Squirrels in the wild are cute and cuddly creatures. They’re no so much fun in they manage to get in your roofing areas, causing damage with their droppings and gnawing. Fortunately for you there’s a number of easy steps you can take to stop them ever entering your property in the first place.
Tips for Squirrel Control
Everyone know what a squirrel looks like. Over the past century the indigenous British red squirrel has been usurped from its natural habitat by the grey squirrel, which came over to our island via traders from America. The grey squirrels are now on the receiving end of another invader, the black squirrel, which experts claim will muscle out the greys in the next few decades.
Squirrels can cause a massive amount of damage should they get into a property. Although infestation by this pest is much rarer than attacks by their rat and mice cousins, one still needs to be vigilant in order to stop these pests from getting into your house. By following our point by point guide you should be able to up your defence against these rodents.
Squirrel Pest Control and Prevention
The most obvious way for squirrels to get into a property is via trees, their natural habitat. The first step in squirrel prevention is taking a good look at the branches and bushes that hang over your property and trimming them back. If they are high up, or there are large branches involved, it may be advisable for you to hire a tree surgeon rather than doing this yourself on a ladder.
Squirrels may be able to gain access to your roof via loose tiles or holes in roof felt. Check for holes and if you find any then try to ascertain what type of felt has been used. If it’s a breathable membrane then you should be able to repair this will special tape. If it’s standard felt you’ll need to remove the roof tiles and fit a new piece of felt over the damaged area.
Any holes in the exterior of your property can be used by squirrels. They’re quite large creatures when compared to mice and rats, but in order to prevent the entry of any rodents you should check for holes or gaps where the pipes aren’t flush to the walls. These can be filled up with some kind of sealant, usually a silica based gel, but if you’re looking for a cheaper solution, just stuff gaps with wire wool.
One of the most effective prevention tools in warding off squirrels has to be the sonic emitter. These devices, often available at DIY stores, emit a low frequency noise below the hearing limits of humans. Apparently all manner of rodents find this noise unpleasant, making this one of our favourite ways to stop pests getting into your home.
Some properties have ventilation that’s provided by soft screens in the sides of the roof. The large front incisors possessed by squirrels will make light work of using these to gain entry to your house. We’d recommend replacing them with metal mesh to make them impervious to squirrel teeth.
Open windows can be used by squirrels to climb into your house. If you’re going to leave windows open and unattended for some time then you may want to shore these up in the same manner as external vents, with a fine mesh screen or similar hard wearing barrier.
Squirrels are attracted by bird-food. Whilst many of us like to throw away scraps from the table to feed birds, this can encourage squirrels to come closer to your house. Consider purchasing a bird feeder to hang in the trees, as although this will also be raided by these rodents, it will keep them from getting too comfortable with proximity to humans.
Hopefully you’ll never have a problem with squirrels invading your house, but one thing’s definitely for sure, if you follow these above steps you will drastically increase your chances of preventing this common pest from gaining access to your abode.
