Will the destruction get any better with age?

[squirrel dad]

We have a 7 month old grey squirrel. At times she is tearing up wood moldings in our home. She is in a large cage when we are not home. When she is out we try to supervise her every movement. But then she will start in with chewing things up. Does this get better as she gets older or are we doomed to have a tattered home?
Her back feet are deformed and hinder her from being released. She climbs bare skin and t-shirts just fine. LOL On small branches I fear she would not make it.
Thanks,
Tracy

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hi squirrel dad
Welcome to TheSquirrelBoard

Could you describe the disability of the feet? A pic would be helpful.

Unfortunately, the chewing doesn't get better. Squirrels are very destructive. They can destroy prized possessions or chew the window frames, doors, cabinets, walls or basically anything. They must be supervised continuously when out of the cage to prevent damage.

That's just one of the reasons we discourage people that think they want a pet squirrel. Of course, a disability is different. Post a pic and we might be able to help.

[CritterMom]

Well, you might be able to steer her to other things to chew. They really, really like to chew regular pine lumber. Go to Home Depot and buy some 1x2 common pine pieces - it is the indoor stuff. Just cut it and attach it to things in the cage. Screw them down to shelves, attach to the bars, etc - they want them stable like that so they can really yank and chew big hunks out.

Covering stuff you don't want chewed helps too - sort of "out of sight, out of mind." My furniture pride and joy is a big Danish modern solid teak dresser that is just freaking gorgeous, weighs about 900 pounds, and has been in my bedroom, AKA The Squirrel Zone. It is covered with a sheet and they don't even look at it - they run around on top all the time but no chewing.

They calm down considerably as they age and get lazy and very much in love with their beds, so as she gets older she will probably spend less time on search and destroy missions. But squirrels chew...

[Jen413]

Cover, cover, cover. I have wash rags taped to the corners of my dresser mirror to protect it, folded pillow cases tucked into the drawers of my dresser to cover the dresser corners, blankets draped over the corners of my bed, card board taped here and there. It's the only way I've found to deter him and because of his teeth issues he's not a horribly destructive chewer but he does leave his mark. I went out and cut down a small tree then attached it to a base to make it sturdy. Then I attached baskets and shelves to it. It gives him something to play and chew on in the bed room when he's out and about.

[squirrel dad]

Thanks for the replies. We will have to cover a few things up around the house. I have attached a picture of her feet. We have had her since she was about 5 weeks old. I belive the mother tossed her out of the nest. She seems to be a regular squirrel except for her rear feet.

[Mel1959]

What a gorgeous tail she has! :Love_Icon. I see what you mean about the feet. I covered horizontal surfaces in the room I had my squirrel, too. It did seem to help.

[TubeDriver]

That is a tough question. I don't think there is a way to get a squirrel to stop chewing. All you can do is try to limit her access to things that you do not want chewed. Maybe designate two rooms as squirrel countryt but try to keep her out of the rest of your home? Maybe her cage room and a living area where you can hang out but don't allow her access to other rooms?

Also, make sure she has plenty of things to chew on (chew rocks, antlers, the occasional hard shelled walnut/treat, fresh branches from outside that you can hang in places she can reach). Squirrels do need to chew a lot to keep their teeth healthy and the correct length. Also, be very careful about power cords since chewing on them could seriously hurt or even kill her!

Hard to tell from the photos, but those rear paws do not look very functional? She probably would not do well outside.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Those feet really are odd. I guess they were like that when she was found. ?

[squirrel dad]

Those feet really are odd. I guess they were like that when she was found. ?

Yes. She was born that way. Just about useless rear feet.

[Seymour's mom]

I've become quite the pro with wood filler lol Seymour would always chew on picture frames so I got two 6ft long pine planks for shelving. Now he just chews on the shelf and not our pictures😁 he loves the new shelves

[SophieSquirrel]

They must be supervised continuously when out of the cage to prevent damage.

HRT4 is correct and also so they don't injure themselves. Lamp cords are the number one danger followed by toxic substances. No squirrel should be loose in a room where any cord is plugged into a socket. We had one member who's squirrel chewed into a toxic battery that was left somewhere. If it's hidden somewhere a squirrel will find it.

[Diggie's Friend]

We had a girl for 11 years if you let her roam around supervised she would find something to chew save on our bed, where she would go under the blanket to bury a nut against my hand. Once she was playing on a low couch in the livingroom, and rolled off landing on the arch of her back. After that we didn't offer her a toy in the living room. In her latter years she developed degenerative disc disease; this likely from being spayed for a condition she had, which lowered her estrogen that supported calcium uptake and lead to the development of MBD, which we learned about too late. To this day we wonder if that fall lent to her developing this condition in that part of her back.

The only sure way to prevent chewing of furniture that contains toxic substances, as well as slick surfaces, is not to let your squirrel have access to them. For this reason some have devoted a room to their squirrels putting their cage in the room and moving out human furniture (dressers, desks, chairs, etc.), and providing an arboreal habitat in their cage and in the room, with 'cat' trees and cotton rope plain pine non toxic and uncoated shelfing for them to climb on. The door can be releace with a framed version of a cage door, so you can see in and they can see out if there are no predatory pets in the home.

As for furniture, replacing a long dresser with an upright in another room will make space for one more dresser. There is always the garage of course if you need to store a piece. To me, when it comes to furniture, it better to clean out the old garage than to put a squirrel at risk for an injury or accidental ingestion of a toxic substance that can build up over the long term and impact their health.

[Diggie's Friend]

Beyond the furniture, look to the openings they can get into which present a potentially serious risk to squirrels.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?33486-KITCHEN-DANGERS-Cabinet-Nightmares-This-Is-for-YOU-!!!!&p=980304#post980304