Exterminating & Pest Prevention 

How we control grey squirrels (in Glasgow and Ayrshire)

 

There are a few legal pest control methods to control grey squirrels in different settings, including shooting, poisoning and trapping. We focus on trapping grey squirrels as it is the most efficient mode of their control in domestic settings. Here's what we do in Glasgow and Ayrshire: Our pest control technician will visit your home within (usually) a day after your request, driving an unmarked vehicle and arriving within an arranged timescale. Ideally, grey squirrels are trapped in loft spaces. Most often, we use baited spring-loaded traps such as Fenn traps or Magnum Body-grip that are lethal. Live-catch cages can also be used but they require to be checked daily to avoid caught squirrel suffering (from thirst and hunger) in the cage for days. We can trap grey squirrels also outdoors with our (lethal) traps placed within purpose-made catch tunnels. This way, we ensure the traps are not interfered with and no non-target animals are hurt. Although, in areas with many grey squirrels, it is possible we would catch many of them. If you wish us to target, catch and remove a particular grey squirrel or squirrels that frequent your house, it is better if you let us to set up our traps within your house, best in the loft space. The minimum number of visits to trap grey squirrels is 2 but we recommend 3. During the survey on our initial visit, monitoring with non-toxic bait and tracking dust or gel are used (usually within lofts) to check whether a squirrel or squirrels are present and to track where they enter and leave the loft space (which is not always possible to determine) before we would deploy traps on the 2nd visit. With the aid of rodent tracking inside the loft, our technicians can get clued up on whereabouts of the squirrel entry points on the exterior of the building. Rodent monitoring can save you time and money by getting us trap grey squirrels only when we know for sure that they are present in the specific internal area. Rodent tracking before trapping also helps to identify squirrel entry points which can be very useful for rodent proofing after the squirrel is caught and removed to prevent re-infestation by another squirrel moving in afterward. The 2nd visit when we set up squirrel traps follows in 3 days after our initial visit. The (usually) final visit is in 4 more days. An ideal outcome is 1 squirrel caught in 1 trap while another trap is still intact; where 2 squirrels are caught in 2 traps, we recommend 1 more visit for rodent monitoring and tracking to determine whether to continue squirrel trapping or to close the job as done. Rodent proofing is best done after squirrels have been caught and removed. Our squirrel jobs usually are child and pet friendly.

 

Our quotes for squirrel control and proofing

(available in Glasgow and Ayrshire)

 

(Optional) rodent monitoring and tracking and removing 1-2 grey squirrels from your loft space

The fixed price is £170 for 2 visits (for setting up 2 traps and to check them) plus optional £50 for 1 extra visit to ascertain the presence of grey squirrel/s by  monitoring for them and tracking their movements before trapping. If you have agreed to add the extra visit for monitoring and tracking before squirrel trapping, we will revisit in 3 days and set up traps if squirrels are confirmed. A follow-up inspection to inspect the squirrel traps will be in 4 more days (in about a week since our initial visit). You might want to add 1 more follow-up visit for monitoring and tracking (costs £50) if we have caught 2 squirrels in our 2 traps but you suspect that there still are more squirrels frequenting your property. A £20 discount off each (optional) extra visit for rodent monitoring and tracking is granted where it is succeeded by rodent control (of any kind) on our next visit.

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Additional visits to inspect and reset 1-2 squirrel traps cost £50 each.

2 visits only, to set up 1 squirrel trap and 1 follow-up inspection (in a week interval) would cost £150.

 

Catching grey squirrels in live cage traps

We would charge the same as above (with lethal traps) for setting up live cage traps to remove grey squirrels from your loft (alive) to relocate them. A disadvantage of live squirrel trapping is higher costs because live traps have to be inspected daily to prevent the animal from suffering when it is trapped in the cage. We would have to charge you £30 every time we come to inspect 1-2 live traps while it might take 1 week or longer to complete the job.

 

Catching grey squirrels outdoors

Not a typical squirrel job but we have done it for our customers in Greater Glasgow and Ayrshire. When trapping grey squirrels outdoors, we set up our traps within purpose-made catch tunnels (to prevent non-target species and pets) to be harmed. We charge £15 extra for using 1 catch tunnel with a lethal squirrel trap that is set up outdoors. Be aware it might turn into an expensive job in the areas of high density of grey squirrels.

 

Squirrel proofing

On request, we can do temporary squirrel proofing after catching and removing squirrels. We try to determine squirrel entry points during initial survey and follow-up inspection/s utilizing a visual inspection and tracking dust or gel. If a hole is identified and is accessible from inside the loft, it would cost about £60 (for each hole or gap of a medium-size) to squirrel proof with steel mesh or chicken wire, steel wool and glue and expanding foam combined with steel wool. The same proofing work would cost about £90 if accessible from ladders outside.