Unusual Aggressive Behavior

[Tinkerbell]

Hello Everyone - I hope you are all well - I've been reading what a wonderful thing you have all been diong & it warms my heart:Love_Icon

I wanted to ask if anyone can help me understand something. Tinkerbell is now 6 yrs old & she's very healthy & wonderful - but it's starting to get cold here & her frisky play has turned into aggressiveness. When Fall comes she gets more frisky & wants to play more - but last night she started biting & attacking. She hasn't done that in years - I can't think of anything unusual or out of the ordinary that we were wearing or doing. She's been hiding nuts under rugs, in my purse, etc. - which have eventually been cleaned up. I looked in her house and surprisingly didn't see any nuts. Also, she's been chirping more lately.

I'm sure she's highly frustrated that her stash keeps disappearing cause she looks for them & can't find them. I keep putting the nuts I find in her house - but she's not stashing anything in her house.
Any thoughts on why the unusual agression & what to do about it?

[Michigan Lady]

I am not an expert... as I am a new member too, but I can correspond behavior changes in our male squirrel as well, and it may be seasonally related.

I imagine that even squirrels bioliogically have internal clocks, and that these internal clocks signal them to do things and act in certain ways in order to prepare for winter.

Possibly your girl is trying to act out what her internal clock is telling her, which is to stash nuts for winter in different places in her "territory", which in her case, is your entire house.

Maybe by you moving the nuts from her stashed areas, she is becoming agitated, and therefore she is acting out. I'm not sure, I am only venturing a guess.

Also too, maybe your female is in season? I know it's probably not the proper time of year for a female squirrel to come into season, but being in captivity can change things.

Some animals, when provided a smorgasboard of food, will become more reproductive.. and females may come into estrus more often or even produce more young when bred. It happens in other species, so I imagine it can happen in squirrels too.

I've owned many different types of animals over the years, and found that many females who are in estrus (even dogs) can become very temperamental, and even act out of normal character. So maybe this could be the reason for her temperament change?

Maybe the thing to do is confine her for a while to her cage. Get her to stash all of her goodies in a smaller territory, and maybe once she has done that, start letting her out into your house more, and maybe the undesirable behavior will stop.

I have noticed a huge difference in activity level in our male squirrel in the last few days... he has become a speed racer.. just quick as lightning. He twitches and squeaks & chrips alot... and he's started nibbling, but hasn't bitten yet. We're hoping he doesn't ever bite.

So it's possible both of our squirrels may be responding to a natural internal mechanism.

I wish I could be more help, but I'm not very experienced yet.

Maybe some of the more experienced ladies on this board can give you a more matter-of-fact answer.
I am just offering a possible reason, that is based on my opinion.

Michelle

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

I would blame it on hormones and weather change =)
Unless recently you have new pets or new cleaners etc.

[Pam]

My 6 year old female's attitude/personality changes with hormones and seasons also. :D

[acorniv]

I have not been on this list for a long time, but came back today with the same concern, and I am eager to hear if others have gone through this in past years. Our concern is not just agitation but a loss of appetite.

Our Miss Hickory (Schmootie, is what we now call her) is 21 months old, very affectionate and has always been responsive to training. She's curious rather than hyper, playfully wrestles but doesn't bite, (except strangers) and has been completely uninterested in anything outside of her allowed range of a few rooms in our house. She has been easy and nothing but delightful since I last wrote. That changed about 3 weeks ago, when she became agitated and unsettled. She was like this when she was younger. We felt her food issues were at least part of the cause then. We have not see this behavior in nearly a year.

On Halloween, she darted outside, which she has never done or shown any interest in doing before. She went up a tree and then onto the roof where she sat under a circling hawk for 45 minutes before we were able to get her back in. The yard squirrels took up a warning call, while we humans flapped our arms and screamed at the hawk to hold it at bay and called her until she came back down. She knows all the warning cries, taught them to us, and responds to them when we use them. We taught her to climb as high as possible when, for example, a cat is accidentally let into the room while she is out. She followed the rule and went up, but obviously that rule does not work outdoors, and we have an active hawk and Baird's owl population :osnap .

Now all Schmootie thinks about is getting out. She chewed up a door, so I got metal kick plates. That stopped the chewing, but she is still unsettled and antisocial. She anxious runs back and forth from door to us, or tries to escape in various ways. We're discussing options, but meanwhile we have a more pressing problem: She has lost her appetite. She will eat a piece of corn here and there but only if we had feed her. She will eat one or two nuts, and today she licked salt off a potato chip she swiped from my dh (after nipping him to make him drop it - not typical behavior). She did not, BTW, eat while outside - even though part of the time she hung out in our big oak tree.

I know you'll ask what we feed her. Today it was pomegranate, strawberry and pear, plus 10 greens and root vegetables in the morning, and in the afternoon she got some acorns, berries from a dogwood tree (usually a favorite snack) and an almond, a walnut and a pecan. She touched none if it, except for corn we hand fed her. Some of you, especially Island Rehabber, may remember that she was always difficult to feed, had a terrible time with esbilac and weaned early. Last summer and fall I did a lot of research into what squirrels in the wild eat, in hopes of settling her into the most natural diet I could come up with. I discovered that books on trees cite studies on squirrel diet that is more thorough than what resources for squirrels have, so that was really helpful. We've tried to give her as natural a diet as possible, including things that may surprise some here, like dirt, grasshoppers and the husks of wild nuts as well as the nut itself. And she gets one dark chocolate chip every week or so (discovered safe after she stole an Easter treat) From Spring through Summer, about half her diet was wild, and she thrived for the first time. There is one quirk - with each food, she may love it every day for a week or two (like she recently did avocado) and then won't touch it again for months. I think she has a good sense of what she needs and when her body gets enough, she stops eating it. I've also learned that there aren't 4 seasons, like we're taught in school but many. You have four periods of weather, but food seasons are more complex. Some food bearing plants are on two or four year cycles, instead of one. Schmootie has never been a big squirrel but she filled out over the summer and looked really good. Now she is getting thin because she won't eat.

We're also considering weather change as a possible cause but we're remodeling our dining room and kitchen and she could be upset about having carpet changed to wood floors ( the smell can't be as squirrel friendly).

Comments?

Thanks!

Laurel

[Buddy'sMom]

:Welcome back acorniv and Miss Hickory!! I don't have any advice on this, just wanted to say Hi! Glad to hear she has been doing well (til this).

:grouphug :Love_Icon :grouphug

[acorniv]

Thanks so much. Good to see you too :wave123



:Welcome back acorniv and Miss Hickory!! I don't have any advice on this, just wanted to say Hi! Glad to hear she has been doing well (til this).

:grouphug :Love_Icon :grouphug

[FLUFFYTAILNUT]

SO..sorry your..Tinkerbell is going through this spell..
I think it's been more common for the girl squirrel's to go through this..I have an inside male grey squirrel he's a year old and three months..
He hasnt ever..had any of these stash moments..
ANd hasnt been aggressive with his behavior towards me..NOW..YES....mean...terrorist..like towards my almost 12 year old son...( I think its a testosetone...issue with the two of them..):poke

I hope some one..can give you a heads up..that can settle your mind..Im sure she still loves you...just having a PMS..moment..:)
Have a great night..
Rachel n Bean:wave123

[Michigan Lady]

Hi Laurel,

I would bet your girl is coming of age, and these actions are her biological clock telling her to do things.

I would think that her desire to get outdoors might be that she is trying to find a mate!

At this point, if she is getting skinny, I would try anything to get weight on her. Try chunks of cheese, as that is high fat and would be good to help her put some weight back on.
I know I buy this special cheese for our male squirrel at the local farm market and he LOVES it.
It's blueberry white cheddar. It doesn't have any sugar in it. It is white cheddar with whole blueberries in it. Our squirrel can't get enough of it.
They also make cherry white cheddar, cranberry white cheddar, elderberry white cheddar and fig white cheddar.

Maybe you might be able to find something like that where you're at, and see if this might be something to stimulate the desire to eat.

I also crush up calcium tablets and put it in a ziploc bag and put all the food I feed my squirrel in the bag & shake it up, so it coats all the food with calcium.

What about cut up hard boiled egg or even offering your girl some live crickets?

I guess at this point, trying anything to see if she will feed is worth it.

Good luck.

Michelle

[acorniv]

Today I'd like to report we are getting a little improvement. I finished squirrel proofing all the doors and she was surprisingly accepting of being banned from the garage and basement, though she is still pouncing on me and my computer to get me to open the front door for her.

Really? Do you think it's hormones? It seems so late in the season, and I thought they reach maturity at a younger age. She did go through a period where she did the mating call last fall (when she was 6 months old), and she's not doing that now. But my dd, who had the best view of her on the roof said she did a lot of sniffing around up there, and maybe she was picking up the scent of either competition or a male. It might also explain the loss of appetite. If this is the case, how long does it last?

If she went outside looking for a mate she'd be pretty disappointed. We have virtually no males, and a huge number of females here. The reason for this is Blind Bob, who some of you may remember. BB is now 11 years old, and a two time survivor of terrible attacks by Baird's owls. Despite being born with cataracts in one eye (he has 0 vision in that eye) and poor hearing, plus his battle scared body, and all around puniness, Blind Bob is the king of the hill here. He does not tolerate other males, and those that his harem give birth to are sent packing when they reach maturity. He fights like a ninja master, including fancy flourishes. :bowdown

She is eating normally today (whew!). We're allowing her whatever she wants, and she's taking full advantage, LOL. Nuts and potato chips - I figure one day of bad girl food won't hurt her. She won't touch cheese or eggs, which is a shame as those things are readily available ( that blueberry cheese sounds really interesting!). It's usually something wild that gets her eating when her appetite wanes. In general she is not very interested in people food. I will pick up some live crickets next time I'm out, but she was eating grasshoppers until recently and then decided they were out of season, LOL. This is how picky she is: she would go through our catchings and eat the younger females and reject the others. It made us feel awful, to single out young available females!

I do the calcium shake up, and I also buy organic almond butter, and mix it with ground up rodent block and calcium. I roll them in little balls and sometimes roll these in sesame seeds. She thinks these are just 'okay' but I recommend others who have reluctant rodent block eaters try this - you might have better luck than I do.

She used to like baby dolls ( both dolls and stuffed animals), so I think we'll give her some of those again. If she's feeling a nesting urge she might like to mother something.


Thanks!`


Hi Laurel,

I would bet your girl is coming of age, and these actions are her biological clock telling her to do things.

I would think that her desire to get outdoors might be that she is trying to find a mate!

At this point, if she is getting skinny, I would try anything to get weight on her. Try chunks of cheese, as that is high fat and would be good to help her put some weight back on.
I know I buy this special cheese for our male squirrel at the local farm market and he LOVES it.
It's blueberry white cheddar. It doesn't have any sugar in it. It is white cheddar with whole blueberries in it. Our squirrel can't get enough of it.
They also make cherry white cheddar, cranberry white cheddar, elderberry white cheddar and fig white cheddar.

Maybe you might be able to find something like that where you're at, and see if this might be something to stimulate the desire to eat.

I also crush up calcium tablets and put it in a ziploc bag and put all the food I feed my squirrel in the bag & shake it up, so it coats all the food with calcium.

What about cut up hard boiled egg or even offering your girl some live crickets?

I guess at this point, trying anything to see if she will feed is worth it.

Good luck.

Michelle

[acorniv]

How is Tinkerbell today? Has there been any improvement? The chirping sound - is it that mating call chirp? Kind of a mournful Chirrupppp? We're only getting warning woofs, followed by nips. ;.mn` and that. the ;.mn - that was her running across my laptop. LOTS of that. But not much stopping to get a butt scratch form us.

I hope we're both just dealing with randy girls and this will pass soon!

Laurel




Hello Everyone - I hope you are all well - I've been reading what a wonderful thing you have all been diong & it warms my heart:Love_Icon

I wanted to ask if anyone can help me understand something. Tinkerbell is now 6 yrs old & she's very healthy & wonderful - but it's starting to get cold here & her frisky play has turned into aggressiveness. When Fall comes she gets more frisky & wants to play more - but last night she started biting & attacking. She hasn't done that in years - I can't think of anything unusual or out of the ordinary that we were wearing or doing. She's been hiding nuts under rugs, in my purse, etc. - which have eventually been cleaned up. I looked in her house and surprisingly didn't see any nuts. Also, she's been chirping more lately.

I'm sure she's highly frustrated that her stash keeps disappearing cause she looks for them & can't find them. I keep putting the nuts I find in her house - but she's not stashing anything in her house.
Any thoughts on why the unusual agression & what to do about it?

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

JMO here but I would be concerned about calcium and nutrition with a diet of fruit, veggies, corn and nuts with the occasional insect...
I am pretty sure a squirrel won't starve themselves unless they are sick with something else.
Perhaps you should force her to eat rodent block and syringe her a pureed protein and high calories mash with supplements in the meantime?
Her wanting to get out sounds normal. She is a wild squirrel... and now that she has been out and experienced outsoors and freedom she wants it.

[acorniv]

Thanks for responding, Squirrlie Girl,

I do dust her food with calcium - you may have missed that. Can you recommend a 'mash' such as you described?

I can't see force feeding a squirrel unless they exhibit signs of lethargy or MBD or something. Schmootie is active and seems to be thriving - she just stopped eating for a few days when she was most agitated.

Schmootie has a lot of trouble digesting many of the things squirrels are typically fed on this board. In particular she is lactose intolerant. Esbilac was a big problem for her, and getting her through infancy was a touch and go thing (she was 7 weeks old when we got her). Cheese, yogurt, and protein powders all would bring back the dairy problems ( you'd think she could digest yogurt but she couldn't).

Her tummy trouble is why I began researching what squirrels have been studied eating in the wild. Many of those things are never mentioned on squirrel lists because they aren't sold in stores, or available year around. Some of the things people are told to feed squirrels they'd never eat in the wild ( like dairy products, once they are weaned). I understand not everyone has access to wild foods, but for those of us who do have access, I'd like to know why a wild diet (which I do supplement with store bought items) would be considered a poor diet? It seems to me it would be optimal, so long as you cover all the basics. I live in a region that is heavily wooded, BTW. Schmootie's favorite thing is inspecting our pockets and baskets for things we've found while we've been out.

Packaged pet foods all tend to be poor diets, and have lots of filler, so with all due respect, I've never believed that rat block is *best*. I've tried to get her to accept it just in case we ever can't get food for her, but she just isn't having any of it. If I can find a home made food that is similar and on which she thrived, I'd be thrilled.




JMO here but I would be concerned about calcium and nutrition with a diet of fruit, veggies, corn and nuts with the occasional insect...
I am pretty sure a squirrel won't starve themselves unless they are sick with something else.
Perhaps you should force her to eat rodent block and syringe her a pureed protein and high calories mash with supplements in the meantime?
Her wanting to get out sounds normal. She is a wild squirrel... and now that she has been out and experienced outsoors and freedom she wants it.

[Bright1]

:wott Squirrels are highly prone to thier hormones and the females tend to be worst for it. During the spring and the autumn (fall) they tend to become agitated, frisky, excitable and agresive. This is because they are being told by thier body that they need to mate.

There are several factors that make a big difrence here:

The first is the presence of other squirrels. If there are other squirrels around then it will excite your squirrels hormones even more.
Females will make females more agressive, as will males make males more agressive.
Females will make males more active and frisky, but males will make females more docile furtive/shy.
Additionally, squirrels have an exceptional sense of smell, if you have open windows or your squirrel lives outside, then they will be able to tell if there are other squirrels within a few killometers by the scent on the air, and the other squirrels hormones will affect your squirrel just as above.

Next is the seasonal change.
Spring is the main breeding season for squirrels and so thier spring behaiour is often difrent from thier autumn (fall) breeding behaviour. In the spring thier is a glut of food and so squirrels tend not to store very much of it as it often wont last. As a result, they tend to be far more sociable and placid during the spring.

The autumn (fall) breeding season is only avaliable when there is a late winter and there has been a long summer, providing a plentifull autumn (fal) harvest. However there is far less food during the autumn (fall) season and so squirrels are naturally more agressive durring this time as they need to compete for food.

And finaly, there is the yearly cycle.
In nature, fruit and nut producing trees have a boom year every five to six years or so (sometimes up to 14 years) where they produce a harvest that is greater than all the previous years combined. In britain we had such a boon year last year. It is posable the area you are in has had a boon year this year.

When these boon years occour, all of the wildlife in the area is keyed to take full advantage of it. If your squirrel is aware of the great harvest avaliable, it can lead to a masivly increased mating urge, stronger than any previous year. (Which could explain why you have not seen the behaviour untill now.)


To avoide geting your squirrels frustrated at this time of year, keep them awayf rom other squirrels and from the outside as much as posable. Try to wind proof thier enclusure if they live outside to rdeuce the amount of exposure they have to wild squirrels hormones.

If your squirrel is burrying nuts, try to avoide distrurbing them and leave as many in place as you can, because squirrels regularly check on thier stashes and will get frustrated if they disapear. (Squirrels do not store food in thier nests because the smell of food could potentially lead a predator or parasite to the nest, and because the conditions in the nest would cause the food to spoil to quickly.)

If you have a tree squirrel, rember that they need to run a lot durring the mating season and require a massive range to show of thier physical prowes in. So give them plenty of large branches and lots of space.:wott

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

The diet should be 80% rodent block which does not contain dairy. They get other things besides calcium from the block. So sprinkling it over it isn't going to make up for other essentials needed. I understand she is lactose intolerant however squirrels shouldn't be getting anything with lactose in their diet anyway after weaned. I don't expect a squirrel to easily digest yogurt and I have been trying to explain why it does not help diarrhea as people thought for many years.
No the lab block may not be the best designed but its the best designed thus far and since we cannot give them everyday what they could get to in nature it is the best possible. HT is a very good block btw. Not full of junk or corn.
I don't disagree with feeding a squirrel a most natural diet however if he is in capture and not going to be released ,then the diet can't possibly be "natural" as a squirrel will balance its own diet in nature. We however are giving them whatever we give them that day, they would know better what to get that day. Also there is not enough research done on what is in a wild squirrels stomach, there would need to be a study done daily for at least a month and it would have to be done in every area. We can't base it on only a few studies in a few areas in a little amount of time nor do we know how old those studies are.
One area of territory might not have what another area does. A lot of studies will have results that are of unknown seeds, unknown insects, unknown bacteria etc. They eat things that we don't even know about so it is impossible to have access to all of it no matter where you live. Its near impossible to give them what they eat in nature every day and enough to naturally balance out their system. This is why it is important to give 80% rodent block so they get what they need each time along with the fresh stuff. I understand wanting everything to be natural for them, trust me I do. I wish! Its just not probable.
There aren't many nuts trees all over except for oaks and chestnuts and these in capture should still be given in moderation after the balanced diet is consumed. None of my wild squirrels ever see pecans, peanuts, walnuts etc unless people throw them. Thats not natural. I can tell you besides nuts in the city over here there are very few gardens and crops. There is no way the sq's over here are getting squash, carrots, veggies, fruits etc. However they still balance out their diet with the things they have access to including garbage, other plants, and berries we don't even know about.
Since this SQ is in capture you need to think more realistically on a balance diet in capture. Just trying to help you.







Thanks for responding, Squirrlie Girl,

I do dust her food with calcium - you may have missed that. Can you recommend a 'mash' such as you described?

I can't see force feeding a squirrel unless they exhibit signs of lethargy or MBD or something. Schmootie is active and seems to be thriving - she just stopped eating for a few days when she was most agitated.

Schmootie has a lot of trouble digesting many of the things squirrels are typically fed on this board. In particular she is lactose intolerant. Esbilac was a big problem for her, and getting her through infancy was a touch and go thing (she was 7 weeks old when we got her). Cheese, yogurt, and protein powders all would bring back the dairy problems ( you'd think she could digest yogurt but she couldn't).

Her tummy trouble is why I began researching what squirrels have been studied eating in the wild. Many of those things are never mentioned on squirrel lists because they aren't sold in stores, or available year around. Some of the things people are told to feed squirrels they'd never eat in the wild ( like dairy products, once they are weaned). I understand not everyone has access to wild foods, but for those of us who do have access, I'd like to know why a wild diet (which I do supplement with store bought items) would be considered a poor diet? It seems to me it would be optimal, so long as you cover all the basics. I live in a region that is heavily wooded, BTW. Schmootie's favorite thing is inspecting our pockets and baskets for things we've found while we've been out.

Packaged pet foods all tend to be poor diets, and have lots of filler, so with all due respect, I've never believed that rat block is *best*. I've tried to get her to accept it just in case we ever can't get food for her, but she just isn't having any of it. If I can find a home made food that is similar and on which she thrived, I'd be thrilled.

[Tinkerbell]

I think it's a mating call - it's that painful call - she's stopped doing it yesterday - but still running all over like crazy :multi - she's calming just a bit & doesn't have run of the entire house at the moment. My thoughts are she may have been in mating mode & she's overly worried about her stash. Hopefully keeping her in "her room" more of the time will help her through this. Yes - she's been looking for her stash - so I've put them all in her room & she's re-stashed them. Hello Fluffy Nut - I loved your pictures - how fun.

[Penelope's Mom]

I'm so glad I found this post! Penelope has been such a handful lately-I've been bitten more than a few times the past two weeks, and I was getting worried that maybe something was wrong with her. She completely normal for the most part, still eating regularly and all, but she's in winter food-storage mode, and has gotten territorial. My poor dog even gets chased by her now! :sanp3

[Anne]

Maybe all the pet fuzziers need the Ott lights just now during the seasonal change. Many humans do during winter.

[Penelope's Mom]

And a good dose of Prozac!

Only kidding...sort of...:poke

[baby_chikito]

O crap.:shakehead .I got a girl squirrell...only had her a month 2 weeks and 1 day so she still nice for right now..lol.... but glad to know this.. a head of time before anything happen...I know whats goin on....and I agree with FLUFFYTAILNUT about the PMS.. i guess every girl gets it...lol...even animals..:tilt

[Tinkerbell]

Here's some cute pictures of Tinkerbell - I hope they post correctly - she's so pretty!!

[Penelope's Mom]

What a pretty girl!:D

[scurry'smama]

Thank Goodness for all of the members here. Scurry just started to freak out today with me!! I was completely upset by her aggressive behavior. She had acted out with my Husband earlier in the week but had maintained her sweet demeanor with her 2 favs... me and Destiny, but this am was just crazy protecting her cage from me and was very difficult to round up to get back in the cage. She even chased our young Yorkie-poo across the room. She has access to see the outside where MANY wild squirrel live in our yard. She was wrestling with her hammock like crazy and yelled at me and tried to scratch me when I got near her cage. That was early am . By noon she was the same sweetie... drinking some afternoon milk and running up for kisses. I was just chalking this up to teenage bratty behavior. She seemed to think she was hilarious chasin Mom away. Thank you for the posts!!! Helping us understand our Bi-Polar squirrel!~~mjs

[Sciurus1]

Here are three of your photos with the red-eye removed.

[4skwerlz]

What is her diet? MBD can cause behavioral changes, and unless she's been eating rodent blocks all along, she could easily have nutritional deficiencies at her age. It seems odd that she would get hormonal for the first time at 6 yrs old.

[Squerly]

Have you made any changes to her habitat? Perhaps cleaned his cage or moved his stuff around?

I can't say how a grey squirrel is going to react, but our flying squirrel would show the same symptoms if you made a change to his house or nesting area. Chipper (our flyer) lived in a cabinet in our bathroom. A 3" PVC pipe went through the wall and connected our bedroom to the cabinet, so he could come and go as he wanted.

But from time to time it became necessary to clean his cabinet out. We would take him out of the room to make the cleaning process a little easier on all of us. But upon his return, all hell would break loose. He would run around frantically, looking for all of his "stuff". And then the process of moving ALL of his stash would start. It would take hours, but he would move every single nut and pecan to another (safe) location.

And during this process he would be frantic and aggressive. We always felt terrible having to put him through this because it was clear that he felt violated.

Perhaps Tinkerbell is upset with something you have changed?

[Mads]

[QUOTE=Bright1]:wott Squirrels are highly prone to thier hormones and the females tend to be worst for it.

Well, seeing how she is 6 years old...I hope I read that right....maybe it's peri menapause for squirrels. I'm pretty friggin' grouchy these days myself...

Seriously though, I think all animals are affected in strange ways during seasons changings. Even humans. I really find that this time of year is hard on all animals. You have the "crazy " hunters in the woods....the daylight is less, it's getting cold...and they are all trying to survive with less and less by the day. A friend lost a dog a few weeks ago. She felt that her dog was so well behaved that she would never go through her invisable fence, but she did. She ran through, crossed the road and was hit by a car and killed instantly. Animals do things this time of year that is unexplainable.

[acorniv]

How awful :-(. This reminds me of a couple of things. I once went to the ER for stitches and an orderly noticed I had been there a month earlier. He asked where I was on my menstrual cycle, because we are clumsier and spacier during certain times of the month.

Then I was reminded that two of our healthiest wild females were hit by cars in exactly the same spot this month. We live in the far corner of a quiet subdivision, so this is not a common ocurrence. We theorized that the second may have been the sister and safety buddy of the first and may have smelled her buddy at that spot and stopped to check when she got hit. but perhaps it was just hormones making them spacey ?

I think I will start a chart of when I see animals hit near my house. I can keep a calendar in my car and it will always be handy.

Laurel




[QUOTE=Bright1]:wott Squirrels are highly prone to thier hormones and the females tend to be worst for it.
I think all animals are affected in strange ways during seasons changings. Even humans. I really find that this time of year is hard on all animals. You have the "crazy " hunters in the woods....the daylight is less, it's getting cold...and they are all trying to survive with less and less by the day. A friend lost a dog a few weeks ago. She felt that her dog was so well behaved that she would never go through her invisable fence, but she did. She ran through, crossed the road and was hit by a car and killed instantly. Animals do things this time of year that is unexplainable.

[acorniv]

Michelle, you were correct :thumbsup :thankyou

Schmootie is finished being aggressive and trying to sneak outside. I'mso glad that only lasted a week or so!

Now life is all about burying nuts and battening the hatches in her drey. Last week she hid 2 pounds of nuts in shells, and when she'd depleted the bag she dug some out and reburied them. Got that itch out of her system and started rebuilding her sleeping quarters. Yesterday she went through an entire box of kleenex, which pulled back out today, to her resigned disapproval (she really puts up with a lot from us, for a wild animal). The dray was rock hard, it was so packed full, and I suspect she slept on her porch last night, silly girl. She lives in a converted but unheated screen porch so we always double check her drays to make sure she is warm enough, and on especially cold nights we blow dry the inside to warm them up before bed. If we don't she has a bad night and always has big bags under her eyes in the morning ( anyone else notice this?) Today I pulled out all the kleenex and replaced it with squares of cashmere cut from moth eaten sweaters. I also made her a second choice of dray out of a nice thick piece of shearling from custom made car seats that my DH once had. Two options allows her to choose depending on the weather. I really like this dray - it's shaped much like a boot, with a funnel entrance. She inspected it at length but has not accepted it fully yet. We'll see. She seems very pleased when we make her things even if she doesn't use them. I think it may be why she lets us have some say in her own work.

Anyway, thanks again. I'll know what to watch for next time.

Laurel


Hi Laurel,

I would bet your girl is coming of age, and these actions are her biological clock telling her to do things.

Michelle

[Tinkerbell]

Thank you Sciurus1 for posting those correctly - could you please tell me how to size the pictures correctly?

4Skwerlz - she's eating pecans, some acorns, avocado, spinach, nibbles on squash, snow peas, pumpkin, & Katie Forti Diet (sprinkle crushed calcium over food)- just ordered Rodent Block AGAIN from Chris squirrel (last batch went bad cause she wouldn't eat it). She seems to eat 1 pecan & stashes the other.

Grounded her to her room for a couple of days & she hid her nuts most of the time - brought her out in the evening & she seemed nicer - although she looked for her stash under rugs etc. a lot. Still leary about having her around the other family members at the moment - I know she's mad cause her stash dissapears in the house - but she seems to be better now that her stash is more contained to her room. The juries still out though.

Please let me know if I should be feeding her anything else until the rodent block gets here - she's a VERY picky eater. THANK you all. She's so sweet.

[Tinkerbell]

Oh Squerly -yes - I think she is very mad cause her hidden treasures (nuts) were cleaned up - I try to leave the ones she hides in the trees, etc. - but the ones under the rugs, in the candles, in the newspaper, in the tissue box, etc. are just too hard to keep there. I am hoping by making her hide her nuts in her space will reassure her she'll be fine through winter.

Also, I have been backing down her nuts to encourage her to eat the calcium rich foods & I know she's never happy about that. :nono