Hi all and thanks. We hope the next baby ~>insert species of your choice hereDaisy. Master Gardener. Puppy corrupter, I mean, role model, pond assistant, kitty head stuffer, mugger with A rubber chicken.... Yes, she manages to put a smile on our faces and perhaps a few bruises from the chicken assault. :-) We also discovered she is a Bird Nutritionist. No high cholesterol for our Downy Woodpeckers, the Pileated guys, the Yellow Hammers, the Nuthatches and everyone else. No way. No how! Daisy jumps up and brings down the suet feeders ... breaks into them and eats the suet! Then she has the bloody diarrhea from eating all that fat! Good girl, Daisy! Sacrificing yourself to protect the little feathered birdy visitors from eating that stuff. Good Girl! Now I need to climb up on a plastic milk crate to hang the suet feeders higher in the trees so Daisy can't pull them down. The other feeders needed to be raised higher too because she's pulled them down and she and Rani have destroyed many seed feeders. :-( Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Do I believe this yet? Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing.... She brought home a mouse this afternoon. We think he came from the compost pile area. He was wet but not harmed as he ran through the kitchen. He was caught, dried off, fed with grapes, apples and some seeds and water. Then he was put back in the compost pile with some seeds and apologies for being kidnapped. Pets are relaxing....

Does the squirrel have easy access to the roof? My friend has chosen her trees over preventing access to the squirrels. I think they got a roofer to more or less seal acces to the house from the roof. I don't know about exterminators, but it is a good idea to catch it live inside so that it doesn't stink up the house for months, and require large sections of the wall to be removed and replaced. Sammy

SaintP, I'm sorry your squirrel disappeared. She probably was injured too badly to survive for long. Just a few comments in case anything similar happens again. (I used to work for Florida Audubon and did a lot with rehabbing at that time, even had a license to care for baby birds. We got LOTS of baby squirrels). First, Heather W is right that rabies is not a big concern with squirrels. There hasn't been a documented cases of a rabid squirrel in something like 65 years or more. For some reason, they seldom ever get it. Secondly, they CAN and will BITE like crazy, and it can be quite painful and get infected easily. So the advice (and your instinct) not to try to pick the animal up by hand were absolutely correct. Especially a squirrel in pain...you might be hurting them badly, and they would naturally bite in defense. And third, the advice not to call a vet does not hold true for all vets. Some are quite well trained in the care of birds and other wild animals and will gladly treat one. You just need to know if your vet is one of those or not. Believe me, I have carried countless injured birds to the clinic in Altamonte that Audubon used at that time. And other animals, as well. They were always treated when the vet felt it was possible to save their lives. So this all depends on the policy and training of the vet in question. And even my regular vet will advise me honestly on whether or not an injured animal is too seriously injured for me to take care of. If the animal is too far gone, he will euthanize for a minimum fee, but he has no problem in telling me how to care for an injured animal that he thinks can be rehabbed. I think you did your very best for this little squirrel, and probably made its last days much more comfortable. Good for you for caring so much! Marcia

One of my sisters was livid when she discovered deer were munching some of her newly planted climbers the past couple years, thorns and all. You can't win. It could be the squirrels were looking for some water since it has been so dry until today (they'll take bites out of nightshade plants like tomatoes for the same reason - to get water).