A Close Look at Squirrels

Among the many important task that one should uphold in a household is to make sure that there are no pests that get inside the house. It is a basic chore that any homeowner should make it a point to execute every once in a while, if possible every day. However, a lot of homeowners seem to neglect this part of their responsibilities inside the house. That's why more often than not, we hear a lot of complaints every now and then from homeowners about pest infesting their household; from creepy crawling insects and bugs to rodents. They are all just a few to mention from the most common pests that invade our homes. They have to be dealt with accordingly, of course with the use of credible methods for pest control. However, there are certain clauses once you decide to make use of pest control methods, i.e. the fact that you would have to execute the methods properly, be keen in your sense of criticality of which method control to be used, and the ultimate requisite of being observant and taking an intellectual perspective about the entire pest scenario that's taking place inside the house. These are all important factors that one has to consider before deciding on taking any actions to eradicate pests.

Inclusive of those factors that were mentioned earlier, is another crucial factor that has to be considered initially before taking any of those above. This is the consideration of gather knowledge about the pests. Before you can ever take them on, you have to make sure that you know enough, if possible, more than enough about them. It is imperative that you know how their mind works, how their routes go, and they forage for food. And all the other must be considered behaviors that pests do.

In this article, we are going to focus more on discussing about a particular pest that normally beset most homeowners in the state. We are going to talk about squirrels and how their mind works in times that they invade our homes. Squirrels may not be among the most destructive but they can be the most annoying of all pests that could possible infest inside the house. They like to run around the house every time and it just pisses you off seeing them do their stuff. If possible you would not want these little critters doing goose chases inside your house, along the corridors and corners of your home.

But before you are going to hunt them down and probably kill them, you have to understand first that not all of them are killable. There are certain species that are protected and should be returned to the wild instead of being hunt down and eliminated. These species that are protected are endangered species and are likely to go out of existence anytime soon. That's why there is a need for you to first understand about squirrels and be able to identify them so that you will know next time which to exterminate and which are those that must not be iced.

The Squirrels

Squirrel is actually a common name for any mammal rodent that has likings or belongs to the specific family of woodchucks, chipmunks and prairie dogs. There are two main classifications for squirrels: the tree dwelling squirrels and the ground squirrels. Both of these classifications can also be found in your household once they get lost in their way or have been foraging too far. The two classifications are inclusive of somewhere around 230-250 species and there are also those that are called flying squirrels which have around 43 species. Squirrels may differ in size depending on which type of species or family it belongs. The smallest type of squirrels are found in Africa and they are called pygmy squirrels which size could only range from 4-5 inches in length (from tip of the nose to the tip of the tail) and the largest species are the giant squirrels which could reach a size of 36 inches and they are commonly found in Asia. Peculiarly, squirrels are found in the rest of the world but in Australia. Australia doesn't have squirrels inhabiting their wild thus they wouldn't have to read about this article. They don't have to bother about how to control squirrels at all.

Most squirrels live in trees and barely in the ground. Ground squirrels are relatively few compared to the population of tree squirrels in the world. Squirrels diet is mainly based on tree vegetations, i.e. fruits, nuts, seeds, acorn and buds. However, there are times that they consume smaller insects, especially specific species of squirrels that are omnivorous (consumes both vegetation and meat). Squirrels have a common habit of storing seeds for rainy seasons; this habit at the same time helps the dispersion and distribution of trees as well as the other plants. In places where the climate is colder, ground squirrels normally hibernate the rest of the time until spring. However, tree squirrels don't. They continue to forage even during winter season that is why they are constantly on the move.

In the North American continent, the most commonly widely distributed species of squirrels are the red squirrels, which are also commonly found invading houses in Canada and US. They forage consistently turning homes into another invitational trees where they could look for resources. Red squirrels are dominant species of squirrels although, they are not that big in size, and they are also very quick and agile than among others. Other squirrels that are also commonly found in these areas are the eastern fox squirrels which are endemic in the eastern plains. These squirrels are park dwellers and they typically allow themselves to be seen by people. They are more docile which enables humans to touch them. The interaction however has its limitations and they could easily flee away once they sense a feeling threat from the human contact. These type of squirrels however are not normally found foraging inside the house, but there are still times when they could find their way inside.