Flying Squirrel doesn't want to spend time with me

[mikemarz88]

Hi fellow squirrel lovers,

I have been the proud father of a young female flying squirrel for about a month, and I think she has slightly bonded with me, but we still have a ways to go. She will sleep in my clothing, take treats from my hand and will jump onto me and run around on my body. However, my room in my apartment is down a flight of stairs in the basement, and has no door. I generally only use 1 light, so it stays pretty dark and cool down there.

Everyday when I get back from work at 5, I take her out of her cage and put her in a pocket or lay her pouch close to me while I watch tv or play video games. After she wakes up, we'll hang out for a bit, I'll give her some treats and she'll scamper around my couch. After an hour or two, however, she gets this unstoppable urge to leave me and my room, climb up the stairs and mess around in my female roommate's closet. Shes also figured out how to escape from her cage and my roommate has found her up there several times while I thought she was in her cage.

My roommate has been pretty cool about it, but I can tell her patience is wearing very thin. My squirrel got out this morning before I came to work and I couldn't think of anything else to do but zip tie all possible escape routes in her cage shut until I get home. It has worked so far and I plan on getting her a larger cage that will be more secure today when I get out of work.

My problem is that she wants to go to my roommates closet rather than stay with me; I think if she was confined to my room she would want to stay with me, but I can't think of a way to block the stairs off from a flying squirrel, who can pretty much get anywhere she wants to go.

I could lock her and myself in the bathroom to keep her near me, but it's a very small bathroom, and my roommates would think I was a freak if I spent my time hanging out in my bathroom with a squirrel.

Should I get a tent or something?

Thanks for any tips or advice in advance,

Mike

[HRT4SQRLS]

mikemarz88

to TheSquirrelBoard

Oh YES, the closet. Well, you've done it now!
Once a flyer discovers the closet they are drawn to it like a magnet. They ALL LOVE closets. It's nothing personal. She doesn't go there to avoid you. It's just that she has discovered the most awesome new territory full of hiding holes and places to explore. Think about it, there are shoes, hats, pockets, boots ...a.k.a. flyer paradise.
I have 3 flyers. Two of them love to explore. Where do you think they go .... you guessed it... The CLOSET.

You really do need to get a cage that she can't escape from because the house is full of dangers for a flyer. Please listen carefully and heed the warning. The #1 cause of death of flyers in the home is DROWNING in the toilet. They are drawn to the water. When they fall in they can't escape and that's it. I have read of many flyers that met this fate and unfortunately many of their owners knew about the danger and thought it would never happen to them but trust me, it is much too common. The way to avoid it is to put toilet ladders in the toilets and keep the lids down. I'll find the pic of a toilet ladder.

We will need to see pics of your baby.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Here you go. A toilet ladder. It saves lives and it's a great conversation piece.
It's made with hardware cloth. Bend it to fit.

[CritterMom]

You can purchase inexpensive wood frame screen doors at Home Depot for under $25 that can easily be mounted to close off your bedroom. If you plan on letting your little one loose to run in your room at night while you sleep, you will need to put some wire mesh over the screen as it can easily be chewed, but if you will be awake and supervising, this might be the easiest. Because once they find a closet...

[mikemarz88]

I will definitely look into getting some wire to make a toilet ladder, thanks so much. And I went out and got a much larger cage that she can't get out of, I think she's satisfied with that, but anytime shes awake and I open the cage she'll jump on me and try to glide somewhere else so she can climb the stairs and get in my roommates closet. So when this happens I have to twirl around until I can stick the part of my body shes climbing on against the cage opening so shes forced to get in the cage. It's exhausting and I feel like I can't have her out of the cage unless she's asleep.

And unfortunately it's not possible to block the stairs with a screen door. I don't think my bedroom was ever actually supposed to be a bedroom, there are stairs leading down to it and the bottom part of the entire stairway opens up to my room, I'd need to buy several doors to cover the area, and even then I really don't think I'd be able to make it completely squirrel proof. Luckily, I'll only be in this place for another month, but I don't want to miss out on precious bonding time with my squirrel.

There are a bunch of stuffed animals and sheets and stuff in my roommates closet that my squirrel liked to snuggle with when she got up there, do you think I could simulate a closet environment by getting a bunch of cuddly materials and placing them up on the top shelf of her cage? But then will she want to spend all her time in there instead of with me?

Thanks for your help guys, I really appreciate your advice.

[mikemarz88]

Forgot to mention a few things so I'll comment again.

I'll work on getting some pictures of her.

Another thing that I'm worried about is her figuring out that I don't let her go up the stair when she jumps on me, and this will cause her to stop jumping on me. I don't know how far her squirrel logic goes yet.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Mike, flyers do love to burrow in soft 'piles'. You could buy some fleece from Joann's fabric and cut small squares for her.
A member here sells cage gear made with fleece. Her name is Milo'sMom. The hanging cubes or pouches that hang on the wall of the cage are flyer favorites. I cut small squares of fleece to put in the cube or pouch. Flyers love cotton balls but I no longer use them as the longer fibers have cut off the circulation and caused the loss of a limb. It's very rare but it has happened. I have found a short fiber fluff at PetCo that my boys like in their bedding.

During the day is a good time for bonding, when flyers are sleeping or less active. If you are like me (work during the day) it is difficult to do that. When they are awake at night they are super active and they will not submit to being held or cuddled. They want to GO...GO...GO...ZOOMZOOM.

You might just have to make do with your arrangements for now if you are moving in a month. Hopefully your next place will have a door so that she can be contained. I bought a large cat tree for my flyers. They LOVE the cat tree. It has cubby holes that they get in that sorta simulates the conditions in the closet. I'll try to find a link. They are relatively cheap if you have the space.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Here is a link to the cat tree I bought. I bought the last one for less than the price of this one. It was less than $60 with free shipping. You can see the condos on the tree. I fill these with fleece and my boys love to get in there. The tree is also a great launching place for gliding.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Beige-80...item487e6a8632

Here is a link to the thread for cage gear if you want something like this. The more you have in your room for your flyer the less she will want to go to the closet.


http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/s...ustom-Boutique