Squirrel Stories?

Love ’em?  Hate ’em?  Tame ’em? Eat ’em? Cuteness to the limit? Vermin?   I know you have squirrel stories.  I’m researching squirrels for my next book, and would love to be inspired by your experiences.  Share your stories here, or if you prefer privacy, email to: urbanwild@thetanglednest.com.

Many many thanks.

29 Comments

  1. Brandy

    I hate squirrels. I always have. I honestly believe they are spawns of the devil. So wasn’t it fitting when one appeared in my toilet 3 years ago, a day I will unfortunately never forget. I can recount my horror in detail (though I will likely also need to speak to a therapist afterward) if you’re interested — email me.

    1. I’m interested in the topic of squirrels I had a dream the other day that this giant tree in my backyard with swaying back and forth from the wind and as I watch this nest fall out of the tree it landed upside down so I walked over there lifted it up and there were three baby squirrels…. what are baby squirrels called and on average how many do they preduce the type of squirrels I’m talking about is a town outside of San Francisco and like you describe your environment around where you live and your house Mines just about the same wilderness and OH …Theres this BUCK living underneath my deck beautiful he is so cool I feed him apples and berries …with a bucket of Water… yeah yeah that’s my questions

  2. You are so lucky to land such book deals! (Well, I know it’s not just luck.) Back on Long Island, we had a squirrel that would swipe any sort of item we’d put up to fly in the wind–we had a rainbow-colored nylon windsock with long streamers once, and it vanished–we didn’t know it was a squirrel until one day we saw it twisted around the top of a spruce tree, where the squirrel had finally given up trying to install it in its nest because the windsock had obviously become so ensnared in the needles. It ransacked the next one we put up, too. Goes along with the feeder-destroying antics my current Seattle Sciuridae neighbors exhibit.

  3. Mary G

    I love the cute factor of squirrels, but when it comes down to it I’m not a fan. One time, when I was in elementary school, I made the mistake of tossing some peanuts to a squirrel in our yard. It came WAY to close to me, so I ran inside. The squirrel followed me onto our porch and chitterred angrily at me as I looked through the window at it. That squirrel ran at the door every time I came near it. Scared the **** out of me.

  4. Heather York

    My dad tells a story of growing up in rural Oklahoma. He had promised a date that he would make her a squirrel stew, his speciality. She was repulsed, yet intrigued. Eager to show off his hunting skills, he went off in search of a squirrel. Unable to bag one, and with the young lady on her way, he had to improvise. His date never knew that she was eating cat stew. It didn’t much matter, because after one bite, neither ate any more of the tough, stringy meat.

  5. Ellen

    One winter my son made a bird feeder: a half grapefruit skin stuffed with peanutbutter/seed mix. I hung it from the tree with a long string, far enough down from the branch so the squirrels couldn’t reach it. I watched them try and try, until one guy hung upside down, and, hand over hand (or paw over paw) hauled it up by the string until he could munch on it. Looked like a little monkey our there. Unbelievable!

  6. The Velvet Bulldog

    Pretty much hate ’em. They always steal my tulip bulbs. One time I had a potted plant in the passenger seat of my car and I was driving it to a friend. A squirrel darted in front of my car and the plant went flying, landing upside-down on the floor when I slammed on the brakes.

    I was fascinated one time however, when I heard what sounded like some bird screeching like crazy. Upon looking into the tree, I realized it was a squirrel screeching at a cat or something on the ground. Unmistakable sound and now I always know when something is disturbing a squirrel. (I always root for whatever it is that’s disturbing it.)

  7. 2 squirrel stories I’d like to share:
    1. I see them “napping” regularly in the summer, on branches or fence posts, with their sweet little heads resting on their paws, panting shallowly, clearly relaxed. I love that.
    2. We have a “resident squirrel” that hangs out near our house in South Seattle. He has taken peanuts out of our hands and loves to torture our dogs by running along the top of the backyard fence. One day last September, I walked out of my front door and heard a loud screeching sound. I looked up and saw our squirrel friend on the telephone wire, looking at me and hollering. I proceeded down my front steps and walked over to pick some of my Japanese Anemones. He continued screeching. As I walked back up on the front porch, I noticed a pair of small green balls perched on top of my mailbox on the front porch. As I got closer, the squirrel screams got louder. Upon inspection I realized the green balls were chestnuts from the tree across the street that he’d “hidden” there. I wrote a blog post about this experience, and have a picture here: http://openroadcoaching.com/uturn/?p=98
    Let me know if you’d like permission to use it in your book!

  8. Mary Jo

    When we lived in an urban area, we gave up the bird feeding battle and went ahead and fed the squirrels. A nursing mama and her babe were regular visitors. In a downpour, they opened the squirrel feeder lid, climbed in, and hung out in comfort until the storm passed. Another day, mama, tired of the nearly grown baby’s nursing, repeatedly smacked him off the feeder to the ground below.

    Once, as I went to fill the feeder, I came upon a squirrel preoccupied with eating. Without thinking, I reached out and pet him. We looked at each other, equally shocked at what had just transpired.

    Lastly (and this is more of a dog story)– I’m ok with squirrels, but not IN my house. One got in (through the chimney?) and was perched on our coffee table. I yelled to our dogs, “Get the squirrel! Get the squirrel!” They happily bounded past the squirrel to the back door.

  9. 1. When we lived in the woods in Ravensdale, near Maple VAlley, we feed a multitude of birds, which meant that squirrels would show up as well. For the suet we used those squirrel proof feeders. They’re heavy wire basket type things and have a slot for the suet. One day a little douglas squirrel managed to get in. She had a nice feast, but got stuck trying to get back out. She was half in and half out. We finally had to take a wire cutter to the feeder and set her free. Others got in but always managed to get out. The big grays couldn’t get in, but would reach their little paws in and get what they could.
    2. Now we live in a community in Lacey, and I thought I would never see another cute douglas squirrel. I was thrilled when one showed up on our back fence. We have swallow boxes on our house and love when they arrive in the Spring. Somehow our cute little douglas made it to our roof and made her way to the swallow box. She chewed her way in.
    Of course the swallows were very upset. Jerry took the box down and found the squirrel nest on top of the one the swallows were building. So, we had to leave the box down. But the (now not so cute squirrel) found a way to get from our roof down inside a bumpout on our house. We could hear the scratching as she built her nest, and soon heard the babies. They finally made it out onto the roof and the mommy had quite a time convincing the babes to come off the roof. It was great fun watching her try to get them back to the nest at night. They had to jump from the fence to the roof. When they finally left, Jerry went up and blocked all the ways they could have gotten in.
    But, now we have heard the nest building again so I guess we can look forward to watching these babies when they venture out. (But, how did they get in this time?). Jerry needs to get up on the roof again to investigate.
    Did I mention, they are digging up our back yard??? Yikes!!

  10. angie

    We are lucky to have black squirrels, I love watching them, they are quite courageous and comical! I don’t understand the haters. I think humans are far more repulsive and ignorant. Squirrel Nutkin FTW.

  11. On the day of one of my birthday parties as a kid, I heard the sound of an animal screeching in our front yard (Suburban MD). It was a baby squirrel screaming its head off. My mother assumed it was hurt and instructed my dad to “put it out of his misery.” I totally freaked out when he went over there with a shovel and I guess he felt bad about making me cry hysterically on my birthday. My dad was an animal lover, so he was probably happy to have an excuse not to kill it. Anyhow, we brought it inside, called a vet and found out how to feed it. We fed it cooked oatmeal and it lived in our guest room for the rest of the fall and winter. It would try and snuggle up in my armpit. Maybe it was trying to nurse. Anyway, it was magical having this sweet, tame, little squirrel living with us. We named it Petunia because it stunk. In the Spring we released it outside. A while later (time in kid’s world is pretty vague) I saw a squirrel in my backyard and it seemed pretty tame. I was about to have a reunion with Petunia when a neighbor threw a rock at it and scared it away. Stupid neighbor boys!

    Now that I’m a grumpy adult trying to grow veggies and fruit in my tiny urban garden, squirrels are terribly frustrating. They love to decapitate unripe vegetables and leave them behind. They dig like crazy in my freshly planted soil, which kills the new seedlings. I put down rabbit netting to keep them at bay. We seem to have a resident black squirrel that hangs out in our yard also.

  12. kate

    Hmm,
    I have a conflicted relationship with squirrels. As a kid, I loved the semi-tame squirrels that would eat from my grandmother’s hand (and occasionally, from mine) and was obsessed with the book, Miss Suzy, which is about a squirrel who is driven off by a band of evil red squirrels who take over her nest; she moves into a doll house and enlists the help of toy soldiers in fighting off the invading horde (http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Suzy-Miriam-Young/dp/1930900287).

    Now that I’m older, ‘though, I’m not so sure I’m wild about the way that squirrels raid bird feeders and torture my dog (and they seem to strategically pee on people walking up our driveway from their nests in the tree above).

    They have been responsible for an amazing array of volunteered plants in my garden (although I think the plants are less volunteered than conscripted).

  13. We recently moved and at the old address had black and grey squirrels but at the new address have red squirrels. I understand (and have observed!) that the red squirrels are much more talkative than the others. Would love it if you had a chapter dedicated to these chatty ones!

  14. Cynthia in Denver

    🙂 My best friend and I were living on the 3rd story apartment in Denver. We had a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains due West and Downtown Denver due North. There was a very large old pine tree that soared beyond the balcony.l This tree became a ladder for “The f**ing squirrel”, as Eddie so affectionately called the cutie.

    I’m sitting in the living room and Eddie is in the kitchen talking over the bar at me when he screams like a little girl. Squirrel had come inside and started helping himself to the candy dish atop the television. Eddie shot over the breakfast bar! Hurdled the over sized couch! Chased the squirrel around the living room, out the sliding glass door and was on the move so fast, he overshot the railing on the balcony and held onto that tree for dear life … the squirrel went safely down the tree.

    Stupid squirrel. Couldn’t leave well enough alone. We had flower boxes hanging over the balcony railing. Eddie had planted flowers from seeds, but nothing was coming up. Hm. The squirrel dug up his seeds and replaced them with CORN!

  15. Brenda

    My son brought an orphaned squirrel home in February. His mother was killed in a tree logging accident. We named him Miller and began the task of raising him. I fed him puppy formula every two to four hours for several weeks until he was able to eat solid food. After he was old enough to eat nuts and fruit, I put him outside in a cage to get him use to the outdoors. After a few days I began leaving the cage door open. He would come and go but always returned in the evening for his “supper”. Eventually he built a nest up high in an oak tree and ran around with the other squirrels but always came back to the house every day for food. He is now eight months old and eats acorns and hickory nuts along with what I feed him everyday. Last week, I heard gunshots in the woods behind my house. I ran outside to find my neighbor hunting with four dead squirrels hanging from his hunting vest. I was sure one of them was Miller. It was hard to tell with all the blood. After Miller didn’t return for a week, I assumed one of the dead squirrels was surely him. Yesterday, while I was sitting on the porch I noticed a squirrel high in one of the oak trees. I called for him like I used to for Miller. He came running and it was Miller. I guess he was scared off by the shooting last week and has been hiding. He ate almonds, peanuts, walnuts, and sunflower seeds. He drank lots of water. I was so happy to have him back home. He’s a lucky squirrel with a really good life!!

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