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Mavrycs Mommy
12-03-2011, 10:37 AM
i would like to start feeding the squirrels around my house (we live in the woods so theres alot of them) but im concerned that feeding them may effect Mavrycs release in the spring :dono i dont want the wilds to chase my baby off when the time comes but i dont want the wilds to be hungry either :thinking is this something i should worry about or no?! and if i do feed them what should i feed because i doubt they will like RB, Mavryc says its an acquired taste :rotfl :rotfl :poke

also i DONT want to incourage the coons to stick around we have a VERY VERY nasty guy who attacked Matthews Mothers cat!!! the same coon sneaks into the barn to steal rabit food and just recently attacked one of my buns he tore her up so bad she had to be put down :shakehead (actually he could barely get his hand in the hutch bars but he swiped her a bit and after that she was so scared she broke her own spine thumping away) im strongly considering a trap for this guy and taking him somewhere else i would just feel terrible unleashing this little monster on someone else though :shakehead

astra
12-03-2011, 11:46 AM
i would like to start feeding the squirrels around my house (we live in the woods so theres alot of them) but im concerned that feeding them may effect Mavrycs release in the spring :dono i dont want the wilds to chase my baby off when the time comes but i dont want the wilds to be hungry either :thinking is this something i should worry about or no?! and if i do feed them what should i feed because i doubt they will like RB, Mavryc says its an acquired taste :rotfl :rotfl :poke

also i DONT want to incourage the coons to stick around we have a VERY VERY nasty guy who attacked Matthews Mothers cat!!! the same coon sneaks into the barn to steal rabit food and just recently attacked one of my buns he tore her up so bad she had to be put down :shakehead (actually he could barely get his hand in the hutch bars but he swiped her a bit and after that she was so scared she broke her own spine thumping away) im strongly considering a trap for this guy and taking him somewhere else i would just feel terrible unleashing this little monster on someone else though :shakehead
your concern that the wilds, accustomed to your food, might make Mav's release more difficult, is a legitimate one. It does not mean that it will definitely complicate things for him, but there is a chance.
There are a lot of variables here, one of which Mav's own temperament.
A lot of people here feed wilds and yet are able to release their squirrels (not all released squirrels stick around, though).
Some people did experience difficulty with releasing their singletons having wilds that are used to being fed and, apparently, have no intention of losing such a great location.;-)
Then, if the area in your backyard is large enough, it might not affect the release as negatively as if your backyard was smaller.
Also, often in the Spring/Summer boys tend to relocate, generally, boys tend to relocate more often.

As for what to feed them, here you can be more flexible in terms of nuts. Wilds seem to know intuitively how to balance their food intake for optimum nutrition. Wilds very, very, very, very rarely get MBD. I have never heard or read of one personally, but one of TSB members (don't remember who, maybe, 4skwerlz or UDoWhat) heard of one case. But that's about it.
You can feed them BooBalls- mine liked them, a variety of nuts, some corn (occasionally), apple chunks, avocado. But if you put all of that together, they will go for the nuts, of course, leaving everything else behind.;-)
I used to give them BooBalls, fruit and avocado, and even some home made HHBs first, say, in the morning. And then, in the afternoon, i'd give them nuts.
CritterMom gives them commercial rodent block soaked in pb. I think, she pours pb on rodent blocks, nukes them so that pb is hot and sizzling (or about that), lets them cool a bit and gives them to her wilds. They love it.
YOu can do something along the same lines, if you would like to.

As for the coon - do not leave food out for the night.(that might also attract rats to your area, and as much as I love them, we must admit that they do not make good friends with squirrels and bunnies)
I always cleaned up my deck (wasn't hard to do because I wasn't feeding tiny stuff like seeds). You will need to figure out something (feeding spot, station, "technique") so that you can check for any leftovers and clean them up. Although, if you give them nuts, I doubt there will be any leftovers.;-)

You might have to relocate the coon.
The Skuls have done it many times. You could consult with them on what's best way to do it and when - so that you don't end up relocating a mother coon during her baby season.
In the winter coons tend to show up less often, because they are supposed to sort of hibernate. It is not true hibernation (like bears), because they do come out for food.

Hope, this helps.
I am sure, other people will share their experience with feeding wilds.

Mavrycs Mommy
12-03-2011, 12:02 PM
:thankyou for your reply... im sure Mavs release will be a hard one as is he is such a sweet sweet boy and hes almost four months old (15 weeks to be exact :D ) and he has shown NO signs of wilding up:poke ... if anything hes getting sweeter :dono idk if it its because hes a singleton, i baby him to much, or its just early for him to wild up :thinking he is SO tame its not even funny he gives kisses and will just lay in bed and cuddle (while watching tv i might add) for hours so yea unless things change durring the next several months i will be in for a rough time im sure :osnap so i def dont want to make it anyworse on him by feeding wilds :poke

and that coon WILL be relocated before i release Mavryc :nono i will not have anything happen to him on my account

Mavrycs Mommy
12-03-2011, 11:42 PM
:poke :bump

Pierre
12-04-2011, 07:02 AM
There are definitely ppl here with much greater experience, but I used to feed my wilds and it was a problem when I released my sweet sweet over-wintered never wild-up little male singleton [Grayson aka Tater Tot] this past spring. He did get beaten up a lot for awhile by the wilds, and chased around. Made me sad and worried of course.

I stopped actively feeding the wilds and things did calm down. Grayson rarely has a boo boo now and seems calmer too. I am very lucky as many boys move on, but my guy toughed it out and stayed here. I'm so proud of him! I get to see him everyday and he is just gorgeous. Plump and fluffy and almost all gray now for winter! He still sits on my shoulder and lets me rub him.

I also have 5 fall releases in my back yard that I don't want run off by the wilds either, so sadly, I'm not going to actively feed the wilds again. The babies really need me so they come first.

Best of luck!
:grouphug

Mavrycs Mommy
12-04-2011, 06:39 PM
There are definitely ppl here with much greater experience, but I used to feed my wilds and it was a problem when I released my sweet sweet over-wintered never wild-up little male singleton [Grayson aka Tater Tot] this past spring. He did get beaten up a lot for awhile by the wilds, and chased around. Made me sad and worried of course.

I stopped actively feeding the wilds and things did calm down. Grayson rarely has a boo boo now and seems calmer too. I am very lucky as many boys move on, but my guy toughed it out and stayed here. I'm so proud of him! I get to see him everyday and he is just gorgeous. Plump and fluffy and almost all gray now for winter! He still sits on my shoulder and lets me rub him.

I also have 5 fall releases in my back yard that I don't want run off by the wilds either, so sadly, I'm not going to actively feed the wilds again. The babies really need me so they come first.

Best of luck!
:grouphug

:thankyou no food for the squirrels lol

pappy1264
12-04-2011, 06:55 PM
I feed the wilds, (although most of them I released anyway! lol) They have done well, but then I live on the woods, so they all have their own space, but come up to the house to get food and they will actually run around each other with no fighting. Now, I have two reds, who I have not raised, who also come up to eat. They will on occasion chase after a grey, as they leave with a nut...but I just call them, and they turn back to me to get their own! The coon is the thing that scares me the most in your situation. (If it were me, I would trap him and move him somewhere else, but that is me.) You do plan on doing a soft release with Mav, right? (Caged outside for at least a month.) Doing so, the wilds will get somewhat used to him and vice versa, so hopefully they won't have too much issue with him (esp. if when he is outside, they see when you bring him stuff, you bring them stuff, too.) (Course, you could always send him here.....:D :D :D :crazy lol)

Milo's Mom
12-04-2011, 07:05 PM
I offer the wilds some treats over the summer...basically leftovers from Ellie...better than throwing them out in the trash can. During the cold months when food is hard to find I do offer fresh greens, fruit, nuts, & some block. In the past I've had 3 different feeding stations throughout the yard. Since I released 5 this past summer I will again make sure to offer food daily this winter...only this year, due to limited funds, I will not be placing as much out. However, if I see them getting thin, I'll take the food out of my mouth so they can have it...I can stand to loose a few :sanp3 .
I also do not place any of the feeding stations anywhere near my release cage, and when I am getting ready to put a fuzzer in the release cage, I spread the indoor cage cleanings in the area of the release cage for several weeks so that the "in transition" fuzzer's scent is all over the place long before they arrive. Not sure if it helps or not, but seems logical to me.
Maybe just place some nuts (in shells) far out in the woods (not close to the house) this way if they are hungry they can eat and if they want to stash the nuts will keep until they are found again. Again, place them far away from the house...far away from the area where you are planning to release Mav.

Fireweed
12-04-2011, 07:19 PM
I live in the woods, too, and I used to feed the wild squirrels. However, it became a big problem. I love my wilds and I couldn't bear the fact that it was because of me that there were so many problems--so I basically stopped.

What happened to me was that many of them moved in closer to The Buffet and then they started to fight over the closer territories. Sometimes the fights caused major injuries (and just the minor injuries and constant stress on them is bad enough, no?)
The food, and the many squirrels attracted to it, also attracts hawks, coyotes, etc. You are bound to see predation eventually if you feed buffet-style.
Also, the squirrels overpopulate in too small an area because of the food source. This leads to less and less space for each individual squirrel. It leads to more fighting. It leads to less natural foods for each squirrel family. It leads to males killing baby squirrels, etc.

It also did make it more difficult to release my squirrel because there were already a few squirrels who 'owned' my yard (even though I had stopped feeding at the time). Now he's moved far from the house because of it (even though I haven't fed the squirrels for over a year--the fallout from when I did still affected him this year). I worry constantly about him because I can't see him easily from the house. :tilt

I do hand feed a few squirrels AT THEIR OWN HOME-TREE because they had once been sick and I was hand-feeding them during their illness and simply continued to do so. I bring them one treat a day--right to their tree. I call them and they come. I make it a point not to ever feed them anywhere else because doing so only leads to fighting.
And this is the only way I can think not to attract more squirrels to the area and in turn, more birds, more predators, more fights, and overpopulation, etc. yet still get to hand-feed a few special squirrels. :)

For food, I grind up rodent block very fine and then I add hazelnut flour (or if I don't have that, a smattering of crushed nuts). I then wet it with water to form a sort of 'doughy' mixture. Sometimes I smush this mixture around a pecan, sometimes I just roll them into balls. In colder weather or just for an extra treat, I'll add a bit of almond butter to the mix. Sometimes, I'll blend some veggies up and add that to the rodent block dough. The wilds don't often eat veggies without them hidden in the mix, but they will sometimes eat fruit.

Good luck whatever you decide to do. It's almost impossible not to feed those cute wilds :D ...but there's a lot to think about if you do. :)

[Pierre... sheesh, I have to come in to THIS thread to get an update on :Love_Icon Grayson:Love_Icon ? :poke :shakehead :D ]

astra
12-04-2011, 07:25 PM
[Pierre... sheesh, I have to come in to THIS thread to get an update on :Love_Icon Grayson:Love_Icon ? :poke :shakehead :D ]
:goodpost :poke :goodpost :poke :goodpost :nono :shakehead

Mavrycs Mommy
12-06-2011, 02:59 AM
:thankyou all for your input! i will NOT be feeding the wilds :dono as much as i'd love to feed the squirrelys i cant risk mavrycs future safety.... i am however considering milos moms suggestion of occasionally walking deep into the woods and leaving a snack for the little guys but im lazy so no promises :osnap i also considered walking to matthews grandmas (just a ways up the road) and feeding them there but there is already two walnut trees there so i dont think they need me lol :rotfl

pappy1264
12-06-2011, 08:33 AM
In my case, before I released my six last year, I only had Pinkie (who I also released) and the reds hanging around. They guys out there now are all my guys I released this year. They are not fighting, will literally walk around each other if one is leaving and one is coming and seem to get they will will get theirs. They all go deep into the woods with their treats, in different directions. We also do walk down and put stuff out in the woods for any wilds that may be way out back. I also have bird feeders all over and the squirrels have always frequented those without any fighting.

Mavrycs Mommy
12-06-2011, 08:50 AM
I feed the wilds, (although most of them I released anyway! lol) They have done well, but then I live on the woods, so they all have their own space, but come up to the house to get food and they will actually run around each other with no fighting. Now, I have two reds, who I have not raised, who also come up to eat. They will on occasion chase after a grey, as they leave with a nut...but I just call them, and they turn back to me to get their own! The coon is the thing that scares me the most in your situation. (If it were me, I would trap him and move him somewhere else, but that is me.) You do plan on doing a soft release with Mav, right? (Caged outside for at least a month.) Doing so, the wilds will get somewhat used to him and vice versa, so hopefully they won't have too much issue with him (esp. if when he is outside, they see when you bring him stuff, you bring them stuff, too.) (Course, you could always send him here.....:D :D :D :crazy lol)

im thinking VEEERRRRRYYYY soft release... i will hate to seem him go...im in deep lol just yesterday we were watching sesame street and i was tickling Mavrycs belly and singing "mavrycs world" (he likes to be sung to :dono) when the love walked in and said "youve gone completely nuts!" and this is from a man who say "i love you buddy" every night to the little guy :rotfl ... so yea no chance i will be sending him to your house!!! nice try though :jump

pappy1264
12-06-2011, 09:03 AM
Hey, can you blame me for trying? (/would be nice to have some foxers here....)

Mavrycs Mommy
12-06-2011, 04:24 PM
haha i guess not he IS the cutest foxer ever in life!!!! (no offense to all the other super cute foxers... im biased i know :jump )