Flying Squirrel?

Factual Questions
1

From what I’ve read, they make great pets…they’ve been kept for about 300 years, bond people, require no mare specialized care than a hamster, etc.

Anyone have any experience with the little guys? They’re very cute…I’ve been seriously considering contacting my local breeder.

2

i used to have one. great guy, tons of fun to watch. then he ran off with this moose and started a tv show…

3

no dice I’m afraid. They are quite firmly wild animals and any attempt to domesticate them would not only be unwise, but also very impossible. Try a hamster.

Sincerely, SDStaff hopeful

4

A hamster? I have rarely come across as nasty a creature as hamsters. They are nocturnal, so all day they are groggy and grouchy if woken up. They run in their little wheels all night with a psychotic regularity. I cannot see where a flying squirrel would be a good pet either, at least the hamsters are domesticated. The squirrel would probably go mad from being caged.

My advise, if you want a friendly and responsive rodent, get a rat. If you want cute, but brains are not an issue, get a guinea pig.

Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan
Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University
“There’s a Seeker born every minute.”

5

I must agree with you there, my sister once had a pair of hamsters and one day she came screaming hysterically into my room that she saw blood on one of the hamsters (a male, female pair). I go to take a look at them, and one of the hamsters is dead, missing about a pingpong-ball sized area of its neck.
The other friggin hamster when Hannibal Lecter on it, with the tell tale blood stains on its chops. The cage was supplied with ample food & water, and both hamsters had been roommates for quite a long time.

Needless to say, my sister didn’t want the cannibal hamster any more. But she didn’t want to let it go, and she didn’t want to kill it, so we devised a plan…

To make a long story short, we watched as someone walked past and picked up the shoebox that was next to the sidewalk on the other side of the street. The box was tied with string, had holes punched in it, and had a crudely written sign saying “FREE hamster, take one” (I guess I was sort of witty at the age of 12, hence the “take one”)

Soon after the hamster incident, my sister switched to hermit crabs as her pet of choice. I’ll never forget when one of them left its shell to shed its skin and she came crying hysterically then too. I’ve been doing my sister’s dirty work ever since.

6

{{{…they’ve been kept for about 300 years…}}}—Pippy

Does this mean that they have long lifespans, or merely that they freeze well?

:::Looking through the recipe book:::

–Kalél
(The Original EnigmaOne)
Common ¢ for all ages.

7

[[no dice I’m afraid. They are quite firmly wild animals and any attempt to domesticate them would not only be unwise, but also very impossible. ]] BigRoryG

You’ll have to do better than that to attain SDStaffhook, dude … heck, the OP itself noted that the things have been domesticated for years.

[[I cannot see where a flying squirrel would be a good pet either, at least the hamsters are domesticated. The squirrel would probably go mad from being caged.]] DrFidelius
I’d think that about all those little shit pets, but some p[eople like 'em and they’ve been doing it for a long time (thus often, I’d assume, resulting in specimens that don’t mind it so much). Plus, I suppose you can let 'em out to glide once in a while.

Here’s a few links for you, little sister – go crazy!
http://www.nature.ca/notebooks/english/flysquir.htm
http://www.homearts.com/depts/pastime/a7squis1.htm
http://www.acmepet.com/exotic/library/flysqfaq.html
http://www.lcc.net/~howard/

8

Thanks big bro!

I (hopefully) will be getting a pair tomorrow…a breeding pair (hopefully). I figure that if it has the 2 litters a year, and there are 2 or more per litter, then I might have quite a profitable enterprise…considering that each sells for around $125 and that I’d be the only breeder in the area…

9
      • I dunno nothing about flying squirrels, but an area lady raised a litter of regular Gray squirrels after their tree fell down in a storm and mom vanished. They were still very jittery (they move like that all the time), but quite tame. I don’t see why flying squirrels would be much wilder than regular squirrels.
  • I remember in a 1965 edition of Collier’s Encyclopedia it said that wolverines make good pets if taken early. I had never heard of anyone owning one, and I was kinda curious: interested in a very-long-shot sort of way. I couldn’t find much online; I e-mailed a few zoos asking for any info and they all more or less said “you are nuts”. I countered with the observation that people keep big cats and bears as pets, and they all said “that’s unwise, but you are nuts”. Anybody know where to find info on them? (wolverines, that is) - MC
10

Info on Wolverines:

www-personal.umich.edu/~pbromley/camp.html

Don’t know about keeping them as pets, some of them weigh over 300 pounds!

The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik

11
      • The ones I am interested in (from Rocky Mts.) look nicer and smell better than the Michigan ones. - MC
12

Well, I got my squirrels. And they’re VERY cute, and actually quite remarkable in their leaping and gliding ability. However, as of right now, they are NOT very remarkable in their social, being-handled-as-a-pet ability. But I expect that to change…the girl who had hem before me said they were very friendly, and they probably just need to get used to us…I’ll give them some tim before I give up…and if they really don’t work out the girl said she’d take them back…

13

Sugar gliders are similar to flying squirrels in locomotion and general appearance and are kept as pets. They are Australian marsupials about six inches in length. There are quite a few web pages on them.

14

Of course, the best thing about flying squirrels as pets is tying a string to them and whirling them around your head at your local playground. You do have to stay well clear of the swingset.

15

I have a pair of African pygmy hedgehogs. Not the most animated pets around. To tell you the truth all they do is sleep, eat, and shit. Every once in a while I let them out on the lawn, but all they do is move around a little then they veg out. How these little bastards survive in the wild in Africa, I haven’t got a clue.

“…send lawyers, guns, and money…”

 Warren Zevon
16

Hopefully, your timing was right. From a FAQ…

“If they are not hand-raised, or handled by the owner from a very early age, flying squirrels will not be the adorable, affectionate pets described above (see “Pros”) — they will be biting pets, who will run away from their owners and will not bond with them. If the latter is the case, it’s not the fault of the squirrel. The whole bonding phenomenon, the development of the “pet quality” of the flying squirrel, can only occur at one time in the animal’s life. “Prime time” is anywhere from five to eight weeks, and the “prime of the prime” is five and a half to six and a half weeks. Once the animal is eight weeks old, the odds drop to 50-50 that it can then become a good pet.”

It sounds like they were hand raised and handled enough (which is good) the question becomes whether the handling was ‘shared’. In other words when one person bonds with them, they become very affectionate towards that one person. If the squirrel is to become affectionate with people in general, they have to be handled by more than one person during the critical period.

PS. I can’t believe I’m actually considering purchasing a rodent (well, not too seriously, but I can’t seem to shake the idea) :stuck_out_tongue:

Stephen
Stephen’s Website
Satellite Hunting 1.1.0 visible satellite pass prediction
shareware available for download at
Satellite Hunting