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View Full Version : There should be an aggression sticky, lol



daniellenc
10-02-2012, 08:12 PM
My guys will be 11 weeks tomorrow and my male is officially just mean as all heck. I know I have seen aggression mentioned, but it should really be spelled out. This little turd will grab onto my hand when I enter the cage for ANY reason. Whether he has food in his mouth or not it is an all out assault on my hand every time with teeth or claws- he does not let go. He wraps both paws around my entire hand and just sinks his teeth in despite me screaming ouch ouch ouch. I personally own 2 feral cats and have rehabbed my share of nasty animals not to mention 100's of bitey snakes so I am not amused or scared off, but honestly I could easily see your average animal lover being too scared to properly feed or water these guys after the 10 week period- it is hell:D

Miranda only gets cranky when she has a nut and is otherwise sweet as pie though i have stopped loving on her so much since she needs to go be a big squirrel soon:( Niko is just a ball of screw off lady at all times. He twitches his tail at me every time I am within 8 feet of his cage screeching, doing his sideways hoppy dance, and air boxing me:D He is a huge source of entertainment but those teefs can do some serious damage- my latest booboo is still bleeding quite bad, lol

I think we need a squirrel bites picture thread:D

Nancy in New York
10-02-2012, 08:31 PM
There is actually a thread somewhere on here showing the "squirrel bites/attacks". Not sure where that is now....:dono
AND I am quite sure that not all of us posted ours....:D

Nancy in New York
10-02-2012, 08:35 PM
I found it!!!!!!!:D

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20833

daniellenc
10-02-2012, 08:49 PM
Yep looks like me, lol that should be stickied before people get the whole awwww but their so little and cute:D MONSTERS in disguise!!

pappy1264
10-02-2012, 09:20 PM
I had one of those (anyone remember Pinky Tuscadero? lol) OMG, that girl was sooo bad...even after she was released, she would nail me! lol Just feeding her was a dangerous mission (actually, lil Peanut, aka PSYCHO PRINCESS drew blood at 7 weeks and never stopped, again, even after released! I loved them both dearly, blood baths and all!) And Frankie...he turned on me, too. You just never know who will be this way. Nothing to do with their upbrining, just who they are.

island rehabber
10-02-2012, 09:32 PM
Most of the rehab practices I've thought up for myself over the past 8 years have been centered around the fact that

* I WANT my squirrels to wild up and get nasty -- they are leaving here, and they are not my pets

* I want to take care of them as best I possibly can WITHOUT ME GETTING HURT. EVER. :nono

Once my squirrels go from container to their first cage, I start syringe feeding them through the bars. Basically, after that I never ever open the cage doors for any reason EXCEPT to lift them out, in their nest box (which has been plugged up), so I can move them to another cage or out to the release site. Food goes in thru the bars....so do branches and anything else I want in there. No doors open, no hands go in...nosirrreebob. I hate pain. And besides, I think it was Kelly Brady who said when she gets bitten she has a tendency to fling? -- well I fling and I scream and I hit, too :rotfl. :ohthedrama So there is no squirrel-wrangling going on around here 'cause I'm no hero.....just a careful method of handling wilded-up juvenile squirrels without your hands. :thumbsup

2ndHandRanchRescue
10-02-2012, 09:36 PM
Most of the rehab practices I've thought up for myself over the past 8 years have been centered around the fact that

* I WANT my squirrels to wild up and get nasty -- they are leaving here, and they are not my pets

* I want to take care of them as best I possibly can WITHOUT ME GETTING HURT. EVER. :nono

Once my squirrels go from container to their first cage, I start syringe feeding them through the bars. Basically, after that I never ever open the cage doors for any reason EXCEPT to lift them out, in their nest box (which has been plugged up), so I can move them to another cage or out to the release site. Food goes in thru the bars....so do branches and anything else I want in there. No doors open, no hands go in...nosirrreebob. I hate pain. And besides, I think it was Kelly Brady who said when she gets bitten she has a tendency to fling? -- well I fling and I scream and I hit, too :rotfl. :ohthedrama So there is no squirrel-wrangling going on around here 'cause I'm no hero.....just a careful method of handling wilded-up juvenile squirrels without your hands. :thumbsup


Same here - I have no desire for battle wounds. I do the same. Formula through the cage. My 2 NRs are 'off' and not the norm. Even my cuddle bug babies turn wild - which is great! I often have folks shocked that I can't handle my own babies - well its a o k by me. I got my cuddles and coos in and now my kids are 'teenagers'.

Nancy in New York
10-02-2012, 10:19 PM
This is actually funny, because this was brought up the other day about feeding through the bars. Earlier today, I taped 3 of the 4 babies fighting for the syringe. Not sure how everyone does it, but I cannot feed well through the bars, and especially when I am video taping.

Maura here are three of your little angels....eating through the bars....:D


VIDEO

http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv95/nancym518/Bronx%20Babies%202012/th_MVI_2935.jpg (http://s673.photobucket.com/albums/vv95/nancym518/Bronx%20Babies%202012/?action=view&current=MVI_2935.mp4)

I always have lots of bedding in their cages, so I need to be in and out of the cage to change things out.
They get bowls to eat out of, and branches that will not fit through the bars.
I need access to the inside of the cage....luckily I have never gotten bitten.
And I am always prepared for an escapee.

2ndHandRanchRescue
10-02-2012, 10:28 PM
Well....if you are having trouble feeding through the bars AND video taping....its time for a personal videographer! (and make him cute) to be at your beck and call to record a rehabber in action! :D :D :D :D

island rehabber
10-02-2012, 10:33 PM
:jump:jump
Whatever works for you, Nancy, is ok by me :rotfl
Before I got carpal tunnel syndrome so badly I could feed four babies at once thru the bars -- two syringes in each hand. Now I'm down to three at a time but re-loading is way clumsier than it used to be....:sanp3

stepnstone
10-02-2012, 10:41 PM
It's retaliation:get_em ...little dude remembers how you tried to kill him! :rofl4

...I'm just messing with you. :peace

Seriously, you have done a good job with them and wild is right
where you want them to be for a successful release. :thumbsup

Nancy in New York
10-02-2012, 10:46 PM
:jump:jump
Whatever works for you, Nancy, is ok by me :rotfl
Before I got carpal tunnel syndrome so badly I could feed four babies at once thru the bars -- two syringes in each hand. Now I'm down to three at a time but re-loading is way clumsier than it used to be....:sanp3

Perhaps you want to PRE LOAD....this way they don't have to wait so long....your squirrels are quite demanding ya know...:rotfl :rotfl :rotfl

daniellenc
10-03-2012, 06:34 AM
IR how do you clean in there though and replace their water?? I am seriously missing a huge piece of the don't get nailed puzzle? I just realized this morning they need to go to paper in their tray only no fleecy blankies for them anymore:nono but I feel bad they will be walking around on bars, food will fall through i think, and what about their feets getting hurt. I wipe out the entire cage every other day and replace fleece and change their water several times a day. How do I replace water without squirrelzilla taking a finger with him?? I was on the phone with Russel and he got to laugh at me screaming ouch ouch ouch no stop it!! He nails me the minute my hand enters the cage and is warning me well before I get a door open it is comical, but not if your me:D

daniellenc
10-03-2012, 06:37 AM
Oh and Russel yes he will be quite wild for release:D So much so I fear for my neighbors safety lmao he's going to bite every human who so much as walks by his tree i think:rotfl Then I will be hiding him from the humane society when they get a call about a vicious squirrel answering the door all bloody like I got in a fight with my veggie cutting knife. I love him so much, but do need a more common sense way to clean and water for sure:D

pappy1264
10-03-2012, 06:59 AM
Water bottle. they will learn to drink from it, have only used water bottles (I know, there are no water bottles in nature, but they will drink from puddles and such when they are released. Although I also put bottles up everywhere, as well outside.) I used to use one of the little feeder doors to get Pinkie to go into a cat carrier (tie a string to the small door so I could pull it up w/o my hands being anywhere she could reach them) so I could deep clean the cage once a week. Otherwise, I just cleaned out the bottom tray every day. Also, if they are used to going into a carrier, if you have a different cage to release in, they will be easier to move outside. I also used to put food dishes in through the doors, but I would move one hand around the outside of the cage (she would try to attack that) and while she was focused on that hand (that she could not reach) I would very quickly put the dish in (or take it out)...no bites.

island rehabber
10-03-2012, 06:59 AM
This is why I don't use water bowls. Lixit Water Bottles, kids!! It's the only way!!! Water bowls are crazy -- everyone poops in them and some even pee in them :sanp3. I don't put fleece in cages. It's in their nest boxes, yes, but they are walking on two inches of CareFresh bedding. Absorbs everything, rarely needs cleaning out. My cages don't smell, either. :thumbsup


I realize this is going to come as a shock to some of you neat freaks out there, but mamma squirrel does not empty out all the leaves in her nest several times a day. Nor does she throw everything out of her hollow tree hole and start over. Everyone from the Anti-Bacterial Germ-a-Phobic generation can relax a bit. :D Squirrels do not require a sterile environment....they are not infant humans. (As a matter of fact, if people weren't so clean-crazy about their kids nowadays we wouldn't have so many crazy allergies and immune system disorders in our kids, but don't get me started......let's just say that back in the early 60's when I was in grade school, nobody had tubes in their ears, and only one girl was allergic to peanuts in a whole city public school -- and only if she ate them, not just being near them!! ) :oldwise

okay I promise to shut up now!! :rotfl:rantonof

pappy1264
10-03-2012, 07:07 AM
I suspect the cleaning is for the peoples noses, not the squirrels...lol

daniellenc
10-03-2012, 07:30 AM
Well not so much for the nose squirrels are pretty odorless I have found out but more for my floor- the less mess in the cage the less mess out of the cage:D

stosh2010
10-03-2012, 08:15 AM
Some one posted a study that concluded that our hands are seen ( by squirrels) as seperate from our bodies...and therefore just two more moving critters that they have to be on the defense/offense against.
---Just a suggestion :

1-- No fists--because they want want you are holding -they don't know ( or care) it might be an empty fist

2-- palms open and facing upwards and motionless...so they see "EMPTY"

Agression is a Survival Response...Hard wired into their tiny brains--
You may not LIKE IT...but you have to RESPECT IT.


If you go to Post # 45--- ( at LINK below)



http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20833

You will see the result of a Royal Face CHOMP.
Not long after that --I designed my HELMET...which stays on the couch, right beside me--AT ALL TIMES ...when the KING is free-roaming around the house.

2ndHandRanchRescue
10-03-2012, 08:20 AM
IR you crack me up. When folks visit and my out door cages (and indoor) and they are full of leaves, branches and shredded everything some folks are a bit off - I tell them its for the squirrels they are happy - the love mess! LOL. I think folks have seen too many concrete sterile zoos. MY NR's have fleece and are like house cats but the wild children - well they are typical teenagers with crazy messy rooms (no I'm clean but NOT tidy)
My favorite comment as they are in my super cute - lace curtained, silk flowers, girly cottage..... "are their fleas in here" oh I love to show folks how wonderful wildlife is.
Speaking of waterbottles - love the glass ones but I just saw the metal canteen style for chickens (they are messy too) its a wall mount - has any body used
185503

I was thinking for my outdoor pens (I have trap doors for feeding in all my release cages.)

Nancy in New York
10-03-2012, 08:32 AM
Well....if you are having trouble feeding through the bars AND video taping....its time for a personal videographer! (and make him cute) to be at your beck and call to record a rehabber in action! :D :D :D :D

Hmmmmmmmmm, now why didn't I think of that. And this week works particularly well for me too, hubby is fishing in Canada....:rotfl

daniellenc
10-03-2012, 12:10 PM
OMG Stosh the King is so beautiful I wish our squirrels looked like that here. Helmet huh???? Man see this is why we need an aggression sticky cause I could have used that info a few weeks ago, lol

Foamy the squirrel
10-03-2012, 02:50 PM
I found it!!!!!!!:D

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20833

now this should be a sticky!!

crazysquirrels
10-03-2012, 02:58 PM
Try this. Jackie would tear my hands up no matter what. However I could put on a pair of yarn mittens and she would not bite. As long as she did not see skin I was good. If she found skin I was bit and hard.

daniellenc
10-03-2012, 05:45 PM
Well soft release is in progress as we speak. I moved their indoor cage outside under our awning in the back. They will live in there for a week doors closed while I modify the outdoor cage to be able to attach the two cages and give them more height. I figure they can get used to the outdoors and still be safe from predators and any rain we may have as they are well covered from any rain.

Next week I will open the doors in the morning and close them in the evening providing food and water three times a day until they leave me.....is it bad if I hope they don't??:poke