Squirrel Control for Elsies River homes and businesses

Elsies River is old, busy and tightly built, with Halt Road's shops, the railway line and the Epping industrial edge all within walking distance of people's front doors. When we come out here it is usually for rats or cockroaches, and the job tends to involve the whole block rather than one unit.

The local picture in Elsies River

Norway rats travel the river channel and railway reserve, then dig in under backyard rooms and refuse areas. In the flats, coordinated baiting of stairwells and bin rooms does more than any single unit can manage alone.

Housing ranges from semi-detached cottages and older freestanding homes to the multi-storey council flats, with plenty of backyard structures added over the years. The flats share stairwells, refuse areas and service ducts, which lets cockroaches move from one floor to the next. Older houses have suspended timber floors and air bricks, often broken, which give rats and mice a way under the house. Corner shops and takeaways tucked into residential streets add a steady food supply.

The Elsieskraal River, which gave the area its name, runs in a concrete channel nearby, and like most canalised urban rivers it carries rubbish and rats. The railway reserve is another long, sheltered corridor for rodents. On the flat ground here, winter rain can sit in yards and blocked stormwater drains for days.

A note from the field

Grey squirrels were brought to Cape Town in the late 1800s and have spread across the Southern Suburbs since then.

Because we do not use poison for squirrels, there is no risk to children, pets or owls from the treatment.

Tell-tale signs

1. Dug-up pot plants and bulbs, and nuts buried in garden beds.
2. Shredded insulation, leaves and twigs found in the roof space.
3. Chewed fascia boards, barge boards or roof edges with fresh wood exposed.
4. Squirrels seen jumping from a tree onto the roof and disappearing under the tiles.
5. Chewed electrical cables or damaged ceiling boards.
6. Scratching and running in the ceiling in the early morning and late afternoon, rather than at night.

How the treatment works

We do not use poison for squirrels. Our approach is exclusion: we find every entry point and fit one-way exclusion devices so the squirrels can get out but not back in. Where it makes sense, live cage traps are used to remove squirrels from the roof. Once the roof is empty, we close the gaps with steel mesh and repair chewed areas so they cannot get back in. We also advise on trimming branches that give squirrels easy access to the roof.

Want the full step-by-step? See how our squirrel control service works.

Prevention that actually works

• Check fascia boards and roof edges each year for chewed spots and repair them quickly.
• Fit squirrel guards on bird feeders, or move them away from the house.
• Pick up acorns and fallen fruit regularly if you have big trees close to the house.
• Use metal mesh, not plastic, over roof vents and gaps.
• Trim tree branches so they are at least two metres away from the roof.

Pricing, honestly

The cost depends on how many entry points there are, how high the roof is and how much repair and proofing is needed. A single gap is quick to deal with, but an older roof with many chewed areas takes longer. Trapping and follow-up visits are included in the free quote.

You can trim the trees and fix obvious gaps yourself, but sealing a roof with squirrels still inside is a mistake that leads to trapped animals and more damage. Getting them out humanely and proofing the whole roof line properly is a job worth getting professional help for.

Questions we get asked in Elsies River

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