Whac-A-Squirrel

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by Skybird

sciurus vulgaris

They named a species after Aktungbby?

[Skybird]

Latin.

Sciurus = squirrel
vulgaris = common, general

Squirrel comes from French: escurel, comes from Latin: sciurus, comes from ancient Greek: skiouros, means: shadow-tailed, referring to the bushy tail

Skiouros. Sciurus. Escurel. Squirrel. Then came the Germanic tribes and messed it all up with "Aig!"

German: gemeines Eichhörnchen. "Eich" from old Germanic "aig": fast, quick agile. An Eichhörnchen is a fast, agile, quick squirrel. Has nothing to do with Eiche (oak).

In English, in the end the name is: common shadow-tail. In German, the name in the end is: agile, fast Sciurus.

Both names are wrong. "Tribbel on steroids" would be better.


P.S.
Gemeiner Schattenschwanz: das ist fast schon poetisch.

[ET2SN]

levity= I think something flew over your head.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Skybird

...German: gemeines Eichhörnchen. "Eich" from old Germanic "aig": fast, quick agile. An Eichhörnchen is a fast, agile, quick squirrel. Has nothing to do with Eiche (oak).

Except of course when the Eichhörnchen is dining on acorns garnered from das Eiche ...ostensibly its favorite fare!

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Except of course when the Eichhörnchen is dining on acorns garnered from das Eiche ...ostensibly its favorite fare!

Sorry, that is wrong, though many fall for it. The European-Asian red squirrel usually does not like acorns, because it misses certain encymes that are indispensable for correctly digesting them. They eat acorns only rarely in winter and in times of highest despair, when all their other food reserves are gone or unavailable and they are close to starvation. Then they eat them, because a hurting stomach and digestive problems and diarrhea is better than death. But in fact acorns can even kill sciurus vulgaris: I had the bad luck to have been the one finding one of my earliest squirrels coming to our garden last year dead in a field of acorns last octobre, under an oak. No visible injuries, so signs of parasites, no fluids from body openings - only plenty of acorns all around. I was not happy to see it laying there. Beautiful she was in her fur colours, and the hair so unbelievably soft. I dug a hole for her and buried her, rolled in in coloured autumn leaves, did not want to let her laying around there. In the next days I moved out and raised the number of feeders in my neighbourhood even further, from 2 to 5.

I took this picture.




In Northamerica there are several squirrel species: grey squirrels, American red suirrels (not to be mistaken with the European red squirrel, they are different), fox squirrels, golden squirrels, and more. At least the grey ones (those with the terrible squirrel pox virus that kills our red ones) love acorns, and they can digest them easily.

No matter the fur colour, you can always differentiate the European sciurus vulgaris form any other squirrel species in the world, in winter at least: the red European squirrel is the only one that forms these characteristic hair brushes on its ears when it grows its winter coat. In spring, the long hair falls off again. No other squirrel has this "feature". So if you see one with hair brushes, its a sciurus vulgaris.

Plese never feed almonds to the red ones in Europe, they can kill sciurus vulgaris easily, they are hypersensitive to the small amount of cyanid included in almonds. Also, please no peanuts. The peanut is no nut, and its skin rots when it is buried, so the reserve function in winter is not given,a slo it often is infested with spores, mushrooms and insecticides that sciurus vulgaris is extremely sensible to. Also, the nutireiton value for the red squirrelew of ours is ver ylimited and the contained fat in peanuts is such that it cna make a mess of the red squirrels digestion if it eats more thn just one or two. They like them, but they are not healthy for them. Again, with American species it is different, they are in general more robust, more social, more aggressive.

Last, no cow milk and products made of it, cheese or such things. Makes a mess of the digestion, resulting in diarrhea that for squirrels easily can become lethal. If you need to raise young squirrels, milk replaces as beign used for cats are usuable. If you live in America, you are lucky, you then have access to a company producing so called FOX VALLEY milk replacer, which is the gold standard for red baby squirrel feeding, all rehabbers around here know it, but it is almost impossible to get it here due to export limitations and prohibitions by the US. They offer two milks for squirrels with slightly different formula, you begin with the one and after some weeks you change to the other, its expensive, but maybe the best there is, and with the fewest reports of it causing problems with squirrels' digestion (digestion being a potential for problems with squirrels, always).

The company is in Illinois.

https://www.foxvalleynutrition.com/


Be good to your Eichhörnchen in germany, they have had three terrible years, and are under immense pressure. Their situation is not good. Help them, support them: feeders, and liquid water in winter, natural wool or natural fibres, little rags of cloth (beware single threads that can strangle playing squirrels or knit their tails together, I have seen terrible things with such things, worst were four baby squirrely with eyes still closed whose tails were so miserably bound together that surgery had to be done on them to untangle them again).


This year I heard from rehabbers the first baby orphant squirrel was found in the early beginning of January. Thats is a desaster and shows how terribly off balance things are. That is several weeks too early. Food, temperature, it all factors in. A desaster. Last years, many acorns - see above, but wayx too few filled nuts and nuts in general, due to the dry years there were. Its a desaster. Authporities say all is well. They are wrong. All squirrel rehabbers over here know that. Things are not well - they are terribly wrong. Those babies born in early January, most likely have not survived the last days, we have record-breaking low temperatures.

In gardens, put nets or anything on tons with (rain)water where they could fall in and drown (squirrels, not rehabbers...). Also have something in these tons that could serve as an emergency ladder. Protect deep holes and especially the openings of vertical rainwater pipes. I once saved a squirrel as a student from that, it was work, and costed lots of money, I had to destroy part of the pipe. In those years it was when I also once nursed and raised a baby squirrel for its first 4-5 weeks before I handed it over to people with better possibilities when the little thign started to become active and wanting to leave the nest. So cute. And so much nerve. And so time-consuming, its a 24/ job, and all your life runs in 100 minute intervals, then the counter resets to zero and the next 100 minutes start ticking away... Day and night. Day and night.
If you have luck and have a nest in your garden resist the temptation and leave it alone a slong as help is not needed (storm, polstering material, food). Esoecially young mothers havign babies for the firts tiem ever, have a low stress tolerance, and if they get disturbedf too much, thexy cna panci, kill all babies, and flee and elave the nest behind. Squirrels are not know for strees resoistence, but mothers with their first family ever are especialyl prone to it. Else, red squirrel mothers are very well, caring and curageous mothers.

If you stumble over a left baby squirrel, and the mother does not show up anymore, do not turn away. Do not walk the easy way and just turn away. You will pay a price, yes: it will steal your heart in no time. It codts work and time, and may it even just eb the time to rbing it to a rehabber. But do not just leave it behind for dying. Its worth it, every minute of it. Squirrels bring joy in your life.

It seems I love these little things.

[Skybird]

Emergency rescue list (sciurus vulgaris) if you find a baby or youngling:

1. Warmth (first priority). Passive warming is not enough, squirrels have 3-4 °C higher body temperature than humans, you need active warming: a hot water bottle covered with some cloth. Leave space that the animal can crawl away from it if it feels too hot. If the body feels well in your hand, like yourself, than its probbaly already too cold, its skin temperature needs to feel like that of a human with fever at least. Make it a warm, soft, covered nest. Give opportunity that it can hide in it, cover itself completely with anything. They want it, they do like that in nature, too. They sometims stuff so much soft material into their dreys, that they almost "dive" into the material.
No radiator, no red lights, no warming lights, no infrared! They dry out the little body.

2. Liquid and electrolytes (second priority). Do not feed a newly found immediately and do not feed cat milk or something nutritiopus. The needed digeston needs energy that can kill an outpowered squirrel if it does not have that energy left. You can kill the little thing that way, and easily. Boil water and cool it down, it must be sterile. Then mix 500ml hand-warm-water, 3 table spoons of glucose, and half a table spoon of table salt. Feed 1ml, not more even it it demands more, every 15-20 minutes. Use a small syringe of 1 or 2 ml. No force, if you press the liquid into the mouth, and the animals gets it into the lungs, its as good as dead from fast developing pneumonia. Give it drop by drop, let it lick and suck. Gentle, passive, but with patient trying! After two or three hours like this, give the liquid every 2 hours. Not before the critical early phase is safely over, food should become a concern. - NO COW MILK!

3. Digestion. (follow-on priority to point 2) Babies and younglings cannot control digestion, it must be motivated by gently, calmly massaging the tiny belly, without much pressure of course. Gentle it should be, like the mother licking her baby. After some minutes take a very soft something, a tissue, anything that is really soft and cannot make soft, thin skin sore, and use it to stimulate the genital region, until the animal starts peeing, and sometimes more. You must do this after every feeding else the squirrel will "congest", will poison itself, and die, and fast. Again: in the first weeks, they cannot control these body functions, and need this help, else they will die. This you need to do from now on after EVERY feeding and drinking, day and night. And normally in the first weeks they eat every two hours. From 7th week on or so, it is no more needed.

As I said, your life will run in 100 minute intervals from now on.

4. Food (last priority). Smash carrots and not too exotic fruits (berry and melons are good, apple, banana, grapes), add some cereals if you have (else do not worry), add oat flakes, grounded haselnut, walnut, pine nuts, and a small drop of honey for a little - a little! - sweetness. Mix it and make it so that you get a paste of which you can form and roll balls, or a tough paste. This we call in German "Eichhörnchen-Papp" Every German squirrel rescuer know the term. Usually they all like it. You can also add baby paste form these tiny glasses. Feed the "Papp" on a stick or tiny spoon, let them lick it up. - Careful, feeding is a messy affair this way!

Squirrels that do not drink can be made drinking by offering fruits. Watermelons are often favourites, also sweet grapes. But: not too much of wet fruits per day, it can mess up their digestion.
Regular foods mostly are seeds, sunflower seeds, nuts, pine cones, fir cones. No acorns, no almonds, no peanuts please. No cow milk. Leave nuts in their casing so that they must use their teeth (if they are old animals, younglings may be different). Their teeth must be used, since they endlessly grow all their life and so must be used up, else they grow out of their yaw, and into their eyes. Its a long, and painful, miserable death.


5. Contact a pro wildlife or squirrel rehabber, and do so early on. The first 5-6 weeks you may be able to keep things under control, the animal may still be deaf and blind, naked/no hair, but from that age on when in nature they would leave the nest and play outside and discover stuff, you cannot be happy anymore if you space is not rodent-secure and big. Also, they will never become house-trained! Be early, be prepared, organise in advance, do not start searching for a rehabber just in the middle of week five!

6. Never be loud, never raise your voice, have loud noice and stress going on. Squirrely like to be covered with soft, wamr material, and they can often like to be limited in moving space, wanting to sleep in yopur sweater's pockets. If they crawl there and do not flee, let them.

7. European red squirrels do not carry rabies, never. That is a myth. They do not, and never have. Omnly predators cna carry rabies, their prey onyl if it escapes an attack. But squirrels are too tiny to surive a biting attack, and Germany is prtccially free of rabies, foxes and other terrestric animals populatiosn also count as free of rabies over here (bats are something different, be careful, never touch them). In Germany there is even a recoimmendation by authorities to NOT vaccinate after somebody was bitten by a red squirrel. Do not worry! - Other deseases are also very rare, so do not panic.

8. Youngling are genetically programmed to approach humans if they need help, they do not flee then but actively search the vicinity of humans, crawl up their legs, seek shelter, and very trusting. This is no symptom of rabies, and it is no atack or attempt to bite you, but natural behaviour, and it tells you that they are in desperate need of help! Their situation is desperate if they behave this way.

9. If you pick up a grown up, injured squirrel, WEAR GLOVES! It may not be evil or ill, but may be in panic or in pain, get scared and bite you due to this. Do not give up. Be silent, softly hum or talk to it, be as gentle as possible, avoid stress, and wear gloves. They are rodents, do not forget that. Also do not forget that when it comes to your furniture, electric wires, cable boxes, wall mounts... A grown up squirrel is something completely different than a 4 week old.



10. Hand single orphants over as early as possible. They need other squirrells to socially train, and avoid tics and erratic behaviour. Squirrels living in isolation and limite sdpace, will inevitably form out behavour stereotypes, tics, like jumping bacl andf fourtj endlessly, running in circles. Do not be cruel. They need friends of their kind in yougn age, they need huge spaces, and are not made to live in cages. As long as you keep them, play with them, keep them busy, give them stuff to explore and play with. Keeping a squirrel in isolation, is cruelty to animals. You ruin it.

[Texas Red]

Who saw his nuts?

That is a violation of the highest degree!!

[Skybird]

Squirrel whacks squirrel.

[Eichhörnchen]

. EASTER WHAC-A-SQUIRREL!

[Aktungbby]

whac!

[Eichhörnchen]

0 POINTS... 2nd, 3rd & 4th of April, mate

[Aktungbby]

let's hope I am still 'risen' by then! as for girding my loins....

[Catfish]

Time to get out those again ...

[Rockstar]

I'm going to protest the results because I heard its all rigged anyway. Unless I win, then I would consider this game a fair competition.

[Catfish]

So are you going to storm the squirrel headquarters at Sydney, when you think you lost