RachelArcher
10-01-2007, 07:00 AM
Dear all,
As some of you may recall, I have an artificial drey sticking out of my window through a crack in the window (a soft cozy fleece-type blanket, really wedged in there tight, hanging out onto the window-ledge in a bag formation of sorts which the squirrels use as a drey). A thick sweater tightly packed into the remainder of the crack seals the crack so they don't come in here, lol.
Now I had a grey squirrel, female, living in there for about 3 months plus this summer by herself. She was quiet and very friendly, did well there. Then she disappeared, presumably she made/found a new nest elsewhere as squirrels will do from time to time. For almost two weeks the drey was empty, despite a pile of plain unblanched almonds left out on the window-sill.
Now for the last 8 or 9 days, three younger black squirrels (young enough to see they're energetic and young but not babies, the only thing I'm basing calling them young on is their tails aren't as huge and full as a more fully-grown squirrels is, I imagine, and they do seem to have an extra zip of energy) have all been sharing the drey. Each night they come home and they all sleep in there, all together! Is it rare for 3 squirrels to share a nest like this? Seeing as they're not babies etc with their mother, but grown and on their own? Might they be siblings?
Anyway, that's not the main reason I posted. Now about 3 weeks ago when I last saw the grey girl, her tail was really thinned out, know what I mean? One day it was bushy and then very rapidly it was almost down to like 25 percent of the bushy hair, really looked a lot smaller and thinner, her tail. Now when the 3 black squirrels leave in the morning, about twenty minutes later, a grey squirrel shows up and roots around in their nest for a few minutes before going away again. This grey squirrel's tail is very full and thick so I am guessing it's a different squirrel than the grey that abandoned this nest.
Here's the weird thing: this grey has only shown up the last two mornings so far. Yesterday it rooted around in the nest for a moment and came out with a shelled peanut, and left. This morning however, it went in, rooted around, and then came out and started nibbling the outside of the drey, i.e. the fleece blanket. She almost fell off the ledge (5 stories up) reaching over it to nibble the blanket! She nibbled a whole bunch of the blanket, but didn't chew the ledge or anything. She didn't appear to be biting through it, or making any holes, so my guess that she was trying to destroy it is probably erroneous. What was she doing????
Thanks in advance for enlightening me re all this. I feel very blessed to have 3 sweet little black squirrels sleeping together each night so peacefully in my window, all warm and cozy together piled on each other in their home, and I don't want this grey (whether she be the one that abandoned it, or a new one altogether) to destroy the nest out of some weird squirrel spite! I am worried that this nibbling thing the grey did was some kinda tactic to mark territory or make the 3 black squirrels not want to live there anymore. ?? Eagerly awaiting your posts,
Fondly,
Rachel :)
As some of you may recall, I have an artificial drey sticking out of my window through a crack in the window (a soft cozy fleece-type blanket, really wedged in there tight, hanging out onto the window-ledge in a bag formation of sorts which the squirrels use as a drey). A thick sweater tightly packed into the remainder of the crack seals the crack so they don't come in here, lol.
Now I had a grey squirrel, female, living in there for about 3 months plus this summer by herself. She was quiet and very friendly, did well there. Then she disappeared, presumably she made/found a new nest elsewhere as squirrels will do from time to time. For almost two weeks the drey was empty, despite a pile of plain unblanched almonds left out on the window-sill.
Now for the last 8 or 9 days, three younger black squirrels (young enough to see they're energetic and young but not babies, the only thing I'm basing calling them young on is their tails aren't as huge and full as a more fully-grown squirrels is, I imagine, and they do seem to have an extra zip of energy) have all been sharing the drey. Each night they come home and they all sleep in there, all together! Is it rare for 3 squirrels to share a nest like this? Seeing as they're not babies etc with their mother, but grown and on their own? Might they be siblings?
Anyway, that's not the main reason I posted. Now about 3 weeks ago when I last saw the grey girl, her tail was really thinned out, know what I mean? One day it was bushy and then very rapidly it was almost down to like 25 percent of the bushy hair, really looked a lot smaller and thinner, her tail. Now when the 3 black squirrels leave in the morning, about twenty minutes later, a grey squirrel shows up and roots around in their nest for a few minutes before going away again. This grey squirrel's tail is very full and thick so I am guessing it's a different squirrel than the grey that abandoned this nest.
Here's the weird thing: this grey has only shown up the last two mornings so far. Yesterday it rooted around in the nest for a moment and came out with a shelled peanut, and left. This morning however, it went in, rooted around, and then came out and started nibbling the outside of the drey, i.e. the fleece blanket. She almost fell off the ledge (5 stories up) reaching over it to nibble the blanket! She nibbled a whole bunch of the blanket, but didn't chew the ledge or anything. She didn't appear to be biting through it, or making any holes, so my guess that she was trying to destroy it is probably erroneous. What was she doing????
Thanks in advance for enlightening me re all this. I feel very blessed to have 3 sweet little black squirrels sleeping together each night so peacefully in my window, all warm and cozy together piled on each other in their home, and I don't want this grey (whether she be the one that abandoned it, or a new one altogether) to destroy the nest out of some weird squirrel spite! I am worried that this nibbling thing the grey did was some kinda tactic to mark territory or make the 3 black squirrels not want to live there anymore. ?? Eagerly awaiting your posts,
Fondly,
Rachel :)