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NotOutsideNature
12-05-2011, 12:30 PM
[A brief intro to my pseudonym: I am not outside nature so my actions are as natural as a squirrels; I will not stand bby and watch a reified and abstracted nature dole out cruelty and a "dog-eat-dog" which will be best when it has been evolutionarily "left in the dust". It's similar to not just passively viewing a psychopathic gang bully in a Nazi-ized Germany or Bolshevik-ized Russia. Nature is authoritarian when we sadly just "be". It is the "becoming" human to/for which we ought strive. Evolution and freedom come to those who negentropically create it, not to zombie-"citizen" and "Nature" show spectators. Okay, that's the extent of my rant whenever someone tries to justify idleness and slack in terms of living life....]

Now to the joy of my life amidst social collapse and manufactured dissent... squirrels.

I feed my pals via four "flip-up" feeder boxes (all seeds/nuts in shell and raw: black oil sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts). I avail and refresh dishes of filtered water nearby. I try to keep all boxes and bowls in areas where feral cats and hawks cannot swoop or pounce to quench their mindless roles as hierarchy-affirming killers.

I have added three minimal squirrel havens about 15-feet up well-branched (but deciduous) trees to act as halfway-house shelters against attack. I have put more substantial nest boxes (with predator-guards, patios, and duo entrances) nearly 30-feet up as "condos" for families. I try to leave appropriate nest materials in small piles nearby rather than paying someone to haul it away. [Why fertilize a yard and then pay someone to de-fertilize later so you can pay for the fertilizer all over again?!] In the case of squirrel-made nests, I have seen them use sticks, patio couch stuffing, long weave-able leaves, etc. If non-dyed wool or natural canvas strands would help I'd leave those out for their use, or even give miniature hammer-and-nail lessons in the warmer Summer hours.

The wind picks up here in the winter and nests sometimes fall from the California Palm trees, leaving very little else for safe and snug homes. We rescued three two-week olds which were later released here along with two other orphans. That was the emotional "hook"; I've returned to my nature which they gift to me now daily: playfulness, industriousness, communitarianism, cross-family sharing. I absolutely love them each and all.

I had to make an effort to coexist with their food gathering and storing needs. I protect my herb gardens by having each in a half oak barrel with a chicken meshed sides/top going up approximately four feet. My fruit trees are each surrounded with twenty Allium plants. I also attached an upside-down plastic bowl (like used in cheap catering operations) around the base. They are welcome to any fallen apricots, apples, peaches, or hazelnuts. This understanding/arrangement seems to be working well for us both.

To protect them as they fatten up on nuts I get at the local wild bird and nearby farms, I spread "Cat Scram" around the perimeters of my yard and have planted Rue to keep the human-abandoned cats at bay. I use a pump (no CO2 cartridges required so always ready) pellet gun to scare off (but not hit) war-fetishized hawks and jive-thieving crows. [My disdain for each is not abstracted camouflaged. I don't tolerate ticks, theocrats, pinworms, socio-psychopathocrats, roundworms, socially-owned wealth extracting bankers, fleas, or whoring politicians either....]

Finally, and I apologize for this post's length -- this being my first post, it is also a self-statement as well -- my question is this: I would like to avail foods or nearby bushes which will help my chums quell and/or prevent parasite (internal/external) attacks. We can eat garlic or Brewer's yeast to fend off fleas, onions to fend off mosquitoes, and wormwood to fend off internal parasites. Has anyone read what will aid (SF Bay area) Red Fox Squirrels with fending off blood-sucking, subdermal-burrowing, and flesh-eating parasites?

Thanks for availing this forum. The folks' messages I read were heartfelt, humorous, and inspiring. I look forward to learning from you all, as we learn from our squirrel life-mates.

best wishes,
NotOutsideNature