My Female squirrel is attacking me suddenly!!!

[Pharlap780]

I have had my little girl going on two years . She has a huge cage with cut trees in it to run around and so on , It's about 6ft high and 4ft wide . I also have a little 20x10 screened area full of trees and a custom built cat house that I let her go out and run around all day . She gets plenty of sun and I even built a sand box I change regularly as long as there are no nuts hidden in it . Her cage is in my hobby room and I sit in there daily , sometimes I will let her run around the room and for the most part she likes to sit on my lap or the back of my chair as long as I am there . A few days ago I went to let her out of her cage and walk her to the porch , she seemed grumpy so I did not push the issue and shut the door . Later she started getting more active so I decided to let her out . She flew out of her cage at me . OKAY ! Sat on my shoulder and chattered ... I went to put my hand to her since I always carry her in my hand , she always would sit in my palm and walk through the house with me . But , she went after my hand . At first she was just putting her teeth on me and biting down but never broke the skin . Now she literally is attacking my arms , she never goes for my face . I can still rub my cheek on her when she gets up on my shoulder , she just attacks every other part of my body . Help ! Is this a imbalance , is it possible I did something to make her mad at me . Today she seems to really not want me near her , we put her cage on the porch yesterday so she spent the night out there I shut her in the cage though . I don't understand the sudden change . I know I have changed perfume but body soaps are all the same , laundry detergent is still the same . As far as smells nothing has changed . But , this may sound wierd but the day before this all started I was eating a pork chop . she was being busy so I got up to check on her on the porch but I still had a mouthful of porkchop and she came up to my face and smelled it . Could it be she thinks I might want to eat her one day ???? I know I am reaching but she was my little girl ,sweet, cuddly , playful girl and now she is a brat to say it politely . Any suggestions are appreciated.
Kirsteen

[virgo062]

Poor thing sounds like your baby girl is wilding up....She is aggressive because it's her nature.....It can only get worse from here....Is there anyone lese who handles her other than you? Sometimes they will "choose" their human meaning only one persobn can handle them

[stosh2010]

Any change is a BIG Change. The new perfume has to be restricted to times when you and she are seperate, and then shower -with the same old soap-well.
Food is another trigger. We wash our hands well--after eating. Our Rama Rota wants all his food &&&&&&& all OUR Food. Never have food in hand or mouth in the presence of an adult squirrel. Be ready to relinquish that food FAST--if she gets close to you.

Good Luck--My Rama ( MALE ) started attacking hands and arms and face at age ONE and still does. He's now 2 yr.2 mth.
Rama Rota is just fine with RamaMama--Plays all day

PS I play every day also--and every day I wear my HELMET

[Pharlap780]

Ugh! That is sad , but I guess I knew one day it was coming . I am the only one who has ever been able to handle her . We learned about the one owner thing with my male . Terry and I both raised him , taking turns feeding him as a baby and then one day terry comes home from work and lets Picca out to play and he attacks him . I am the only one who handles both of my squirrels . Picca is 4 and Bella 2 . Should I keep her cage on the porch now ? Do I go ahead and start preparing her to be released ? Can I release her after two years of posh living , so to speak LOL... I am terrified she would not make it . I have released squirrels before , Bella and Picca are the only two I have ever held onto . I live in the country so plenty of woods around me .

[Pharlap780]

Thanks Stosh , she has no injuries that prevent her from being let go . My next question is : Do I start preparring her to be released ?

[stosh2010]

LOL... I am terrified she would not make it . I have released squirrels before , Bella and Picca are the only two I have ever held onto . I live in the country so plenty of woods around me .
If you decide to start a "soft release" ( slow and gradual ) find the stuff in your woods that the wilds eat, BUT you have to see them eat it--no guessing-and introduce those nuts , berries, mushrooms etc. that she will find when she leaves. That is a difficult choice.

Need me to make you a HELMET ???? Ha !

[starfairy]

Give her a couple days before you decide anything. She could just be in a bad mood and grumpy. My male did that to me for a couple days and within a week he was back to his old self.

[Pharlap780]

Stosh , Love the helmet . Hope it's okay to save the picture , I want to show my fiance . I always tell him he and picca will have to find a way to get along if something ever happened to me !

Bella is very squirrely . She always searches , digs and hunts for stuff to put in her mouth ,lol . I have gone through some grumpy days with her before but it's normally one day . This is day three now ! I am in no rush , her cage is already on the porch so worst case scenerio that becomes her new home . It is her favorite place anyway , that has always been her room . Picca won't go outside the house , he pannicks and runs back to his room where is cage is ... I will certainly wait some , I will start picking what squirrels around here munch on .

[astra]

Give her a couple days before you decide anything. She could just be in a bad mood and grumpy. My male did that to me for a couple days and within a week he was back to his old self.
yep,
also, if her cage is on the porch and she has been spending time on the porch - that might be the cause of this wild behavior.
Smelling wild scents and hearing wild sounds triggers wildling up. That's why soft release starts outside and that's why it is strongly suggested that "pet" squirrels do not go outside.

As Stosh said, perfume and food are a huge things, too.
So, all of that combined - a normal reaction from an adult squirrel.

[cindyrads]

She may just be hormonal at the moment. Mating season is here I do believe. I bet she goes back to normal after some time.

[astra]

She may just be hormonal at the moment. Mating season is here I do believe. I bet she goes back to normal after some time.
good point!
It is mating season, and if she is outside, that would make her hormonal changes even more pronounced

[sdreamcatcher]

Hormones caused my boys to become aggressive to each other, but not to me. If anything they are more affectionate with me since being separated. I was curious if she is aggressive with your male, or if they are together at all? Mine are foxers; I am guessing your two are greys?

I hope this is a phase your little one is going through; and if not you can release her; sounds you have a wonderful place for her to live if she chooses to be wild :).

[stosh2010]

Stosh , Love the helmet . Hope it's okay to save the picture , I want to show my fiance . I always tell him he and picca will have to find a way to get along if something ever happened to me !

.
Use it ---I have plenty ...Ha
I also use welders "long" gloves every time I handle Rama He bites the gloves --but no blood

[Sweet Simon's Mommy]

she could just be in heat
cuz if you soft release her and she decides to come home you might have a bunch of little Bella-brats too.
I would keep her inside for a few days and see if she calms down.
we have had a warmer than usual winter here , maybe just a little early spring fever.

[Trooper]

Maybe off-topic with my post here, so if some of you think so, I beg your pardon in advance!

Last year we lost an interesting personality on the TV media and news scene, Mr. Andy Rooney from CBS news. He always gave me a jolt with his well researched imponderables about life in general, questions like "why do they sterilize needles for lethal injections?" or "why did Kamikazee pilots wore crash helmets?" and better yet on the funny side; "if you choke a Smurf, what color does it get?".

Today, I am volunteering for filling one toe of Andy's shoes by asking: 'When Non Releasable squirrel(s) begins to 'wild up' -as so illustratively described in this thread and many more on TSB- what do the professional rehabbers/caregivers do?'

'If a wilding-up NR paces along its cage, shows depressive moods, bites indiscriminately, fears the hand that saved/help him or her, do rehabber's have to put them down or are there techniques out there to ease the wild in their behaviour and return them closer to normality?

Lastly, like Mr. Rooney once (actually) asked: "If a snake in the grass is an asp, why is a grasp in the a** a goose?

Hope you enjoyed the humor and more I hope to hear an answer.

Trooper's dad :bowdown

[Sweet Simon's Mommy]

If the wild bad mood is not short lived and he is just miserable, many would put him/her down. so I have been told.

[rusty's mom]

No matter how wonderful you try to make the cage please remember it is a cage and no normal healthy squirrel who in its rightful habitat travels a good distance as they explore their outside world and play in the trees will want to give up their freedom.they want out and to make babies.:)

[SquirrelRefuge]

I think a lot of what the other posters said is really true.

I had a non releasable years back that was a complete buttocks for about a month and then never caused another problem, so before you do anything, give it some time. I just kept treating him with gentleness and care and his foul mood passed.

Its also true that the smallest change can make a squirrel go nuts. For example, my daughter bought me a new hat for Christmas . I wore it outside while cleaning my 'Squirrelarium' where I am overwintering some squirrels. They took one look at me and went berserk. There where squirrels ricocheting off the walls. It’s like the new hat morphed me from the caregiver that bottle fed them into a marauding harpy and I have no doubt that if I had gotten too close to anyone of them, they would have educated me post-haste!

Besides this is not the best time to soft a release. A few more months will bring better weather and more options in natural food. Preparing a ‘pet’ for a soft release needs to be done slowly and compassionately since this is probably all very confusing to her also.

Having said that, I do think the best thing for a wild animal is a wild life but that brings with it the risks associated with being a prey species - so take it slow to give her the best chance at survival possible.

[treeman]

I vote hormonal. Dec-Feb is breeding season and at 2yrs she has already missed 2-3 heats. Having outdoor exposure is great but she is probably picking up pheromones on the breeze. Not to mention the wacky weather this winter has lots of animals out of sorts. My raccoon will likely 'crack' her coat a month early.

As far as release or not, I'd wait until Spring and see how her temperment goes. If she doesn't improve or gets worse in the meantime, you'll need to decide how you feel about her living in a cage for the next 10yrs. Will you be a prison warden or a caretaker? :sanp3

Hopefully, it will pass but it won't hurt to prepare yourself and her for release if needed. It might be helpful to keep a calendar/journal to see if you can establish a pattern of triggers and/or heats. Good luck! :Love_Icon

[treeman]

Really, Stosh?! You have to suit up like Sir Lancelot but RamaMama doesn't? :rotfl What a nice Papa you are to still play! :Love_Icon

I'm starting to find the food issue to just as Stosh describes. :eek: A squirrel just might get more jealous than a raccoon over a bit of food!!!

**********************

Any change is a BIG Change. The new perfume has to be restricted to times when you and she are seperate, and then shower -with the same old soap-well.
Food is another trigger. We wash our hands well--after eating. Our Rama Rota wants all his food &&&&&&& all OUR Food. Never have food in hand or mouth in the presence of an adult squirrel. Be ready to relinquish that food FAST--if she gets close to you.

Good Luck--My Rama ( MALE ) started attacking hands and arms and face at age ONE and still does. He's now 2 yr.2 mth.
Rama Rota is just fine with RamaMama--Plays all day

PS I play every day also--and every day I wear my HELMET

[Runestonez]

Breeding season started end of last week here.
I have 6 squirrels overwintering...only two are males.
Two females are housed seperately in smaller cages...but my one female in the walk-in cage lost her FREAKIN mind this week!
I now wear a hat, gloves, thick sweater, jeans and impact goggles when I go in to feed/clean.
I had my face slashed and my eyebrow ripped open the other day...and it was FAST! She flew by and I didn't even know she had gotten me until I had blood running down my nose!
They are just VERY chippy right now and will settle back down in a week or two...I knew it was going to happen and still got caught off guard!
Cover up...take a deep breath and wait it out!

To keep our kids amused when we have to over-winter them we change up their cages every few weeks...clean everything down...change toys (remove familiar ones add new ones), change the setup...it throws them off and they have to start refamiliarizing themselves with their cage again...you can try doing this to keep her amused and engaged.
I am very big on the whole enrichment thing...hubby and I work very hard to keep our charges busy! :)

[littlesquirt]

I have a male squirrel who's almost 3 years old and there was a week where he was a bit aggressive, turns out it's cuz he had a big stash of nuts in his cage so he was protecting them. He was never aggressive towards me, but boy did he not like my sister or anyone else when they were around! Just make sure he's eating his treats and not stashing them!

Another thing is, whenever my squirrel chatters his teeth, I take that as an anger warning. When he does that, I never reach to grab him, I first try and calm him with a treat. If that doesn't work, walk away calmly until the chattering stops. Usually it will start out quietly and as they get more aggitated it'll get louder. If you reach for them at this point, they will attack and draw blood. Usually after a couple of minutes he calms down and runs up for a cuddle :).

[Arwen's Mom]

This thread was very interesting for me.

I have had plenty of people tell me that keeping a squirrel is out of the question as they get mean and you cant keep them after that. I found that hard to beleive and this thread did shed some light on that. Thanks everyone!

[island rehabber]

This thread was very interesting for me.

I have had plenty of people tell me that keeping a squirrel is out of the question as they get mean and you cant keep them after that. I found that hard to beleive and this thread did shed some light on that. Thanks everyone!

Oh believe me, it's true. Rehabbers of squirrels often call this "the Toggle Switch". You go to sleep with a sweet little Disney character in your home, and wake up to Cujo.....:pissed:eek:

[adoptedmother]

Our little gal gets outraged every time we clean her cage. You can see her fussing and fuming, straightening things up and then she does something odd...She attacks Mike. It's odd because he held her most of the time before her eyes opened and fed her. While I take her out to play, she bonded to him. She doesn't bother me...but then when she starts to, I stamp my feet and chuck at her saying her name. (I mimic her behavior, but add the words NO! firmly.) She pounces on him. After a day or two, it's done.