RachelArcher
10-07-2007, 07:11 AM
Dear all,
As more than a few of you may already know, I have three young but on-their-own black squirrels, siblings, living together (yes, 3 of them, the sweeties) in the artificial drey hanging out my window onto the windowsill (it's a fleece blanket in a bag-like formation, wedged tightly into the crack, with a thick cardigan-type sweater-jacket stuffed in the rest of the open area of the window-crack).
Now they've been there for almost 2 weeks now. Here's the thing. I usually leave food out for them when they're away in the daytime, never interacting with them because I don't wish to scare them away from the drey or disturb them. They are wild after all, despite being city squirrels.
Anyway, today for some baffling reason I thought I would pull the tiniest teeny little hole's worth of the sweater out as they were crawling out and doing their morning grooming/scratching on the windowledge, and see if any of them would accept a plain unblanched almond from my fingers. Well they did, and how!
Only now they all three realize that there is food to be had on the other side of the sweater, and have been intently trying to rip the sweater out of the crack! One of them is waiting by it even now, looking at the window.
I finally threw like 50 almonds out onto the ledge, hoping that would solve the problem for the moment. Any ideas on how I can resolve this problem to everyone's satisfaction, three black squirrels included??
Obviously, I shouldn't go feeding them through that crack while they're there ever again, lol. I thought maybe making a loud squeaking sound like a squirrel does when they're upset etc would be a good idea when they try to crawl in through the sweater they've just pulled out of the crack.
I will say this; none of them were afraid to see me, a human. They all ate from my fingers even once they could see me through a much larger portion of the crack. Heck, the youngest-looking one tried to crawl right in the apt, lol! :crazy
Any ideas on how I can safely, gently discourage them from disturbing the sweater and sanctity of their world theirs, my world mine, will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! *Hugs* :grouphug
Fondly,
Rachel :)
P.S. They're also apparently starving! The one squirrel, I call him/her the middle one, is eating his/her fifth almond this morning (I've never seen any squirrel eat that many large almonds in such a short period of time, say about an hour), and just a moment before was trying to stuff like 7 almonds in his/her mouth all at once. They're definitely young - they don't seem to fully realize yet that their mouths can only hold so many nuts at a time. Well, that's learned quickly enough. By the way, two of them were fighting hardcore just now over the pile on the windowsill, despite their being enough for ten squirrels to have two huge mouthfuls each. I did this, I gotta fix it. Help!
As more than a few of you may already know, I have three young but on-their-own black squirrels, siblings, living together (yes, 3 of them, the sweeties) in the artificial drey hanging out my window onto the windowsill (it's a fleece blanket in a bag-like formation, wedged tightly into the crack, with a thick cardigan-type sweater-jacket stuffed in the rest of the open area of the window-crack).
Now they've been there for almost 2 weeks now. Here's the thing. I usually leave food out for them when they're away in the daytime, never interacting with them because I don't wish to scare them away from the drey or disturb them. They are wild after all, despite being city squirrels.
Anyway, today for some baffling reason I thought I would pull the tiniest teeny little hole's worth of the sweater out as they were crawling out and doing their morning grooming/scratching on the windowledge, and see if any of them would accept a plain unblanched almond from my fingers. Well they did, and how!
Only now they all three realize that there is food to be had on the other side of the sweater, and have been intently trying to rip the sweater out of the crack! One of them is waiting by it even now, looking at the window.
I finally threw like 50 almonds out onto the ledge, hoping that would solve the problem for the moment. Any ideas on how I can resolve this problem to everyone's satisfaction, three black squirrels included??
Obviously, I shouldn't go feeding them through that crack while they're there ever again, lol. I thought maybe making a loud squeaking sound like a squirrel does when they're upset etc would be a good idea when they try to crawl in through the sweater they've just pulled out of the crack.
I will say this; none of them were afraid to see me, a human. They all ate from my fingers even once they could see me through a much larger portion of the crack. Heck, the youngest-looking one tried to crawl right in the apt, lol! :crazy
Any ideas on how I can safely, gently discourage them from disturbing the sweater and sanctity of their world theirs, my world mine, will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! *Hugs* :grouphug
Fondly,
Rachel :)
P.S. They're also apparently starving! The one squirrel, I call him/her the middle one, is eating his/her fifth almond this morning (I've never seen any squirrel eat that many large almonds in such a short period of time, say about an hour), and just a moment before was trying to stuff like 7 almonds in his/her mouth all at once. They're definitely young - they don't seem to fully realize yet that their mouths can only hold so many nuts at a time. Well, that's learned quickly enough. By the way, two of them were fighting hardcore just now over the pile on the windowsill, despite their being enough for ten squirrels to have two huge mouthfuls each. I did this, I gotta fix it. Help!