Do male squirrels kill newborns?

[Anne]

I was given a pair of squirrels that were raised together in the same cage they are about 15 months old. I do believe the female is expecting do to actions a month ago. A friend has told me that male squirrels will kill any babies born (like male lions) so that they may breed again.
Is this true? If so, I will have to try and catch the male and more him for several weeks just in case babies are coming. Neither adult squirrel is releasable.

[squirrelfriend]

What kind of squirrels are these?

With Eastern Greys I would say that the female would like to be alone to raise her babies.

[Jackie in Tampa]

Wow, I didn't think grays bred in captivity!
What kind of sqs do you have?
:dono ...my answer for the moment...BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY...
wish I could help you more...
there are excellent people here who may can help better!
Good Luck:wave123

[Anne]

Thank you for answering. Yes, these are grey/brown squirrels. The adults seem to be very closely bonded. a lot of mutual grooming, etc.

[MyBushyTail]

I had asked about that at one time and from what I had been told is that the male squirrels will kill the babies.

[Jackie in Tampa]

:wave123 Hello Annie...just wanted to drop back in and share our nutrition forum with you...We have a couple smart members who are working on the proper sq diet. We have a forum "SQUIRREL NUTRITION"..pls take the time to ck it out...TSB as a whole is striving to improve the lifes of our pets. If your sqs are 15 months old, you're no beginner, but I wanted to share anyway.:)
Diet is the key to having healthy happy sqs.
Good luck with the expecting momma :D

:wahoo :wahoo :wahoo baby sqs on the way:grouphug

[squirrelfriend]

I haven't had any of my Eastern greys breed in captivity but I did have a squirrel that I brought in (Weebles) that happened to be pregnant. She gave birth one week after I got her. I was cleaning up her cage and feeding her when I noticed this strange thing on the bottom of the cage. It was a new born pinkie. Well, well, what a surprise for me! She didn't want anybody near her babies. I think other squirrels around a grey would put too much stress on the momma.

If the baby was an orphan the baby would accept any other adult. They kind of latch on to them but the adult might not be so amused by it. The adult might attack it if it comes over to them. There are a few exceptions to this rule like Tilty. He will take in any baby but he is exceptional. He has absolutely no aggression.

I would say as a general rule to keep the babies seperate from any adults that are not the mother.

we need pics!:) :thumbsup

[TexanSquirrel]

:Welcome Best of luck to you!

[Sciurus1]

From my experience, even with the same species, as soon as the baby matured to a juvenile the adult it was raised with rejected it. I saw this begin when we placed the juvenile near the adult to rest. First it seemed it might accept it, but then out of the blue, nip and off went the juvenile. I tried another day, and held the younger squirrel covering all the vital parts, near the adult, which was a big mistake! The adult approached like one of those unafraid black bears hunting with no sound, or gestures, and then having climbed up my arm, bit my finger very hard which bled. Thankfully it didn't touch the juvenile I was holding, who completely trusted me and was submissive before the adult. Housing them in adjoining pens worked well, for they kept one another company, without having to actually share territory, which was often contested in challenges at the divider. They were friendly enemies, eating at times parallel to one another, and at other times, especially in the fall, challenged one another nearly continually. As fr as syblings, most do the same when they approach maturity, and will try to dominate or chase the other off in noisy but usually harmless battles. No, I do nto think under most circumstances that they could be housed in the same pen, but in adjoiing ones, if they are the same species, that is generally ok. If though both every got out at the same time, I sure wouldn't want to have to try to stop the battle.