titleSquirrels in the Attic in Chorley, Preston and Leyland./titlecategory1/category

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The grey squirrel population in the North West U.K. has grown over the last twenty years to the extent that they have grown to be a major pest dealt with by a href=http://www.harrierpestprevention.co.uk/squirrels.htmlSquirrels in Attic Pest Control/a

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The grey squirrels which we see in our own gardens (Sciurus carolinensis) are not native to the British isles, having been introduced here less than 200 years ago from America

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Like other members of the Sciuridae family, the Grey Squirrel is a hoarder; it hoards food in numerous small caches for later recovery. Some caches are temporary, particularly those made near the site of a sudden glut of food.

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Other stores are more permanent and are not retrieved until many months later. It has been observed that each squirrel makes several thousand hoards each season. They have very good spatial memory for the positions of these hoards, and use distant and nearby landmarks to locate them. Smell is used once the squirrel is within a few centimetres of the target.

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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..

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They are minor problems, rooting bulbs and stealing food intended for birds but can be major pests when they enter our homes.

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It is increasingly common for a href=http://www.traffordpestcontrol.comTrafford Pest Control/a to be called out to houses where a dray has been constructed in a loft or attic space.

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Squirrels are true rodents and as such have teeth which never stop growing; the word rodent comes from the Latin word rodere which means to gnaw and this they do extremely well.

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It is rare to visit a loft space where a dray has been built and find that they have not damaged wires, indeed it is estimated that up to 40 percent of fires without an obviously attributable cause may be started by rodents chewing on the wiring.

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Unfortunately they can also chew through water-pipes, especially with the modern movement towards plastic piping.

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As if that was not enough, many household insurance policies specifically exclude damage done by vermin so if a squirrel floods your home by going through a water pipe in the roof void you may find yourself without any insurance cover.

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Eradicating a href=http://www.harrierpestprevention.co.uk/squirrels.htmlSquirrels in Loft/a requires a professional, often because the law regarding squirrels is ever changing. You cannot simply get a packet of poison from your hardware store and deal with them that way as you would be breaking the law.

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Furthermore you cannot catch them and relocate them some distance from your home, quite apart from the fact that removing a squirrel from the area of its food stores probably starve it to death, it is also a criminal offence under the Wildlife amp; Countryside Act 1981 which makes it illegal to release a grey squirrel in in the British Isles.

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That applies also to rescuing and/or releasing injured squirrels.

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In most cases trapping is the the only option and this must be done in a specified manner with routine, regular inspections of the traps.

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Trapped squirrels are then humanely dispatched.

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If you have a squirrel infestation in Lancashire, Cheshire or Manchester phone us on 01257 230637

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