Should I release one of my girls?

[NotURKindOfGirl]

A little background, I have 2 girls, sisters, I have raised from babies, eyes and ears closed and not fully furred. They are 4 years old now and named Fievel and Butters. Fievel has always been more loving and needy, Butters more independent and wanting less contact. They share a cage together and get out for a minimum of 3 hrs a day to run around the room and play.

On to my problem. The last 2 weeks whenever they are out Butters is randomly charging, chasing and attacking Fievel, and not in a playful manner the first time she was vicious and made Fievel pee on herself. I thought the bahavior was just a fluke. She hasn't injured her as of yet, but it's heartbreaking watching Butters go after her sister like this. She doesn't do it every day but it seems to be getting more frequent. They have been fine when in the cage it's only when they are out that Butters behaves this way. Does this mean butters wants to be on her own? Should I do a soft release? Butters has also gotten to where she is attacking my hands. So it's becoming difficult to do anything with her. Please help!

[olorin19]

Am I correct in assuming these attacks have not been seen in the previous four years? So in other words, not likely related to anyone being in heat?

And are the attacks only outside the cage?

I overwintered a brother/sister pair and had to put them in separate cages with separate play times out of the cage at about six months as the sister started attacking her brother. There were no injuries, but I did not want to take the chance. Plus, sharing a cage while under frequent attack was not much fun for the brother. They mostly got along fine once they were released.

I have never released a squirrel older than ten months, but I imagine there are many considerations and possible contraindications involved in releasing a four year old. So hopefully folks with experience in that regard will chime in.

You may need to consider both separate cages and (unless you have another spare room) separate times outside of the cage.

[CritterMom]

Do you allow them to stash things when they are out? Particularly nuts? Because if someone were foolish enough to give a squirrel a shoulder mounted surface to air missile, they would absolutely use it on their most beloved friend in a New York minute over a nut stash. I think before you do anything else, you need to completely and totally crash that room and any others they go in - go over every single square inch and retrieve every single stash and generally clean the area up. That will also give you an idea of where the "good" stash spots are and you can check and remove everything daily. Move them both elsewhere while you do this. Really. Don't let them watch you invade their secret places.

The attacking sister is clearly the alpha of the duo, and that is why she is the only one attackine. BTW, they will also very happily attack their humans over nut stashes.

NO NUT STASHES!!!