Long story about my baby squirrels & questions
Back in Dec of 2013 we had a nest come down during a violet wind storm. I didn't think much about it until 3 days later when a little squirrel showed up one night at the bowl of squirrel (bird) food on our deck. A few days later, we saw a second one. After doing some research I determined they were probably about 6 weeks old. (Excluding their tails, one was 3" - 4" long and the other was 4" - 5" long) I was hoping their mom would find them but she never did, probably because they only came to feed at night, 8 PM and after.
It was a brutal winter that year (in northern VA), but the little squirrelswere incredibly clever. They managed to build a nest by the grate on the chimney, keeping warm there and coming out every night to eat. They continued to survive (even a hawk or owl attack on their nest) through the winter, spring and summer, but they never grew in size.
After the hawk/owl attack in the summer they built a nest in the woods surrounding our house, and continued to come eat every night until a couple of things occurred. The first thing was that we were having an exterminator come out quarterly to treat for stink bugs and other insects. I didn't realize they were also putting out rodent traps until the adult squirrels started disappearing and I called the company and they informed me of that. I immediately canceled the exterminator.
The second thing that happened was that one night in August of 2014 one of the little squirrels was sitting on the bird feeder and I decided to take a picture. (They'd always allowed me to get within 4' - 5' of them.) The flash from the camera scared it and it jumped off of the feeder and ran down the support leg of the deck. I never saw either of the squirrels after that. At first I wasn't terribly worried because there had been periods of several weeks when I didn't see them, but it gradually dawned on me that maybe they'd gotten into one of the rodent traps. Actually, I haven't seen any squirrels since then.
At this point they would have been close to a year old. During that time they had grown an inch at the very most, if that, but had fattened up, gotten fluffier and their tails filled out. I figured they never grew because they hadn't gotten proper nutrition during their formative weeks and that stunted their growth.
This morning two small squirrels came to visit. They looked to be 6" - 7" in length, excluding their tails. My question is whether these could possibly be the same little squirrels. Since they'd barely grown in an entire year, is it possible that they might have caught up somewhat after their difficult start--or is it more likely these are two differnt squirrels, new to the neighborhood?
Their eating habits would have had to have changed too. The little ones only fed at night, presumably so they wouldn't have to manage the competition with other squirrels and hawks. Is this possible now that they have no competition with other squirrels? Sure would like to know what the experts think! Thank you.
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Originally Posted by Mommaluvy
There is no foot so small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world.
Flying squirrels are more common than most people realize. Because they are nocturnal most people have never seen one but they're there! 
If you go outside at night and hear a chirping sound, that's flying squirrels talking. If you really want to see something cool, locate their drey, go out at night and quietly sit in a lounge chair. You can see them glide. You can tell when they are going to glide because they will start bobbing their head up and down and then BLAST OFF. It is an awesome sight. 
Re: Long story about my baby squirrels & questions
