# Squirrels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 13, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132 "2002-03-13T22:27:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dukerules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@dukerules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dukerules)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132/1 "2002-03-13T22:27:30Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132/2 "2002-03-14T00:03:03Z")
Is that a rhetorical question–are you looking for a debate? Or do you want a factual answer? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132/3 "2002-03-14T00:23:14Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank thee for posting thy comment. Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in thy post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link: [Is junk food bad for park squirrels? (11-Aug-1978)](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_009b.html) * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132/4 "2002-03-14T01:08:47Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![dukerules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@dukerules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dukerules)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132/5 "2002-03-14T15:45:48Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132/6 "2002-03-14T19:05:27Z")
To any Dr. Mengele wannabes - please don’t try that experiment at home. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132/7 "2002-03-15T03:53:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dukerules \* > **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.** 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. > [@](#): > > **Has anyone ever mated a squirrel and a rat?** You mean at the same time? Nah, it never works out…someone always ends up getting jealous. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2002, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squirrels/98132/8 "2002-03-21T09:21:12Z")
The column can also be found on pages 9-10 of Cecil Adams’ book «[_The Straight Dope (1984; reissued 1986, 1998)_](https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/dopestore/buystuff.bat#tsd)».