Stashing new blocks?? o_O

[krysgrandmond]

My order of Harlan Teklad 2018's came in yesterday and I've started mixing it with the Oxbow they've been eating to slowly transition them over. Since yesterday, they have been rooting through their dishes, taking out the Harlan blocks and burying them in their litter pan, salad bowl, anywhere they can cover them up! They've been eating some too, but this behaviour is very new for them (about 12 weeks). They've never even stashed their treats (nuts & fruit) before. Why suddenly now? And why with these new blocks? LOL

These little guys can be so silly sometimes!!

I find them also bickering and wrestling over treats when they get them. I'm always very sure to make sure each one gets their share, but a couple eat REALLY fast and then go steal from the others and there is a lot of squealing and chasing that happens. It can get quite noisy! My temporary solution is to give the fast eaters a larger piece of fruit, so the others have time to finish theirs, but is there a way to stop this, or is it just sibling rivalry at its best?

[Rhapsody]

They are stashing what they do not want to eat atm and saving it for later.
I would try cutting back on the amount of blocks you are giving them.

..... the siblings rivalry will not end --its a squirrel thing.

[krysgrandmond]

They are stashing what they do not want to eat atm and saving it for later.
I would try cutting back on the amount of blocks you are giving them.

..... the siblings rivalry will not end --its a squirrel thing.

They kind of always have a supply of blocks on hand. I hate the idea of them getting hungry at any given time and not having access to some form of food. The salad comes out of the cage at the end of the day, but the block bowl stays in for them overnight. Even my kids have full access to the fruit drawer in the fridge or crackers from the pantry all day/night if they get hungry LOL.

I'll cut back on how full I keep them and maybe ONLY fill in the morning? I clean everything out of the cage (including litter pan and debris/dirt from the bottom) every other day just before bed (when they're all cozy in the cubes), so whatever they've stashed down there comes out tonight if they don't eat it today ... i check the cubes periodically while they're running around, but so far, they haven't hidden anything away in there.

Sometimes, when they're wrestling around, one will try to get away and run up the side of the cage. Another will jump up, grab him in a bear hug and haul him back down. Kind of funny to warch, but I keep worrying that they'll hurt one another.

Paranoid mom syndrome!!!

[island rehabber]

Everything you're describing is completely normal squirrel behavior. I've got six in one cage who don't stop from sunrise to sunset....growling, snarling, hanging on each other's waists as one tries to climb the cage, pouncing on one another from on top of the nest box, etc. It's NEVER quiet here during the day anymore . The rivalry over food is important so they learn that they must compete for food out in the wild....hanging back and waiting for siblings to finish would be a good way to starve to death in the woods. It's all normal.

[krysgrandmond]

Everything you're describing is completely normal squirrel behavior. I've got six in one cage who don't stop from sunrise to sunset....growling, snarling, hanging on each other's waists as one tries to climb the cage, pouncing on one another from on top of the nest box, etc. It's NEVER quiet here during the day anymore . The rivalry over food is important so they learn that they must compete for food out in the wild....hanging back and waiting for siblings to finish would be a good way to starve to death in the woods. It's all normal.

Glad to hear this!! LOL ... I mean, I know that siblings of ANY species will bicker, argue and wrestle around, and with animals, it has a lot to do with survival instincts, no matter how domestic they are. I just worry that all this pulling one another down off the side of the cage and all is going to end up with one of them getting hurt! :P

I'll let them go at it and keep doing what I'm doing. Everything I've seen on here says that these 12 week olds are healthy and fit and doing well. Makes me hesitant to change anything that I'm currently doing.

It CAN be quite entertaining to watch sometimes!

[riefderrico]

My spring releases were bad about that. The runt we named Hanibel (because he was always biting at everything) was always the first up, and would go around stealing food from everyone one and try to stash it. The others were ALWAYS chasing him and he was very vocal and fast - thought they were trying to kill each other . Most of the time they couldn't catch him but they could catch his tail and pull the fur out! By release time all he had for a tail was a poof on the top and poof at the bottom - so funny looking!!! It finally started to grow back again a few weeks ago although we can still see him back there every now and again it is getting harder and harder to tell him from the others.