SQUIRREL PEST
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Squirrel Pest Control, Squirrel Traps and Facts
 

If you require further advice on controlling pests, particularly buying or using a squirrel trap, after reading this article, Owen can be contacted using any of the methods below: E-mail: owen.w@btinternet.com  Internet Site: www.greenpestco.com Telephone: 01535 655579

It is now December and raining hard with a strong northerly blowing, with every gust of wind the feeder on the pole sways at an alarming angle, I keep waiting for the squirrel to fall off, but no, it seems glued to the thin post.

Their seems to be more squirrels about now than ever before, I have always enjoyed watching wildlife and can remember telling my Dad when I was a lad that I had seen a squirrel. Perhaps conditions are getting better, in the 60s and 70s we did not have so many bird feeders we fed the birds stale bread on an old home made bird table and that was it, and the birds had to like it or lump it! Now we have all manner of bird feeders hanging from every tree in every suburban garden. By the way this is a major cause of rat infestation in gardens, I get at least 10 calls a week about rats in gardens, my first comment is to remove the bird feeder for a couple of months.

The grey squirrel was brought in to this country to Woburn Abbey in 1867, what a success story. As with the brown rat and rabbit, if they are not indigenous to our country they seem to thrive, perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt.

Squirrels breed twice a year in January/February and mid summer, they have litters that average 3 young which are variously known as kits, kittens, pups it all depends on where you live. I like to call them pups. The pups are born in a dray, which contrary to popular belief is not a collective noun for a group of squirrels. I don’t know what is, as you very rarely see a group of squirrels, as they are a solitary animal except when mating so I suppose there is no need for a collective noun?

Excellent basic squirrel trap

The main diet of the greys is seeds and berries but they will occasionally eat vegetation especially in spring. They will also take the occasional bird’s egg or small chick, but they are not classed as a threat to our song bird population.

Although they do not hibernate there are days when we don’t see them, if the weather is cold, snowy or wet they tend to stay curled up in a fork between branches keeping warm. Don’t worry, as soon as it warms up a bit they will be back. Because they are rodents they have to gnaw continually or their teeth would become pointed which would prevent them from eating and they would starve to death, hence the damage to the bark on some trees, although rabbits do more damage to young trees than squirrels, but that’s another story.

There are approximately 160,000 red squirrels in the UK and only about 28,000 in England but this number is falling rapidly. The deadly Parapox virus is the main killer with the reds, when they contract this virus it prevents them from digesting hazel nuts, one of the main food sources for the lovely red, and it’s the greys that spread it!

We must do all we can to protect our indigenous squirrel species.

When we consider the control of squirrels we should first think if the damage they are doing is so serious that they need to be controlled. They can and do remove bulbs from the garden and as I said they have no problem eating the nuts in a bird feeder, but can we put up with it?

There are various methods of control available to the amateur, but poisoning is not one of them, this is restricted to the professional pest controller. I can, if I want to, use liquid concentrate containing Warfarin baited whole wheat grain. This can only be used between mid March and mid August and the bait must be in a hopper designed for the purpose, there are other regulations that apply that I won't bore you with.

There are also sonic methods of control, these days this method works very well. The devices in days past were rather hit and miss to say the least but I have been testing one for the past 3 months in 3 different properties and found them to work very well.

I recently got called to a house that had a squirrel in the loft, the first the occupants knew about it was when there was a trickle, then a torrent of water coming into the living room, yes you guessed it, the squirrel had chewed through the water pipes in the loft.

When you find a squirrel in your loft get rid of it as soon as possible, don’t wait, it will not leave a nice warm billet on its own accord it will need help. Lofts can be squirrel proof but make sure you have got rid of it first; there is nothing worse than a trapped rodent in a confined space!

These are the only methods I would suggest for the amateur user, there are kill traps available but these need to be in false tunnels to comply with various regulations to do with non target species and I would respectfully suggest this be carried out by a professional.

When you use the live catch trap outside make sure the neighbours don’t mind, a few people take exception to trapping any animal and damage the traps.

Rodents

18" in length including tail

1-1.5 lbs in weight

Seeds and berries main food source

2-4 young per litter twice a year

Don’t hibernate

Tan colour with white belly

Females live between 4-6 years

Males live between 2-3 years

Up to 7 per acre if conditions are right.

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