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Monday, June 07, 2004
3:33 PM

Squirrel Update
After my last squirrel post, I was afraid that I had jinxed us. Why you ask? Because for a day or so thereafter, I saw neither hide nor hair of any of the squirrels. Alas I feared that my enthusiasm had driven the squirrels on to greener pastures. Silly me. How could there be anywhere more fabulous than the Fabulous Yard?? Worse yet, I was afraid that the squirrels had met the same fate as the rats. I am happy to report that the squirrels seem to be permanent fixtures these days. There is pretty much a squirrel visiting at all times. Usually there are 2-3 squirrels visible. And they are really really cute.

In response to Tom's question about how we know that the squirrels are eating the food and not the rats. I suppose we really aren't 100% sure. But we haven't seen any rats and we do see squirrels eating the food all the time. (They have now learned how to get on all the feeders. Lucky us.) As they say, ignorance is bliss. I prefer to assume that it is the squirrels. And I now have pictures to prove it.

Being the freaky animal lover that I am, and seeing how much the squirrels love the birds' food, off we went to Petsmart to buy a hefty supply of bird food. And by hefty I mean 50 pounds or so of the stuff. Luckily it is cheap. Even more lucky, Mark was with me to carry it.

While shopping at Petsmart I had a brilliant idea (why don't I get those at work, just while shopping??). Why buy extra bird seed for the squirrels? Why not just buy some sort of squirrel food? Maybe that would make them even happier (and save me some coin!). Up and down the pet food aisles we went in search of squirrel food. After a few passes we reached the conclusion that they really don't make squirrel food per se. However, they do make a whole host of other types of food that seem quite silly in comparison.

For example, they have special food for ferrets. Ok, I guess I can understand that. Anyone who saw Kindergarden Cop thought about getting a ferret for at least a minute or two. Especially when the ferret bit the bad guy and saved the kid. Ferret Chow is ok by me.

Then we came to the chinchilla food. Chinchilla food. The idea of a chinchilla as a pet is completely foreign to me. Can't think of a single person I know or have ever known who has a chinchilla as a pet (And I'm quite confident that our governor has never been in a movie with a chinchilla either). Are they as mean as minks? I sure hope not. Whatever. No squirrel food but there is chinchilla food (and a couple of different varieties I might add). Are people raising them so they can eventually get a fur coat? Based on the cost of the food, a trip to the furrier at Saks might be cheaper. Anyway, after befuddled perusing of the selection of chinchilla food, we moved on.

Still no squirrel food. But you will all be greatly relieved to know that Petsmart does have - wait for it - HEDGEHOG food. Really. Really really. Hedgehog. Food. Whaaat???? I was supremely confident that pet hedgehogs are extremely rare (if they occur at all). How wrong I was!!! There are many websites about hedgehogs as pets. For example: Hedgies. I wonder if I bought the hedgehog food if they might show up too? They look kind of cute in the pictures. I'll have to think about that. . .

In any event, not having ferrets, chinchillas or hedgehogs in my yard (that I know of), I moved on. The only thing I could find about feeding squirrels was a corn cob holder that you can attach corn to. Corn! Next stop was the store to buy corn. Yes, we really went to the store and bought corn. Yes, I really am obsessed.

But I have good news. Our efforts were not in vain. The squirrels came. The squirrels ate. The squirrels lounged. All in all they seemed pretty happy. (The even better news is that there are clearly many people weirder than me with their pet hedgehogs and chinchillas.)

Exhibit "A" (Happy Eating Squirrels - just look at how cute the little one is!!):

Exhibit "B" (Lounging in the Sun Squirrel):

Exhibit "C" (Momma and Poppa Squirrel - Notice the bird caught mid-flight):

Exhibit "D" (Baby Squirrel Eating Corn):

As you can see, the corn was a hit. They really love it. I stick it on a bamboo skewer and then skewer it into the ground. Otherwise, they grab the corn and carry it away where you can't see them eating it. They also seem to fight over the corn more when it is mobile. At one point I saw a corn cob come flying out of the bushes. Clearly not a good plan. (As you might guess, the first attempt with the corn didn't go so well.)

Apparently, the happiness of the squirrels was contagious and word got out to the rest of the wildlife in the area. Everything went so well overall, that we had another unexpected visitor:

Yes, that is a roadrunner. He just came trotting across the patio and then flew up onto the post and hung out with one of the baby squirrels for a while. No idea where he came from or why. But he was pretty cool looking. (I don't remember ever seeing the roadrunner in the Wile E. Coyote cartoons fly, do you?? Well this one did.)

And I didn't even get pictures of the pelicans that have been flying over our yard lately. I'll have to work on that.

Thus endeth today's segment of the Squirrel Chronicles. Stayed tuned. You never know what will wander into our yard next. . .

P.S. Thanks to all for the various and sundry name suggestions. However, given that I really can't tell the squirrels apart, I think they will have to remain nameless.

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