Not a 'help needed' post just a question about squirrels sleeping habits.

[Skayda]

I wasn't sure quite where to put this so if it's in the wrong place please feel free to move this to a more proper forum location.

Anyway, I have a question about adult squirrels sleeping together. I have two three year old NR gray females, Hermione and Ginny, (three weeks apart in age), and they'll go through periods of time in which they absolutely hate each other and want to sleep as far from each other as possible, (I keep two separate hanging fleece pouches on different levels of their cage just for those times), and then, other times, they'll only want to sleep with each other, but will bicker and chase each other while awake yet end up curled up in the same pouch at night. I used to think it was a weather thing; hot weather they'd want to sleep alone, cold weather together, but over the past few weeks it's been pretty warm out and inside it's cooler due to the AC but still around 60-70 degrees and they've been showing their bickering habits during the day yet always back to sleeping together in their pouch during afternoon naps and bedtime. I mean it's obviously not a problem, I'm happy they get along part of the time and still enjoy each other's company enough to want to sleep together, I'm just curious as to the why of it. Especially since most of the info on adult squirrels say they're pretty much loners who only sleep together to conserve warmth and/or mommas with babies. But, my girls are three years old and neither have babies and it's too warm for conserving heat sleeping. Maybe they're just very, very bonded.

Oh, they also absolutely love whenever I have a newly made pouch to hang up. I make all their sleep pouches by hand. They like to chew a little 'window' in the side to look out of. They'll both crawl into it even before I have it hung up so I'll be standing there holding the top with two heavy squirrels wiggling around at the bottom and I'm like "It's not even hung up yet!" Lol!

[island rehabber]

They sound adorable, and you are very fortunate that they've grown up together and still get along. Could it be their eating habits or schedule that affect how they interact with each other? I have three juvie siblings here and most of the day it's happy go-lucky babies playing sweetly together. Come 5pm and their almond or walnut treat arrives, Oh My God. The snarling, lunging, tumbling begins and doesn't stop until I clap my hands or yell at them because it sounds as if somebody is going to get killed! Do your girls tend to squabble when there are nuts around?

[Lighten-Up]

I have two 11 month old girls who have recently been moved to a release cage for release. For the last few months I have observed the same behavior that you have. There will be a mix of delightful playing and chirping together, snuggling etc., but then at certain times during the daytime hours, or maybe even all day on occasion, they will act as if they hate each other, snitty, slightly aggressive attacking, right up until dusk. Then the twilight fairy comes and they snuggle into the same nest together and sleep all night long. The change can take place in less than one minute! It's amazing.

This had a huge impact on me personally. I thought, wow, how can I learn to drop human offenses that quickly and make up? :grin2

I am pretty certain that the bickering was all about nut stashes. I did not think they had any nut stashes, but when I moved them to the RC, I combed their old cage and found 14 nuts!! So yes, that bickering, attacking, was all about protecting their prized possessions. The aggressive behavior had me on edge, but I never felt it was too much, so I never separated them. Especially because they slept together every night. I always had a 2nd nest, and sometimes they would go to different nests to sleep, but if I came in early the next morning, I would often see that they came out of the same nest, so sometime in the night, the one moved back over.

[Skayda]

Yes, actually, stashes of treats around the house and cage just might be the culprit for daylight bickering. I keep their cage pretty clean; regularly changing out the blankets and taking their pouches down to be washed, but they probably have some stashes around the house that I haven't gotten to yet. I, too, love how they can put aside their differences to sleep together all happy. It's like that old saying 'Never go to bed mad' or something like that. The cutest thing is to watch them get settled in for the night; Ginny will crawl in first and she'll growl and chitter at Hermione while she's crawling in and they'll both be growling and squeaking and chittering at each other while wriggling around in the pouch until they go all still and then all you can see is the movement of the lumps in the pouch to their breathing and grunt or two. Ginny always wants to go to bed before Hermione and she gets mad if she's disturbed so she's probably just yelling at Hermione to stop moving around and get to sleep. Lol.

Bedtime pictures. They like to chew a 'window' in the sides of every pouch I make for them. Lol.

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