ACK, Rupert!!! I FINALLY get to hear from (read from?) the (IN?)famous Rupert, only to have him threaten (sort of), by proxy, my dear little Tater Tot via his local squirrels, of whom he appears to have been co-opted and now some sort of spokesperson(squirrel?) for them. Has so many years of rounding them up and shooting them in the head made YE "squirrely?" Or perhaps ye ate one too many squirrels -- maybe brains and all -- and now ye have "mad squirrel disease," which I imagine would be sort of like mad cow disease, except you'd run around in circles chattering and chasing other people, then sort of lean back and hold your arms down in front of you, look around, and act like you OWN all you survey. Maybe you even now climb trees and yell profanities at passersby as you also throw nuts and small sticks at them? :eek:
Along THOSE lines, I DO have a REAL squirrel aggression story of my own, from my OWN personal experience to relate (one that got aggressive with ME -- and at the time I was 350 pounds, or so, and 6'1", which I've been my whole adult life!)... I was standing near a little 60-gallon pre-form pond I'd installed, shooting some photos with what was then my PRIMO camera (the Panasonic DMC Lumix FZ10, with a flat F 2.8 12x zoom lens -- it was pretty good for its day, but low-light photography was NIL, and there was NO focus-assist light, plus everything above ISO 100 showed increasing noise). It was around the first of October 10 years ago this coming fall and I noticed a gray squirrel coming directly towards me. When it got maybe 8-10 feet away it stopped, stood up on its hind legs, sort of "balled up" its front legs in what looked EXACTLY LIKE a boxing stance, and gave me a nasty look as if to say "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Then it continued forward, heading STRAIGHT at me! Needless to say, I MOVED out of its way! I'd been standing right in front of a good-sized pine tree, and after the squirrel passed me, it climbed that tree to the lowest limb, maybe 10 feet up, and proceeded to SCOLD ME with incessant chattering for the remainder of the time I was out there. I truly believe if I hadn't moved that squirrel would have attacked me!
I have a picture of that SOMEWHERE on my hard drive, but it seems every time I go looking for it I can't find it (as was the case just now, when I spent half an hour or more doing searches before giving up). When I find it, I'll post it. It's FUNNY. It shows the squirrel with "his dukes up" in the boxing stance.
As for the "no squirrel-proof feeder" myth, that's not ENTIRELY TRUE, Rupert. The first picture below is of a TRUE squirrel-proof feeder. They're NOT cheap; they're heavy; but they work. It's painted stainless steel (or maybe aluminum) with a spring-loaded bird perch that won't accept the weight of a squirrel. There's an adjustment on that which can be used to make the perch accept lighter or heavier loads, as well. Admittedly, there ARE plastic windows in the front for viewing how much seed is left that, given the right opportunity, a smart or lucky squirrel may be able to chew through. BUT, when and if that happens, all I need to do is put a piece of sheet metal on the inside covering where the windows were and it will solve that problem. I can still tell when the feeder is empty.
The shot below is of a squirrel-resistant feeder. OBVIOUSLY it's not "squirrel-proof," as they CAN get parts of their bodies in there. The holes in the grates, however, aren't big enough for most squirrels to get their heads through, and the feeding ports are pretty well recessed. All the same, the squirrels have gotten pretty good at reaching through the bars and into those ports with their paws, then pulling out seed -- most of which falls to the catch basin at the bottom -- and then just going to the bottom and pulling it to the edge to feed. Not sure WHAT I'm gonna do about it. For a long time they didn't bother it much, but now they "go to town" on it.
As for the talk about "carnivorous squirrels," MANY rodents are omnivorous. We all know that rats are. Well, many tree squirrels are, as well. They're well known to raid bird nests for their eggs. Even worse, the ultra-cute flying squirrels (not sure if you have them in Europe; we have them here, though, and they're adorable), are VICIOUS predators! Their ability to glide from one tree to another, as well as to climb them very well, makes them WELL suited to get into both bird nests and bird houses. And they're small enough to get into just about ANY bird house, even those with the smallest of openings. As American bluebirds once were in decline (and are beautiful birds), it became popular for Americans to put up bluebird houses, which many folks have learned to put away from fences or trees and put baffles below the boxes on the poles to deter snakes and other predators such as racoons. BUT, flying squirrels are essentially IMPOSSIBLE to keep out. And they eat what they can get, animal or vegetable. They're not to not only eat the eggs, but also the young. And if they happen to catch the parent(s) in the nest, they will often kill and eat THEM, as well (even though they may not be any bigger than the birds, they're much stronger)... So, yaneverknow. Animals do what they need to in order to survive. Perhaps those black squirrels in Russia were doing just that.
A neighbor told me they saw "a big black snake" crawl out of my yard recently, then back in. That describes the black rat snake, which would be eating not only rats and mice, but also all manner of rodents, including squirrels. The fact that I continue to have SCADS of gray squirrels and also see a fair number of chipmunks -- even with me having a sweet little puppydog who never hurt a fly (but will tear a rodent to smithereens :eek: ) I regularly let out -- MUST mean that either their reproductive rate is THROUGH the roof, or that snake was just "a visitor."
Jeff
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