One time in Riverside park (NYC) I noticed rats and squirrels eating and playing together near dusk. They are amazingly similar except for their tails and the fact that squirrels are diurnal and rats are nocturnal. Since they appear to be so similar, I cannot think that much of anything is going to hurt them in the area of food. I have heard that chocolate and colas can kill them. I think that squirrels and rats can probably survive anywhere on almost anything on earth. The squirrels in my yard will gnaw their way through palstic trash cans to eat trash if they cannot get a better meal from my bird feeder. What can stop them?
Is that a rhetorical question–are you looking for a debate? Or do you want a factual answer?
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Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site.
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Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link:
Is junk food bad for park squirrels? (11-Aug-1978)
moderator, «Comments on Cecil’s Columns»
Cecil’s article states that city diets may cause the thinning of tail hair. Could these “rats” have been squirrels that are suffering from hair loss?
I would be happy to either have an answer to stopping squirrels from raiding my bird feeder or trash can without having to hurt them or a discussion about the similarities between rats and squirrels. Has anyone ever mated a squirrel and a rat?
To any Dr. Mengele wannabes - please don’t try that experiment at home. :eek:
I have a metal collar on my feeder to keep the squirrels out of it. I make sure to put some feed on the ground for them, though. If the squirrels keep chewing up your trash can, replace it with a metal one, that stops them.
You mean at the same time? Nah, it never works out…someone always ends up getting jealous.
The column can also be found on pages 9-10 of Cecil Adams’ book «The Straight Dope (1984; reissued 1986, 1998)».