Manchester & Trafford Pest Control

Posts Tagged ‘Rodent’

Squirrels In Manchester, Lancashire & Cheshire

The squirrel population in Manchester, Lancashire & Cheshire has rocketed over the last 20 years to the extent that they are now a major pest species.

The grey squirrels which we see in our gardens (Sciurus carolinensis) is not native to Britain, having been introduced here less than 200 years ago.

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

Others are more permanent and are not retrieved until months later. It has been estimated that each squirrel makes several thousand caches each season. The squirrels have very accurate spatial memory for the locations of these caches, and use distant and nearby landmarks to retrieve them. Smell is used once the squirrel is within a few centimeters of the cache.

The nest of the grey squirrel is called a dray (or drey) and it is normal for the female to have two litters per year, each of two to four young.

They are minor pests in the garden, digging up bulbs and stealing food intended for birds but become major pests when they enter our homes.

It is increasingly common for pest controllers to be called out to homes where a dray has been constructed in a loft or attic space.

Squirrels are true rodents and as such have continually growing teeth; the word rodent comes 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 constructed 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.