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I've got a Squirrel in my roof!


njc110381
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My other half came down from upstairs yesterday and asked me to come up. Not an offer I was going to refuse I put the laptop down and headed up, only to be greeted at the top of the stairs by her staring at the ceiling. ???

 

She told me to stand and listen and after a minute or two I heard something running across the plasterboard between the rafters. I figured it was proably a Mouse, or maybe even a Rat, but as I can't get to that part of the ceiling there was little I could do. Well I heard it again today running right up to the end of the house, so I stood and peered out of the window just in case whatever it was had an exit/entrance there.

 

It's a ******* Squirrel! Of all the animals it has to be the one that my dad feeds in the garden and has taken to like it's a pet bloody dog or something! I broke the news to him when he got up this morning - he's going to have to buy another cat because that little fella isn't going to see his next birthday!

 

The trouble is now I need to sort him. The bird table he eats from is right by the road so shooting him off of there isn't really an option, but he doesn't stand still for me to plug him with the air rifle on the roof (and after the whole .410 vs chimney affair I'm not using that)! I'm thinking of setting a fen trap on the bird table, or at least in a Squirrel box attached to the side of it. But then my dad will have to see it. Any ideas?

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I don't think I'll bother with the live catch. To be honest I feel it's more humane just to plug him as that's what's going to happen in the end anyway.

 

I actually came back to put an edit in about the .338 but someone beat me to it. The same someone I expected a comment from! :lol::good:

 

I was going to pick a fen trap box up from the place I do the Deer management at but I forgot! I'll get one tomorrow if I get time. Peanut butter sounds good. We found Maple syrup is also very tempting to them at the park (the park I shoot at, not the kids park!).

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live trap with peanut butter on or a mk4 fenn mate,i work for a big pest control company and deal with these all the time mate.or if it is safe to shoot at the entry hole stand in the garden ready and get somebody to open the loft hatch.it will bolt straight away out and maybe sit on the roof long enough for you to get a shot at.atb

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I didn't want to shoot it in the hole in case it twitches back in and rots in the roof space. I have no access to it - we live in a bungalow with the roof converted so there is just the small gap btween where the rafters have been boarded and the tiles.

 

I did consider taping a snare of strong fishing line around the hole and sitting in the garden with the rod to snare it and reel it in. It's quite happily poking it's head out of the hole every five minutes like the lord of the ******* manor, looking at me like I'm invading it's space! :angry:

Edited by njc110381
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I once worked on a house that had a pair of squirrels living in the roof....all the wiring was striped down to the copper...dont know how they did that without getting fried but they did. My advice nail the ****** as soon as, they cause some major damage very quickly . Yep now would be a good time :yp:

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It doesn't go on the floor. It comes out of the hole in the roof, jumps into the tree and then to the bird table. So it's either on the bird table at the front of the house or moving somewhere on the roof.

 

I had an even bigger and better surprise today. The mrs phoned to say there was a young squirrel in the bedroom! She and my dad caught it in a landing net (that must have been a priceless viewing that I sadly missed) And then put it in the bin... In the bloody bin?! Well it was a job to sort it out in there I can tell you as they threw the whole net in and he was waiting to escape when I lifted the lid! I slid some perspex over the top so I could see what he was up to and shot him with the air pistol in the end.

 

Shooting a baby Squirrel has made me sad! It's not his fault he's a pest and it's one of those times that shooting something really hasn't felt that great to be honest. :no:

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should have used the 338 would have felt much better ;)

 

the other option and possibly the sensible one is to wait till said squirrel is outside and block its entry point to the house with some rolled up chicken mesh so it can't be chewed through. That also stops the problem re occuring.

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MMM Sounds like you've got a nice family group in residence in the loft if you've got litte uns running about the house.

I'd want to know how the baby squirrel got from the loft space to the bedroom. May be a hole somewhere else.

Are you sure there's only the one Adult squirrel?.

 

I can vouch for the amount of damage they do in a loft, I've seen it 1st hand...All wiring stripped back to bare copper, plastic pipes gnawed down, insulation torn and rolled up to make nests & squizzer poo everywhere.

 

Never mind your Dads feelings on this one....Nail em all, the sooner the better.

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This is dragging on a bit now! I thought I had the problem sorted after killing four of them but oh no, I just shot another two! How many little ones do they have? I thought it was generally about three? And does the dad hang around?

 

I was just getting the ladder out of the garage to block the hole and there was one sat watching me. So I got the air rifle and plugged it. Then I went and got the ladder, walked around the corner of the house and there was another one looking out of the hole! I mean come on, I've got to be nearly through them now surely?! :crazy:

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Well I got home this afternoon and my dad had spotted the ladder... "Don't block that hole up yet" he said, "I spotted another poking it's head out about an hour ago"! :rolleyes:

 

What to do? I looked up those Kania traps and although they look good I could buy ten Mk4 Fenns for the price of one of those so I think I know which it will be. And I'm not thinking of saving money - I'm going to buy ten and set them all around the garden in Squirrel boxes!

Edited by njc110381
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