We have squirrels who visit the ground below our bird feeders. Over the years we have been able to count on six or eight gray squirrels and four to six fox squirrels as our companions. We know the players have changed over the years; their life spans are usually short, but they must be prolific enough to maintain the colony.
The gray squirrels are sleek and slightly smaller than the fox squirrels, and definitely meaner. The fox squirrels are larger overall, have beautiful fur that goes from a cream to a copper color, with touches of black on the tips of the tail fur, and they seem just a bit pudgy in comparison to the grays. They also play nicer with others. Unfortunately, they are also prone to mange.
Two of our fox squirrels began showing signs of mange earlier this month. One of them has just about lost the fur on his tail, leaving a long rat-like whip of a tail. A second squirrel has been itching and scratching and has lost most of the fur from his ribs to his ears.
I did some surfing today and discovered they have mange mites. Specifically, they have notoedric mites. This particular type of mite does not affect humans, and if the squirrels can make it through our cold weather, it's likely they will have a spontaneous recovery with full restoration of their coat. If our squirrels were tamer, we could put out food for them laced with a medication that would speed their recovery, but other than allowing them to share the bird seed that falls to the ground, we have not done anything to tame them.
Meanwhile, we have this poor naked little guy who has to endure the cold. I'm glad for him that it's supposed to get up into the 60s this week!
Comments (6)
During our single-digits, ice-stormy, abominable weather of the first two weeks of the year, we watched a poor squirrel (even with your descriptions, I don't know what kind--a squirrel is a squirrel to me) with no hair on its back. I worried about it as it sat out there all naked, and s/he seemed to have to take more risks to get its food--climbing into the platform bird feeder that sits on our patio quite frequently. I did see it once after the weather warmed a bit, but I haven't seen it since then. Whether it grew fur or whether it lost the battle I'll never know.
Posted by Cop Car | March 25, 2005 11:11 PM
Posted on March 25, 2005 23:11
Here, the gray squirrels are the play-nice-with-others type and the red squirrels (quite a bit smaller) are the meanies of the bunch. One red can chase off several grays without even breaking a sweat, and won't let any other squirrel (red or gray) within the area it is feeding at.
Posted by bogie | March 26, 2005 5:58 AM
Posted on March 26, 2005 05:58
How odd that the roles are exactly reversed, Bogie. Here, the gray squirrels are mean little critters. They establish a pecking order within their own group and you don't want to be around when there's an infraction. Even though the fox squirrels are considerably larger, one gray will take on a group of them, and run them off.
THe grays doubled in size this year as they prepared for winter. We were really afraid that was a signal that we were going to be snowed in, but it seems to have been unusually mild and dry this year. Did your squirrels bulk up an unusual amount, too?
Cop Car, I know that some of them succumb. When we first lived here, we watched the wildlife so diligently that we could identify many of the squirrels. It became apparent that one that was with us for three or four years had a pretty long lifespan, and dealing with the mange certainly doesn't help.
Now that I know they can be treated, I'll have to discuss the situation with the vet the next time we see her.
Can you hear what Dear Husband will have to say about that?? "You're doing WHAT????"
Posted by Buffy | March 26, 2005 9:13 AM
Posted on March 26, 2005 09:13
Yes, I can hear your Dear Husband. The thought hadn't occurred to me. Since the birds eat the squirrel food, and vice versa, treating the squirrels would take some research.
Posted by Cop Car | March 26, 2005 7:14 PM
Posted on March 26, 2005 19:14
The squirrels didn't seem unusually large but that is probably because I got new bird feeders that, for the most part, keep the squirrels from raiding them so much.
Posted by bogie | March 27, 2005 6:24 AM
Posted on March 27, 2005 06:24
Cop Car, I think the vet would have to tell us just what kind of food to doctor. We have all sorts of ground feeders where the squirrels eat, and I'd hate to treat anything that didn't need help.
Bogie, we have the type of feeder where the arm drops, closing the bin, if a bird (or animal) which is too large lands on it. (Unfortunately, the raccoons have figured out how to get around the design). Since we've had this feeder for some years, I don't think it contributed to the unusual padding on the squirrels this year. I was sure we were going to have forty days and forty nights of snow.
Posted by Buffy | March 27, 2005 8:43 PM
Posted on March 27, 2005 20:43