Young Squirrel Learns a Big Lesson!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I keep three bird feeders on a 4"x4" post in my backyard. I also maintain a fine, healthy cat. I let those two realities work out their own balance, though occasionally, I’ll save a critter that seems destined to bleed all over my patio.

Yesterday, I went out to the patio to open the windows so the candles wouldn’t melt. A dinky young squirrel was sitting in the Droll Yankee Big Top feeder, chowing down. My cat Freckles was watching intently from inside the glass. I opened three windows, and the squirrel didn’t even turn around. “Hey, youngster,” I said, “you’d better learn to be alert!” No response. I slid open the glass door, and with Freckles at the ready, the screen. Freck dashed out to the pole. If the squirrel had jumped down and dashed fifteen feet to the tree, he would have been up there laughing at Freckles. However, he ran to the TOP of the pole. He huddled up there, scared, saying, “Eek, eek, eek, eek, eek, eek!” I had cut the top of the pole to a 45 degree point, and he was jittering around for better balance. I stepped outside to counsel him. “Kid, if you survive this, I hope you remember what you learned.” I went back inside and turned away for a moment. When I looked back, he was no longer on the pole. He had jumped four feet to the nearest tree branch! This tiny squirrel, no bigger than a young chipmunk, had leapt fully four feet, with a wily cat waiting on the ground! Yow! He really did learn something. He was sitting on a branch, chattering at my cat. I don’t speak squirrel, but imagine what he was saying…

2

I just don’t get why people hate squirrels so much! I’d keep one for a pet if I could. They’re very smart and adorable!

3

Well, there is that whole “vermin” thing.

When we first got a bird feeder, we started attracting squirrels. I had the feeder strung on a wire between a corner of the house and a corner of the trellis over our back porch. Over a week or so, I moved it farther and farther away from the porch, seeing just how far the squirrels could/would jump. Pretty far, as it turns out. I would have been content to leave it at the maximum distance they could jump because it was pretty fun to watch them do their flying squirrel imitations, but they kept hitting the bird feeder hard enough that one day they snapped the wire…

It was about a 6’ fall to grass, by the way. So far as I know, no squirrels were harmed in this process.

4

Oh I don’t know, I wouldn’t mind them so much if they wouldn’t chew holes in the eaves of my house to get into the attic, only to chew the electrical wiring up there as well.

That may be a small reason why homeowners really don’t like the critters. They are pretty damn destructive in the wild. I don’t mind them if they stay OUTSIDE where they belong. :slight_smile:

5

I’ve had squirrels build nests and have babies in my attic! I trapped 'em, drove 'em up to a park in Evanston and went on my way.

I just don’t get why people get so riled up about them eating bird food. Personally, I find them cuter than birds, and I sure wouldn’t whittle sharp pikes around my yard to skewer them!

6

I had similar squirrel problems with my hanging bird feeder and kept moving it out farther and farther, but the little punks kept bridging the distance with amazing leaps. So… I took a tip from my SIL and sprayed the top of the feeder with PAM cooking oil. The squirrels would leap, scrabble for a purchase briefly, and drop to the ground. One managed to get a precarious hold while the feeder swung out, but was launched when the feeder reached the end of the arc. He landed on the trampoline, no bounce though (he was too small), but hung on with all four paws (while the trampoline wobbled) with the wildest wide-eyed terror expression I have ever seen on a squirrel. Sort of like the manic look on cats when they are in the middle of “cat rowdies”!

7

We feed the squirrels (peanuts) and the birds.

We use a Yankee Flipper bird feeder.

We have enjoyed countless hours of fun watching squirrels attempt to conquer the Yankee Flipper! Some have managed to stay on for a good 4-5 seconds!

:smiley:

8

You can. My family and I went to an “Exotic Animal Auction [no large carnivores]” a couple of weeks ago. One seller had baby gray squirrels that fetched quite a bundle. Another seller had baby skunks (!) and stated “I just descented these babies last night.” :eek: …He descented them himself!!! I wanted to pay the guy just for having the brass balls it took to do that!

…Anyway, there were a lot of forest animals for sale as pets, including squirrel. If you’re living in a situation where pets are a possibility, pet squirrels can be had.

9

Heh. I have this love/hate thing with tree rats that is very much like the relationship between Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner. I’m like the coyote with my ACME brand tree rat repellant products which do no good at all. My friends check on me from time to time to make sure I haven’t blown up myself or my house in my attempt to have a tree rat-free bird feeder. Finally I gave up and just feed everyone who stops in my yard. (And now I have a big-ass toad!)

About a year ago, I had a bag of bird feed on the ledge inside my screened-in porch. Although the damn door was open, one brave tree rat chewed through my screen to get to the bird feed. Just about at that same moment, I let the dogs out for their morning constitutional. They spotted that tree rat, who froze in horror for a second, birdseed dripping off its mouth. It took him a while to find the door, in his panic to get the hell off my porch, lest these two dogzillas catch him. Then he led them in a merry chase around the yard until he finally bolted up the palm tree and sat there, cussing and swearing in squirrel, before the dogs finally lost interest.

One of these days, I’m going to strap a web cam to the dogs’ heads and set them loose on some squirrels. I’m quite certain that hilarity would ensue.

10

You may want to check your state law - I know here in MA it’s illegal to release a trapped animal anywhere but your own property.

A friend of mine who has a problem with squirrels chewing through his eaves just hit his 100th squirrel trapped. He held a party for the ceremonial drowning in a wheelbarrow.

11

Two words, one 'fro: Bob Ross :smiley:

12

Maybe you misunderstood me, jarbabyj. I don’t hate squirrels. We have a deal. I feed 'em, and they entertain me. They’re more entertaining than the birds; that’s good, because they eat more. I usually don’t interfere with the predator/prey relationship, though, because I don’t feel it’s right. Freckles gets plenty of cat food, and that probably cuts down on his predation. His role, though, is culling out the slow and the stupid prey. Next year’s squirrels will be smart and quick, due to his vigilance. Freckles is a tough professor. I’m proud to be a part of that.

By the way, I don’t recommend pet squirrels. They bite hard. However, my uncle Gene had trained wild squirrels to take peanuts (raw, unsalted) from his fingers on his windowsill.

13

By a 6’ fall? Lord, no. I saw a red squirrel slip off a tree branch once & fall to the ground, sit stunned for a couple seconds, then run off full speed & up another tree. What I found impressive about this was that I’d been watching the squirrel from my window on the third floor of my college dorm. And looking up. :eek: I didn’t have a tape measure, but it fell at least forty feet …

14

My grandfather likes seeing a wide variety of birds in his backyard. The squirrels around here, however, only come in one variety, and when they get to the bird-feeder, the feed goes fast. So, wanting to see birds, and not wanting to spend all his money feeding rodents, my grandfather hates squirrels.

Fortunately, I created a cage barrier out of half of an old bug-zapper. It sits just high enough on the bird-feeder pole that the squirrels can’t jump up and grab the side of it, and is deep enough that the squirrels can’t seem to climb from the inside to the outside to get on top of it and up the pole.

And we also have a little Yorkshire terrier named Toto (who I affectionately call “Little Bastard”) who enjoys trying to catch squirrels and cats and crows before his rope comes to its end. (I’m amazed he hasn’t broken his neck on a few occasions. Tough little bastard! :slight_smile: )

Before we got Toto, my grandfather also had a border collie named Chum (a traditional pet name is our family), who’s since passed on. Quite a few years ago, there was squirrel on the back patio. My grandfather let Chum out after the squirrel. It was caught off guard and ended up trapped beneath the barbeque.

Eventually, the squirrel thought he saw and opening, and made a dash for freedom. Unfortunately, Chum must have been playing dumb, because as soon as the squirrel jumped off the patio, Chum turned around… and the squirrel flew right into Chum’s mouth! :eek: By the time my grandfather got Chum to let it go (its tail was all that could be seen, sticking out of Chum’s mouth), it was too late.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw a squirrel on the back patio. I picked up Toto and tried to show him the squirrel out the window, but he couldn’t see it. So, I tried to let Toto out quietly without scaring it away, but the squirrel was gone by the time I had attached Toto’s rope and let him out.

However, the squirrel hadn’t made a run for the woods. Instead it had jumped down into a long patch of grass just off the patio. Toto knew it had been or was there, but couldn’t find it, despite sniffing through the patch of grass. I was on the patio when, suddenly, the squirrel jumped out of the grass, through the lattice-work and back onto the patio.

Toto never noticed, and the squirrel was sitting on the edge of the patio looking at him just inches away. I told Toto to look, but he either wasn’t listening or didn’t understand where I wanted him to look. The squirrel then ran right by me across the patio, jumped through the lattice-work and ran to the woods, with Toto none the wiser.

Anyhoo…

15

We have some squirrel feeders in our back yard. They look kind of like little wooden chairs, with a screw in front of them to stick corn cobs on. They’ve given us hours of enjoyment while we watch them.

Soon, however, the clientele of our backyard restaurant had expanded. We were also catering to raccoons (at night) and various birds.

We knew we had a problem when we had over 20 ducks all sitting on our deck at one time waiting to be fed. Some would even come tap on the window with their beaks in an attempt to get someone’s attention. We had very demanding customers- you would think they could have left a tip, or at least tried not to poop on our deck.

But, eventually, most of the ducks moved on, and we’ve created a deal with those left behind. The one who likes to just sit on the deck and look in our window, with no desire for food (I think he’s lonely) we don’t bother. When the other ducks want food, we feed them. However, they have to put up with the dog. The dog’s favorite game is to just make one quick lunge and one bark at them, to make them scatter, and then she goes about her business. They, however, have realized the length of the leash we put her on in the back yard, and will prance around right out of her reach, teasing her.

16

disgusting.

17

Quote from Bill Ervolino’s column in yesterday’s Bergen NJ Record:
To dogs, squirrels are television.

I once came about 6 inches from being hit by a tailless squirrel that fell out of a tree. Up in the tree was the cat that had its tail. Very s(q)u(i)r®eal experience.

18

I love squirrels. The place I used to live had a squirrel living outside named Henry. Henry was a large black squirrel, and he was missing his one hind leg and his tail. Henry expected to be fed every day at noon (that was when I was home from school on lunch break). If you didn’t feed him, he would jump on the screen door and shake it, producing a loud banging noise, and he would carry on until you brought out his peanuts. Henry was there for almost 2 years, until one day my neighbour’s kid ran him over. :frowning:

19

Our very first house in Perrysburg ohio, we had two squirrels that I fed, great huge red squirrels, the size of cats, named Fat Fred and Floyd. They would hang out in the yard whie we sunbathed, or walk around looking for snacks. There was a huge tree in the front yard that they nested in. Good fellas, those squirrels. There’s a squirrel on my back porch lately, whom I’ve named Vincente. He often has LARGE pieces of food, the most impressive being HALF OF A COCONUT that he kept dropping back over his head. Big tortillas, donuts, hot dog buns. He thinks big.

20

My mom raised a squirrel after Hurricane Juan blew its nest out of a tree. We had to let it go when it was old enough because it liked to climb our walls.

No harder than hamsters, IME.