Squirrels-For-You.com
January 2, 2006 6:10 AM   Subscribe

How To Have A Ton Of Fun Raising Baby Squirrels. Husband and wife document their adventures raising these little spazz-monsters with many photos and some Flash movies. Via Cute Overload.
posted by Gator (40 comments total)
 
One of their other sites, Nature-For-You.com, also features some nice critter photography. Mmmmmm, gators.

Much more squirrelly goodness previously seen on MetaFilter.
posted by Gator at 6:10 AM on January 2, 2006


Read and heed: the beet pulp story.
I grew up in a squirrely house. Pick up a guitar to play? Rattle, rattle, rattle... it has a nut stashed in it. Looking for your chocolate bar? Try behind the books in the library. Shake the curtains? Cover your head for the hail of nuts.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:32 AM on January 2, 2006


I rescued a squirrel as a kid too. It wasn't the hail of nuts so much as the squirrel launching himself from the top of the wardrobe to your bare shoulder at mach 5.
Totally cute though, if you can stand the accidental claw marks.
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:12 AM on January 2, 2006


Not to make anyone sad, but after being released do these guys stand any chance in the wild? I rescued a baby bird once, but after looking it up discovered the best course of action was to take it to a baby-bird shelter. I was kinda sad, I was hoping for a companion like the falcon in My Side of the Mountain.
posted by Citizen Premier at 7:48 AM on January 2, 2006


The key to releasing raised animals is to release them someplace where occassional romps into somone's lap isn't a problem.

My neighbor did rehab, I got used to birds landing on my head and squirrels that would take nuts out of my hands. Eventually they go wild again...

and, it is better than the alternative.....
posted by HuronBob at 7:57 AM on January 2, 2006


My sister rescued and raised a baby squirrel once. She let it go into the wilds in a half-way-house type of deal. Once it was old enough, she started leaving the cage open on our porch and it could choose to hang out there or go outside and play with the other squirrels. It gradually chose the latter as time progressed, lived long enough to mate, do other squirrel things, and then probably died a bit after. Statistically, squirrels don't exactly have long lives after all. I was the only one it ever bit. Felt like getting a nasty shot at the doctor.
posted by Atreides at 8:00 AM on January 2, 2006


Anyone have any links for the fun one can have braising baby squirrels?
posted by Dr. Wu at 8:03 AM on January 2, 2006


Sure they're cute but those little buggers are just going to grow up to destroy my garden and bird feeders. Not to mention the port-o-let section of their nests have this nasty habit of blowing out of the tree and onto the sidewalk right in front of my door.
posted by photoslob at 8:07 AM on January 2, 2006


Not to make anyone sad, but after being released do these guys stand any chance in the wild?

Yes.

Tree Rat - raised to adulthood, put outside due to inside destructive nature. Spend year in outside house made for him, left after a year, would on rare occations show up to take a nut from hand 2 years later. Due to banding, was seen 3 years later, then never again.

Mouring Dove - Broken wing, set then released. Cooked-flying bird seen for 6 months.

Bunny off of bridge - Moved to wild, took up residence in out building. Seen for 5 years, then 3 years after last sighting, pile of bones found with band.

Crow - Fallen out of tree in storm, raised to flying stage. For 2 years he would visit for worm/meat handouts. Last year, only during dead of winter. Other Crow calls while taking food from humans musta been too much.


A critter in the wild won't have the lifespan of the same citter in a cage....assuming you can keep it healthy.
posted by rough ashlar at 8:08 AM on January 2, 2006


pile of bones with band...?
posted by dabitch at 8:22 AM on January 2, 2006


pile of bones with band...

What is Keith Richards?
posted by found missing at 8:28 AM on January 2, 2006 [1 favorite]


I really wish there were a "fantastic comment" section for the blue....
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:48 AM on January 2, 2006


pile of bones with band...

What is Keith Richards?


(wiping spewed coffee from monitor)
Absolute...best...post...ever.
posted by QuestionableSwami at 8:50 AM on January 2, 2006


They may be cute, but watch your back.
posted by QuestionableSwami at 8:57 AM on January 2, 2006


Anyone have any links for the fun one can have braising baby squirrels?

Ask and ye shall receive, Doc.

What is Keith Richards?

Crap. I was all set to say Rod Stewart.
posted by Gator at 9:01 AM on January 2, 2006


Lewd.
posted by squirrel at 9:10 AM on January 2, 2006


Squirrel Boner. Now that's what I call raising squirrels!
posted by Frank Grimes at 9:52 AM on January 2, 2006


Dream come true, or nightmare?

"One of first misadventures unfolded when baby Ripley and Big Girl, our female squirrels, realized that Oakley's um, manhood, bore a remarkable resemblance to a squirrel moma's breasts. So they began nursing on that part of him, which caused so much swelling that Oakley no longer needed to read those Internet emails about enhancing your anatomy etc.

So Oakley had to be separated from the girls for a week or two. The side effect was that we spent a lot more time with Oakley as a consolation, and he began his career as sort of our runt favorite of the litter. "

Poor Oakley. Heh.
posted by drstein at 10:16 AM on January 2, 2006



posted by MrBaliHai at 10:41 AM on January 2, 2006


OT, but does "Spazz" here mean Spastic? As a child we used such a term - "Spazza" - to describe other kids who we didn't like, without realising - or caring much - about its derivation from the medical sufferers from cerebral palsy. There was a charity called the Spastic's Society too, I understand that now it is very un PC, at least in the UK and the charity has changed its name too, to Scope
posted by A189Nut at 11:48 AM on January 2, 2006


I pray that there's an anti-Phil-and-Kathy, killing squirrels quicker than those two can save them.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:43 PM on January 2, 2006


Et tu, five fresh fish?
posted by squirrel at 12:57 PM on January 2, 2006


fff -

There is. She's a small retriever named Pumpkin and I own her.
posted by chundo at 1:02 PM on January 2, 2006


Sorry, Squirrel! Exception made in your particular circumstance only!
posted by five fresh fish at 1:08 PM on January 2, 2006


OT, but does "Spazz" here mean Spastic?

In this case, I meant it in reference to "spazz out." As a child, and still today, I've always heard anyone called a "spazz" as someone who would, well, spazz out, freak out, act all crazy-like (usually due to an overindulgence in caffeine or emotion rather than due to any sort of palsy). I've never actually heard anyone use it in a derogatory way towards someone with palsy, though I'm sure that does happen. ("Spastic" mainly seems to be defined as "of, relating to, or characterized by spasms," not necessarily cerebral palsy.)

posted by Gator at 1:29 PM on January 2, 2006


I think that the idiom "spaz" almost certainly comes directly from spastic, and that it originally referred one behaving like a person having spasms, CP or otherwise. As a PC no-no, it's a tough call, though, because it has been used as a non-derogatory chide in polite company for so long. See also "bugger", as in "cute little bugger". The term derives from "one who commits buggery" but has been used in various other innocuous ways for so long that the association has become loose.

Thanks for the reprieve, fff, but what do you have against my fluffy-tailed rodent cousins? Prized crop nibbled to nubs? Early childhood trauma?
posted by squirrel at 3:00 PM on January 2, 2006


The latter, squirrel.

Having a squirrel in your house is the same as having a mouse or rat in your house: not good, not fun, very destructive.

I can't imagine anyone is out there saving rats and mice from death, and I can't imagine why anyone out there would wish to save a squirrel from death. Ugh.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:00 PM on January 2, 2006


Yeah, yeah, yeah - but how do they taste?
posted by enamon at 4:42 PM on January 2, 2006


Having a squirrel in your house is the same as having a mouse or rat in your house: not good, not fun, very destructive.

You do realize that rats are very popular as pets, right?
posted by beth at 5:09 PM on January 2, 2006


I can't imagine anyone is out there saving rats and mice from death, and I can't imagine why anyone out there would wish to save a squirrel from death. Ugh.

I had a roommate once that was bitten by a squirrel. Damndest thing.

He was sitting on some park grass, stretching after a bike ride. The thing ran full tilt straight to him and bit him on the arm. Nasty deep little bite. Then the little rat skawkered off. Only to return moments later - full tilt - while my roommate was attempting to mount his bike to make a getaway. The thing chased my old roomie down the bike path a dozen yards or so. People laughed as he sped away not seeing the bite... just the cartoon chase of 2lb squirrel vanquishing 200lb man.

He went to the campus clinic and they immediately sent him to a hospital ER for.. yeah... the full rabies series injections. Not sure if you know how fucked up that is but Guantanamo couldn't do better. Big needles. Stuck in your stomach. 5 times over 28 days.

Talk about a guy with a vendetta against squirrels.
posted by tkchrist at 5:29 PM on January 2, 2006


The ones you keep as pets, beth, are not the same as the ones that are running around wild outside. You want a passle of nasty rodent germs, grabbing yourself a wormy, hanta-laden squirrel is probably a heckuva good plan.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:38 PM on January 2, 2006


Squirrels taste like rabbit. My grandpa cooked one for me when I was 4 or 5. It was gross. Oh, and my dad raised a few when he was a kid, he said that they are fun to watch but will completely fuck up your house.
posted by snsranch at 6:30 PM on January 2, 2006


Having a squirrel in your house is the same as having a mouse or rat in your house: not good, not fun, very destructive.

I hate fucking squirrels. Not the huge cat-sized grey squirrels... they're OK, because they get along with the other animals and live in trees. But those nasty fucking red squirrels are nothing more than rats with bushy tails. They've moved into my garage for the winter, but I'm slowly offing them one at a time with rat traps. They scurry around in the walls at night.

Yes, I know this sounds like the ravings of a madman, and I fully accept it may not be the most appropriate thing to say given the oh-so-cutesy nature of the post, but once you have to deal with the destructive side of nature, all the warm and cuddly aspects quickly fall by the wayside.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:30 PM on January 2, 2006


Note: my experiences have all been with red squirrels. This may explain my loathing of squirrels.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:24 AM on January 3, 2006


I prefer my squirrels on crack.
posted by slimepuppy at 3:38 AM on January 3, 2006


I hate fucking squirrels.

Well, uh, maybe you should stop.
posted by squidlarkin at 6:10 AM on January 3, 2006


Hey,the wild grey ones can easily be tamed. I've fed them thousands of times and I've been bitten (actually lightly tested/tasted) about five times. Only once did one accidentally draw blood.

The black ones, contrary to their reputation, are even more timid than the greys.

The red ones? Haven't had any experience with them, so I guess you can go ahead and wipe them off the planet. Who knew there was such a militant red squirrel hating cadre at Metafilter?
posted by Devils Slide at 8:32 AM on January 3, 2006


My uncle used to feed the grey squirrels that lived in his yard by keeping peanuts in his shirt pocket. The damned squirrels would climb his pantleg, scurry up his shirt to sit on his shoulder, then take the peanuts (in the shell) from his pocket.

The thing about squirrels is that they either can't tell the difference between one person and another or they just don't care. Anyone who would tarry in my uncle's yard long enough to be seen by the damn squirrels was fair game to them. Much to my uncle's surprise, a lot of people take exception to being surprised by a rodent running up their leg and pawing at their chest.

The neighbors were used to screaming and cursing coming from his yard.
posted by leftcoastbob at 12:30 PM on January 3, 2006


The red ones? Haven't had any experience with them, so I guess you can go ahead and wipe them off the planet. Who knew there was such a militant red squirrel hating cadre at Metafilter?

I've never had an encounter with this apparent Red Menace either. I've known quite a few people who've had the grey ones getting into the house through previously unknown holes, though. It seems to be a question of finding all the gaps and sealing them off.

Also, apparently squirrels are not a great risk for transmitting rabies in the U.S. Of course, "not a great risk" doesn't mean "go ahead and offer up your veins to the nearest bug-eyed rodent."

On a side note, I love that the Centers for Disease Control feels the need to point out that "People cannot get rabies just from seeing a bat in an attic, in a cave, or at a distance."
posted by Gator at 12:49 PM on January 3, 2006


Squirrels are fine, as long as they don't smoke pot.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 6:10 PM on January 3, 2006


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