Polyfill/stuffing

[sandycheeks]

I just read on here in another thread that polyfill is not a good nesting material for squirrels.
When we had Sandy inside to recover from her broken arm she had her nest box filled with fleece and t shirts. She didn't seem to think this was good enough so she ripped all the stuffing out of a cushion my wife made and filled her whole nest box with it. Once she went back outside and stopped coming home for a while I put my hand in the stuffing and saw it come to life with dozens of fleas. It was infested. I have 2 cats so I immediately dumped the contents of her nest outside around back of my shed.
All the wilds around here went nuts for the stuffing and packed it into their nests. I guess my question is, is the polyfill bad for them? Will it get mouldy from being rained on?
There's nothing I can do about it now but I had considered putting more stuffing outside since all the wilds seem to think it's a good nesting material.

[Mommaluvy]

My understanding is its not the mold you have to worry about with the polyfill. But the problem is in the strength of the threads. It can get wrapped around limbs and cause them to die off.

If memory serves me correctly in the last 6 months I have been on TSB forums two squirrels.. one adult and one baby.. became tangled in the threads. The adult nearly lost a toe and the baby lost a whole foot.

The baby was a flyer or glider in its own mothers care.
The adult was a Grey squirrel.

Two separate homes. :(

[Spanky]

Yes, it is a danger of the strong fibers getting wrapped around limbs and the babies getting entangled as well. Stick with fleece and Tee Shirt material if fleece is not an option. Here is a sticky discussing polyfill and links to the threads that expose the dangers:

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?47901-Say-NO-to-POLYFILL!&highlight=polyfill