Squirrels

Fri 16 May 2008, 14:11

JB Fox - in some horrid synchronicity we've discovered a squirrel nest and wire insulation damage in the loft of the house we rent out in Oxford! The lights kept on tripping the MCBs. Its not been cheap having to get electricians to trace compromised insulation and replace wires, and we're having to get the exterminators in to remove the rodents and a builder in to block up the damaged soffit and someone to snip off the neighbours tree branches that have grown up to the edge of the roof and are providing the ingress route. All adding up to considerable expense and inconvenience.

So if you are hearing scrabblings aloft, investigate pronto - and get rid of them pronto too. Seal up their entry point, which might be quite hard to find, check out for branches nearby the roof or drain pipes and remove, and above all check the wiring.

It is possible, even with modern MCBs, for a small arcing to occur between exposed or thinly insulated wiring sufficient to bring wood or chipboard up to combustion temperature - I've discovered rodents are the cause of a very large % of domestic fires due to overheating from spark arcing.

I would suggest moving on this ASAP. Rats and mice are even worse - they can run down the cavity wall and find remarkably small gaps to get into the joisting and underfloor area of the first floor rooms, where as a rule there are even more wires carrying heavier currents, as well as find ingress into kitchens through gaps which one wouldn't think possible for creatures to pass.

If American grey squirrels are moving into the area then everyone needs to pay some extra attention to soffits and other potential ingress points - these rodents cause a lot of damage very quickly and of course are prodigious climbers...

Wed 14 May 2008, 16:43

Squirrels in the loft is serious for electrical wiring - they are just as drawn to the wonderful tactile sensation of slivering off soft pvc insulation with big slicey incisors as rats, mice, and as we have discovered with our house bunnies which have free run of the kitchen/diner area…

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Wed 14 May 2008, 14:41

There are a couple of them living behind the Spendlove Centre who exist solely to devise new and ingenious measures of dumping the peanuts out of our bird-feeder.

At the recent farmer's market, there was a butcher's stall selling squirrel meat with the warning "May Contain Nuts"!

Wed 14 May 2008, 11:26

I think they are all living in my attic. Hope it is squirrels!

Wed 14 May 2008, 01:11

My wife and I just reflected that its odd, but we haven't seen any squirrels in Charlbury or the surrounding countryside since moving here 2 years back. I assume you mean - alas alack - gray N.American squirrels? If so, they are a menace to treedom. Fortunately they are also…

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Tue 13 May 2008, 19:57

Has anyone noticed the increasing number of squirrels along Hixet wood? I counted at least 20 on Friday night. That is of course unless there was only one and he kept jumping in and out of the hedgerow playing some kind of sick game with me.