He Bites

[Roy Woods]

I have a 3 month old male. when I let him out of his cage to play he likes to bite, not hard enough to break the skin but pretty hard. Is he playing or do you think he will bite harder as he gets older? Is there anything I can do to stop him from doing this?

[Ardilla]

Squirrels tend to "wild up" as they get older. He's following his natural instincts. It is because of this natural "wilding up" that TSB does not recommend keeping squirrels (other than Southern flying squirrels) as pets. Most squirrels choose to live free.

We can provide information on the safest, least traumatic way to prepare your baby for release.

[island rehabber]

:goodpost and a good answer. Once a squirrel follows his natural instinct to be wild, he will get bitey and you cannot 'discipline' him out of it as if he were a beagle.

[virgo062]

My boys bite at play time too. If you have multiples you will notice they bite on each other all the time so they will naturally bite you. No hugs and kisses from theys guys;) They don't bite hard enough to break the skin oh unless you have a KnotHead then he will chew your ear off

[JLM27]

Some people on TSB do feel that they can train their squirrel not to bite (if it is just playful biting), by stopping the play and saying "aht, aht aht!".

Serious biting occurs when they are wilding up or scared. Serious biting means, " I'm grown up now and want to be repected as an adult. Stay out of my space or I will bite you." After all, if people started handling you and touching you uninvited at the local Starbucks, you would probably bite them! (well, figuratively speaking.)