused by rodents so if a squirrel floods your home by chewing through a pipe in the attic you may find yourself without insurance cover.
Removing squirrels requires a professional, not least in as much as the law regarding squirrels restricts your options. 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 from your home, not only would removing a squirrel from the area of its food caches would probably condemn it to death by starvation, it is also a criminal offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 under which it is illegal to release a grey squirrel in Britain.
That pertains also to rescuing, and releasing injured squirrels.
In the majority cases trapping is the option of choice and this must be done in a specified manner with routine, timed inspections of the traps.
Trapped squirrels are then despatched humanely.
That concludes this article Squirrel Trap, What To Do When A Squirrel Nests in Your Home
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=9c473a5f-ec0d-4cd9-95ae-f31f026324db)
How To Get Rid Of Ants In The House – Forever
How To Get Rid Of Ants In The House – Forever
How To Get Rid Of Ants In The House – Forever -Only the unfortunate people who have suffered it will know the true terror of winged ants in their home.
Suffering an infestation of ordinary wingless ants is bad enough but when they go through their annual mating cycle the situation can become intolerable.
Ants often form colonies under the floors and in the cavity walls of our homes and these colonies will continue for many years if left to their own devices getting progressively more troublesome each year.
Our dwellings are warm and dry and provide theperfect places for a thriving ant colony; even ‘solid’ concrete floor is permeable to an ant.
Our central heating systems maintains their metabolism even in winter and my earliest ant call-out was on my birthday, in early January!
Ants love a sandy soil and there are many places in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester which tend to suffer more ant infestationsthan others, Southport, Blackpool, Bolton, Sale & Altrincham leap to mind as hot ant spots.
Unfortunately it is during their mating cycle that they are most irksome. Here in Lancashire, Cheshire and Manchester this tends to be pretty regularly around the third or fourth week in July.
Ants mate on the wing and around mid-summer they produce winged immature Queens and winged males which in a more natural environment would fly off and mate on the wing. Many thousands of these winged ants are produced per colony and nests tend to synchronise their release so that they mate with ants produced by other colonies.
Usually this process starts after a few days of hot, dry weather and will usually go on for about a week although smaller releases will continue throughout most of June, July & August.
Unfortunately when the colony is hidden below the floor of the home the results can be catastrophic, literally thousands of flying ants emerge into the lower rooms, collecting on windows as they make for the light.
This can be very distressing for some people leading to extreme emotional trauma to the extent that people learn to dread the summertime and have actually sold their house to escape the plague of ants which they know comes each summer.
The very wet summers of 2007 & 2008 meant that ant call-outs were down on previous years but appear to have a way of catching up and 2009 looks set to be a very busy year.
Most people who have this problem opt for DIY solutions with powders from hardware shops etc but mostly these efforts are fruitless as they are not tackling the heart of the problem which is the nest itself, hidden safely in the cavity wall or sub-floor area.
Fortunately for many people a solution is at hand.
At Harrier Pest Control (subject to site survey) we are able to solve this problem and issue an extendable three year guarantee.
The procedure which is carried out mainly from the outside of the property, is perfectly safe for pets and children and produces no smell, involves drilling small holes into the cavity walls of the house, not unlike a damp-course injection and blowing an insecticidal powder into the cavity under pressure.
This forms an impenetrable barrier across which the ants cannot go and together with a precautionary internal spray treatment (if necessary) will gradually bring the situation under control.
The holes, which are only 8mm in diameter are left open so it is a simply matter of topping up the cavity every three years to extend the effectiveness of the guarantee in three year terms.
This process is best performed in the early spring but it can be done at any period of year.
As a special offer before our busy period begins we are offering 25% off the standard cost until April 30 2009. Whilst we normally cover the whole of Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester, we are willing to travel further afield but this will be reflected in the cost.
For a discussion or to arrange an visit contact Harrier Pest Prevention on Free Phone 0800 019 8382 or
http://harrierpestprevention.com
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=5d371d12-df9c-4a34-9c52-c1910cee797b)
<
Mole Repeller
