A Little Visitor: Sweety
I heard my one dog barking outside today and went out to find this little guy
running around my patio with my dogs in hot pursuit.
I grabbed the dogs and put them in the house, they wanted him with a passion.
He's still very young, not even half grown yet and for being wild he has
little fear of people or the dogs and that scares me to death.
I put some wild birdseed outside the fenced area of my yard and he
came a running. The little guy was starved and went to town on it,
So then I took him out some parrot mix with sunflower, pumpkin seeds,
cracked corn, peanuts and fruit pellets. He had a blast eating and
took a peanut right out of my hand and let me pet him. We had a storm
Sunday night with high winds and heavy rain. I don't know if his nest
got blown down or what, but he's alone with no momma in sight anywhere.
You can see he has no fear of me, LOL, he's smelling a wild violet,
taking life in. I was six inches away from him when I took this pic.
He smelled my fingers and crawled into my hand at one point. He fit
in the palm of my hand! Then Ang called that his car broke down (just
what we need!) and I had to leave to pick him up. When we got back the
little guy was gone.
Now I'm a basket case worrying that he'll come back and the dogs will
see and get to him before I do. I know he has a full belly for now anyway.
I just hope he does ok on his own, I'm worried about him. He's so cute,
I wouldn't want anything to happen to him.. My Nerves!!!
Part Two - Sweety's New Home
After searching several times through out the day for the baby squirrel
with no results I decided to let my dogs out for a while as I swept the
patio... They are none to happy about being allowed outside on a limited basis
on such a nice day here. As I was sweeping the patio out of the corner of
my eye I see my Bink peeling out and turned just in time to see her nose
to nose with the baby squirrel which was now sitting in the middle of the
fenced part of my yard. My ear piercing scream in the next moment as Bink's
mouth engulfed the baby startled Bink enough to get her to release the baby
and Thankfully it was none the worse for wear after experiencing this
encounter with Bink. It also was enough to bring both my husband and my
neighbor from across the street running to see what was wrong. I scooped
the baby squirrel up in hand as it stared in calm wonder at my three dogs
who now surrounded him. For his safety and my sanity I have decided to
put the baby in protective custody for a while till he's a little older and wiser...
He doesn't seem at all upset by this and set at once to stuffing his little
face with food and drink once I introduced him to his new home.
Sweety as I call him now, cause I'm still not sure of it's sex and
figure Sweety covers both genders is definitely a baby and not a dwarfed
adult that I thought maybe someone had raised and released up here because
of his tameness. He just doesn't have any fear, he never learned it from his momma.
Sweety's New Home - Complete with food, water, litterpan LOL, nestbox and sweety.
Thanks to Kathy and her friend for sharing this "Sweety" story.
A Few Days Later.....
I don't know how he did it, but sweety managed to escape the crate.
I think he did it last night. I went out a little after 7 PM last
night to check on him and the crate was empty. Well, I thought
he was in his nestbox gone beddie bye cause a storm had passed
through after 6 and it had become quite dreary here. When I
checked on him during the storm he was at the food dish still
eating. A couple of holes in the crates door are a little larger
then the others, but in my wildest dreams I never thought he
could ever fit through those. He must be one skinny little
runt under all that fluff of his.
I've been looking around,
but no sign of him again. I'll keep you posted if he does
return. Yesterday he showed up after 3 PM soooooo maybe.
So now once again I'm on a squirrel watch.
I have also now changed his name to Houdini
I'm really getting to old for this!
Update
I went outside to check and found Houdini hanging from the
lattice work on my screenhouse. I picked him off by the
scruff of the neck and once more placed him in the crate
that now through the magic of wire and duct tape has even
smaller holes in the door!
He once again immediately began stuffing his face.
Does this guy know a free meal ticket when he sees it or what?
So we will see if I can contain Houdini this time from once more
making the great escape! And another interesting note.
While looking around for Houdini several times today.
I kept noticing a Robin flying out of my one spreading hews.
I went over to take a look and at about 5 ft is a nest with
two robin's eggs in it. Where is this hew located you ask?
Well don't you know it's in the fenced in part of my yard
just off my patio! Now besides having a escaping squirrel
to worry about my dogs eating. In another couple of weeks
I'll have to content with baby robins leaving the nest to
become possible meals for my dogs.
I really don't need this... I really, really don't!
Well Houdini spent the night at home last night and I'm thankful
of that. We had wicked thunderstorms rolling through for most of
it. Lightening, heavy rain with hail and thunder that shook the
house. Houdini slept on oblivious to all of this, unfortunately
I did not. I think on his night out he may have run into something that put
the fear of death into him.
He appears not to be the same squirrel of previous days by showing
some fear towards me and not being as trusting, but this may
be a good thing. He ate well upon his return but a peanut
he ate did not sit well with him and for the next three
hours he proceeded to retch and bring back up peanut
fragments. I didn't know squirrels could retch or
barf for that matter, but it appears they indeed do.
He doesn't seem to be using his nest box except to sit on
but curls up in a front corner of the crate. So I put an old
flannel nightgown in there and he burrows under that and curls
up to sleep. I've decided to forgo giving him peanuts for a while
because of there being a hard nut and am now treating him to
shelled walnuts and he approves of the switch. His tummy
is calmer today, no more retching, yet he still appears
not as trusting. When I went to change his water
today he climbed up on his nest box and from
there he proceeded to launch himself with
enough power and velocity as to put a scud
missile to shame. He dang near scared me to death
and caused me to make a hasty retreat away from the
crate door. He may be small, but he has teeth that
my body really doesn't want to sample and his nails
are sharp as razor blades. Seeing the door open I guess
he assumed that I was allowing him out for what I can only
term his daily exercise. He proceeded to climb my window screen,
my window frame, leaping from there to the screenhouse and weaving
himself between the screen and lattice work against it till he
decided we'd both had enough exercise with him climbing and me chasing.
Tired now he allowed me once more to return him to his crate. I think
I know why I never saw him in early afternoon when he was out in the wild.
sleeping the afternoon away.
OK, so he's making a liar out of me and going inside the nest box now LOL
Mother Robin weathered the storms well and the nest remains intact with it's eggs.
LOL, Oh I got to show you my koi pond too...
In need of some renovations after the dang chipmonks dug all the
dirt out from under the falls and caused some stones to slide
into the pond. I've removed the falls and am going to redo the
falls in all stone to prevent this from happening again, but
most of the work has to be done with me in the pond to reset the
stones, there's no other way to reach that side.
So for now it has to wait, cause that water is colddddddddd!
Houdini seemed quite content with his crate the past couple days.
I've found he's very good at two things... Eating and Sleeping.
Most of the afternoon is spent with him under his nitie sleeping away.
Around 6 PM he'll come out to eat and after that the fun begins.
He becomes very rambunctious, jumping and running around his crate,
flipping on his back and wrestling with his nitie. he moves like a flash,
and he likes to be tickled. He reminds me very much of a young child in his play.
I noticed the past couple days that he was getting visitors to his crate.
First I noticed chipmunk droppings around his crate. None inside
which means if they can't get in, then he can't get out. The next
day I noticed mature squirrel turds and figured that Houdini's food
dish now must be attracting half the chipmunk and squirrel population on
the mountain. At night I've been putting a towel over the crate door
to keep out wind and drafts. Well, when I went out the day before
yesterday this is how I found the towel on his door....
Believe me when I tell you the towel didn't look like this when
I hung it the night before. It was old, but still in one piece.
Seems like a mature squirrel was really hell bent on getting to Houdini's food.
Houdini is fine, but he's now showing a bit of aggression to anything or anyone
(including me) who approaches his crate. I view this as a good thing in
the sense that he's now protecting what he sees as his home and food. But
still he can leave you a bit unnerved when he charges then hangs on the
door staring you down when your attempting to uncover the door in
the morning. I've moved his crate to the very end of the cabine
so that nothing can stand in front of his door it seems to
have solved the problem of anything trying to get in and at
his food or Houdini.
Aside from his loving walnuts, I've found another food that he really enjoys.
(Check it out Chuck)
Milkbone dog biscuits LOL
Good for his teeth too!
He loves the milk and cheese flavors.
Which brings me to today...
Remember I mentioned that Houdini seems to really come alive after 6 PM
Well I was busy today and didn't get around to cleaning his crate till after 6 today.
It's a daily thing cause he's a pig LOL. Well, anyway...
Big Mistake!
I opened that door and 2nd great escape was now set in motion.
Hands, shoulder and full body blocks were no deterrent for
the little guy today,vUp my body, over my shoulder and down my
back he went, across the patio, through the fence down the
slope and at a full gallop right into the Pond!!
I reached the fence just in time to see him doing a very
nice doggy paddle across it.
His climbing out set off a chain reaction of frogs leaping
into the pond which sent a very scared and soggy baby squirrel
scamping back up the slope to Ann. I dried him off in the
shredded towel and once more returned him to his familar crate
for some much needed rest. With his own suite, housekeeping,
food whenever he wants it and now a swimming pool the husband
said that Houdini probably thinks he's a Club Med now and he'll
never leave. He just might be right.
A sad note.
Back to two Robin eggs in the nest.
I came out on the patio today to find the remains of
a smashed Robin's egg.
While mother robin was away I checked the nest and
now only two eggs remain in it.
I don't know if something raided the nest or if the
egg somehow became damaged and the mother robin
disgarded it. It wasn't far from the nest. The nest
is in a bad location, it's very low under 5 ft from the
ground and that makes it very vulnerable. Still I'm hoping
for the best for the remaining two eggs.
Later
Well since Houdini's encounter with the pond, he seems
very content to just stay in his crate and be catered
too. We've been in a Bermuda high here in Pennsylvania
the past few days, we even broke a temperature record
here on Thursday when temps hit 88 degrees.
Houdini finding it a little to warm under his flannel
nitie for afternoon naps found another spot. Passing
his crate I looked inside to see a flat nitie and no
Houdini. Thinking it next to impossible for him to
have escaped again I called out to him and was rewarded
with the sound of his grunt from inside his nestbox.
He stuck his face out, gave me a dirty look for waking
him and once more withdrew into his nestbox to continue
his nap. When he awoke later he still continued to give
me the cold shoulder for disturbing his sleep.
Just what I need a squirrel with an Attitude!
However, as the saying goes, the way to a man's
heart is through his stomach.
(I'm still leaning towards him being a male.)
So out came the walnuts.
Well, you know after that all was forgiven, he even
posed for this close-up.
I figured since he was being so nice, he deserved an extra treat.
Sooooooooooooooo
Italian bread with peanut butter, you should of
heard his little lips smacking as he went to town
on that.LOL. Do you think I'm spoiling him?
Anyway after that I could do no wrong.
We played tug of war with his nitie, he let me tickle him
and not once did he try to escape his crate.
His crate or towel hasn't been distrubed since I moved his
crate forward so nothing can approach it from the front
anymore. No signs of droppings anywhere either.
Houdini is happy, he's developed even a deeper trust
in me and he's also developed an extreme curiosity
for my camera. LOL
(I'm ready for my close-up now.)
Momma Robin hasn't been back to her nest for two days now.
I wasn't to concerned during the day that she was away from
her nest so much. We had 6 days straight of temps in the mid
to high 80's. I saw her fly into her nest late Thursday
evening only to find it empty cept for the two eggs Friday
morning. Not a sign of her since then. No signs that she
was attacked during the night, the nest and two eggs still
remain intact, but no momma. I don't know if something
happened to her away from the nest or if she knew something
was wrong about the eggs and just decided to abandon them.
I just don't know. All I know is with this evening
Thunderstorms came a cold front. Temps tonight are
going down into the low 50's. Without momma to keep
those eggs warm, tonight will be their end if any life
is held within. I had hoped those two eggs would make it.
I guess sometimes some things just aren't meant to be.
It was such a beautiful day today, after I had the dogs
out till they were begging to come in I decided to give
Houdini some free reins. He's grown a bit in the time
that I have him so I wanted to give him the chance to
decided if it was time to move on and be on his own.
I said in the beginning that crating him was for
his own protection, I still see it that way. I
enjoy his playfulness and having him around, still
I wouldn't want anyone think that I was keeping him
against his will just to have him.So off I went with
Houdini in hand to the side of the yard without the pond LOL.
When I placed him down and started walking away he became
frightened, and scampered after me. I bent down and petted him
and told him I wouldn't abandon him and that this outing was for
him to enjoy himself.
Well he checked out some things and munched on clover
and new leaves sprouting on my Azalea bush till his hearts
content. When I figured he's had a good enough time for himself,
I wanted to see if he thought it was time to come in. So I shook
the baggie with the walnuts in it and he came a running!
I can see his point really...
If I had all this would I really want to leave home too?
Decisions, decisions, just what do I eat first?
Well you know I just can't resist Walnuts!
An ice cream cone for dessert!
Wow, are the Milkbone getting bigger or am I shrinking?
