I have been feeding the squirrels at work for the past 4-5 months. It started out small with bread scraps left outside the back door to my office. Eventually it escalated to unsalted roasted whole peanuts bought by the pound (about 3lbs/week). The squirrels are very shy and run off if I approach their dish. I never knew how many there were, I only saw 2 simultaneously. Then they had babies, about 10 in two clutches. So I put out even more peanuts and the little babies scamper everywhere. They are sooooo cute. When the dish gets empty they bang on the door, or if it’s open, they come in and run around a bit until I notice them. Well, it was inevitable, someone complained. I got a call from the head of Environmental Health & Saftey (who is a friend of mine) to enquire if I knew who was feeding them. I fessed up and she had to tell me to stop. She said that the squirrels had been running around the feet of executive types who were convinced they would get rabies from them. So I just filled up the dish for the last time and my babies will have to find another source of food. And I have 3 pounds of peanuts to get rid of. Sigh 
Squirrels are just rats with fluffy tails. They won’t have any problem finding some other source of food.
We had the same problem here in Helena. Not so much a problem with the squirrels, but the pigeons would help themselves to the food dish also, then go tell their friends where the newest place in town to eat was. Pretty soon, the side walks were covered in birds. But that still wasn’t the deciding factor. It was the bird poop that robbed the poor squirrels of their tasty treats. Bird poop liberally coating the sidewalks and the cars that had the misfortune of having to park underneath the trees in the parking lots.
So now our poor squirrels are S.O.L. too.
I like rats too.
Can you feed them on the far side of the parking lot or something?
In my home town, the squirrels became so used to handouts that they indeed became a little too “bold.” Eg./ If you were walking and eating an apple, they would climb your pant-leg and try to grab at it.
A little scary – worthy of a Hitchcock film: “The Squirrels.”
FairyChatMom, I may try to move their feeding station. Unfortunately, I am surrounded by buildings with lots of windows, so I may be observed. I’ll see what I can come up with. I love those little guys.
Although I agree that feeding them is probably not the best thing in the long run, the fear of getting rabies from squirrels is totally misfounded.
I once found a squirrel in my driving acting very oddly. It was running around in loopy circles and I figured it was rabid. I called Animal Control. It died. They came and picked it up but said that quirrels are only very rarely rabid, and that it probably had some sort of brain injury from the way it was acting. I was told that bats and raccoons are the most common rabies vectors, and statistically speaking, squirrels are virtually immune to the disease.
Aren’t there squirrels with THE BUBONIC PLAGUE in Colorado?
Brian
My grandmother’s bummed out that she has to stop feeding the squirrels here at home. She had been putting out seeds and dried corn kernels for them. Then this weekend, we found two dead squirrels. One of them was outside the garage door, and the other was in the middle of the garage. We know it was our outdoor cat who got them. Poor little floofy rodents.
The squirrels at my college at very bold. One of the comic strips in the school paper has a running gag involving them called “The Renegade Squirrels.” They’re little secret agents wearing sunglasses and trenchcoats who are always trying to score food. The real squirrels are quite similar. They always approach me, and one of them sat on my foot begging for a handout.
There are other issues to consider, here.
You said the squirrels were coming into the building. That can be very bad. They’re destructive little critters. It’s only a matter of time, if that becomes habitual, before they chew through something expensive.
Rabies is, at the worst, a remote possibility. That doesn’t mean that health and safety in your office are trivial concerns. Squirrels can carry mites, fleas, and ticks. It’s better to not introduce animals in to an office environment at all.
You should also consider the health of the squirrels. A constant diet of peanuts isn’t particularly good for them, and if they find a steady source of food (i.e., you and your peanuts) they will come to rely on it. You aren’t really helping them.
You may think they’re cute, but they’re wildlife, and are better left alone.
I feel your pain Encinitas, but this time of year your little pals won’t starve.
We feed anything and everything that comes around (we have zillions of birdfeeders which attract all sorts of critters).
And if the cupboard is bare, this guy knocks!
I’ll second that. One of the other grad students in my lab was feeding a squirrel that got into the building last year. Problem was, it was chewing through the wiring, and it caused a lot of damage. I don’t think it damaged any lab equipment at least, but there were still a lot of very pissed off people.
As an aside, I did see a great sign that someone put on the door of a room the squirrel was in. It read: “Squirrel in here. Door closed, window open. Maybe it’ll leave.”