Flying Squirrels

frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
We saw one of our cats pacing and pouncing at the slider doors we call "kitty tv" tonight. He was all kinds of worked up. When we turned the lights on to our bird feeders, there was one flying squirrel on our peanut butter suet and he was joined by another.
It was very cool! Though nocturnal, they did not seemed to mind the light.
 
D

dgates80

Land of the lost
frequentflier said:
We saw one of our cats pacing and pouncing at the slider doors we call "kitty tv" tonight. He was all kinds of worked up. When we turned the lights on to our bird feeders, there was one flying squirrel on our peanut butter suet and he was joined by another.
It was very cool! Though nocturnal, they did not seemed to mind the light.
Click to expand...

One of them skinnied up the post to the top and then LAUNCHED! I am here to tell ya, yep, they do indeed fly!
 
J

jaksprat

Member
They really are cool. I had the 'privilege' of having a whole bunch of them get into my attic over the last 2 years. I caught a lot of them (about 15) in live traps and would set them free, far away from the house. Finally, I had trim siding installed to close off the place they were getting in. One actually got inside the house once and was crawling on the side of the brick fireplace! I caught him in a fishing net and took him outside, where he jumped out of the net before I released him and 'flew' over the deck railing. They really are cute with their big eyes and have a real funny way of running. When I let them loose, they would sort of run/hop along in a funny way and run up the first tree they'd find.
 
Mojo

Mojo

New Member
Uncle Bacon trapped one last night or this morning, I'm not sure when he got it.
 
frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
RareBreed said:
My mom had one in her fireplace a few years back. Her neighbor works as a Park Ranger (or something similar) and came over to get the little guy out safefly.
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Jeez, I hope the cute little buggers just visit the suet cakes. I hate to think of them getting in places I wouldn't want them. Remember having a red squirrel in my walls in a farmhouse in upstate NY. Very destructive critter that was very difficult to get rid of. It didn't help any that the landlady made a comment about how they chew on wires (had this continous vision of my comfy little house burnt to the foundation)
 
Katelin

Katelin

one day the dark will end
I rehab flyers...have 2 here that will winter over. Both females, both tiny.
But come spring, they will be ready to go free!!!!
They are great insect eaters and help trees by eating those harmful bugs.
My 2 love to eat nice wriggley meal worms!!! Yum!!!!

I will find some pics of them as babies......and post them.
 
Katelin

Katelin

one day the dark will end
luvscats said:
I would love to see some pics. I've read that they are in the area but I've never seen one.
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They are nocturnal....set up a flood light, with a red bulb, aim it at a tall tree...place a suet feeder at least 8-10 feet up on the trunk and wait....take suet down in the daylight and put back at night.
In a few nights, if you have flyers, they will find the suet and come and eat.
The red lamp allows you to see and not harm their night vision.

I will get pics up soon....
 
luvscats

luvscats

New Member
Katelin said:
They are nocturnal....set up a flood light, with a red bulb, aim it at a tall tree...place a suet feeder at least 8-10 feet up on the trunk and wait....take suet down in the daylight and put back at night.
In a few nights, if you have flyers, they will find the suet and come and eat.
The red lamp allows you to see and not harm their night vision. I will get pics up soon....
Click to expand...

I'm going to put this on my to-do list for after the holidays. Thanks for the idea.
 
idiganthro

idiganthro

Member
I am amazed by this whole discussion! We've only been here a year and a half and had no idea we have flying squirrels in the area. I'm totally going to try the suet feeder thing!
 
frequentflier

frequentflier

happy to be living
idiganthro said:
I am amazed by this whole discussion! We've only been here a year and a half and had no idea we have flying squirrels in the area. I'm totally going to try the suet feeder thing!
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Someone else that lives not far from me said she saw them on her suet feeder late at night- quite by surprize. Maybe because they are nocturnal, people don't see them or are not looking for them. In fact, if it weren't for the cat pawing at the door and acting goofier than ususal- we probably wouldn't have known. BTW, they seem to like the peanut butter suet! We put a new cake out today!
 
Katelin

Katelin

one day the dark will end
BS Gal said:
Is that a baby or full grown? Is that the kind we could see flying around here? Is the tail bigger than it looks in the pic?
Click to expand...

She is almost adult sized...she is wintering over w/me till spring.
Her tail is normal...
She has bulked up a lot this fall and will soon get a roommate who is just weaned and ready to go outside!!

This is a typical Southern Flying squirrel...good bug eaters!!!
 
Katelin

Katelin

one day the dark will end
This is Mel, who will be joining Frosty...
Mel

I cant add photos here like on other posting selections... :-(
 
Katelin

Katelin

one day the dark will end
This is Frosty at her full legnth ....
Frosty


This is Mel as a tiny 1 week old baby...the white stuff ( in the middle of her body) is the formula in her stomach...what we call the Milk Line...meaning she is full...
If you look lower, you can see that she is a female..as that is what females look like...
She is not being hurt in this photo...
Milk Line

That red line is her femoral artery...the same onne your vet uses to draw blood from your dog or cat.
 
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