TheSquirrel
10-17-2015, 04:05 PM
Hi,
I have had a resident squirrel named Mushroom living in my attic for some time. I believe she was born there (there was a litter there in February 2014 and I knew of 2 baby squirrels who definitely were born there - and Mushroom is a possible 3rd. Anyway Mushroom and Koki (who was definitely born there) continued to live there throughout last winter. Both are female. Sadly Koki vanished last December but Mushroom continued to reside there, even throughout summer. The other squirrel who is definitely Koki's sibling and a male named Little Mauz moved out when he was of the independent age, and still continued to visit.
There has been no sign of Mushroom since Thursday and I'm feeling very sad. Little Mauz has not shown up since either, although he lives out in trees I don't know how far away and has had the odd day of not showing up over the last 4 weeks, but not more that 1 day, but now its been 2 days and I love both him and Mushroom so much. Mushroom visits daily (only 1 day in August when she didn't show up) So now it's been 2 days since I have seen her. I did wonder if maybe she was having babies but I thought it was a bit late for that. On Thursday when I last saw her I thought her nipples were more prominent but then there was no obvious signs of missing patches of fur around them, and I remember thinking her nipples were more noticeable several weeks ago too, although no obvious signs of missing fur, whereas several months ago you couldn't see them. Maybe it's an age thing? So when she didn't show up yesterday and today I thought just maybe she is giving birth. But on Thursday I had seen her on at least 3 occasions in the morning and she had some nuts here and also ate chopped mixed nuts out of the pot in the bush as well as taking some nuts off with her.
Yesterday evening I had climbed up into the attic and called her. I thought at some point that I heard a sucking sound at one end.
Later today, I saw another female squirrel ( another one of my special group) and she came with her baby and they were eating out of a pot of chopped nuts I leave out in the bush on my patio. That's when it hit me that maybe something has happened to Mushroom which is why she hasn't shown up for 2 days (surely she would have come down from the attic to feed, like she has been doing each day) and maybe she does have babies in the attic which means they would be orphaned. I also remembered that sucking sound I heard.
So by then it was evening and I got a wooden board and climbed up into the attic so that I could search it (it's full of that cotton woolley insulation and I had to balance the board over the wooden beams and clamber over it and look among the insulation. I found a lot of nut shells in places that have been used. I couldn't find any sign of babies though. At some point I'm pretty sure I heard a pitter patter of feet, not as noisy as when I normally hear Mushroom when she is walking beneath the insulation Most of the time she is quiet because she burrows into the insulation and walks on that so I don't hear her except occasionally) Beneath the insulation is wooden floor, but beneath that which I cannot go under is some space which is between the attic floor and the ceilings of the house. The attic has a sloping roof and I went as far as I could lying on the wooden board balanced between the beams. However if Mushroom did have babies and they were underneath the attic floor and on top of the ceilings I'm sure I would have heard more noise over the last couple of days or if Mushroom was preparing to nest there, I would have heard Mushroom's footsteps and movement more.
I must point out that about a month ago there must have been a mouse (or rat) in the attic too for about a week, as I heard gnawing at night (persistent and definitely not the sound of a squirrel) But no more of that after some days. So maybe those sounds I heard yesterday and today could be a mouse or rat, but on the other hand if it was I'm not sure if such animals would be big or heavy enough for me to actually hear a pitter patter of feet.
So I really wanted to ask you if this is the right time of year for giving birth? I thought it was a bit late. I'm so worried. I think something bad has happened to Mushroom and I feel she would have shown up later on Thursday too if she'd been around. It's been more than 2 days now.
I have had a resident squirrel named Mushroom living in my attic for some time. I believe she was born there (there was a litter there in February 2014 and I knew of 2 baby squirrels who definitely were born there - and Mushroom is a possible 3rd. Anyway Mushroom and Koki (who was definitely born there) continued to live there throughout last winter. Both are female. Sadly Koki vanished last December but Mushroom continued to reside there, even throughout summer. The other squirrel who is definitely Koki's sibling and a male named Little Mauz moved out when he was of the independent age, and still continued to visit.
There has been no sign of Mushroom since Thursday and I'm feeling very sad. Little Mauz has not shown up since either, although he lives out in trees I don't know how far away and has had the odd day of not showing up over the last 4 weeks, but not more that 1 day, but now its been 2 days and I love both him and Mushroom so much. Mushroom visits daily (only 1 day in August when she didn't show up) So now it's been 2 days since I have seen her. I did wonder if maybe she was having babies but I thought it was a bit late for that. On Thursday when I last saw her I thought her nipples were more prominent but then there was no obvious signs of missing patches of fur around them, and I remember thinking her nipples were more noticeable several weeks ago too, although no obvious signs of missing fur, whereas several months ago you couldn't see them. Maybe it's an age thing? So when she didn't show up yesterday and today I thought just maybe she is giving birth. But on Thursday I had seen her on at least 3 occasions in the morning and she had some nuts here and also ate chopped mixed nuts out of the pot in the bush as well as taking some nuts off with her.
Yesterday evening I had climbed up into the attic and called her. I thought at some point that I heard a sucking sound at one end.
Later today, I saw another female squirrel ( another one of my special group) and she came with her baby and they were eating out of a pot of chopped nuts I leave out in the bush on my patio. That's when it hit me that maybe something has happened to Mushroom which is why she hasn't shown up for 2 days (surely she would have come down from the attic to feed, like she has been doing each day) and maybe she does have babies in the attic which means they would be orphaned. I also remembered that sucking sound I heard.
So by then it was evening and I got a wooden board and climbed up into the attic so that I could search it (it's full of that cotton woolley insulation and I had to balance the board over the wooden beams and clamber over it and look among the insulation. I found a lot of nut shells in places that have been used. I couldn't find any sign of babies though. At some point I'm pretty sure I heard a pitter patter of feet, not as noisy as when I normally hear Mushroom when she is walking beneath the insulation Most of the time she is quiet because she burrows into the insulation and walks on that so I don't hear her except occasionally) Beneath the insulation is wooden floor, but beneath that which I cannot go under is some space which is between the attic floor and the ceilings of the house. The attic has a sloping roof and I went as far as I could lying on the wooden board balanced between the beams. However if Mushroom did have babies and they were underneath the attic floor and on top of the ceilings I'm sure I would have heard more noise over the last couple of days or if Mushroom was preparing to nest there, I would have heard Mushroom's footsteps and movement more.
I must point out that about a month ago there must have been a mouse (or rat) in the attic too for about a week, as I heard gnawing at night (persistent and definitely not the sound of a squirrel) But no more of that after some days. So maybe those sounds I heard yesterday and today could be a mouse or rat, but on the other hand if it was I'm not sure if such animals would be big or heavy enough for me to actually hear a pitter patter of feet.
So I really wanted to ask you if this is the right time of year for giving birth? I thought it was a bit late. I'm so worried. I think something bad has happened to Mushroom and I feel she would have shown up later on Thursday too if she'd been around. It's been more than 2 days now.