Re: A Story about TJ -- for the love of squirrels

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Date Posted: 16:16:04 11/27/01 Tue
Author: Beverly
Subject:

Re: A Story about TJ
In reply to: Tom McDill 's message, "A Story about TJ" on 22:26:14 11/26/01 Mon

Tom, I love your story about TJ! But do be very careful about TJ, where the rats are concerned. I like rats (well, wood rats, anyway), but I have read accounts from the Audubon studies that rats will attack other rodents, including flying squirrels. Last winter, two wild flyers were killed in my peanut box, on two separate occasions, and it was most likely done in a fight with a rat (the rats easily climbed the maple tree, and would go into the box, and stay in it, while eating.) I stopped the problem by taking the plexiglass front off the peanut feeder at night, so the flyers could not get trapped by the rats, and also, I started empting the peanut box, and putting the peanuts in a basket, hung from a thin wire from a branch of the maple. The wild flyers could get to the basket - the rats could not. (I would put some sunflower down in the ivy for the rats - and some whole corn, too. I know even rats have to eat...)Re: the mirror, Molly also showed no interest in her reflection, but once or twice, in the bathroom, she would jump toward the mirror, viewing it as part of the room. Birds sometimes hurt themselves in the same way. When flyers are babies, they often develop a little "raceway" - a path they like to run over and over. When Molly first started doing this, I was afraid it was a sign of neurotic behaviour, from not being out in the wild. I was advised by someone who had studied the flyers in the wild that the wild babies do the same thing. It helps them develop their skills, while being on terrain with which they are completely familiar. Re: squirrel pee, in the mountains of Asia, where the giant wooly flying squirrel lives, squirrel pee is considered an aphrodisiac! So you're getting a bonus, there! Don't worry that TJ has not used his nest box much, and don't take it away from him. It's nice for them to have options. Did you give him some 100% cotton fluff for bedding? And if you put a roll of toilet tissue (white, unscented, only!) in his cage for him, he will make some bedding for himself. It's a good wee hours of the morning project for the flyers, you know...

> TJ is really starting to become a great little pet.
> I decided to go check on him tonight because I heard
>some squeaking. Turns out we have rats somewhere in
>the house, cause something got into the squirrel food
>I had bought for Jasper, and ate quite a few of the
>sunflower seeds out of it. Then I noticed the small
>hole in the wall, so I am pretty sure we have rats.
>Damn cats a getting lazy! Anyhow, back to TJ. He was
>already awake when I entered the room, and as soon as
>I came in the room, he ran to the door of the cage and
>put the "I want out daddy!" face on. So I melted, and
>opened the door. He immediatly jumped off of the door
>onto my chest and buzzed around me a little bit. Then
>he jumped on to the top of the cage and buzzed around
>his boxes (I say his because he seems to enjoy running
>around over them). Then he runs to the edge of the
>door and looks at himself in the mirror. He must know
>it's himself because he shows no interest in the
>mirror whatsoever. He then ran around the top of the
>cage for a while, and then I put my hand up and he ran
>down my arm. TJ proceeded to run around me for a
>little while, then he jumped back up to the top of the
>cage. You've got me why he likes it up there so much,
>but he seems to enjoy it. This cycle kept up for
>about oh 20-30 mins. Then he decided to get brave and
>jump onto the exposed spot on my wall where I took off
>the molding to fix the other wall. He decided it was
>a bad idea, because he could only hold with his front
>feet/paws so when I put my hand up, he jumped into it,
>ran down my arm, and onto the top of the door to his
>cage. He then jumped back onto me and let me pet him
>for a little bit. Then he jumped into the cage.
>Now's the time I say I've been worried because I never
>saw him use his water dish. Well he's been using it,
>I finally noticed that quite a bit of water is
>missing, and I actually SAW him use it when he jumped
>back in. I gave him a couple small pieces of pecan,
>which he gobbled up quite quickly. Then he stored the
>largest piece, and ran into his pouch to go to sleep.
>He always uses the pouch. He won't use the nest box
>that I so graciously prepare for him, before I even
>picked him up from Orlando. I left it in his cage in
>case he wanted to see something he was used to, and
>yep, he found it alright. He always sleeps in it as
>far as I can tell. I guess it doesn't hurt anything.
>I'm pretty sure he's already asleep by now. I also
>thought he wasn't using any of the food I put in the
>food dish. It has quite an assortment of foods in it.
> Corn kernals, sunflower seeds, pellets of some kind
>for rodents, peanuts, and little heart shaped thingys
>he likes to chew on, but not actually eat. There were
>little holes dug in it, so he must have found
>something he likes and ate a few of them. In total he
>was up for about an hour playing around, so I think
>he's doing really well. I'm working on getting him to
>stop peeing on me, but it isn't so bad. It doesn't
>stink pretty much at all, and it dries fast ;-) I'm
>pretty sure I posted this pic before, but it's one of
>the best ones I've took of him so far, so it is a good
>one for people who haven't seen TJ yet. Ya'll have a
>great night/day!
>
>Tom & TJ
>
> rel=nofollow target=_blank >href="http://www.geocities.com/mrboomy01/image-13.jpg">
>Click Here for Pic!

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Replies:

I would suggest against the 100% cotton fluff -- RR, 18:15:03 11/27/01 Tue
- Re: I would suggest against the 100% cotton fluff -- Beverly, 04:42:21 11/29/01 Thu
  - Re: I would suggest against the 100% cotton fluff -- Tom McDill, 06:54:36 11/29/01 Thu