Adopted by a Squirrel

[BarbieH]

This is waaay off bird topics. We've been adopted by an outdoor squirrel.

Every day she comes up on the porch to my home office window, climbs up on an outdoor chair, and visits me at the window. She raids our apple tree, and we sometimes give her walnuts on the front porch.

But the topper was last night during all those storms we had out here. She scampered onto the porch and scooted up our front tree for shelter. She's our little outdoors adoptee.

She's probably tame enough to take food from our hands, but we're not interested in getting rabies shots if she were to get nervous and bite. I think squirrels can also carry pasturella, so we are definitely keeping our distance. But it's good to be friends with her from afar.

[Janie]

Barb, if you'll send me your address, I'll pack up 10 to 20 squirrels (regulars in my back yard) and send them to you. BTW, they love an attic and if they can gnaw their way in, they'll spend the winter there making babies!

[BarbieH]

Oh great. Bad enough, I think the word got around to the local squirrels thanks to our neighbor lady. She feeds them PB&J cracker sandwiches from her back door; one of the squirrels hangs from the screen door to get her attention!

We're suckers for animals in this little part of town, and that's Sucker with a capital S.

[shylevon]

I don't know if this happens there, but around these parts we have "Squirrel Balls". It is a rather sad happening, when a brood of baby squirrels, happy in their nest, gets soaked with drippy tree sap. They fall from their nests, all stuck together in a ball. This makes them very easy prey to predators.

My old boss, who is an animal lover and husband to a vet, used to rescue these squirrel balls, soak them till they separated, then raise the young. He always has a housefull of the little sweeties.

[BarbieH]

Ew! No, I haven't heard of squirrel balls before. (I will send you a picture of something that it brought to mind. ) Your former boss sounds like a good human being.

[michael]

I'm with Janie on the packing list. I'll also include a few tame skunks too! Courtesy of our neighbors who not only feed the squirrels but them also. They will come knocking on your windows and doors too should you ever decide to "bond" with them...........Michael and Goofy

[Estee]

My husband and I once saw a squirrel eating a roll in a tree outside our house. My husband said, that is so funny- weird! Yesterday I hollowed out a roll exactly the same way that squirrel did!

Of course, when we came into the house, there was a squirrel-sized hole in the screen over the window where my fresh baked bread and my hubby's roll had been. No other damage done-- just took the bread and gone.

[linda040899]

When I freshen the food dishes, there's always seed left in the remains in the dish. I used to dump that at the back of the property, thinking I was doing a good thing by giving the wild doves an easy meal! Well, that "easy" meal attracted a lot of 4 legged creatures, as well, so I've stopped the practice! I swear animals can smell any kind of food a mile away!

[butterfly1061]

Yep, Janie's right about those pests, I mean squirrels. Luckily, I don't have any cause I live in a new subdivision and the trees aren't big enough for them to nest. I prefer my backyard birds and Hummers (got about a dozen this year )

[carrier]

I really do miss the wildlife that I grew up around...

Where I grew up we had a hollowed out tree in our back yard that every year a pair of raccoons would raise thier babies in...at least 6 of them. It was so cute to see all those little heads peeking out from inside the tree....

We had lots of rabbits, skunks and the occasional deer in the backyard too.

Now all I see are a few squirrels, rats, seagulls (which I personally think have a sort of regal air about them) and pigeons.