squirrel as a pet

Well, it is not exactly a pet in the following photo.
I took this photo at the Grand Canyon a few years ago.
It is about a squirrel drinking water from a water bottle hold in someone's hand (not my hand). I should have taken a video instead...



While it is uncommon, squirrels can indeed make cute pets. I've heard the story of someone's squirrel would wait for the dude to come back from the work every day, so he could go out to take a dump instead of doing it at home. He would also stay inside the guy's front pocket during the winter when they go out together, because it is cold outside.

They are smart little creatures.

Squrriels are cute, and fun to have around, but can also be the most destructive little creatures when they want to be! A few years back when my kids where younger, my daughter came running in the house with two baby squrriels who had been blown out of their nest after a storm. I preached from the beginning that these were wild animals, and as soon as they got old enough, they would be released back into the wild by a park where people fed the squrriels daily. Everyone agreed, except the squrriels.
This park was at least a mile from our home, but somehow they found their way back, and tore holes in every screen of the house trying to get back in, and gnawed all around each window! They had become just wild enough where they no longer wanted to be held(outside) so we set live traps to re-locate them again. After putting them back into their old home(cage) they settled in while we deciced what was best for them. Well, being the smart little creatures that they are, they soon figured out how to wiggle the latch and were free..this time inside the house while we weren't home. Two bored squrriels looking for food and fun can destroy a house in less then an hour..Imagine coming home to a house after 6 hours of freedom. The curtains were shredded, they "dug" up the couch(huge holes) knocked down several pictures, got into the dog food and scattered it all over, had the cat cornered in the kitchen under the microwave stand, and the dog was having a nervous break down in my room.
I finally found a wildlife shelter that had animals like squrriels, possoms,etc that they would bring out during their show as they spoke about wildlife conservation.
They are cute, cuddly looking in the wild, but they can also be demons of destruction if left in captivity..thats why wild animals should remain in the wild. It taught me and my kids a very valueable lesson!

@ Dakota,
I wish I have the chance to experience that. You made them sound like little home destroyers. Why did your cat fear two "rats"? haha! Maybe two of them together are just making them extra naughty? Maybe a single one will be less active? Just wonder.

It was fun bottle feeding them, and watching them explore the house when they were so little. They used to run up my legs, sit on my shoulder, and chatter at the cat when he got too close. The cat and dog were scared to death of both of them, maybe because of the noises they made, I'm not sure. I'm glad I had the experience, but if I were to do it over again, I would have treated them more like the wild animals they are, instead of raising them as pets.

I've never had a squirrel for a pet BUT my wife feeds squirrels on our back porch. There was one (I think it was only one) that if my wife was late getting the food out the squirrel would sit on the kitchen window ledge and peck on the window. It would also eat out of her hand.

I've fed squirrels too with peanuts. One of them bit my finger instead of the peanuts in my hand when I tried to hand feed it lol.

OMG, take a look what I just found. Squirrels can be vicious !

LOL, I think you are supposed to put the nut in your palm and let the squirrel pick it up.

(03-17-2012, 04:39 AM)bw Wrote: LOL, I think you are supposed to put the nut in your palm and let the squirrel pick it up.

That was exactly what I did. I opened my hand with the peanut in the middle of my palm. The squirrel came slowly but it bit my finger before reaching the peanut!

Oh wow! THAT is why I do not try to hand feed them. I have suggested to my wife that maybe she should not either but she does not see it my way. She will hand feed geese too. Some will not eat from her hand but some will.

I'm guilty of it too. We have chipmunks around here and I had a few that I tried to hand feed, and ended up with a chomped thumb..lol
Geese don't bother me since I hand feed my own geese. The only problem with that is everytime I go out to the barn, I have 13 geese honking and following me everywhere hoping for a treat!

(03-18-2012, 12:20 AM)Dakota Dog Wrote: I'm guilty of it too. We have chipmunks around here and I had a few that I tried to hand feed, and ended up with a chomped thumb..lol
Geese don't bother me since I hand feed my own geese. The only problem with that is everytime I go out to the barn, I have 13 geese honking and following me everywhere hoping for a treat!

That sounds so cool haha!

By the way, do you have any of those cute photos. Please share them if you do.

I have a nice (at least I think so) story about the canadian geese that come through during migration. As you know geese mate for life and live as a family unit. Also, they return to the same places year after year. There is a cemetery here in the city that they live in for part of the year. They lay their eggs by the ponds there and raise their young. There can be hundreds of geese there at certain times. One year there were several families but one family in particular became more friendly than most. It was the parents and 5 young. My wife and I would go regularly to see them...and feed them. We watched the young grow week by week. As there were 5 young early on I started calling out,"Hi Five!" Those 7 geese, counting the parents, would come running. Others would find there way to the food also but did not get as close as that one family. That went on most of the spring and all of the summer. We watched the young grow from little yellow balls of fluff to geese you could not tell from their parents except for their formation. They are always led by one parent and trailed by the other. Fall migration came and all the geese went south. We missed "our" little family. The next spring we went back to see the new crop of young and there were hundreds of geese there. We watched for a while and on a lark I called out,"Hi Five!" Don't you know seven geese came running? I will forever think that was our little family. Don't burst my bubble... That was the only year it happened. The following year I called out three came to us but never again the seven.

Here's some babies from last year, Im going to get more pics loaded when I get it all figured out.

Cute little creatures you got there.

I've heard of several cases of squirrels being taken as pets in addition to these. I used to have a chipmunk that came to visit me every lunch break at the sawmill I worked at and he'd come up and I'd share my lunch with him.

(03-28-2012, 11:25 AM)lhins Wrote: I've heard of several cases of squirrels being taken as pets in addition to these. I used to have a chipmunk that came to visit me every lunch break at the sawmill I worked at and he'd come up and I'd share my lunch with him.

Everyone likes free lunch, even chipmunks.