Plenty of household problems are worth leaving for a week to see what happens. It is a reasonable instinct and it is not always wrong here.
So rather than simply saying call immediately, here is where the line actually falls.
When waiting is defensible
- You are not yet sure it is an animal at all. Two or three days of noting times is a sensible use of the wait, and it is the single most useful thing you can do
- You have heard something once. One noise in a windy week is not much. A few days will tell you whether there is a pattern
- It might be birds, and it is spring. Light fluttering confined to the eaves in April is worth a few days' observation
- You need to establish which elevation. Better done over several mornings than guessed at
In each of those, the waiting is doing work. That is the test: is the delay producing information.
When waiting is not
- Anything electrical. Flickering, tripping, a burning smell. That is a today problem and a separate trade
- Confirmed daylight activity over several days. The pattern is established; further waiting produces nothing but damage
- Gnawing you can hear. That is the sound of the bill increasing
- It is autumn. Waiting through October means closing the roof after the pressure rather than before it
- Higher-pitched noise, which may mean young — and the situation gets more complicated rather than less
- You have already sealed something. That needs saying now
- It has happened before at the property
The honest summary. Waiting to gather information is sensible. Waiting in the hope that it resolves itself is not, because the one thing that will not happen is the animal deciding a warm dry roof was a mistake.
What people are usually waiting for
Three things, and it is worth answering each. That it will go away on its own — occasionally, unpredictably, and an animal that arrived in October has no reason to leave before spring. That the cold will move it — grey squirrels do not hibernate, and cold makes a heated roof more attractive rather than less. That it might be nothing — possible, and three days of notes will settle it either way.
What the waiting costs
Gnawing continues daily throughout. Insulation is flattened and contaminated. Cable is at risk the entire time. And a problem left into the winter runs into the late-winter breeding season, which is how one animal becomes several.
Set against £280 for the control work and £180 for proofing, the waiting is rarely the economical choice.
Questions
How long is reasonable to wait?
Two or three days, spent noting times and looking at the roof from outside. Beyond that the delay stops producing anything useful.
It has gone quiet. Should I still call?
Gaps of several days are ordinary. If there has been established activity, the openings still want closing.
Is it worth calling if I am not sure?
Yes. Describing what you have heard and when is usually enough to narrow it down over the phone.
Squirrel Control Felixstowe
Squirrel control in Felixstowe is £280 fixed cost. Proofing work, where it is needed afterwards, is £180. Call 01502 630 122 and tell us what you have heard or seen.
For squirrel control in Felixstowe, call 01502 630 122, or read the Felixstowe squirrel control page.