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View Full Version : Deep South Members - How Late To Release?



DarkLies212
11-25-2016, 09:48 AM
To my fellow Southern members, how late in the year do you release?

With the house drama, the 5 babies are still in a smaller cage than I'd like. If things are clear, I wont be able to move in for at least another month and a half at the very earliest. I can't have the big RC like I wanted where I'm currently staying.

They're big and starting to get aggressive with me. They've lived outside for a while now, but under the porch. They had to be moved to the woods (I had hoped temporarily) with thanksgiving yesterday.

I just know that cage is too small. It was never meant for usage for this long. I'm trying to get permission to build the big RC here and transport it, but so far that's a no go.

It was in the high 70s here yesterday and for our Christmases, we usually have shorts on. We hardly ever get into single digits and snow is an extreme raeity. All the leaves are still on the trees and this area is covered mostly in huge oaks.

I was under the impression that squirrels need a cache of food for the winter, which these won't have anything buried. I've read/heard some conflicting opinions on that and now I'm just confused. I put out blocks for any releases up until the new batch just goes outside, so I haven't been providing blocks since these have been out - hopefully reducing competition.

Does anyone in the South release this late? Is it successful?

Thank you for ANY opinions!

SammysMom
11-25-2016, 09:59 AM
What if you build the cage in panels that just bolt together? Mine is totally simple to break down. It is 4 x 6 panels that just bolt together and then come apart and can be moved or stored easily. You could make it as large or small as you want. A 4 x 4 x 6 feet tall would only be 4 sides, the roof and the bottom. Then when you do move and want to go larger, you just make more 4 foot panels that you can add in to make your release cage as large as you'd like. I got my dad to agree because of the portability of the cage.

DarkLies212
11-25-2016, 11:15 AM
Transporting it isn't the problem. It's the amount of space it takes that they don't like. Though it was never a problem before :surrender

I do like your panel idea though! I'm going to work that into the design!

HRT4SQRLS
11-25-2016, 12:20 PM
I have released on Thanksgiving weekend in the past. I know of others that have released near Christmas. Of course, I am south of your location. We have had VERY mild winters for several years now. Our coldest weather is in Jan and Feb. but the cold is spotty. We might have a day or two that drops to 30 but then the temp goes right back up. We consider cold days when the temp stays in the 60's or below. CM920 You're right that they won't have a stash of food but frankly, with my situation that's not a problem. I feed them through the entire winter. When they stop coming to the food station I stop. The trees are full of acorns so they have plenty of food right now anyway. I have noticed that my releases (3 weeks ago) are leaving food that I provided so no one is hungry.

I also have nest boxes in the trees if they choose to use them.
IMO, you probably could release now especially if you continued to feed them until they figure out there native resources.

To answer your question, our fall releases are very successful.