Greetings from Red and Taz

[Taz2020]

Before I begin, I want to thank all those who take time out of their day to answer questions, calm fears and offer solace when needed. Up until last year this was a world I didn’t know existed; I wish I could truly convey the respect I have for each of you and how grateful I am for your patience, wisdom, and insight.

Since joining this forum I’ve read through countless threads looking for answers to questions, general information on squirrel care, and learning through the experience of others. In doing so I guess I feel I’ve come to know some of those here; there are those whose advice I immediately seek out and whose opinions I’ve come to trust (umm…this doesn’t make me a creepy cyber stalker does it?). So, after a little over a year, countless Iphone cords, multiple Rubbermaid containers, three remotes, a couple breakdowns and north of $2K later, I thought I ought to share our story with those who played a significant role in getting us this far (even if you don’t know it).


On May 3nd, 2020 we arrived home from a quick trip to Lowes to find four baby squirrels in the road right in front of our driveway (how we didn’t run over them is a miracle in and of itself). After confirming that the four blobs of fur were indeed baby squirrels and not voles, baby rats, or baby shrews (not that there’s anything wrong with voles, baby rats or baby shrews), we placed them in small box with a t-shirt, courtesy of Amazon’s extensive repacking program (the box, not the T-shirt), and put them back out under the Jeep for mom to find them (two were under the rear bumper, two had crawled out in front of the driveway, so we figured that was the safest place for mom to find them).

By about 6:30 pm mom still had not shown up (we found them around noon), a quick “what to do with baby squirrels found in front the driveway” google search later we decided to bring them in for the night (that’s what google said to do). Ran down to the local Walmart, picked up a bottle of clear Pedialyte, (google again) looked for baby squirrel supplies in the pet section (Walmart does not carry baby squirrel supplies in their pet section), ran next door to the pet store, which also does not carry baby squirrel supplies (google said to get a baby squirrel nipple, I already had a small syringe leftover from when our cat had an air bubble, refused to fart, acted like he was dying, resulting in a $400.00 syringe from the vet that I refused to throw away). We spent the next 24 hours giving them small doses of warmed Pedialyte and us large doses of strong coffee every two hours. The next morning we started contacting rehabbers listed on our states DNR site.

Fast forward a week, no rehabbers called us back, DNR as well as local vets only offered to “humanely euthanize” them for us at no cost (seriously?!?), and the Humane Society just referred us back to DNR.

This is when we decided to accept the hand that fate and the powers that be had dealt us and become baby squirrel parents.

The next few weeks were a blur of buying Esbilac, finding out Esbilac was bad, panic buying Fox Valley 20/50, an insane amount of baby squirrel supplies, multiple sizes of Rubbermaid containers (I read that cardboard boxes were bad because it dehydrates them), trying to figure out how to sex them (three girls and a boy, Diana, Red, Taz and Sheldon), determine age (approximately five weeks), what kind of squirrels they were (at first thought they were fox squirrels, turnedout to be red squirrels), searching the internet for anything and everything I could find on baby squirrels, and sending emails to some of the squirrel rescue sites I found online, (only one of which, Pam at squirrel-rehab.org, actually emailed me back).

We had marked them after the second day with different colors of nail polish to keep track of feedings and daily weight checks. All were gaining weight day over day, active and generally healthy. I remember thinking after we had them a few weeks “we got this, another month or so and we’ll introduce the soft release cage, a couple weeks after that we’ll do a soft release, we can do this”, this is when fate once again decided to intervene. You know the saying “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle”, well, it seems God knew that four squirrels were more than we could handle; we lost Sheldon and Diana on June 20th.

I had lost several animals over the years, but none was more devastating, hurt as much as losing these two. I still cry (I’m crying now, at my desk, at work…trying to act like it’s my contacts that are bothering me and putting copious amounts of eye drops in my eyes to hide the tears).

But Gods wisdom made sense when it came release time.

1st soft release attempt
We built a 4x4x8 enclosure outside and attached it via PVC pipe through the window to the girls (Taz and Red) inside enclosure, 3D printed a little gate thingy, (kind of like what they have on those Zoo shows, where you can close off access from one side to the other) and began the process of letting them get used to the outdoors. After a couple of weeks, we closed off access to the inside enclosure, and waited for them to start wilding up.

It only took them two days to chew through the gate thingy to get back inside.

2nd soft release attempt
Replaced the now chewed through PLA separator with an aluminum one and started over. We had included a 3” diameter hole near the top of the outside release enclosure that could be opened or uncovered (this was the “back wall” of a sort of nesting box) when the girls were ready to be released. When release day came, we uncovered the hole and anxiously waited for our girls to discover the great outdoors.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

After a week, we opened the “big door”, thinking maybe they didn’t like the little opening (we closed the “big door” at night so no unwelcomed guests would sneak in). Again, we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

In the end the girls won, we let them back into the inside enclosure and left the separator plate out so they could freely go from inside enclosure to outside enclosure. At that time I thought we would try again next year (“next year being this year), figuring they would be older and, from everything I’ve read would most likely start to wild up.

And here we are, this year. And they haven’t wilded up (I don’t think wilded is a word, is there a past tense for wild?). We decided to let the girls choose if they want to stay with us or go off into…the suburbs (we live in a suburb…which I guess would make them suburban squirrels if they decided to leave?).

So… we built them a new inside and outside enclosure (2x4x6 & 8x10x8 respectively), still attached through the window so they can go in and out as they please. They still haven’t wilded up, as soon as one of us gets home they come to the enclosure door waiting for us to get them out, they don’t bite, they try really hard not to scratch the heck out of use when they’re running around us like trees, they like everyone and get excited when people come over to visit, and they’ve gotten a lot better about not chewing on things they’re not supposed to (our décor is a somewhat rustic, distressed look, which the girls have happily helped out with…).

As for daily maintenance, they get Henry’s blocks (Wild Bites and Hazelnut Blocks are their favorites), vegi’s from the tier 1 & 2 list and fresh water twice a day. We also keep a bowl of Teklad 2018 in their enclosure, I read somewhere that it’s a good idea to keep a constant supply of non-perishable food available for them. I also read that if it doesn’t taste good to you, then don't feed it to your squirrels; Henry’s blocks taste like really, really dry power bars (we actually call them power bars…), I haven’t tried Teklad 2018 yet…. (I'm still working up the courage), but do taste test all vegi's... Inside enclosure gets cleaned/vacuumed daily and washed down weekly, outside enclosure gets swept out/cleaned weekly. They get play time daily, pretty much from the time we get home until they put themselves to bed on weekdays, and open play time (all day) on weekends (all supervised…God forbid we leave them for a millisecond unsupervised…).

Sorry for the novelette... anyway, here are some pictures...I figured everyone likes pictures...318977318978318979318980318981318982

[CritterMom]

Well, hello, lurker - I am glad you decided to join the party! Two little red squirrels! That is a whole bunch of fast and adorable! I am sorry for the little lost babies. The bond you build with these guys - and the speed with which it forms, still amazes me.

I have this image of them steadfastly staying in their cage for days with the door wide open. "I think Mum is kind of dim - she keeps leaving the door open. We don't dare leave - she would be so crushed!"

BTW, "rustic" is the safest decorating style, because if it isn't rustic to begin with, it sure will be by the time they are done!

Keep the pics coming!

[Funkygrl]

I just love th little red pines! And yes, thy are SO FAST!!

[Taz2020]

Lurker.... :lurking ...that's actually quite fitting...um, in a non-creepy way I hope.

Thank you CM! Yes, they are fast and they are adorable. I do have a question, (okay, I have lot's of questions). most of the information, discussions I've found here are related to fox/gray squirrels; is there anything I should be aware of specific to red squirrels? I mean, other than they run around like crazy little fools, picking them up is out of the question, and they only let you love on them on their terms (they're kind of like itsy bitsy cats on crack...not that I advocate giving crack to cats, or any animal for that matter).

Also, since I make a novice squirrel caretaker look like an experienced professional, would you mind, if I started a different thread and posted pictures of their setup, etc. letting me know if there is something that I should/should not be doing or need to do/have?

Again, I can't thank you and all those here, enough. Without the benefit of the combined experience on this board I doubt I would have made it this far. Everyone here has been instrumental in keeping these two little girls alive and healthy.

[Rock Monkey]

I mean, other than they run around like crazy little fools, picking them up is out of the question, and they only let you love on them on their terms (they're kind of like itsy bitsy cats on crack...not that I advocate giving crack to cats, or any animal for that matter).

Lol.

Different squirrels have different personalities and different breeds do have different temperaments. I have read that red squirrels can be extremely aggressive about their stashes, particularly those that make large middens, because if somebody is stealing your winter stores it can literally be a matter of life and death. So aggression can arise if one even gets close to a stash.

Feel free to start another post. Ask whatever questions you have, being as specific as possible. You may get some clarifying questions in return. Experience has taught us not to assume best practices are being followed in every regard, not that everybody has to do everything the same way.

Regarding picking up a squirrel, in my opinion it is best to let them come to you and determine the extent of the physical interaction, which may well change over time.

[CritterMom]

You can certainly start a new thread, but I honestly don't see why you need to. Your first post offers up a ton of information that will always be pertinent. And when you read lots of posts a day it is really nice to be able to link your caging question to Red and Taz specifically. Now if you are ever in need of emergency help, DO start a thread in our "Life threatening" room and putting their names in the post title is always a good idea...

[Taz2020]

Thank you both!

Any type of physical interaction is strictly on their terms, although they are quite affectionate in their own way. If they're out when I get home they'll run across the room and jump on me, run up and down and around me a few times then sit on my shoulder for a bit. And sometimes they pee on my shoulder...which I choose to interpret as a sign of affection...or are they just peeing on me because they're squirrels?

We haven't had any aggression issues as of yet (knock on wood), but we also maintain a "stash free" house. At least with food; toys, bracelets, chap stick, shiny things and anything they can sneak out of my pocket, are a whole 'nother story...fortunately the girls don't seem to mind sharing their stashes of all things they're not supposed to play with.

Below are some pictures of their outside enclosure. I built it a couple months ago, so it's still kind of a work in progress, I would be grateful for any suggestions, recommendations, etc. as to what I should add, take away, do, not do.

Oh, and I stuck a couple just for fun pics on the back end.

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* Note: No underage squirrels were given alcohol in this picture*

[Rock Monkey]

Squirrel mark territory with pee. So, they're just staking their ownership claim. They are trainable, to a certain degree. When they do something you don't want them to tell them 'No.' Be Consistent. They will learn, if on balance they like you and want to please you. Some negative behavior can be expected if you don't pay them as much attention as they want. Some squirrels can be pretty high maintenance. It is good that they have each other for company.

Regarding the enclosure, as a builder, I would have primed and painted the end grain of all of the wood before assembling the boards. It looks like the end grains are not something they have access to, to chew on. This would increase the durability of the structure. A board retains the tree's cellular structure and water will wick up the end grain just as moisture travels from the roots to the canopy.

I would place a tarp over part of the structure to provide them a place to get out of the sun or the rain, if they prefer to remain outside on these occasions.

Of course monitor the enclosure for chewing which would allow them out or something else in.

I might add an elevated place where they could climb in and take a nap. Maybe put some soft things for them to play with under the part where the tarp is put. I would also add more platforms, to allow them to practice leaping and climbing.

I assume that rain is able to drain between the floor boards or that it has a little pitch away from the house, as you would with a deck.

[CritterMom]

YES to tarp or roof. The only time a little red squirrel spends under a big, open sky is when they are racing from one tree to some other cover. Because HAWKS!! They need cover and hiding places so if anything is out there when they are, it isn't terrifying. They don't understand that they are safe!

[Taz2020]

Got it! Tarp has been ordered (gotta love Amazon). Thank you! I wasn’t sure about the roof as they have free access between inside and outside.

All the outside wood, (the wood they can’t get to) I treated with a water based waterproofer prior to assembling it. All the inside wood that they can get to I treat with mineral oil monthly, it doesn’t do as good a job as the waterproofing stuff, but it doesn’t go rancid, it’s non toxic and I figured it’s better than nothing. The floor has small gaps between boards for water drainage as well as being on .5 (approximate) percent grade. Fortunately I haven’t seen any standing water issues…if needed I can take it apart and redo it if you think that would be better. I’m pretty much open to doing what I need to to keep these girls safe and happy. I figure when Mother Nature hands you baby squirrels that refuse to leave it’s best to take that responsibility seriously, it seems Mother Nature is a little pissed as it is lately.

I’m still working on more shelves and stuff. Is there such a thing as having too much stuff in their enclosure?

Thank you again! :grin2

[Rock Monkey]

I figure when Mother Nature hands you baby squirrels that refuse to leave it’s best to take that responsibility seriously, it seems Mother Nature is a little pissed as it is lately.

I’m still working on more shelves and stuff. Is there such a thing as having too much stuff in their enclosure?


:)

Think about things that provide decent grip. Test things out before hand to make sure everything is solid. Play with things.

Well, if the enclosure comes to look like it belongs to a hoarder, that would probably be a problem. :)

Smell everything. I wouldn't include anything that was perfumed.

Watch them closely when new stuff is introduced.

[Chirps]

Hi, and thanks for sharing your girls and your story. You are a very entertaining writer! Sorry about Sheldon and Diana. Red and Taz are beautiful, and must be pretty smart. They know a good thing when they have it!

I'm curious about the outside enclosure. Wondering how much time they voluntarily spend/t in it. Wondering, if they don't, whether having a tarp over it may increase their comfort level and time spent there. If they are creatures of cover as CritterMom said, maybe they prefer not to be out in the open so much? Looking forward to updates on if/how a tarp may change their behavior.

[Taz2020]

Thanks Chirps!

Pretty much anytime they're in their outside enclosure it is voluntary, they have free access between their inside and outside enclosures. If I had to make a guess as to how much time they spend outside, it would be about 25% outside, 75% inside (enclosure+house time). The only time access is blocked is when we clean the outside enclosure. Keeping them from going outside agitates them a little (they might stomp their feet), but that's about it, now, if I block access to the inside they will start to make "seriously, you locked me out?" sounds, start to scratch and chew their way through the slider, then give me stink eye when I open it up. Yep, little red squirrels can give stink eye.

Evenings and weekends we leave the door to their inside enclosure open so they can come and go as they please (supervised, I think they know when we're watching...because if I turn my back for a minute..."bam" they're sneaking something out of my backpack or trying to take off with my keys...). Anyway, during this time they'll run in and out, but it seems they prefer to be in if given the choice. It'll be interesting to see if putting a tarp on it will change that, I'll definitely keep you updated.

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Taz giving me stink eye....and pouting...I wouldn't let her have my chapstick.

[Scooterzmom]

Lurker.... :lurking ...that's actually quite fitting...um, in a non-creepy way I hope.

Thank you CM! Yes, they are fast and they are adorable. I do have a question, (okay, I have lot's of questions). most of the information, discussions I've found here are related to fox/gray squirrels; is there anything I should be aware of specific to red squirrels? I mean, other than they run around like crazy little fools, picking them up is out of the question, and they only let you love on them on their terms (they're kind of like itsy bitsy cats on crack...not that I advocate giving crack to cats, or any animal for that matter).

Also, since I make a novice squirrel caretaker look like an experienced professional, would you mind, if I started a different thread and posted pictures of their setup, etc. letting me know if there is something that I should/should not be doing or need to do/have?

Again, I can't thank you and all those here, enough. Without the benefit of the combined experience on this board I doubt I would have made it this far. Everyone here has been instrumental in keeping these two little girls alive and healthy.

So OK, I want to move in with you. I'll take their set-up and a well planned, healthy menu like they're getting any day :grin3 They cerrainly got lucky when they crossed your path, and I think they know it ;)

Nice job :Love_Icon And more pics, yessss please!!!


P.S. Did I mention they are totally knock-out adorable???

[Taz2020]

Hey, it just so happens that we have an extra room here!

Don't get too excited about their diet...I may only feed them healthy foods, but that doesn't mean they only eat healthy foods. The girls are master thieves, and fast. They've managed to sneak everything from Almond Joy bars to Sweetarts to cookies, M&M's and lipstick. I hide them and they find them (I think they think its a game, kind of like enrichment..."so where did mom hide the good stuff today"). Halloween was a nightmare, I was finding stashes of hidden candy for weeks...:eek

Truth be told I think we're the ones who got lucky, if someone would have told me a year and half ago that four baby orphaned squirrels would completely change my outlook on life and alter my perspective of what's really important, I would have said they were nuts (that's funny, nuts, squirrels...:gigg...sorry, I cracked myself up for a minute).

What's funny or ironic, or maybe a mix of both, is that we don't have squirrels that live in our neighborhood (well, okay, apparently we had at least two red squirrels at some point). In the fifteen years we've lived here I can only recall seeing a squirrel maybe once or twice. If you go several miles outside of our neighborhood you'll see a handful here and there, but not swarms of them (what do you call a pack of squirrels? Do squirrels even form "packs"? Are squirrel packs dangerous? Hmmm...:thinking). On top of that it took us almost a month to figure out that we had red squirrels. I've lived in this state for 23 years and have never seen a red squirrel, my in laws are native to this state as well as being avid outdoors people, and even they had to look them up in their wildlife identifier book. Although the state's DNR site says red squirrels are abundant here, everyone I've talked to has never seen one, plus we never did find the dray. Which shouldn't have been that hard seeing as how we don't have a ton of trees in our neighborhood and the ones that we do have are usually the decorative type. They just kind of "appeared". Divine intervention is all I can figure out.

Sorry this is so long...I'm trying to pretend I'm working...our owner just showed up and he's a few cards shy of a whole deck. Actually I think the only card he has in his deck is the joker...

Anyway, more pics...

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Laying on moms back is the best

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I know mom gets yummy stuff out of this thing...


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Maybe if I try it this way...

[Taz2020]

Question; does anyone know any rehabbers or vets in the central Indiana area that are in TSB’s circle of trust?

This is more of a preventive “just in case” question (okay, and I’m a little neurotic). I want to be prepared should (God forbid) I ever find myself in a situation where I need more experienced or emergency help with the girls. If not, are there any websites or books that anyone could recommend I have on hand to educate myself more on squirrel care?

Although red squirrels are exempt and aren’t regulated in Indiana, I don’t want to take any chances with DNR showing up at my doorstep…nothing good would come from that. I would lose my fool mind, and a five foot nothing red head losing her fool mind and going all momma bear (or more accurately momma squirrel) is scarier than seeing Bruce Banner get angry. Or so I’ve been told.

[Chirps]

I am so enjoying your posts. A real treat to read. SO glad you're here! Fascinating that your babies seem to have appeared by magic. A thought just popped into my head. Maybe a predator had taken them all from elsewhere, and it was their luck that for whatever reason it was forced to drop them right where they'd get the best possible care. That theory is a real stretch, especially if NONE of them had even the tiniest scratch from being grabbed up to be dinner for some hawk, crow or raven's kids. :dono

Btw, a group of squirrels is a scurry or a dray.

:squirrel3:squirrel3:squirrel3:squirrel3:squirrel3

[Rock Monkey]

The girls are master thieves, and fast.

I ended up putting a lot of things up in the attic, drawers or out on the porch. Toward the end of her stay my decor had become much more minimalistic. Pay particular mind to electrical cords, cords of all kinds. Plus, I don't think they like phones or computers as these can become sources of attention not paid to them.

Store the tempting foods in metal or ceramic containers. I used to use empty oatmeal containers to keep out meal moths, doesn't do a darn thing for preventing an intelligent squirrel perpetually on the look out for sources of food within their environment.

[Diggie's Friend]

Nice spacious cage! This large size of enclosure is what is needful to use to support a litter of highly territorial red squirrels, that will fight when housed in smaller enclosures.

The average percentage of survival of red squirrel young in the wild that reach adulthood just 25 %. The support of their mother is crucial to their survival for she guards and shares her larder of nuts, aka: midden, with her young. Mother red squirels are also known to nest with their young during winter, providing them protection in that regard also. Because of these issues particular to the survival of Red squirrel juvenile young, those released in fall don't do well to survive the winter. Wintering summer born juveniles over till spring when the leaves are again on the trees, is advisable.

Ref: "North American Tree Squirrels" by Michael Steele and John Koprowski

In the northern midwest, a rehabber raised a large litter of red squirrels born in summer. They decided to place the release cage in a wild area. For this reason, I advised they include a full chainlink cage surround to protect the juveniles from break in by raccoons and badgers found in this region. Having decided not to add the surround, one day as they drove up on the sight, they saw a badger breaking into the cage. Chasing it off just in time, they decided to build a full chainlink surround to protect the litter of Reds they raised. All of this large litter of Red squirrels were successfully released in the Spring. Just something to consider, should you have raccoons, or other wildlife that are capable of breaking into a cage with wood and wire fabric construction.

[Taz2020]

"A Scurry of Squirrels"

That would make an awesome title for a children's book, or even an adult book for that matter.
Hmmm...something to think about. :idea

I kind of thought the same thing about the hawk/raven/crow scenario; but two of them were under the back bumper of our Jeep and the other two were about three feet away in front of our driveway in the road; when we found them they weren't very mobile yet, maybe scooting around on their stomachs a little bit. I thought maybe mom was moving them. To where I have no clue. Still haven't figured out from where either. :dono

Divine intervention, Mother Nature, either way they couldn't have come at a better time...my better half teaches special needs kids at the high school, and with the schools closed due to the "Great Covid Lockdown of 2020" caring for these little fur balls 24/7 helped maintain the sanity in our household. Which I guess just shows the level of normal sanity at our house if finding and caring for baby squirrels keeps the insanity at bay.

Kind of scary now that I think about it.

Thanks for the advice RM! I'll definitely have to invest in metal containers with very tight lids. I've already had to add magnetic closures on all the cabinets. I started with 25 lbs. pull force, but the little buggers could still get those open (they are strong little buggers, like getting bit by a radioactive spider strong. Not that the girls were bitten by a radioactive spider...more like if I got bit by a radioact.....oh, never mind. My geek slipped out for a second). I finally had to double up on the 25 lbs. closures to keep the girls out of the cabinets.

You are so right about the phones!

Fun fact: little squirrel pads work on iPhones.

Not so fun fact: little squirrels can actually send a text message.

Yep. I've received more that one text message back from someone worried that I'm having a stroke while doing speech to text.

As for cords, the girls are only allowed downstairs (downstairs is their domain, upstairs is the cats, although the girls have commandeered the stairs and bannister), this limits the number of cords they have access to. Some 1/2" PVC pipe, a little McGyvering, a lot of cussing, and a few bandages later, cords are protected.

For the most part.

Thanks for the info Diggie! I haven't seen any raccoons in our neighborhood, we do have hawks and crows though. I'll keep a closer eye out for any unsavory characters trying to break into the girls enclosure.

Since finding these little guys I've paid a lot more attention to the wildlife (such as it is) in our neighborhood. We have bunnies (these I've always been aware of, as the bunnies and I have an ongoing battle over my garden, the bunnies usually win), the girls really don't like the bunnies and will stomp their feet and yell at them when they come in the yard, the bunnies just look at them like "what are you and why are you making so much noise", then hop off towards the garden, a Mallard duck couple that hang out in our pond during the spring, and a pair of barn swallows that nest under the eaves of our front porch every year, and that have recently invited all their barn swallow relatives to live with them. I feel bad for the Amazon delivery guy, the little barn swallows will dive bomb you en masse if you get near the front door (it's like a scene from the "The Birds", :eek). I'm waiting for the day they just start chucking the packages from their van as they drive by.

Huh, now that I think about it our house probably looks like it belongs to the red headed second cousins of the Doolittle's.

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Momma barn swallow protecting her babies

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Mr. and Mrs. Mallard chillin' by the "pool"

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Mom..momma...mom...pay attention to me!

[Rock Monkey]

Divine intervention, Mother Nature, either way they couldn't have come at a better time...my better half teaches special needs kids at the high school, and with the schools closed due to the "Great Covid Lockdown of 2020" caring for these little fur balls 24/7 helped maintain the sanity in our household. Which I guess just shows the level of normal sanity at our house if finding and caring for baby squirrels keeps the insanity at bay.

Kind of scary now that I think about it.


Not so fun fact: little squirrels can actually send a text message.

Yep. I've received more that one text message back from someone worried that I'm having a stroke while doing speech to text.


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Mom..momma...mom...pay attention to me!

Lol.

Yes, I think they helped us all through the Covid non-stop freakout, just a non-stop stressor. (Fun fact, dentists report that broken teeth, more than doubled.) The furry little ones helped us feel as if that the world wasn't totally out of control, that we could stick our fingers in Death's eye.

They are relentless. I guess they have nothing else better to do.

There were definitely times when Helen liked noisy things and other times when she liked creating a little chaos deliberately, working to knock sheets of light-weight rigid insulation, she knew there would be a domino effect. I think the first time she did it, it was accidental, then I think she decided "This is fun."

On many occasions I had to scoop Helen out of the refrigerator. (No, she couldn't open it, but I did end up weighting a piece of plywood on top of the fridge that stuck out proud of the freezer door. I was afraid that she might manage to push/wedge that open from above.) (I kept her nut stash in refrigerator's vegetable drawer.) She knew the sound of that container made when I picked it up. On a number of occasions she whined ("That's not fair!") as I took away a large nut or two or three that she had managed to nab.

[Taz2020]

Tarp has been received! It was supposed to have been here last week, but we finally got it yesterday. I think the Amazon delivery guys pull up, see that it's the dive bombing bird house, and are like "oh, hell no", and toss it back on the pile for the next driver. I swear I see Amazon delivery vans pull up, the Amazon guy checks his little, whatever it is they check, looks around, goes pale, and drives off. Dogs have nothing on small angry dive bombing bird moms.

Now that I have the tarp and can do exact measurements, I can do a little modifying to the enclosure so it can be attached directly to the frame. I should be able to get it done by the weekend and will update with pictures as well as any subsequent changes in the girls behavior.

I was thinking about what CritterMom said concerning the covering and little squirrels being scared of hawks/crows; our subdivision/neighborhood is one of those "pre-planned" developments, you know, the ones where the yard comes with one tree, two bushes and a patch of grass in the front they call a lawn. Over the years a few homeowners have added more bushes and trees (and real lawn), but just as many still have their one tree and two bushes; basically, we do have trees, they're just really spaced apart (I wouldn't be surprised if there was something in the HOA bylaws stating "trees can be no closer than...", they have a grass height limit for Pete's sake). The trees that were "included" with the subdivision are mostly maples and poplars. I don't know why they did poplars, we lose a bunch of poplar parts (limbs, branches, half a trunk...) every year due to high winds and thunderstorms. Where the entire tree is lost they're usually replaced with a sapling (probably another poplar).

And right now you're probably wondering if my train of thought has a caboose...

I'm happy to announce that yes, yes it does.

Do you think the lack of overhead coverage typically provided by mature trees impacted the girls decision not to leave? Could this lack of natural protection also be the reason we don't have squirrels in our area? Hmmm...maybe next time Lowes does their free sapling giveaway I'll get a bunch, become the tree planting nighttime ninja and plant a bunch of saplings in the common areas (we have way too much open, empty, boring grass space that no one uses anyway). Just don't tell the HOA.

That cracks me up about Helen! I know what you mean about the fridge, more than once I've had to (try) and convince one of the girls that the fridge is not a playground or an all you can eat buffet as they're happily frolicking up and down the shelves.

And the nuts...I think squirrels have a special fairy nut godsquirrel that watches over them. I'll go through the entire house, every nook and cranny, top of the cabinets, under the furniture, in the corner of the stairs, anywhere they might hide a nut (the house is a stash free zone, well, where nuts and food are concerned anyway). Yet as soon as I let them out they'll run around for a bit (to throw me off I think) then the next thing I know one of them shows up with a nut; while I'm trying to get the nut from that one the other one pops up with a nut (I do believe they work in tandem on this). Once they have the nuts they immediately go to the highest spot in the house (on top of their enclosure) where I can't reach them...even with a step stool. The next few minutes are spent with me moving the step stool back and forth in front of their enclosure trying to get the nut away from them while they hop back and forth just out of my reach while shelling (then eating) the nut.

They're probably toying with me, but I like to think that maybe this is their way of helping me exercise (squirrel love). Heaven knows how many steps I've done up and down that step ladder the last year (another year of this and I should have the butt of a teenager again). They could just grab the nut and run out to their outside enclosure, by the time I got in there they could have the nut shelled and eaten without having to hop around.

But their all time favorite (non food) game is nabbing things they're not supposed to have. The only difference is they go to a spot that's about eye level with me (the top of the enclosure to my 3D printer, its about two feet square) then hop back and forth across the top with the contraband item while I'm running around the desk trying to get it back.

I suppose this is exercise as well *sigh*.

Tazzy waiting for me to come get the "toy"...
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"Okay, here's the plan...you get the nut in the...whisper, whisper, whisper..."
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If I stand really still maybe mom wont know I nabbed this...

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Uh-oh...
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Cheeto, what Cheeto?
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[CritterMom]

Thank you for helpfully pointing out that Cheeto. I would never have recognized it as a delicious, crunchy, cheesy snack otherwise. My first gray squirrel would beat me to death with his tiny fists for a Cheeto; my second gray squirrel is "meh" on the subject. More for me!

And of course they are messing with you! I put nothing past red squirrels! I was idly watching a herring gull poking around in my lawn looking for the squirrel blocks I feed my wilds when a movement across the yard caught my eye. It was a little red squirrel charging across the yard. He hit that gull midchest and climbed right up the front of of and onto it's head, biting and punching and shrieking like a banshee! The expression on the gull's face was priceless and did you know herring gulls can moonwalk? Really well? I couldn't believe it - herring gulls are enormous - red tailed hawk sized with a larger wingspan - they are the ones you see mugging people and tearing their french fries, fried clams and entire bread bowls full of clam chowder away from them! Pro tip: If you are ever cruising coastal Maine and stop at a lovely, waterside bistro for lunch, check the sky. If you see ONE gull, the correct answer to "Would you like to eat on the patio?" is NO!!! But this little terrorist just wiped the ground with this bird, then hopped down, dusted it's hands together, spat, and strutted away.

Good Luck. :grin2 Just keep believing that charming story about them being tiny physical trainers. I am SURE they don't mock you when you aren't around!

And yes, the lack of cover would give them pause - big pause. The grays are a little more accepting of it since they live closer to humans and their artificial domiciles than the reds tend to, but they still race across the wide open spots.

[Rock Monkey]

Do you think the lack of overhead coverage typically provided by mature trees impacted the girls decision not to leave? Could this lack of natural protection also be the reason we don't have squirrels in our area? Hmmm...maybe next time Lowes does their free sapling giveaway I'll get a bunch, become the tree planting nighttime ninja and plant a bunch of saplings in the common areas (we have way too much open, empty, boring grass space that no one uses anyway). Just don't tell the HOA.


They're probably toying with me, but I like to think that maybe this is their way of helping me exercise (squirrel love).



Yes, red squirrels and grey squirrels are genetically wired to be in the trees. The trees provide food, a place to make a nest, a place to hide, and serve as observation posts. Squirrels prefer trees whose branches are interconnected. They prefer to travel without ever touching the ground. They know which branch connects to what. They can absolutely fly through the trees, moving randomly, around the trunk to make themselves very difficult for a predator to catch. It sounds like any trees in your neighborhood stand alone, not interconnected.

Periodically, black walnut and pecan saplings pop up in my yard. When I have gone to visit Helen I have taken a couple with me to transplant. (Yes, I know it will be many years before they bear any nuts, but it makes me feel good and they can't stay in my yard so I have to dig them up anyway. I figure Helen's descendants will one day benefit from them.)

The exercise can also go in reverse. Pretty much every morning I eat organic oatmeal, with granola and diced apple. Helen decided that she would like to have some as well. So she would move around the room, leaping from one piece of furniture to another to try to get closer. As she got closer I would move away. It cracked me up. I called the game How to Exercise Your Squirrel. She almost always managed to get some, but never too much. Sometimes she would get out of bed at night when she smelled it as I sat at the computer. (I also eat a bowl before bed.) For the longest time she nested on top of the printer.

Squirrels are masters of concealment. They will even pretend to bury a nut, while still holding onto it, if they think they are being watched. Plus, I believe they know exactly where they concealed the nuts, especially if there are only a few. I am still finding nuts cached here and there. Eventually I decided that if Helen was going to cache the nut, rather than eat it, I wasn't going to give it to her.

[Taz2020]

Tarps up!

I haven't noticed any difference in behavior yet, but it's only been a few days. I'll keep an eye on it and report back.

I can totally see a red squirrel taking on a herring gull poking around on their "turf", your description of the event cracked me up! Especially the "hopped down, dusted it's hands together, spat, and strutted away". For being such little guys they have a BIG personality. I think they see themselves as prehistoric saber toothed squirrel size. Now that I think about it, it was probably a scurry of saber toothed red squirrels that actually took the dinosaurs out....

That's funny about Helen slowly hopping her way towards you to get your food. Like, "nothing to see here"...hop, hop..."just checking out this chair"...hop, hop..."let me just make sure the kitchen is safe"...hop, hop. My girls rely more on distraction and speed to get whatever it is I'm eating. It's "divide and conquer" with those two.

Oh, and yes, they totally mock me, they don't even wait until I'm not around, they mock me straight up to my face. I know this because sometimes they'll grab something they're not supposed to have, then jump on my head. Do you know how hard it is to get something out of a squirrels mouth when they're bouncing off your head, onto your shoulders, then back onto your head again? It's nigh impossible. And I swear the other one is sitting on the TV cabinet watching and laughing their little squirrel butt off.

I think when they're out and they do their little "touch noses" thing, it's really like a secret squirrel handshake signal as they set something up to watch me run around the house chasing one of them like a fool.

On a more serious note (I mean not "serious" serious, but just a little serious...seriousette?)

Scratching

The girls do tend to scratch a bit, do squirrels normally scratch just to scratch (kind of people do, or bears)? As they have access to outside all day could they have fleas? And if they have fleas would Revolution on a nut be okay since they are a bit smaller than foxes or grays. And if it is okay, would I reduce the amount, to like half a drop, a spittle, a gnats ass?

Food

So I'm, well, probably over the top paranoid about their food...reading about MBD scared the bejittles out of me, plus all the other horror stories related to poor diet, etc. I'm constantly worried that they're going to get MBD or liver failure, or something really long and nasty sounding that I can't pronounce, because, try as I might, they do end up getting a couple of nuts (sometimes more, if I'm honest) a day. I don't know how or where they find them...I think they just magic them out of thin air. And they have knack for finding candy that I didn't even know we had. Reese's peanut butter cups, Kit Kats, Smarties and M*M's are their favorites, or at least the ones they seem to find. I supplement their food twice a week with calcium carbonate from Henry's, but then I read stuff about too much calcium causing kidney stones, or that they need probiotics, or yogurt, and I should be blanching all the vegis prior to feeding them, not giving them raw sweet potato (which they love); Sooo... I give them raw vegis, (I don't blanch or cook them), I keep the power bars (HHB) in the freezer, then nuke them for 15 seconds before feeding them, throw out all the uneaten HT 2018 every month and add new stuff (should I be keeping this in the freezer? Does this have an expiration date? The bag doesn't list one.), fresh water in their water bowl everyday (they have two bottles but don't care for those),...I'm not slowly poisoning them or shriveling up their insides am I?

When reading the "food pyramid" chart from Henry's, the diet looks pretty cut and dry, but it appears there is a lot more wiggle room that what I initially thought. I just want to make sure that I'm not missing something or doing something that I shouldn't be. I don't have the years of experience behind me, so I do tend to be overly neurotic about everything from how long they sleep, or don't sleep, whether they're super duper active or just super active, basically their behavior in general. In a nutshell (squirrel pun), I don't want my inexperience or ineptitude (or reluctance to ask questions) be the reason these girls don't thrive and live a happy, long life.

Like I said previously, Mother Nature seems to be not so happy lately, the last thing I want to do is push her into full blown, "whip out a can of whoop ass" mode, because I didn't do right by her babies.

Oh, and as you can probably tell by now, I really suck at short, to the point posts. Sorry. I've tried, but, well, my brain just vomits stuff to my fingertips, which in turn types stuff into the posts. On the flip side I'm not a very talkative (vocally, that is) person, so that's something I guess.

Outside enclosure with tarp
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[CritterMom]

Nice "rustic." Looks a lot like my place!

I know they love nuts, but as you already know, too many isn't good. My solution for this is to use shelled nuts - like pecan or walnut halves. I cut a pecan half into 6 or 8 pieces and hide them so Zeke can hunt them down. In the evening, he gets one hazelnut in the shell when he goes back to his enclosure. He feels like he got a bunch of them because he had to track down all of those little pieces. HHBs were designed to not only provide the vitamins and minerals they need; they are slightly over-supplemented with calcium to mitigate the damage done by US with goodies. The woman who created them and owns the company is a squirrel person and knows the power of the cute and how BAD humans are at resisting it!

But you do need to get ahold of the candy thing. I am sure you realize this. And they seem to really love it! My late boy Mister P wrenched a Tootsie Roll pop (damned Halloween) out of my mouth once and ran under my bed with it! It is a king sized bed so there was no way for me to reach him - if he hadn't gotten cocky teasing me I wouldn't have gotten it back (he was so MAD). It really isn't a good thing. Candy needs to be kept in something they can't get into, and if this is the result of kids in the house leaving it laying around or sneaking it to them because they are so cute, they need to have the riot act read to them. Crash your house, get everything you can find, and keep the other stuff locked up. Eventually they will run out of the bits you haven't found.

I keep the HTs in the fridge and the HHBs in the freezer. The HTs may not need it, but it isn't going to hurt them.

I for one enjoy your posts! I broke my left hand and it is casted and has taken my posts down to the bare minimum. I type with one hand then spend more time fixing all the mistakes and it is DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!

[Taz2020]

Snap! Sorry to hear about the hand. Trying to type with one hand is a pain in the butt. Does Zeke leave your cast alone or does he think it's a new treat or plaything? Is your cast now "rustic"?

When I read about hiding the nuts I smacked myself on the forehead and was like "duh". When the girls were younger, and when we thought they were going to be "free, wild, squirrels" one day, that's exactly what we would do. We would hide little nut pieces all over the house to get them used to foraging. After I chipped my tooth whilst trying to show them how to open a hazelnut (they were not impressed), I decided that I would rely on their little squirrely instincts to learn all things squirrely. Thanks for reminding me though! I'll start doing that again.

The candy thing...:tap...I went through the pantry several months ago and threw out all the "spare" candy, put two locking containers in there, and told everyone that any candy that didn't fit inside one of the containers would be thrown out (I wasn't very popular in my house for a few days). My kids are older (youngest is 19), so now they just take their candy up to their rooms (the girls aren't allowed upstairs, and we close all the upstairs doors when they're out). Plus a zombie apocalypse is more likely than one my kids sharing their candy with the girls...now that they have to buy their own...it's amazing how things they just had to have aren't as important when it's their own money. I'm not a big candy eater (the little bit of candy I do like I keep in the freezer, I like frozen RPC's), It's usually from parents giving my better half "treat bags" (special needs teacher), which end up on counter, and from there you can probably figure out the rest.

The girls, knowing this is something they're not supposed to have, will do a snatch and run, resulting in me running after them (exercise), them hopping back and forth on the tallest point they can find while I'm trying to grab the candy. Aaaannnd...yeah, they get cocky and taunt me as well, hopping at me, poking at my hand with the candy then hopping back again. Usually I can get the candy from them before they've been able to get the wrapper off. The one exception was the lone M&M (plain, not peanut). Taz had that thing gone before I could react. It was even a green one.

I'm glad you like my posts! With Covid, all the shipping delays and material shortages my job has been way more hectic than usual; on the plus I haven't had to travel since the first of last year. I'm typically moving from one emergency to another, answering the same questions from the same people over and over again (I swear I work with a bunch of walking brain stems), in short I don't spend much time at my desk, let alone sitting down. The only time I get to sit down is when I'm writing reports or answering emails (which are also quite long....and detailed....now that I think about it, I don't get asked to answer emails that often :dono). This gives me a chance to sit down while still looking busy (if I look busy then one of the meandering brain stems won't stop to ask me the same question they asked me two days ago, or try to show me something that is totally irrelevant to whatever projects are being worked on). I used to hide out in the bathroom when I needed a break, but they found me...the bathroom is no longer a sacred space.

Hmmm...I probably sound like a big, jackass meanie....I'm really not (at least I don't think I am), I love what I do, and like the people I work with, it's just somedays....somedays I want to stick my head in a freezer and join the ranks of the walking brain stems.

[CritterMom]

I had terrible problems with Zeke and the cast. It is a removable (so I can shower - I put my foot down and demanded that. It covers my hand and locks my ring and pinkie finger together (the bones in the hand that lead to those fingers are what got broken) and leaves my middle, index and thumb uncovered. He was so excited by the cast that he was attacking it, stomping and chattering and getting aggressive - Zekie is NEVER aggressive! And he was also missing the cast and biting my hand, which has already gotten enough abuse, thanks! So I tried hiding it - rapping the hand in blankets, putting it behind my back, etc. That made him even angrier because he couldn't get to it. So I caved. The cast comes off for showers AND squirrel time. I wear cotton gardening gloves when we play because his nails are so sharp, so I carefully pull those on and keep my hand still and in the same position the cast keeps it. And Zeke is happy because all is right in his little world again. So yeah, total cave!

[Taz2020]

:laugh2

Zeke's probably like "Oh snahpz...sumfin gotz mommez handz! I needz to savz her!". I can only imagine what it would be like if you hadn't insisted on a removable cast, it would most definitely be rustic.

About six months ago I got my hand caught in a three roll mill at work...I was cleaning it so there was a 1/16th inch gap between the rolls, and it's a little lab mill, so it mostly just smooshed my middle and ring finger, well, and maybe almost took the tip of my middle finger off. The hospital sewed it back together crooked...if I draw a face on it, and flip someone off...(not that I make a habit of flipping people off, I'm not much of a flipper offer)...it looks like it's cocking it's head to one side thinking. Oh, and it might be a little longer than it was before. Anyway, I had little mini casts on those fingers and was worried about Red and Taz attacking them...fortunately they just sniffed them for a minute, shrugged their little shoulders, and never did bother them. I either lucked out or girls were like "thoz beez juz littlz monzsters, thez onlyz haz momz fingerz", (or they realized they couldn't grab them and run off, so what was the fun in that).

But I totally get the cave!

I've only had the girls for a little over a year, but it still amazes me what I'm willing to do and give up for these little fur balls.


Shortest post ever!

For me that is....

[CritterMom]

Oh Lord. I just reread my post. My hand isn't rapping. Wrapping. I am an old. None of me raps.

[Taz2020]

I just figured you and Zeke were having a rap off to take his attention off the cast.

Remember, Judge Free Zone here...embrace your inner rapper...

[Taz2020]

Update on operation "cover the girls outside enclosure with a tarp so they're not so scared of the open sky".

Yeah, that really doesn't roll off the tongue...

I'm open to suggestions.

It's been a little over a week since the tarp has been put up, and....I really haven't noticed any change in their behavior in regards to going outside. The only thing that *might* be a little different due to the tarp is that they'll lay out on the shelves and watch it rain now that they don't get wet. I've been adding more things to their enclosure to entice them to spend more time outside; they're kind of like teenagers in that regard, maybe if I installed a TV with a gaming system in there...

Again, I'm open to any suggestions that doesn't involve installing a gaming system and theatre room in their outside enclosure to get then to spend more time outside. Maybe I broke them...is it possible to ruin a squirrels "squirrelyness"?

Crap, I probably did break them...great...

So, suggestions on which games to include in their "soon to be installed" gaming room / theatre? Frogger would probably traumatize them...they're too young for Call of Duty...Animal Crossing maybe?

What has changed in their behavior is now that "foraging and stashing" season has begun they are quite grumpy with each other. They're mostly grumpy, yelling and chasing each other when they're let out of the enclosure into the house, which I don't quite understand as we don't let either of them have stashes in the house (or their enclosure for that matter). So we've started letting them out separately for play time, and put a divider in their inside enclosure thinking that if they're arguing in the house they're arguing in the enclosure, right?

Nope.

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This is them after they were relegated to the enclosure for fighting...once we took out the divider because they were pouting.

Yep, go figure.

I thought, for a New York minute, that they were wilding up...you know, arguing, fighting, seemed to be getting more aggressive.

Nope, again.

They both still prefer to be in the house, running all over us, checking our pockets for trinkets to steal, sitting on our shoulder, peeing on our shoulder, and pooping....everywhere (we vacuum multiple times a day, and steam clean at least once a week, Mr. Clean has his own room and a toothbrush at this point). They only have an attitude with each other, mostly when out of the enclosure.

Taz is the "nut stasher" (usually in my pocket) while Red is the nut eater. Currently we let Red out first (this limits her eating any stashed nuts we don't find right away), then let Taz out to play "nut fetch" for a while (Tazzy would rather play with her nuts instead of eating them. That really doesn't, I mean she doesn't play with her "nuts", she just...oh never mind).

https://youtu.be/lsRZyGyGssE

We didn't have this issue last year at this time, my guess is that they were still young? Or maybe because they're girls, you know, being friends, then not friends, to the other one being the Anti-Christ, to being best friends again...? I don't know, I gave up years ago trying to figure out the "girl dynamic"...and I am one.

If anyone is familiar with "girl dynamics" and how to resolve them, I am so open to suggestions! Right now we're just keeping them separated until they calm down and get over their tissy fits. Last night was the first night we kept then separated all night. They were not happy about that. It's like they get irritated when they're around each other, but can't stand to be apart.

Googling red squirrel social dynamics and behavior brings up a bunch of information on red squirrels in the UK, but very little about American red squirrels. I wish there was a red squirrel to English google translate app. Or...maybe not...as I'm sure there are a lot of squirrel cuss words and squirrel insults being thrown around, plus I'm not really sure I want to know what they're saying about me...

Oh hey, and how is the hand doing CritterMom? You and Zeke still throwing down rap challenges?

And just for fun...



Taz, trying to convince me she would make a good tree topper

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Mmmmm....Starbucks.....life is good. (Red, apparently even squirrels like Starbucks)

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Ahhh...the feeling of cool wind blowing through my fur (Taz)

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[Taz2020]

And I almost forgot.

Taz's slimy, off-yellow, poopy diarrhea that I had a complete freak out over and posted in the "life threatening" thread is cleared up and her poops are normal poops again.

And I owe those that monitor that thread an apology for freaking out and taking time/space away from those who truly have a life threatening emergency.

To avoid future freak outs (and the resulting freak out posts), as well as that feeling of complete helplessness and incompetence (I knew that slimy, mucusy stuff coming out of her butt, or anyone's butt really, is not normal; I just didn't know what it was from, how serious it was, or what to do other than make her drink lots of water). I decided to be proactive; I ordered the Wild Mammal Babies book, and started an "emergency toolbox" (which currently contains one 1cc syringe and my script of methylprednisolone...I hate taking steroids). It's a little sad looking, but hopefully as I learn more it'll fill up.

Anyway, should anyone have recommendations or suggestions as to items that may be useful for my "toolbox" or materials that would be helpful in identifying and treating "not normal" stuff (poop or otherwise) I would be deeply grateful.

[Taz2020]

Thought I’d post a follow up on any behavior changes in Red and Taz due to their outside enclosure now being covered with a tarp along with extra enrichment items for them to play with.

So….

No change.

Usually in the mornings they’re in the outside enclosure running around (except recently, now that it’s dark in the mornings, as soon as the sun starts to go down, they sleep), but as soon as they hear us come down the stairs they zip inside faster than a murder hornet being chased by the USDA.

My new challenge is figuring out how to help them to enjoy, or want to be, outside more. I get not wanting to be outside during the day, especially this summer, it’s been hot, humid, miserable, I don’t even want to go outside. And yardwork is typically my go to de-stresser, relax, “me” time (yeah, I’m weird like that). But now that it has started to cool down a bit, I thought they would start to want to play outside more, especially in the evenings when it’s cooler.

But I guess these are the same girls who wouldn’t leave their enclosure and chewed their way back into the house last year when we tried to release them.

For now, I’ll keep trying out new things in their outside enclosure. Maybe I’ll stumble onto something they really like.

As for the girls arguing, yelling, chasing each other, and generally being teenage squirrel girls; they still do that, although it’s starting to calm down. We put a divider in their inside enclosure to separate them, thinking this would eliminate some of the fall/midden/territorial/girl stress.

Nope.

They were still stressed, running around their enclosure and wouldn’t calm down and go to sleep.

So, we took out the divider.

They grumbled back and forth a little bit, but then seemed to calm down. We turned off the lights and went upstairs. We came back down about 30 minutes later to check on them…and they were snuggled together in their little bed grooming each other…(okay, truth be told, at first I panicked…I thought they were eating each other…I had just read the thread about the face eating mom squirrel. I even checked on them at two in the morning to make sure I still had whole squirrels. I had whole squirrels; and I learned that they really don’t like being woken up at two in the morning).

I was like “seriously?!?” :tap

Just an hour ago they were mortal enemies…and now they’re snuggled together grooming each other? I’ve obviously missed something important in all my “Squirrel Behavior 101” research. I’m starting to think that maybe I can’t believe everything I read on Google…

I probably come across as being really (really) neurotic and a worry wart when it comes to the girls, but in my defense it’s pretty obvious that Mother Nature is going through menopause; with the heat waves, fires, floods, droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes…anyone who has been around someone (or has gone through menopause) knows that this is a woman you do not want to upset…lest the entire world burst into a big, flaming, floody ball of chaos.

So, with a suitable amount of fear for my wellbeing, (especially after the mucusy, diarrhea episode) I’ve been making sure I have certain things on hand in case I should ever need them and have been paying more attention to things. Part of that is trying to keep an accurate up to date weight on Red and Taz.

Nailing Jello to a tree would be easier than getting a red squirrel to sit still on scale long enough to get an accurate weight.

But we do keep trying. I’ve been keeping the scale on the coffee table with a small nut piece on it in the hopes that maybe one day they’ll be like “hey, that’s a cool little thing, ooh, and there’s a nut on it. Maybe I’ll just sit on it for a bit and eat this nut”.

So far that hasn’t happened. But I still have hope.

And yes, they do grab the nut and run.

[Taz2020]

Before I begin, I should explain the “normal” feeding routine of our little whirling dervish fuzzballs; since my workday starts early and often ends fairly late, this coupled with an hour commute each way, both morning and evening feedings are usually taken care of by my better (and more gullible) half during the weekdays, while I pick up the weekend feedings. Usually, this system works out quite well, however, recently one weekend while preparing their (Red & Taz’s) breakfast, I noticed that we were going through the HHB’s at an alarming rate.

After a bit of an arm folding, eyebrow raising, foot tapping discussion with my “on the spot” half, I found out the girls had been getting up to ten total HHB’s a day (between the two of them, not ten, *thankfully* each).

I flipped out and went into panic mode as calmly as I could.

I had been reading threads recently how HHB’s were supplemental and should only be given in small amounts lest we over supplement them with dire (but not specific) consequences. I imagined the girls turning into micro hulking, ‘roid raging terrors with excess hair…somewhere.

It should be noted that between finding out how many HHB’s they were getting on a “daily” basis and the following discussion, I had made myself a (very strong) vodka mojito…it had been that kind of week.

“Um, why are you feeding them so many Henry’s blocks?” I asked, as calmly as I could.

“Well, because…they would eat all the Henry’s blocks and act like they were still starving. I don’t want to starve them.”

“That’s why we keep a bowl of the rodent block…”

“Don’t call it that.”

“What?”

“Rodent block. It just sounds so nasty…rodent…ew.”

*Sigh* “Okay, squirrel biscuit, it that better?”

“Yes, that’s much better.”

“So…that’s why we keep of bowl of the squirrel biscuits in there with them. They’re non-perishable, they won’t go bad.. They can eat as many of those that they want. They’re not going to starve to death.”

“What about when they dunk them in their water bowl or pee on them? What about then Sherlock, huh, are they still good then…?”

“When have they peed on them?” I think right around this time is when I made my second (stronger) vodka mojito.

“It could happen.”

“Fine, unless they dunk them in their water bowl or pee on them, the squirrel biscuits don’t go bad. So they’re not going to starve to death.”

“But they don’t like those, they won't eat them, so they'll starve to death.”

“Only because you’re giving them the equivalent of a Kobe steak with a crème brûlée chaser…...twice a day. You can’t keep giving them that many Henry’s blocks every day, it’s not healthy for them.”

“You” (this is where I got the pointy finger pointed at me) “said Henry’s blocks were healthy and good for them. Soooo…..” (and now I was getting the folded arms and foot tapping.)

“In moderation…," I found myself waving my hand over my head, not really sure how this was helping, but it seemed like the thing to do at the moment, " you know, all things in moderation, blah, blah, blah.” I think I actually said 'blah, blah, blah', second vodka mojito was kicking in; I might have forgotten to add the mojito. “Look, how about if we make up some boo balls. They can eat as many of those as they want.”

“What's a boo ball? Are you making this up? Are you drunk?”

“Seriously?!?" Coupled with an eye roll... "No, I'm perfectly fine," discretely setting my vodka mojito, sans mojito, behind the coffee maker. "They’re a mix of rod…er…squirrel biscuits with some other stuff to make them taste better. Kind of like putting cheese on broccoli. We could make up a batch and see if they like them, then they can have ONE” I emphasized the one, “Henry’s block a day each with their boo balls. Would that make you feel better?”

“I suppose.”

“Good.”

“Hey…”

“What?”

“Who's boo?”

Thus began our first attempt at boo balls.

Although I had to wait until the next day as I was in no shape to make them that night.


**The next day, with Taz as my helper**


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"Okay momz, I gotz the recipe...Ize iz ready!"


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"Momz, what's this?"

"No no Tazzy, off, that's dangerous!"


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"And pleez bless mine momz 'no no that's dangerous' stufz that it duz make gude fude"



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"Nutz, momz, it duz need nutz!"


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"Hmmm...maybe I shudz be testings this..."


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"Momz! I duz think itz gude!"


We made a couple of modifications to the formula I found here, reduced FV 20/50 by a third and the nuts by half, so it's mostly HT 2018, but we did get the Red and Taz seal of approval. Now the girls get a handful boo balls in the morning and evening with their one HHB. And we still leave 'squirrel biscuits' in a bowl for them so they always have something available to eat.

Provided they don't dunk them in their water bowl.

Or pee on them.

[HRT4SQRLS]

:laugh2 That was quite an entertaining conversation. :grin2


Just in case you need reinforcement, TOO MANY HHB’s CAN BE DANGEROUS!
As you stated they are a supplement block. I think every one should make a batch of HHB’s at least once. When you make them you see the ridiculous amount of minerals, vitamins and protein in the blocks. I basically think of them as a vitamin (supplement) block. ONE to TWO blocks is the recommended number for smaller squirrels like flyer, chipmunks and I would include reds. Larger squirrels like those enormous Fox squirrels would get THREE. IMO, two would be the maximum for reds.

We had a case recently where a poster was concerned because their young, small squirrel was developing cloudy eyes. When questioned it was discovered the young squirrel was getting SIX HHB per day. While there is no way to know 100% I do believe the eye situation was related to over supplementation.

I’m glad you’re addressing this with Boo balls. I get it that they don’t always like the rod…errr squirrels biscuits. The many Boo ball recipes are very helpful with this problem. By the way, Boo was a real squirrel on TSB many years ago. His name lives on. :grin2

Red and Taz are looking great and I’m sure are quite the characters. :serene

[CritterMom]

What an enabler! You might try very subtly tapping the HHB bag where it says in GREAT BIG LETTERS to only feed 2-3 per day!

They are so freaking cute! They look a lot like trouble to me!

[Chirps]

Just caught up. So love your writing. You remind me of . . . the Dave Barry, or maybe Erma Bombeck? of squirrel chronicling.
The girls are so photogenic, too! :Love_Icon

Looking forward to the next chapter.
:popcorn

[island rehabber]

omigosh, Chirps, you too?
Can't sleep so I just read this entire thread and it's wonderful!! Trying not to LOL and wake up my guy or my cats. Yes, Dave Barry for sure, only with squirrels vs dogs :rofl4 Love it!

[Taz2020]

Thanks for the feedback HRT and CM! Your responses helped support my case (I printed them off and stuck them to the fridge).

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The boo balls definitely helped reduce how many HHB’s they were being fed, while keeping my insanely overfeeding other half happy that I’m not starving them to death. We also did a 10 day “HHB detox…” so hopefully between that and the boo balls, the girls little systems are getting balanced back out.

Unfortunately, when I said “they can have as many boo balls as they want” my overfeeding other half took that quite literally……….


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This is for two little red squirrels...

“Ummm, don’t you think that’s a little excessive on the boo balls?”

“Hey, you said they could have as many boo balls as they wanted, those were your words, not mine. I’m just doing what you told me to.”

Looking down at my coffee wondering if it was too early to add a little Bailey’s…”I know I said that, but I didn’t mean literally, like fill up the entire bowl. I meant they could have as many as they wanted within reason, you know compared to the Henry’s.”

“You need to make up your mind, either they can have as many as they want…”

“How do you know they want that many?”

“Because they eat them all, I think you’re starving them to death.” This was said with that sideways glance, raised eyebrow, accusing tone.

“Oh, for the love of Pete, I’m not starving them to death!” I discretely add Baileys to my coffee; I figured it was 2:00 in the UK. “And they don’t eat all of them, they hide most of them. You know, it’s that time of year, they’re hiding half of what we give them.”

“How do you know they don’t eat them? I’m pretty sure they’re eating them…”

“Because I clean the ones they hid out of their enclosure every night…speaking of which, why was there part of a fig newton in their stash?”

“Because I gave them a little piece of one….you” (the you was very much emphasized) “said they could have fruit.” I now got the completely turned around, arms folded, leaning against the counter posture, but no pointy finger…I might be making progress.

“I don’t think fig newtons count as fruit.”

“It says ‘contains real fruit’ on the package. They couldn’t put it on the package if it wasn’t true…”

“Well, okay, maybe it does contain ‘real fruit’, but it’s cookie fruit, not like healthy fruit.”

“Cookie fruit? What in the world is cookie fruit? When did you become the fruit gestapo and decide what fruits are cookie fruit and what fruits are healthy fruits?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, wondering if I should just add a little coffee to the Baileys instead. “Where do you buy fig newtons?”

“At the grocery store, duh.”

“Oh for the love of….you get them in the cookie isle, so…cookie fruit. If they were healthy fruit they would be in with the fruits and vegetables, but they’re not, they’re in with the cookies…again, cookie fruit.” My hands had started waving around on their own accord like they were swatting at a vengeful murder hornet; unfortunately, wildly gesticulating hands seem to have little impact in driving my point home. At least not for me.

“You gave them pieces of your grape…”

“Wait, what?” Yep, Baileys with a splash of coffee. “It…was…a… grape….like a real grape, not a grape wrapped in a soft cookie crust…I even took the peel off.”

“Yeah, but you’ve given them cotton candy grapes before…cotton…candy…….candy fruit…” This last part was said in a drawn out, conspiratorial tone.

Now, I should take a moment to explain; these are not little balls of cotton candy wrapped up to look like grapes, they are, in fact, actual grapes, grown on actual grape vines, found in the fresh produce section of an actual grocery store.

“And…” My cookie fruit feeding other half was now on a roll…”you gave Taz a cinnamon roll last weekend.”

“Oh my hell....seriously?" Bailey's wasn't going to cut it..."I didn’t give Taz a cinnamon roll, she stole it off my plate when I went to refill my coffee…I chased her around the kitchen to get it back…” again, wildly gesticulating hands, no effect…perhaps I need to gesticulate different body parts…

“Well, whatever, she still got some cinnamon roll…which by the way, has no fruit in it.”

“But you were sitting right there…next to my plate…” My voice raising an octave...that was odd...I dump my Bailey's/coffee...

“And…?”

*Sigh* “Okay, okay….so…no more cotton candy grapes, cinnamon rolls or Fig Newtons…deal?"

“Deal.”

“Thank you.”

“Unless you’re starving them to death…” and with that my utterly confusing other half picked up her coffee cup and left the room.

[Taz2020]

Almost forgot, thought everyone would get a kick out of this.

Ordered a new bag of HT2018....went to get it out of the fridge to make more boo balls...this is what I found.

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[Mel1959]

:rotfl:rotfl

[HRT4SQRLS]

Taz2020, thanks for a much needed laugh today. :grin2 I was a little under the weather today and coupled with a FL cold blast today
… the high was like 72 CM383 … I went back and read Taz and Red’s entire thread. I caught myself literally laughing out loud. :rotfl

Just reading it made me feel so much better.

I hope you’ll consider writing that book. The way you tell a story is a riot. :grin2

[Mel1959]

I, too, just read through this thread. You are a wonderful writer and had me laughing out loud many times. :grin3

I’m a little late to the party, but have a few suggestions for your awesome outside enclosure. It looks a little stark to me. I’d add some platforms high up close to the roof for laying on. The space between the roof and the platform should be big enough for them to stand up without hitting their heads on the roof. I didn’t see any wooden nest box or hanging cubes in there. I like to provide both in the cage.

Because you have such a large area inside, have you considered buying an inexpensive cat tree off Amazon and putting it in the middle of the enclosure where it won’t get wet? They even make cat trees with cheezy enclosed areas at the top, which would never accommodate any of my cats, but might be perfect for tiny red squirrels. You could stuff the inside with fleece or some type of bedding.

Hanging toys can be a hit. If you buy hanging toys for parrots it will give Taz and Red some safe chewing opportunities. We have a member, Milos Mom, that makes fleece hanging cubes, hammocks and assorted bedding for squirrels. She also sells stuffed toys that are attached to a springy piece of fleece covered elastic. Some squirrels like to jump on them and wrestle/attack them. Her online website is Auntie MM’s Custom Boutique. I’m not sure how much sewing she’s doing these days as she’s opened a rehab facility, but worth looking into.

And lastly (I know..finally, right?) I would cover a couple sides of the enclosure…..the two sides perpendicular to your house, except for the door, obviously. A while ago Home Depot used to sell these really cool 4’x8’ sheets of 1/16” thick heavy plastic that are printed with camouflage design on one side. They are used for building duck blinds or enclosing tree stands for hunters. :eek:sniff. Not all Home Depot’s sell them. I found them at a store that’s 1 1/2 hours away. Here’s a link to what I’m referring to. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alloutdoor.com%2Fw p-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F10%2Fkamo-panel01-440x660.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alloutdoor.com%2F2016% 2F10%2F19%2Fnew-product-kamo-panel-corrugated-plastic-sheeting%2F&tbnid=EWuQvMB6SMgIZM&vet=12ahUKEwiboOTOtYv0AhWEmVMKHbkfBgcQMygIegUIARDN AQ..i&docid=fxqBd7VEf001ZM&w=440&h=660&q=camouflage%204%27x8%27%20plastic%20panels&hl=en-us&client=safari&ved=2ahUKEwiboOTOtYv0AhWEmVMKHbkfBgcQMygIegUIARDNA Q

I’m attaching some pictures of the inside of my outdoor enclosure. Note the well-chewed corner platform, it was a favorite place to “pancake”. The white thing on the branch is a marrow bone. I place them throughout the trees and on my feeding platform for the wilds to chew on.

You can see the camo sheets in the photo and that I provide a pretty enclosed enclosure. This is my release cage so there’s a couple of reasons for this…I have a sprinkler system that HAS to run periodically in the summer if I want to have grass. I don’t want the water to spray inside the enclosure. My feeding station is right next to the portal door which is right beside an oak tree. I find that the squirrels inside the release cage can interact but by giving them some protection they don’t feel threatened. And….my neighbor has a dog and his fence butts right up to my cage. I didn’t want the squirrels freaking out by being able to see him.

I hope any, or all, of this helps. Please don’t shoot the messenger. :grin3

[Taz2020]

Thank you both!

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been under the weather HRT; thank you for letting me know I was able to lighten your day a bit. It actually made my day!

Unlike many of those here, there is very little squirrel wisdom I can contribute to this board; prior to last year, my experience with squirrels was pretty much limited to “and after that we had to….oh look a squirrel!” (this was often followed by a brake pumping, tire squealing maneuver that would have made Ken Block impressed). So, knowing that maybe in a small way I can lighten someone’s day or put a smile on someone’s face helps me feel like I’m contributing at least something.

For those that are curious as to what squirrel wisdom I have gleaned after 18 months of being a squirrel parent…


1. Do not undress with abandon when getting ready for bed, it is best to undress cautiously and carefully. Food items covertly hidden in various parts of one’s clothing can become small missiles if said clothing is removed with too much enthusiasm. Nuts in the shell are particularly dangerous as they become speeding projectiles that tend to ricochet and are unpredictable in their trajectory.

2. Black walnuts in the shell (or any nut in the shell for that matter, but especially black walnuts) will not flush down the toilet and flushing of said nuts should be avoided at all costs. Flushed nuts, particularly large nuts will often require separating the toilet from its preferred spot attached to the floor to remove the wedged and uncooperative nut from the bowels of the commode. This can best be avoided by relieving oneself in a timely manner, allowing the individual time to check oneself for nuts hidden within the waistband of their clothing prior to relieving themselves.

3. Boo balls that have been unknowingly hidden away in a pocket will turn into something akin to Liquid Nails when subjected to a washing and drying cycle. It takes a minimum of three additional wash cycles to break down this formidable composition.

4. Nuts in the shell do not taste like “roasted nuts” after they’ve been through the washer and dryer.

5. It is best to have a face ID screen lock on one’s phone. It is also a good idea to close out all applications immediately after using them. Nosy squirrels delight in playing on unlocked phones and will inadvertently send text messages or purchase items off Amazon if said applications are left open and unattended. They will also decimate any winning streaks one currently has on Candy Crush or Fishdom. Squirrels are not very good at these games.

6. Squirrels do not like being woken up multiple times during the night to make sure they’re okay or that they’re not eating each other (they become rather indigent). Surprisingly, squirrels can also do the squirrel equivalent of slamming and locking the bedroom door when woken up for the fifth time.

7. You will be peed and pooped on daily. It helps if this is taken as a sign of their affection for you and not that they view you as a mobile port-a-potty. If protecting one’s clothing is of paramount concern, Tyvek jumpsuits (pictured below) are an excellent option as they are resistant to liquids and are generally puncture resistance. They also double quite well as a sauna suit.



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That’s pretty much it as to my squirrel wisdom so far.

Speaking of squirrel wisdom, thanks Mel for the suggestions on the girls outside enclosure! I really do appreciate any and all suggestions. As evidenced above, my squirrel knowledge is subpar at best. Anytime I see a post with a picture of an enclosure I blow it up and study it for ideas, so your pictures and suggestions are very helpful.

I have a question on covering the sides of the enclosure; the back of my house faces north, if I cover the east and west sides of the enclosure (the sides that are perpendicular to my house) will the girls still get enough sunlight? I worry about them getting MBD, scurvy, rickets, scoliosis, or some other “osis” or disorder I can’t pronounce (I’m sure you’ve already noticed I tend to be…oh…a bit neurotic when it comes to the girls).

I have added some stuff to their outside enclosure, so it’s not quite as stark as it was, but I do like your suggestion of adding a cat tree to it. Initially I had a nest box in there, but took it out because the girls kept hiding perishable foods in it and the only way for me to get to it to clean it out was to drag my ladder in there (the girls really like the ladder, that’s actually their favorite “toys” when I have it in there, it’s also their favorite toy when I have it out in the house to work on things…I should probably add to my squirrel wisdom that little red squirrels + ladder + me on ladder = pain and cussing. On my part, not the squirrels, they are amazingly fast and can get out of the way of a falling body quite quickly. Anyway, nest box, I worried if I didn’t get the yucky food out of it fast enough they would eat it, get sick, I would panic, my better (and less panicy) half would have to put me on valium/Xanax drip, then I would miss work, and what if I became addicted to being on a valium/Xanax drip…I figured it would be easier if I just took it out.

Although I could add some those hanging fleece cube things…I could put them on a pulley system…then I wouldn’t need a ladder to check and clean them out…excellent suggestion Mel!

Here's the girls outside enclosure in it's current state:

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And here's Red actually hanging out and chillin' outside in the enclosure....as long as I'm in there with her...

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[Mel1959]

Are they out in the outside enough to get sun? Is there a particular time of day that they enjoy it out there? Maybe you could just cover a portion of the east and west panels that are closest to the house? That way with the back of the enclosure being up against the house it would feel a little less open but they could still get sun.


It really is an awesome HUGE enclosure for two tiny reds!

[Chirps]

5. It is best to have a face ID screen lock on one’s phone. It is also a good idea to close out all applications immediately after using them. Nosy squirrels delight in playing on unlocked phones and will inadvertently send text messages or purchase items off Amazon if said applications are left open and unattended. They will also decimate any winning streaks one currently has on Candy Crush or Fishdom. Squirrels are not very good at these games.


OMG this part had me :laugh2

[HRT4SQRLS]

Flushing nuts had me :rofl4

The ‘wisdoms’ are so funny because, this is TRUTH! :rotfl They absolutely will slam the door in your face. More than once I’ve witnessed the stuffing the door with fleece by an indignant squirrel. I think it’s the squirrel equivalent of ‘how dare you’ so it’s best not to try to sweet talk them.

[Taz2020]

For my birthday this summer my “adult” children got me this:


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They thought this was hilarious. :shakehead

I believe they were imagining me traipsing through the forest like a deranged Disney princess singing and tossing nuts to all my forest dwelling squirrel friends.

Anyway, not remotely being a princess, Disney or otherwise, and only very mildly deranged, I figured I could put my new “nut sack” to good use. I promptly placed all loose nuts, as well and any free range (stashed) nuts in my nut sack as I found them.

I securely zipped my nut sack closed and stashed it in the pantry, feeling confidant my new nut sack would prevent my now captured nuts from escaping and becoming free range nuts. This is important as the girls have a very strong pro-free-range nut stance and have been caught on multiple occasions liberating nuts from captivity. They may have become nut activists.

Having rounded up and confined an impressive amount of nuts to my nut sack I was understandably perplexed when the girls started running around several weeks ago with nuts in their little mouths. While pondering this turn of events (did the girls start a secret underground nut railroad, did I miss a band of rogue nuts...), I was accosted by my reformed nut feeding other half.

“Have you been giving the girls nuts?”

“No…” I hesitantly turned around to see my not very happy other half standing there with hands on hips while Taz was enthusiastically attempting to bury a nut in her hair.

“Really? Then how do you explain this?” Pulling a nut from her waistband, which Taz promptly grabbed, and began looking for the “perfect” place to stash this newly exposed nut on my person.

“Nut coup?” Was all I could think of to say as I watched a nut fall from her head onto the floor.

“Uh-huh” I don’t think she bought the nut coup theory “I thought you had the nuts secured in your nut sack.”

“I do!” as I headed to the pantry, “they’re all right here in my nu…oh…”

“Oh?”

“Um, it seems someone has opened my nut sack…” I could hear the foot tapping behind me.

“So, all those nuts are now running around loose in the house?” This was not her happy voice.

“Well….nuts technically can’t run, so they’re not running…” and now I get the arms folded along with the tapping foot, *sigh* “yes, apparently we have a large band of rogue nuts running amok in the house.”

Thus began my search for the newly liberated band of nuts. Much to Red and Taz’s displeasure.
The good news is that during my search for the contraband nuts I came across very few nut carcasses. It seems the girls were more intent on stashing the nuts than they were eating them. Searching all the “usual” places, under the couch, in the couch, in the blanket on the couch, under the pillows on the couch (they really like the couch), I had only recovered a handful of nuts.

It was time to expand the search zone. This elusive band of nuts would not escape my wrath.

After about 15 minutes of searching, I finally found the bulk of the rogue nut gang huddled together for safety (not realizing that in this situation there was not safety in numbers).


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Returning the captured nuts to my nut sack, I placed it back in the pantry, discretely watching to see if the nut sack opening culprit would return. I only needed to wait about two minutes.

It seems Taz had figured out how to unzip my nut sack.

After unzipping my nut sack, Taz grabbed a nut then ran over to show Red the nut before bouncing off to find a new hiding place. Red, seeing that the nuts have once again been liberated, quickly retrieved her own nut from my nut sack, and, having recently been through the trauma of having her nut stash confiscated, jumped on my head, and began shelling, then eating the newly acquired nut.

My nut sack now resides in the mini fridge in my garage.

Although I was able to locate and retrieve most of the nuts, there was, unfortunately, a handful nuts that eluded initial discovery. Over the next few weeks I would find these nuts in very creative locations (the girls had learned to not hide all their nuts in one spot). In fact, these nut hiding locations were so creative, I started taking pictures of them before returning the nuts to my nut sack.

This past weekend, while documenting, then confiscating these cleverly hidden nuts, I realized I was being selfish keeping this nut finding adventure to myself. This is the season of giving after all.

So, for those brave enough (or bored enough) to participate, may I present the first annual

“Where’s the Nuts”

contest (it’s sort of like where’s Waldo, but with nuts).

Okay, so rules:

Below are pictures of places the girls have hidden nuts, and yes, there is a nut in every picture.

The first person to correctly identify where the nut(s) (there may be more than one nut in some of the pictures) is in all the pictures wins! I’m not sure what the prize is yet, I’m thinking maybe a $50.00 donation to TSB in the winners name, but I’m open to suggestions.

After a week (December 15th), if no one has correctly identified all the nut locations, the person with the most correct nut locations wins. After which I’ll post follow-up photo’s identifying the location of all the nuts.

Have fun and good luck!

Nut pics set 1 (set 2 is below, in the next post)


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[Taz2020]

Nut pic's set 2

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[CritterMom]

How much dough are you willing to cough up for the first person to count how many times you used the term "nut sack" in that opus? Because it is impressive!

[Taz2020]

:laugh2

Hopefully I didn't go over the PG-13 amount....

Hmmmm....I think you may be on to something though; how about a dollar a nut sack? I figure it's all going to a good cause, right?

:serene

[Mel1959]

Ok, I clearly have too much time on my hands because I examined all your pics and came up with my findings. I’ll list them in the order of the pics.

Horses mane right side
Peanut m&m foot area and bottom right side of table
Squirrels hands
Right side of vacuum
Top and side of horses mane
On blue m&m character
Bottom right of sword cabinet
Under wing and at the base of dragon/eagle.

Set 2
Top left on dragon
Under m&m’s right leg
Behind m&m’s right arm
In candle on the right side of the left side of candle holder
Base of fish statue

How’d I do?

[Taz2020]

Wow!! That was impressive!

Yep, you got them all, and you're the first one! So, without further ado, the winner of the first annual "Where's the Nut?" contest is...


:w00t:flash3MEL:dance:multi

:woot
:jump



You have your choice of prizes;

1. Donation of $50.00 in your name to TSB

OR

2. PM me your address and I'll send you a $50.00 gift card

Congratulations Mel! And thanks for playing!

[Charley Chuckles]

Ok, I clearly have too much time on my hands because I examined all your pics and came up with my findings. I’ll list them in the order of the pics.

Horses mane right side
Peanut m&m foot area and bottom right side of table
Squirrels hands
Right side of vacuum
Top and side of horses mane
On blue m&m character
Bottom right of sword cabinet
Under wing and at the base of dragon/eagle.

Set 2
Top left on dragon
Under m&m’s right leg
Behind m&m’s right arm
In candle on the right side of the left side of candle holder
Base of fish statue

How’d I do?
I think you won Mel 🏆😅

[Taz2020]

!!BONUS ROUND!!

The first person to correctly identify where the dragon is from (first picture in set two) gets a 2022 TSB calendar! And by "gets a 2022 TSB calendar" I mean I'll pay for it and tell Lennysmom who to send it to. So get your geek on and good luck!


I got an unexpected bonus at work (apparently not being a walking brain stem pays off after 23 years), anyway, I planned to donate some of it to TSB (I totally could not do what you guys do), so I figured I'd have a little bit of fun with it. It's my way of saying thank you to all those who give so much of their time, patience, wisdom and heart and soul (as well as considerable amount of finances) to not only help our furry little friends, but also those of us "first timers" who have found ourselves caring for (and in some cases providing a forever home) to these life changing furballs.

[Chirps]

This thread has been a delight to read. I must admit that the most impressive thing for me was that Taz kindly unzipped your nut sack instead of just chewing a big hole in it.

[CritterMom]

Pfft.

Nut Sack count - 13. I win the nut sack contest!!! Never thought I would crow about that.

BTW, This: "My nut sack now resides in the mini fridge in my garage."

I can think of several relationships that would have gone quite differently if only I had thought of this.

[Mel1959]

The dragon looks like it came from Japan, Korea or China.

I made this determination based on the writing at the base of the statue. Japanese writing symbols originated from Chinese writing symbols so the two are somewhat connected.

[Mel1959]

Wow!! That was impressive!

Yep, you got them all, and you're the first one! So, without further ado, the winner of the first annual "Where's the Nut?" contest is...


:w00t:flash3MEL:dance:multi

:woot
:jump



You have your choice of prizes;

1. Donation of $50.00 in your name to TSB

OR

2. PM me your address and I'll send you a $50.00 gift card

Congratulations Mel! And thanks for playing!


Wow! Who knew I’d find them all….I’m impressed with myself! :grin3

I’d love for you to donate $50 to TSB. Thank you! :hug

CONGRATULATIONS on your bonus!

[Taz2020]

Thanks all!

I think Tazzy learning how to unzip my nut sack was more accident than design. Upon closer inspection of my nut sack I noticed what looked like a spot where Taz had started to chew my nut sack, right where the zipper was. The nut sack, when fully zipped still has a teensy, weensy, tiny, very small, hard to see "hole" where the zipper doesn't quite zip up. It looked like Taz poked her equally very small head into that even more small hole, and "voilà", zipper unzipped and nuts exposed. After that it was a nut fest frenzy, which, I'm embarrassed to say, took me a couple days to notice.

Squirrels learn surprisingly fast.

Squirrels can also be deceivingly sneaky.

And congratulations to.....


:danceCritterMom:clap

For correctly identifying the use of "nut sack" a whopping 13 times! And crow about it you should! Finding all the nut sacks is actually harder than it sounds; I had to read through it four times to make sure I had the number right. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, for correctly identifying how many times I used the term "nut sack" in my post you have a choice of.......

1. A $25.00 donation to TSB in your name

OR

2. A 2022 TSB Calendar


I have only recently learned of the advantages of keeping ones nut sack in a mini fridge in the garage. But I agree, this nut sack storage epiphany may be the secret to world peace, or household harmony.

And on to the bonus round!

Mel, you're close in that the writing symbols do look like Japanese/Chinese characters...but unfortunately they're not, but don't give up!

I'll throw out some hints:

1. The symbols are not of any language, past or present, used here on earth.

2. Get your gamer on.

3. Ms Silly Heckled Terrors (it's an anagram of the answer).

Good luck and have fun!!


Good luck and have fun!

[Mel1959]

Ok, I got my next guess. It’s from Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. It was one of the statues that came with a special edition of the game.

[CritterMom]

:danceCritterMom:clap

For correctly identifying the use of "nut sack" a whopping 13 times! And crow about it you should! Finding all the nut sacks is actually harder than it sounds; I had to read through it four times to make sure I had the number right. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, for correctly identifying how many times I used the term "nut sack" in my post you have a choice of.......

1. A $25.00 donation to TSB in your name

OR

2. A 2022 TSB Calendar


I have only recently learned of the advantages of keeping ones nut sack in a mini fridge in the garage. But I agree, this nut sack storage epiphany may be the secret to world peace, or household harmony.



Oh, hon, that isn't necessary - I really was joking. Mostly I wanted to use the term "nut sack" a few more times. I mean really, when you get a perfect opportunity to write "nut sack" like the nut sack opportunity you offered here, you really need to jump on said nut sack opportunity and USE the term "nut sack" one or two more times, amirite?

If you insist, it should go to the TSB fund. Perhaps it should be a separate fund from the rest, sort of a special nut sack fund...

[Charley Chuckles]

:bliss:grin3:broccoli:jump

[Mel1959]

Curious to know if I guessed correctly for the dragon. :dono:dono

[Taz2020]

Sorry for not getting back quickly Mel, I came home to unexpected chaos last night...I walked into our three year old grandson sitting on the kitchen counter surrounded by a blizzard of powdered sugar, helping my candy making other half make rum balls (which, thankfully he was not allowed to eat), while our daughter was making...something...with...well, I'm not sure, there was a lot of stuff all over the kitchen, and two little red squirrels zipping around the place with little white noses like crack infused terrors.

And the moment you've been waiting for.....

Congratulations to


:jump:danceMel:dance:jump

For getting the bonus round correct!

Yep, it's a statue of Alduin that came with the special edition release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (one of my all time favorite games, right next to Fall Out 3, 4 and New Vegas).

And as I'm sure you've guessed, my dragon statues are one of Reds favorite nut hiding places. Unfortunately only my larger dragon statues are still on display, Red has taken the smaller ones and stashed them somewhere...I've only found one so far, sans a wing (still haven't found the wing). She has three more safely hidden somewhere, I think she moves them around when I'm not looking. Apparently Red is channeling her inner dragon mother.

As the winner of the bonus round you get your choice of (insert exciting music here):

1. $25.00 donation to TSB in your name

OR

2. A 2022 TSB Calendar


A special thanks to everyone who participated!

[Taz2020]

Oh, hon, that isn't necessary - I really was joking. Mostly I wanted to use the term "nut sack" a few more times. I mean really, when you get a perfect opportunity to write "nut sack" like the nut sack opportunity you offered here, you really need to jump on said nut sack opportunity and USE the term "nut sack" one or two more times, amirite?

If you insist, it should go to the TSB fund. Perhaps it should be a separate fund from the rest, sort of a special nut sack fund...

You are correct! It's not often one has such a perfect opportunity to use nut sack multiple times in a sentence, not to mention paragraphs full of nut sacks!

Does TSB have a special nut sack fund? Hmmm...:idea does TSB's fund have an official name? I mean, I'd be open to naming TSB's fund "The Nut Sack" fund....just throwing that out there....

[Mel1959]

Sorry for not getting back quickly Mel, I came home to unexpected chaos last night...I walked into our three year old grandson sitting on the kitchen counter surrounded by a blizzard of powdered sugar, helping my candy making other half make rum balls (which, thankfully he was not allowed to eat), while our daughter was making...something...with...well, I'm not sure, there was a lot of stuff all over the kitchen, and two little red squirrels zipping around the place with little white noses like crack infused terrors.

And the moment you've been waiting for.....

Congratulations to


:jump:danceMel:dance:jump

For getting the bonus round correct!

Yep, it's a statue of Alduin that came with the special edition release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (one of my all time favorite games, right next to Fall Out 3, 4 and New Vegas).

And as I'm sure you've guessed, my dragon statues are one of Reds favorite nut hiding places. Unfortunately only my larger dragon statues are still on display, Red has taken the smaller ones and stashed them somewhere...I've only found one so far, sans a wing (still haven't found the wing). She has three more safely hidden somewhere, I think she moves them around when I'm not looking. Apparently Red is channeling her inner dragon mother.

As the winner of the bonus round you get your choice of (insert exciting music here):

1. $25.00 donation to TSB in your name

OR

2. A 2022 TSB Calendar


A special thanks to everyone who participated!

Are you saying that Red actually has picked up your small dragon statues and runoff with them? That would be quite a sight to see….almost as comical as the description of the chaos in your kitchen last night! :grin3

What the heck! Donate another $25 to TSB….I know it’s going to a good cause. :serene

[Chirps]

You are correct! It's not often one has such a perfect opportunity to use nut sack multiple times in a sentence, not to mention paragraphs full of nut sacks!

Does TSB have a special nut sack fund? Hmmm...:idea does TSB's fund have an official name? I mean, I'd be open to naming TSB's fund "The Nut Sack" fund....just throwing that out there....

Well, how about it, Admins? Seems the perfect name for it!

[Taz2020]

Thanks Mel!

Tonight I'll donate $100 to TSB's (currently unnamed) fund in yours and CritterMom's name!

And yes, Red is our hoarder...she will take anything that catches her fancy and hide it in one of her hidey hole spots. She still has a couple that I have yet to find. :tap Which no doubt are harboring three of my small dragon statues and a rogue frost dragon wing. It never ceases to amaze me how they can run and jump around with something almost as big as them in their little mouths. She's even walked off with a wireless mouse...

She is also our neat freak; she keeps her "house" toys in a "toy box", if I put one of her "house toys" in their enclosure thinking that maybe she would like to play with it in there, she will immediately take it out and put it back into her toy box. Likewise if I take an "enclosure toy" out and put it in the toy box she'll take it right back into her enclosure. :dono

Taz just leaves things...well...where ever she decides to drop it pretty much. With the exception of nuts that is. Nuts she will definitely hide. She doesn't go back and eat them (which Red will totally do), she just hides them. Taz gets great pleasure in chasing, then hiding nuts. Often in my pocket. Or my hair. Or my waistband. Really anywhere on my person. Hence the reason for squirrel wisdom #1. Here's a super quick video of Taz and I playing nut fetch...



https://youtu.be/lsRZyGyGssE



Non-toy "trinkets" (things Red's not supposed to have) she hides in her hidey hole. Red definitely knows the difference between her toys and, well, her "not toys".

This is Red checking her toy box to make sure only Red approved toys are in there...

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And I second the motion Chirps!!! "The TSB Nut Sack Fund"...

[TubeDriver]

A normal morning starting with Red shopping for new things in Taz's home. :grin2

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-xcw9pcj/0/77f07cc1/XL/i-xcw9pcj-XL.jpg (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-hvf2SN/i-xcw9pcj/A)

[Taz2020]

:laugh2:rotfl


You've totally captured the squirrel dynamics of our household!!

[Charley Chuckles]

:rofl4

[Taz2020]

I usually sleep in a little on the weekends, typically until a little after the sun comes up. Once light hits my eyeballs…my brain pops awake. Not the rest of my body mind you, just my brain. But then my brain, being the devious thing it is, wakes my bladder. After that it’s a sprint to the…uh…water closet…and that bit of exercise wakes the rest of my body.

I’ve tried using those fancy blindfold things, but they just end up around my neck strangling me, which causes a lack of oxygen to my brain, which in turn causes brain alarms to go off, which wakes my bladder. You get the idea.

At this point you may be wondering “umm…okay…but what does this have to do with squirrels?”

Nothing really, it’s the end of the day at work and I’m trying to look busy until I can shut things down and go home. Typing makes me look busy. My roaming brain stem co-workers tend not to ask me inane questions when I look busy. Plus you get to learn a little more about me, my waking habits, and my small bladder. I know, exciting, right?

Anyway, back to squirrel stuff.

So, weekends; I get up after the sun comes up. The girls get up as soon as the sun even thinks about popping over the horizon. (I have yet to determine if this is natural instinct, or if they also have the ‘sun waking brain, waking bladder’ syndrome. What I have determined is that on cold, rainy, yucky days, the girls will ‘hold it’. They don’t like to relieve themselves in their inside enclosure, and don’t want to go outside when it’s yucky, so they’ll wait until we get home and let them out. For the next ten minutes there are little poop pellets and pee drops flying around like a micro port-a-potty caught in a tornado.)

Sorry, describing the minutia of the girls bladder and bowel functions sidelined me for a moment.

Back to the actual squirrel stuff.

Most weekend mornings when I come downstairs this is how I’m greeted:


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Taz is waiting for me to let her out, Reds either still in bed where its warm or outside (probably relieving herself).

Last weekend I walked downstairs to see this:


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I panicked.

Remember the TSB member with the face eating squirrel? (I think it gave me PTSD – post traumatic squirrel disorder.) I thought for a hot second that I had a headless squirrel. I think I peed a little too.


To Be Continued...(the last walking brainstem left, I'm shutting down)

[CritterMom]

I HATE cliffhangers.

[stepnstone]

I HATE cliffhangers.


:laugh2

[Taz2020]

Sorry about that CritterMom, I looked up and realized I was the only one in the lab, so I was like “Woohoo, I’m making sure everything is shut down and I’m outa here”!

I left off thinking that I was staring at headless squirrel, and yes, I had actually peed just a little bit. Whether from panic, shock or just being a middle aged woman I’m not sure. I may need to invest in those “female hygiene” products geared towards middle aged women…sigh.

So, there I was, standing in the middle of the living room in panic/shock, when my more awake, non-PTSD suffering other half walked past me, opening the door to the girl’s enclosure.

Red and Taz, each with their heads firmly attached to their bodies, were out of there like little fur covered missiles, shooting a barrage of poop pellets and pee drops as they clamored all over me. (my now laughing other half had opened the doors then sprinted to the kitchen, and coffeemaker, leaving me right smack in front of their now opened enclosure).

By now most of you have realized that what I thought was a headless squirrel was actually a stuffie…a hedgehog stuffie to be exact (with said head still intact). And you may be wondering why a stuffie in their encloser would send me into a panic. This should be a normal thing, right?

Red, as I had mentioned before, is very (very) particular about where her toys are (can squirrels be OCD?). All toys, and anything else Red determines is toy related goes either into their play bed in the enclosure, or their toybox in the living room (all things Red steals goes into one of her little hidey holes that she thinks we don’t know about).

This is their play bed….notice the stuffies all tucked in.


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In the evenings when I clean out their enclosure I just toss all the stuffies back in, this causes Red to pound her little feet (which I really need to get a video of, when she pounds her back feet her little butt moves back and forth, kind of like those old vibrating football games), yells at me, then puts them back in the “right” place. So to see a stuffie sitting on the top shelf, right where Taz usually sits and waits in the morning, well, caught me off guard to say the least.

“You look a little pale, are you feeling all right?” Said my not remotely panicked other half as she handed me a cup of coffee.

All I could do was point up at the stuffie still sitting on the shelf.

“Aww…they tried taking the hedgehog to bed with them. That’s so cute!”

I slowly turned around and looked at her.

“What?”

“I thought the stuffie was a headless squirrel…” was all I could say.

“Why in world would you think that?”

“There was this face eating squirrel on the…”

“What? Why were you reading about a face eating squirrel? Why was a squirrel even eating faces? I’m pretty sure squirrels don’t eat faces.”

“I didn’t mean to read it. It’s not like I googled ‘face eating squirrels’. It was a thread on TSB…”

“Why in the world would someone post about a face eating squirrel? Whose face was the squirrel eating? What exactly goes on in this TSB place?” (that last part was said with a raised eyebrow).

“It’s not like that…” now both eyebrows were raised “someone saw a squirrel, thought it was helping a baby squirrel, only to realize that it was eating the baby squirrels face off…I told you about this before. You know, the last time I thought the girls were eating each other.”

“Yeah, I probably wasn’t listening…but that’s horrible!! Why would a squirrel do that? That is not a very nice squirrel. Do you really think the girls would eat each others face off?”

“Well, no…” I said sheepishly, drinking my coffee.

“You need to relax and not worry about the girls so much.”

“I don’t worry that much…it’s not like….”

“Ummm…” at this point I realized that I should have just agreed…”remember last week when you couldn’t find Taz?”

“Yes…” I said reluctantly. I knew where this was going.

“And you tore apart the entire house looking for her?”

“Not the entire house…just the downstairs.” I hadn’t made it to the upstairs before she got home. Not that I told her this.

“And where was she?”

*Sigh* “In the couch…eating nuts…” There were still a few nuts that I hadn’t found from when Taz had liberated said nuts from my nut sack.

My photojournalist other half recorded what she walked into during my frantic search for Taz…and yes, I had pretty much torn the house apart looking for her. Flipping over furniture, emptying the cupboards, pulling out the dishwasher (the oven was next…).


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After I was made to sit down, breathe into a paper bag, and given a strong drink, my “moderately” amused other half informed me of Taz’s location…munching on nuts. In the couch. In the new bed she had made for herself in the couch. Along with a “new” door.

320998

Yep. That’s me in the background. Not believing that Taz was under my nose the entire time. And yes, the couch is flipped over….

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Tazzy watching put the house back together…

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Now, in my defense, I had lost a great deal of my hearing when I was quite young. Which was why I couldn’t hear Taz munching on nuts literally right under by butt. Several years ago I gave in and got hearing aids, only to realize the world is a very noisy place, and I much preferred the muffled version I had lived in most of my life. So they sit in my nightstand. My hearing aids, not the squirrels.

I did agree next time I can’t find Taz I would put in my hearing aids before tearing the house apart.

[Mel1959]

:laugh2:laugh2. Boy do they have you wrapped around their little toes! :laugh2:laugh2

[Taz2020]

Yes, yes they do.

Oh, and I'm supposed to point out that the kitchen doesn't normally look like that (I was threatened to make sure I add that disclaimer when I asked for the pictures). I mean obviously we don't keep the dishwasher in the middle of the floor...and all the stuff on the counter is typically in the cupboards. Which I had emptied out looking for Taz.

[Chirps]

Sorry to be so amused by your very real fears for your girls, but . . .

:laugh2:laugh2:laugh2


:popcorn

[Chirps]

320999

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Tazzy watching put the house back together…

321001



OMG, that face . . . There are probably people out there who'd want to skin her for making that hole, but I bet everyone here just thinks that is the most precious and adorable thing EVER.

[island rehabber]

She is so mischievously precious!! Look at that face!!! :blowkiss
Does anyone else see a lot of koala bear in her? :grin2

[CritterMom]

She is so mischievously precious!! Look at that face!!! :blowkiss
Does anyone else see a lot of koala bear in her? :grin2

I think you misspelled "Honey badger."

That is some Olympic gold medal level naughty, there!

[Taz2020]

Yep

My little gold medal girl....and yes, she was very proud of her accomplishment. She thinks that is her new bed/house and puts herself to bed there every night now. Fortunately I know where to find her. Although trying to get a sleeping little red squirrel out of a couch is a herculin effort in and of itself.

321020

[Taz2020]

Then we have Red, who is our "good" girl.

Puts herself to bed in her enclosure every night at about 6:30, comes when called (usually), doesn't hide from "mom"...

321021

But when she does embrace her naughty side....even Taz stays away.

[Taz2020]

And I have another tree question…

Since the girls have decided this is their forever home I’ve been removing non-squirrel friendly trees (peach tree) from my yard and replacing them with squirrel friendly ones; White, Norway and Austrian spruces along with a bald cypress.

Here’s my question; the bald cypress is just because I like cypress trees, but I’m not super sure how squirrel friendly they are. This evening while planting my new bald cypress, apparently a little over aggressively, the tippedy top broke off, my tippedy top tree scavenging other half quickly picked it up to give to the girls. I then grabbed it from her clutches and ran off (I’m typing this while squatted behind the shed) I’m paranoid like that.

Is this safe to give to the girls or should I just keep running and throw it far, far away?

[CritterMom]

Everything I see says they are not toxic - they aren't food, but they aren't poisonous, though apparently some people can be allergic to them.

[olorin19]

I have a Japanese willow in my yard, and this is a favorite for both indoor and outdoor squirrels. (Grey squirrels, by the way.)

They especially love the catkins in early spring, but all year round enjoy nibbling on fresh cut branches. This is my "go to" tree for squirrels being overwintered to give them green branches to chew on.

The Japanese willow is nice because it works even if you have a small yard, plus it does not seem to mind at all having branches snipped off throughout the year.

[olorin19]

Japanese willow

[Chirps]

And I have another tree question…

Since the girls have decided this is their forever home I’ve been removing non-squirrel friendly trees (peach tree) from my yard and replacing them with squirrel friendly ones; White, Norway and Austrian spruces along with a bald cypress.

Here’s my question; the bald cypress is just because I like cypress trees, but I’m not super sure how squirrel friendly they are. This evening while planting my new bald cypress, apparently a little over aggressively, the tippedy top broke off, my tippedy top tree scavenging other half quickly picked it up to give to the girls. I then grabbed it from her clutches and ran off (I’m typing this while squatted behind the shed) I’m paranoid like that.

Is this safe to give to the girls or should I just keep running and throw it far, far away?

Huh, got away from this thread and totally missed that adorable pic from February.

Peach tree removed? I don't know about reds, but my greys enjoy my peach tree. They nibble on it, can't see what exactly they're chewing/eating whether it's bark, new growth, or blossoms (when they were out). I know peaches and cherries have cyanide, no idea of the concentration in the various parts of the tree or how much of any part would be toxic. Maybe my crew just eats enough to not be harmful. I do know that they love the tiny baby peaches. I haven't seen a peach in many years now that was allowed to reach anything close to picking size. I do find from time to time the tiny outer shells. I'm guessing they eat the kernel out of it. If only they'd wait for the fruit! But maybe they wouldn't like the fruit all that much. Which makes me wonder if anyone has offered their squirrels peaches and how well they're liked.
Last year I was in a supermarket that caters to Eastern Europeans. Lots of foods from overseas there. Had an "Aha!" moment when I saw bags of apricot seeds for sale. I can't imagine wanting to eat them, but there they were on sale as a snack food. There was a warning on the package about not to eat too many, so they acknowledge at least some toxicity. Since they're related to peaches, I guess my squirrels are eating their version of those snacks.

I guess what I'm trying to say is even though I wouldn't offer anything from a peach tree to an indoor squirrel, I would trust any wilds you might have to know what they can or can't eat from one. Like if you're removing a questionable tree for something you KNOW is squirrel safe, it makes good sense, especially if space is limited.

Around here mulberries are "trash trees" that sprout up like weeds and grow fairly quickly. They are completely edible. You might want a mulberry if you can keep it from growing too high. They do come in male and female though but even if you get a male with no fruit there's still the branches to offer for chewing etc.

Oy, sorry for the book.