We have squirrels. Now granted, ‘having’ squirrels is not like ‘having’ mice or ‘having’ fleas–especially since they stay outside, but there are times when I get a little creeped out with their rodent-ness. I can say with certainty that I really like most animals, but I have a very hard time liking rodents. Okay, that’s probably an understatement. We had a little hamster when I was a child, and I would not hold him. He was squishy and bug-eyed and if given the chance, would scurry away to hiding places. It also grossed me out to find tiny, pink, squirming baby mice in our feed barrel when I would feed the horses, but I did manage to scoop them out and give them to the cats. However, when I got to grad school, it took all my courage and fortitude when I found out my first research project would be working with mice. Lots and lots of mice, and I was to be their breeder, caretaker, and ultimately, their dissector. Ugh!
The squirrels, at least, are bigger and have that fluffy tail, and generally, when I see them out any given window at any given time, I don’t shudder! They can also be entertaining–especially in the winter when they raid the bird feeders and perform gymnastics to get to the source of all that sunflower seed goodness. We have twitchy little red squirrels.
And one furtive, feisty black squirrel who showed up one day this spring and chased all the other squirrels away in order to have lunch.
But mostly we have gray squirrels. They run up and down the trees; they eat acorns, gather acorns, bury acorns, and dig up acorns. I tell Chris they are his partners in planting oak trees. They provide winter exercise for our Black Lab who runs out the door like a sprinter when the word ‘Squirrel!’ is paired with a hand on the door knob.
The squirrels also build nests or dens in trees. Each one may have up to three nests in their area, usually for themselves and their babies. The nests are built with sticks and twigs, then lined with leaves, moss, grass and pine needles. They will abandon a nest if it is bothered by predators or infested with fleas or mites. Even squirrels need to deal with ‘having’ fleas. One of our cedar trees has at least three squirrel nests in it. (The darker, dense areas on the tree.)
The squirrels, like the mice I worked with in grad school, are impressive nest builders. They are also impressive mothers. These mammals have newborns that are helpless, hairless, blind and deaf. They care for them in their own relative long time until the young can fend for themselves. In my two years of working with mice, I was able to pick them up by their tails–and only because it made them go sort of comatose by doing so. But I did come away with a new respect for their mothering abilities. These rodent mamas work hard to provide safe shelter, food and sustenance, and loving care for their babies. It’s what all us mamas do.
