Need some help she (pet squirrel) is driving me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE have a pet grey squirrel, a female, who just happened to be borm a daya or so at most from the day Hurricane Ivan came through. I found it cold on the ground, and we warmed it up and got it raised up, and its been fine until now.........Its in heat / season, and its constant spastic behavior is nerve wracking..She sets on the tree limb in her cage (6' x 2' x 4' welded wire enclosure) and just screeches and makes all kinds of noises........She has gotten to the point right now you can't touch her without the chance of getting bit.........So the wife was grooming her with an old toothbrush, through the cage mesh, and low and behold she turns around and present her backside, and starts squalling........gawd what a racket. Its kind of funny, but all the racket she is making now and her attitude is working on us....No letting her loose is not an option. We have had squirels as pets for many many years, but they were all males, and never created such a racket. They acted the same all year round......Hope its just this spring or late winter and breeding season that has her in the mood she is in, as she is kind of neat. We can take her outside without a leash, and she runs up and down trees, plays with the dog, runs all over inside the house, and when yu go back in the house, she scapers back down the tree or from wherever she is at, and follows you back in the house like a dog........So does anyone have a male squirrel they want to rent out? Short of roast squirrel any suggestions?

Reply to
~Roy
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I think I once read that squirrels are like cats - induced ovulators - They go into heat, but until they actually get down to "bumpin' uglies", the ripe eggs don't pop, so the heat just goes on and on and on...

However, if that's the case (and I've got no reason to think it couldn't be) a dry Q-tip may just be your sanity's best friend (and at least for a while, HER best friend...)

Basically, toothbrush until she presents, gently insert Q-tip into relevant opening until it bottoms out, give it a twist, and pull it out.

If the information I encountered is accurate, and it works anywhere near as well for squirrels as for cats, repeating the procedure anytime she gets particularly "vocal" over the course of a few hours should have her cycled out of the heat within a day or so, with visible improvement as soon as seconds after the first time. Like I say, I can't speak with certainty for squirrels, but for some cats I've seen it applied to, it's almost like flipping a switch - "YOWL! I'm In heat!" - Q-tip - "Mew. What's heat?"

Reply to
Don Bruder

Why not - she's a wild animal isn't she? IMO it's cruel (and possibly illegal) to keep a wild animal in a cage (unless you have a relevant zoo or animal rehab license).

Laurie Forbes

Reply to
Laurie Forbes

Eh, Laurie, this squirrel can come and go if she wants to. Like I posted we routinely take her outside and she comes back in the house and goes into her caged area at will.....heck she even goes in my truck with me to town, and hangs all over me. When I get home if she is still playing aorund n the truck I just let the window down and soon she is at the back door climbing all over the screendoors grill wanting in.....so its not like were keeping her confied against her will, or such. Odds are this squirrel would not make it outdoors on her own, as she is so tame and accustomed to "mom" brushing her and feeding her goodies and having a nice warm bed and TV to watch. She and all 6 dogs get along, and its not uncommon for her to crawl up and on the german shepherd we have, and go for a doggie ride. If taken aout and placed in an area zway fro here in the "wild" she would be dog or other prey animal feed in a heart beat....due to her tame nature. That would be much crueler than how she is living right now. As for rehabbers in this area, not even the state game commision will get involved with hand raising a squirrel nor will the zoo or humane animal shelters since they are so numeorus.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 21:03:50 GMT, "Laurie Forbes" wrote:

Reply to
~Roy

Roy, you're sure mellowing out in your old age.

Pete Keillor

Reply to
Pete Keillor

Take her to the vet and have her spayed.

-- Dave Baker

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Reply to
Dave Baker

Illegal? Maybe, though it shouldn't be, but that's another story. However, the animal is clearly _not_ wild, and probably wouldn't last a day w/o protection from her "parents". Would you prefer Roy and his wife to have allowed the animal to freeze to death?

Bill

Reply to
Bill Schwab

Having volunteered for a wildlife rehabilitation society (and released some of the orphaned grey squirrels on my acreage), I'm not sure why the animal would freeze to death. The ones I've released seem to get along OK as they don't need to be taught to hunt or forage as do some other critters. Now, taming wild animals, as the OP has found out, is another issue. Once they are habituated to humans/dogs/kids etc. they are at definite risk running free which illustrates why the animal should not have been treated as a pet in the first place.

As to being illegal or not, I suppose it varies with the jurisdiction (in Alberta, Canada and AFAIK in all Canadian provinces it is illegal unless you have a license). One reason(s) is that most lay persons have no clue how to care/feed captive wild animals and that captivity is v stressful (sometimes lethally) for many species. We have seen many instances where someone, often with good intentions, keeps a wild animal, feeds it unsuitable food or fails to provide adequate shelter, and they finally brings it to the rehab society when it gets sick (or perhaps they just get tired of caring for it). Of course, there is also the originally cited problem of captive animals during mating season.

Laurie Forbes

Laurie Forbes

Reply to
Laurie Forbes

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