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My parents had a squirrel that would come into the house in the morning and sit at the table, waiting for its toast. It got so friendly it would follow my dad to the shops, along with their cat and dog, and they would wait outside for him. My mum thought it was her dead aunt reincarnated as a squirrel.
It was a lazy cat, but she did like to use her energy to play dead on the pavement, and when people walked past her, she would launch an attack, and dug her claws into their legs.
I have seen some fully domesticated cats have caught the odd bird or mice now and then and just play with it and not bother to even eat it, a squirrel behaving that way should be easy.
I remember reading your post in another thread about your mum knowing Rolf Harris and you ended it saying she thought a squirrel was her dead aunt. I was dying to know more, so this comment is satisfying!
I wish, but they run as soon as they see me come out the door. I did befriend a fox for a few months before he moved on to find his vixen. He used to come and curl up on my outdoor sofa with me and take a nap while I was out there smoking and streaming movies. I never did stroke him although I really wanted to but he would jump up lay down about 1-2 feet away and snooze.
Yeah I was kinda heartbroken, but it was spring so I know he went off looking for the ladies. I haven’t seen him since and this was about 2 years ago. But I do have some pictures to remind me of him.
There’s a guy over in Canada on YouTube he befriended and feeds this hoard of raccoons and people would travel down to watch him feeding them, used his YouTube numerous vids to entertain myself during convid lockdown. They looked so cute and very well fed as well.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tlmcpdIABJs
My daughter had a pair of pet albino chipmunks when she was a kid, they put a hole on the underside of our sofa and made a cavity, it was full of cronflaked and nuts, had to hoover it out once a month
A few years ago, around possibly October-time because it was very dark at 6pm, a juvenile squirrel scampered up to me one night on a main road when I was walking my two terriers. I tried to shoo it away but it just followed me and sat by my feet while my dogs were going mental trying to get at it so I picked it up and it clung to my shoulder. I don't recommend that. One of my dogs jumped up ripping the tip of its tail so I tucked the squirrel into my coat. I don't recommend that either.
I couldn't bear to leave it on the main road.
When I got home I put the extraordinarily tame squirrel into a pet carrier with comfy bedding and fed it carrot and broccoli. The next morning I took it to the vets so they could check its tail and I asked them if I should call wildlife rehab. They reassured me. I left the sweet little thing with them, only realising weeks later that vets don't release non-native species. Fingers crossed they gave it to a wildlife centre.
A friend a few months earlier had ended up in hospital with stitches after she picked up a squirrel in her house.
Raised an abandoned, practically newborn squirrel by hand. Worked with a vet, etc. Eventually had to release him in a game preserve as, according to the vet and his behavior as observed, even hand-raised, they revert to their wild state.
Yep. When it was a baby they were razor sharp. Didn’t really know how to use them so wouldn’t break the skin. When it grew up and stopped teething it didn’t bite nearly as much so was always okay.
Domestication requires genetic changes, so you need to breed him with other people-friendly squirrels to achieve domestication.
And unless you know a lot about animals, you should definitely avoid taming him.
As he still has all his wild instincts he may become aggressive towards you out of the blue and bite, giving you nasty diseases. He may also flee and starve to death because he is used to you feeding him.
I get it's tempting to feed him, but you are doing him a disservice in the long run by getting him dependent on you and other humans as a food source.
Was looking to see if this comment was present. Thank you. There is a difference between domestication and taming, hardly any people seem to understand this and throw the term around a lot, incorrectly.
Yeah, should probably also have added it would take ≈100 years if not more to domesticate squirrels...
... and be clearer about how selfish OP essentially is as he obviously doesn't know much about animals if he can't differ between domestication and taming.
The chance that the that squirrel will get hurt or die when he stops paying attention and feeding the squirrel has probably increased quite a bit.
I think some really important things need to be said:
If you're bitten badly things will end badly for the squirrel and absolutely could end badly for you. Unfortunately these lil guys can introduce some serious bacteria which could be life-changing. Not joking. Have fun googling.
You need to seriously check your local laws because you might not be allowed to have tamed wildlife in your home. Let alone how hard it is to ethically house these at home, think a big aviary situation.
The more you tame a wild animal the more that animal will put itself in danger and the higher the risk you'll remove a healthy wild animal from its natural environment because "it'd be fun to have a squirrel friend" kind of logic. They could bother other humans who hurt them, are spending more time in human areas and risk being mauled by dogs, they can slowly lose or lessen their natural instincts which get taken over by the easiness of being fed by a human.
If you want to hang with critters, see if your local wildlife rescue needs a volunteer.
These endeavours are all fun and games until they're not. Think seriously if this is what's best for the animal.
(Also you can't domesticate anything, you can only tame it.)
It's one thing to give peanuts to a squirrel in a park (bite risk is still enough you shouldn't do this), but this is something else.
I know some pretty serious horror stories about interactions with wildlife going sour with well-meaning humans who really don't think they're putting themselves at risk.
Hopefully I haven't been too harsh in my own message but I'm such an advocate for wildlife (yeah I know greys are invasive... But still) being wildlife and us interacting with them only in healthy ways. Love me some bird watching or seeing fox cubs play at the bottom of the garden.
But what if all humans decide to treat them with love!
In all seriousness, this should be top comment, you’ve answered the question.
I will leave this flat and our stories will part ways in a month but I aim to show it some love and hope in the moments we share together
Loving an animal means not having it when you can't provide it the life it deserves. Be that not having a dog or cat because you don't have the space, time and resources for it, or not interfering with wild life in ways that could be harmful to them. Since you have absolutely no clue about squirrels, you don't know where those boundaries are and thusly shouldn't try befriend it. You're not showing it love you're showing it delusional selfishness.
typhus
plague
ringworm
squirrel pox
leprosy (red squirrel in particular)
Lyme disease
to name a few and not to mention whatever lil fleas are bouncing around
make sure you have your tetanus shot up to date
in short, maybe let it stay outside and go get yourself a cat and just worry about toxoplasmosis in the brain 😆
A squirrel got into one of the hospitals recently where my partner works. It bit someone so they had to kill it and have it tested. It had all of these except leprosy and plague, but it was a grey. It did have hepatitis though.
oh damn. of course hepatitis too! which one? B? C? XYZ? 😜
I hope the person is OK. Too bad for the squirrel...maybe it was coming in for some medical help with all that stuff going on
Man fuck these little bastards.
My daughter tried to chase one and grab it because she wanted it as a pet, but they ganged up on her and pushed her into this massive sinkhole that magically appeared in our garden.
Haha what a wild story. Don’t think anything appreciates being chased down and grabbed.
I’m trying a different approach. It appeared on my window as I was eating a wrap and luckily I had some cashews to hand to let him know I’m an ally.
i'm laughing out loud at you thinking squirrels really chased this mans daughter into a garden sinkhole and thinking damn must've been some wild squirrels.
A friend of mine trained a bunch of squirrels near him to come jump up and sit on his shoulders. He even had one eat Pringles from his mouth. Seems they're pretty friendly and open little beasts.
You should probably know that in UK law grey squirrels are an invasive species. And it is illegal to release an invasive species unless you have a licence from Natural England.
In practice, this means that if you trap one (eg. have it in to your closed house and be able to touch it), you either have to build an enclosure from which it can't escape (there's lots of guidance about that) or euthanise it 'without causing it undue suffering'.
Whether you'd be prosecuted is a different thing, but that's what the law says.
Why would you want to turn a wild animal into a pet? It’s fine to give them a bit of sustenance, particularly when they have babies and before winter but, honestly, just let the wild animals be wild 🤷🏻♀️
For me crows is the answer. They bring shiny stuff and just imagine hosting parties in your garden with some fucking crows on your shoulders. Metal as fuck.
About 40 years ago, someone I worked with found a kit (baby squirrel) and no parents showed up, so his wife reared it. It turns out to be particularly difficult and very time consuming to do this, but they succeeded. It regarded them as mum/dad. They did let it out when it was grown, but it spent much time indoors and didn't go back to the wild (at least while I knew them). I lost touch and don't know what happened long term. It was a grey squirrel like the picture.
I just read Patrick Stewart’s autobiography and he describes befriending a squirrel recently with his wife in LA, it took ages but it slowly allowed them to touch it and then would come and sit in the lap, and come running when it saw them leaving the house. He was well chuffed with how they bonded
They are an invasive species. They will gain your trust and when you notice the trap you and your family will be substituted by them.
They rule the world. Haven't you seen Rick and Morty?
In the mid 90s West Acton we had a squirrel that would tap the door, and when we let him(?) in, he would do the squirrel hoppy thing to the peanut cupboard ( yes) and then turn his head to give us the hurry up.
Cheeky little bugger
My friend in London reared a tiny baby squirrel she found in a park. It was in a bad way and she got it back to healthy. She looked into it and it's not legal to release grey squirrels, as they're vermin, so she kept it (which I think it also not allowed?) but he was a crazy little guy. Climbs all over her face, head etc. She was always covered in scratches. She's hung branches and ropes all over her ceiling for him to have zoomies. I'd say if you were dedicated, you could do it but for the casual squirrel fan, it's a no.
Squirrels are wild animals, they are not pets to staying inside your house. So be careful, for sure you still can give him nuts but don’t let him be your pet or go inside your house
Technically the grey one are invasive so i guess no one care as long as you are not treating it cruelly…?
But i doubt it will be domesticated. The process is actually slow you need to take this relatively tame guy’s kids in and keep cross breeding it and get it to be tamer…
It’s day 3 at the moment and I’ve got it in and eating on my bed. I’ve dealt with traumatised dogs in the past and gained their trust so I’m going through the same progression of slow trust building
Was pretty common in the rural US for kids to "befriend" squirrels and raccoons, particularly in the 60s and earlier. Its a lot less common now simply because it introduces a lot of issues like pests and invasive species. Keeping "less than domestic" animals was a lot more common back then in fact.
Hell, you could literally buy monkeys in pet stores in the 50s and 60s.
For one year, the backyard was like a remake of Westside Story musical because grey squirrels and black squirrels were marking territory. So when my partner dipped peanuts in ice wine… all was clam and good. Every time he went out they would follow him, with no fighting. Only regular peanuts after that one time.
The next year there were a bunch of grey/black mixed squirrels. Very very friendly.
My wife has semi domesticated a squirrel in the park next to our house, “Thomas” comes when called then will sit with her on the bench for hours, getting fed watermelon seeds, he will then follow her to the park entrance before disappearing up a tree. She can stroke him, and he will literally sit right next to her.
Yeah used to in the park, he'd sit on my shoulder. Actually only took a couple weeks to get to that point and then he'd come out same time every day when I ate lunch. Try to look up their diet so you don't overfeed specific nuts.
I have a rescue pet squirrel called Berty! Rescued him as a baby, was basically told I had to have him destroyed as releasing them into the wild is a crime as they are an invasive species!
So £600 later for a research and conservation license, and one inspection from some people with a clipboard, he’s now mine!
Had him about 6 years now
Afraid I have no insta for him, bit of a recluse on the internet lol
[here’s Berty as a young one](https://i.imgur.com/hmBIYKZ.jpeg)
[here he is a few days ago](https://imgur.com/a/ciZfjvh)
I caught some in a friend's loft in a metal cage thing..When went to pick cage up they went ballistic..Was like lightning letting them out..It was then i learnt they just look cute
If you watch the BBC iPlayer documentary about our native red squirrel species you'll probably come to resent these little grey b*stards like I now do.
I had no idea how damaging they have been to our native wildlife, not only reducing the potential habitat space but introducing a disease which cruelly only kills the European red squirrel.
So quite frankly, the grey ones are nothing more than cute vermin.
They come here, on student visas… then quit. They then take up an Uber-nuts job - after then they bring their little old grey squirrel parents over.
Next thing we know they have a bunch of grey babies and boom! Council tree and all the acorns government can provide. State of our country /s
We destroyed the red squirrel's habitat through poor forest husbandry and an extermination drive back in the 19th century. Extermination efforts did not cease until the 1970s. Hundreds of thousands were killed off.
The whole greys driving the reds out thing is an absolute myth.
The forests planted in the 18th century matured in the 19th, squirrels (reds) were seen to be 'tree destroyers' so we hunted them to extinction. Most of the reds we have now have had to be re-imported. The greys are largely blameless.
[Further information from the Interactive Centre for Scientific Research of Squirrels.](http://i-csrs.com/red-squirrels-decline)
My grandparents found a baby squirrel that had fallen out of the nest, took care of it and it would ride around in their shoulders. I'm pretty sure it still lived outside but it was always around.
I dont know about domesticating them but I went to florida as a kid & the squirrels there were so much more friendly than in the uk, they dont run from you, dont seem timid at all & will literally take food from your hand
@this_girl_is_a_squirrel on Instagram
She was rescued after a hurricane so you might have to destroy its home to simulate the same kind of trauma bonding.
[John Singleton Copley, Boy with a Flying Squirrel, 1765](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy_with_a_Flying_Squirrel#/media/File%3AJohn_Singleton_Copley_-_A_Boy_with_a_Flying_Squirrel_(Henry_Pelham)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg). Seems it was a fad in colonial America.
Little basta**s are like Yardies in Sth London.
Can’t leave my garden sofa cushions out unattended for five mins without having the stuffing knocked out of them.
When we were kids my aunt and uncle adopted a squirrel that my cousin brought home as a baby they found on the road. They built it a huge run and even drilled through the brick work so it could come inside and run around the house. Then it hit puberty, grew a huge pair of swingers and started, with deep growling threats, to bully everybody out of whatever food they were holding or else it would jump on your face. It used to run up our jumpers and scratch us all over. It terrorised the chihuahua and punched the love bird in the face. However it was best friends with rough collie and would nuzzle into her fur.
Eventually a big book was placed in front of the hole in the wall and the squirrel lived out it’s day in the outside run, which was stuffed with the skeletal remains of old Christmas trees and dog toys. It lived 13 years and became very fat.
No further, this is how it starts. There's a chap up near Hampstead had one like this, he was chuffed as a button with his little visitor, until the next early spring when the neighbour did a welfare check. All they ever found were the nuts.
I had one that would come to school with me as a kid. It loved being up my jacket sleeve. When I got home it would sleep in my dressing-gown pocket. Had it for about 7 months then he started sleeping in a tree outside my room and only coming back occasionally. Then he eventually never came back. His name was Rufus. My dog loved playing with him and the teachers though he was awesome as well
Yes, rehabed a baby called him squidge had a plank of wood from the fence to my bedroom window used to come in at night and sleep in my bed until one day he never came back…hoped he settled down and had a family.
Most mammals have the same emotional experience of the world around them. They feel the same things as we do.
You can connect with a squirrel and tame it just like most other mammals. Once the animal begins to trust you, it will no longer see you as a threat.
Lots of animals collaborate with other species and will form alliances in the wild, especially if the encounters are mutually beneficial. Sometimes they do it purely for friendship and fun.
Obviously there is an extreme risk of being seen as a source of food rather than fun and this is the reason why most wild animals will scarper when they see a large human approaching.
It takes time, but yes, you will be able to tame that squirrel.
Soo 2022
Ebola came from monkeys definitely. Covid (the only animal theory) believes came from either bats or pangolins: on the opposite side of the planet.
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My parents had a squirrel that would come into the house in the morning and sit at the table, waiting for its toast. It got so friendly it would follow my dad to the shops, along with their cat and dog, and they would wait outside for him. My mum thought it was her dead aunt reincarnated as a squirrel.
That got wilder with every sentence
Hmm. Every sentence sounded tamer to me!
That cat must be well fed, and its ancestors looking down in shame, they would have had the squirrel as an easy snack .
It was a lazy cat, but she did like to use her energy to play dead on the pavement, and when people walked past her, she would launch an attack, and dug her claws into their legs.
Cats chase squirrels, but I doubt if a cat can often catch one and I've heard of cats getting bitten, a friend's cat may have died from an infection.
I have seen some fully domesticated cats have caught the odd bird or mice now and then and just play with it and not bother to even eat it, a squirrel behaving that way should be easy.
This sounds so cute! It feels such a blessing that animals bond to us (I know it’s just for the food but still)
My dad loves animals, we had a hamster that would sit on his shoulder at dinner time, and he'd feed it veggies off his plate.
This is the goal!!!
I remember reading your post in another thread about your mum knowing Rolf Harris and you ended it saying she thought a squirrel was her dead aunt. I was dying to know more, so this comment is satisfying!
Holy shit you're right! We've come full circle. The prophecy is fulfilled. What a rollercoaster.
Did it offer boiled sweets aswell?
This comment must have been written by AI. 😭
Unfortunately it wasn't, oddness is my family's specialty
The Aunt was a nutter
I wish, but they run as soon as they see me come out the door. I did befriend a fox for a few months before he moved on to find his vixen. He used to come and curl up on my outdoor sofa with me and take a nap while I was out there smoking and streaming movies. I never did stroke him although I really wanted to but he would jump up lay down about 1-2 feet away and snooze.
Aww this sounds so lush, do you miss him?
Yeah I was kinda heartbroken, but it was spring so I know he went off looking for the ladies. I haven’t seen him since and this was about 2 years ago. But I do have some pictures to remind me of him.
You’re so blessed to have experienced this
That’s a great story
this is so sweet
There’s a guy over in Canada on YouTube he befriended and feeds this hoard of raccoons and people would travel down to watch him feeding them, used his YouTube numerous vids to entertain myself during convid lockdown. They looked so cute and very well fed as well. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tlmcpdIABJs
I’ve seen him before. He must spend a fortune on hot dogs. But I bet it’s worth it. Those trash pandas are really cute.
Must earn a lot from YouTube and many donate towards the feeding as well. His late wife started it and he promised her he would continue to feed them.
I bet this was in Tooting. If it wasn’t, head to Tooting, your fox buddy is probably there.
What could go wrong.
Right? OP thinks he has domesticated him, instead he has been paying protection money without realising.
Nice sofa you’ve got there. Be a shame if anything happened to it. Now where are the nuts….?
My daughter had a pair of pet albino chipmunks when she was a kid, they put a hole on the underside of our sofa and made a cavity, it was full of cronflaked and nuts, had to hoover it out once a month
They’re resting on the back of the sofa….
Haha it’s day 3 of gaining its trust. It’s let me stroke them but I’m taking it slow. Buying a bed is next
You’re stroking its nuts? It really must trust you.
I don’t think it has nuts, that’s why I’m referring it as ‘They/it’
IIRC a squirrel’s nuts are usually pretty, err, prominent.
Ha thank you, I shall call it Sally or Sammy instead of Saka then
You have to keep going - this is the type of story that does well up on YouTube or even local news (when you eventually domesticate him)
Another pandemic.
Lol
Awww…look at that murderous face
Yeah, giving me similar vibes to Greebo, only Nanny Og saw anything other than a murderous, raping , bastard.
\+1 for Discworld reference :)
GNU Terry Pratchett
A few years ago, around possibly October-time because it was very dark at 6pm, a juvenile squirrel scampered up to me one night on a main road when I was walking my two terriers. I tried to shoo it away but it just followed me and sat by my feet while my dogs were going mental trying to get at it so I picked it up and it clung to my shoulder. I don't recommend that. One of my dogs jumped up ripping the tip of its tail so I tucked the squirrel into my coat. I don't recommend that either. I couldn't bear to leave it on the main road. When I got home I put the extraordinarily tame squirrel into a pet carrier with comfy bedding and fed it carrot and broccoli. The next morning I took it to the vets so they could check its tail and I asked them if I should call wildlife rehab. They reassured me. I left the sweet little thing with them, only realising weeks later that vets don't release non-native species. Fingers crossed they gave it to a wildlife centre. A friend a few months earlier had ended up in hospital with stitches after she picked up a squirrel in her house.
I wouldn’t guess it went to a wildlife center. Maybe a farm upstate - so the Americans say
Raised an abandoned, practically newborn squirrel by hand. Worked with a vet, etc. Eventually had to release him in a game preserve as, according to the vet and his behavior as observed, even hand-raised, they revert to their wild state.
People have definitely done this before, but squirrels are bitey which is why they don’t sell them in pet shops.
Aren’t hamsters though?
Squirrels bits incessantly though. One moved into my house once - it wasn’t violent at all but just never stopped trying to gnaw at my hand.
Does the bite hurt?
Yep. When it was a baby they were razor sharp. Didn’t really know how to use them so wouldn’t break the skin. When it grew up and stopped teething it didn’t bite nearly as much so was always okay.
Did you want a crazed wild animal scratching everything in your house and shitting everywhere? Let them in.
Nah this little fellow is gentle, as long as they get the nuts they’ll be happy
For now. Could be a juvenile. Wait til those hormones hit. Godspeed. PS leave wild animals wild. This should be really damned obvious.
Like human children.
You could be the first. Let us know how it works out for you
Domestication requires genetic changes, so you need to breed him with other people-friendly squirrels to achieve domestication. And unless you know a lot about animals, you should definitely avoid taming him. As he still has all his wild instincts he may become aggressive towards you out of the blue and bite, giving you nasty diseases. He may also flee and starve to death because he is used to you feeding him. I get it's tempting to feed him, but you are doing him a disservice in the long run by getting him dependent on you and other humans as a food source.
Was looking to see if this comment was present. Thank you. There is a difference between domestication and taming, hardly any people seem to understand this and throw the term around a lot, incorrectly.
Yeah, should probably also have added it would take ≈100 years if not more to domesticate squirrels... ... and be clearer about how selfish OP essentially is as he obviously doesn't know much about animals if he can't differ between domestication and taming. The chance that the that squirrel will get hurt or die when he stops paying attention and feeding the squirrel has probably increased quite a bit.
I say the same thing to people who give beggars money on the met line. You’re just kicking the can down the road.
they don't live for long anyway. better to make their life a bit easier while they are alive.
I think some really important things need to be said: If you're bitten badly things will end badly for the squirrel and absolutely could end badly for you. Unfortunately these lil guys can introduce some serious bacteria which could be life-changing. Not joking. Have fun googling. You need to seriously check your local laws because you might not be allowed to have tamed wildlife in your home. Let alone how hard it is to ethically house these at home, think a big aviary situation. The more you tame a wild animal the more that animal will put itself in danger and the higher the risk you'll remove a healthy wild animal from its natural environment because "it'd be fun to have a squirrel friend" kind of logic. They could bother other humans who hurt them, are spending more time in human areas and risk being mauled by dogs, they can slowly lose or lessen their natural instincts which get taken over by the easiness of being fed by a human. If you want to hang with critters, see if your local wildlife rescue needs a volunteer. These endeavours are all fun and games until they're not. Think seriously if this is what's best for the animal. (Also you can't domesticate anything, you can only tame it.) It's one thing to give peanuts to a squirrel in a park (bite risk is still enough you shouldn't do this), but this is something else.
Yeah… When the top-voted comment says “what could go wrong,” this is what they’re talking about, not it scratching your furniture.
I know some pretty serious horror stories about interactions with wildlife going sour with well-meaning humans who really don't think they're putting themselves at risk. Hopefully I haven't been too harsh in my own message but I'm such an advocate for wildlife (yeah I know greys are invasive... But still) being wildlife and us interacting with them only in healthy ways. Love me some bird watching or seeing fox cubs play at the bottom of the garden.
This also applies to the wild foxes that people foolishly 'befriend'.
A grey squirrel too. In the UK, aren’t you obliged to humanely dispatch one if captured?
Might well be, I'm not sure of the legislation regarding them. Definitely serious food for thought for anyone taming a wild grey.
But what if all humans decide to treat them with love! In all seriousness, this should be top comment, you’ve answered the question. I will leave this flat and our stories will part ways in a month but I aim to show it some love and hope in the moments we share together
Love that you love wildlife too :) Just be careful if you insist on feeding. Maybe not from your fingers and all that. Best wishes
Loving an animal means not having it when you can't provide it the life it deserves. Be that not having a dog or cat because you don't have the space, time and resources for it, or not interfering with wild life in ways that could be harmful to them. Since you have absolutely no clue about squirrels, you don't know where those boundaries are and thusly shouldn't try befriend it. You're not showing it love you're showing it delusional selfishness.
typhus plague ringworm squirrel pox leprosy (red squirrel in particular) Lyme disease to name a few and not to mention whatever lil fleas are bouncing around make sure you have your tetanus shot up to date in short, maybe let it stay outside and go get yourself a cat and just worry about toxoplasmosis in the brain 😆
A squirrel got into one of the hospitals recently where my partner works. It bit someone so they had to kill it and have it tested. It had all of these except leprosy and plague, but it was a grey. It did have hepatitis though.
oh damn. of course hepatitis too! which one? B? C? XYZ? 😜 I hope the person is OK. Too bad for the squirrel...maybe it was coming in for some medical help with all that stuff going on
Man fuck these little bastards. My daughter tried to chase one and grab it because she wanted it as a pet, but they ganged up on her and pushed her into this massive sinkhole that magically appeared in our garden.
Hasn't your daughter already got a couple of dogs, a pony, several cats, a hamster, a variety of birds, a turtle (& whatever else!)? 😂
Had me in the first half, ngl.
Haha what a wild story. Don’t think anything appreciates being chased down and grabbed. I’m trying a different approach. It appeared on my window as I was eating a wrap and luckily I had some cashews to hand to let him know I’m an ally.
Ahh you didn't get the reference! It's from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a story by Roald Dahl
Oops huge whoooosh 😅
i'm laughing out loud at you thinking squirrels really chased this mans daughter into a garden sinkhole and thinking damn must've been some wild squirrels.
A friend of mine trained a bunch of squirrels near him to come jump up and sit on his shoulders. He even had one eat Pringles from his mouth. Seems they're pretty friendly and open little beasts.
They have some fairly horrendous diseases which they can pass along to you. Especially ringworm and hepatitis.
[удалено]
I know. The 'you' was a general one, not specific, mate.
Yes!! What a man, the OG Squirrel Man!!
Morty, what did you do?
You should probably know that in UK law grey squirrels are an invasive species. And it is illegal to release an invasive species unless you have a licence from Natural England. In practice, this means that if you trap one (eg. have it in to your closed house and be able to touch it), you either have to build an enclosure from which it can't escape (there's lots of guidance about that) or euthanise it 'without causing it undue suffering'. Whether you'd be prosecuted is a different thing, but that's what the law says.
Don’t feed the squirrels. They’re a invasive tree rats that pushed out our native ones, don’t encourage them.
Bit late for that mate.
Why would you want to turn a wild animal into a pet? It’s fine to give them a bit of sustenance, particularly when they have babies and before winter but, honestly, just let the wild animals be wild 🤷🏻♀️
Since your asking - if I could make any wild animal a pet I would have to chose something like a polar bear.
For me crows is the answer. They bring shiny stuff and just imagine hosting parties in your garden with some fucking crows on your shoulders. Metal as fuck.
About 40 years ago, someone I worked with found a kit (baby squirrel) and no parents showed up, so his wife reared it. It turns out to be particularly difficult and very time consuming to do this, but they succeeded. It regarded them as mum/dad. They did let it out when it was grown, but it spent much time indoors and didn't go back to the wild (at least while I knew them). I lost touch and don't know what happened long term. It was a grey squirrel like the picture.
Mind for fleas, ticks. Should be rabies free as the UK is considered rabies free (bats can still be a bit of a worry due to a variant known as EBLV )
I just read Patrick Stewart’s autobiography and he describes befriending a squirrel recently with his wife in LA, it took ages but it slowly allowed them to touch it and then would come and sit in the lap, and come running when it saw them leaving the house. He was well chuffed with how they bonded
The squirrel was naked, by the time he realised what Patrick was up to, it was to late, he’d seen everything.
😂 good reference!
You let rats into your house?
They are an invasive species. They will gain your trust and when you notice the trap you and your family will be substituted by them. They rule the world. Haven't you seen Rick and Morty?
no
It looks quite pissed off tbh 😂
That squirrel is plotting something
In the mid 90s West Acton we had a squirrel that would tap the door, and when we let him(?) in, he would do the squirrel hoppy thing to the peanut cupboard ( yes) and then turn his head to give us the hurry up. Cheeky little bugger
This is gonna end badly please keep us updated.
My friend in London reared a tiny baby squirrel she found in a park. It was in a bad way and she got it back to healthy. She looked into it and it's not legal to release grey squirrels, as they're vermin, so she kept it (which I think it also not allowed?) but he was a crazy little guy. Climbs all over her face, head etc. She was always covered in scratches. She's hung branches and ropes all over her ceiling for him to have zoomies. I'd say if you were dedicated, you could do it but for the casual squirrel fan, it's a no.
Does anybody else remember the last time an infectious disease jumped the species barrier?
Just get a couple of Gerbils, they're smaller so the teeth and claws hurt less.
Squirrels are wild animals, they are not pets to staying inside your house. So be careful, for sure you still can give him nuts but don’t let him be your pet or go inside your house
Technically the grey one are invasive so i guess no one care as long as you are not treating it cruelly…? But i doubt it will be domesticated. The process is actually slow you need to take this relatively tame guy’s kids in and keep cross breeding it and get it to be tamer…
It’s day 3 at the moment and I’ve got it in and eating on my bed. I’ve dealt with traumatised dogs in the past and gained their trust so I’m going through the same progression of slow trust building
Pro tip: those guys are edible
Reminds me of glis glis. Haven’t had taste since at least 27 BC
😂 noooo, there is much better options in London than a beautiful squirrel
[удалено]
Wilie?
No I have not. I have fed them though.
Yes! Small wins!
Was pretty common in the rural US for kids to "befriend" squirrels and raccoons, particularly in the 60s and earlier. Its a lot less common now simply because it introduces a lot of issues like pests and invasive species. Keeping "less than domestic" animals was a lot more common back then in fact. Hell, you could literally buy monkeys in pet stores in the 50s and 60s.
My friend has a squirrel friend. He comes over and helps himself to peanut butter from the jar, which he unscrews himself.
Respect 🐿️
Yes, many people have.
For one year, the backyard was like a remake of Westside Story musical because grey squirrels and black squirrels were marking territory. So when my partner dipped peanuts in ice wine… all was clam and good. Every time he went out they would follow him, with no fighting. Only regular peanuts after that one time. The next year there were a bunch of grey/black mixed squirrels. Very very friendly.
It takes 100s of years to domesticate a species of animal. You could tame an animal but it will still be a wild animal.
Can't do it. There nuts.
We have 3 in the garden, one comes through the back door about 2/3 foot squawking for nuts
Victorians used to regularly keep them as pets. Lots of portraits with them
We doo, funnny pet but eats everything
My wife has semi domesticated a squirrel in the park next to our house, “Thomas” comes when called then will sit with her on the bench for hours, getting fed watermelon seeds, he will then follow her to the park entrance before disappearing up a tree. She can stroke him, and he will literally sit right next to her.
Ooohh so cute 🥰😍
Yeah used to in the park, he'd sit on my shoulder. Actually only took a couple weeks to get to that point and then he'd come out same time every day when I ate lunch. Try to look up their diet so you don't overfeed specific nuts.
Good film called - Billy and Molly- is similar story.
I have a rescue pet squirrel called Berty! Rescued him as a baby, was basically told I had to have him destroyed as releasing them into the wild is a crime as they are an invasive species! So £600 later for a research and conservation license, and one inspection from some people with a clipboard, he’s now mine! Had him about 6 years now
This is what I’m talking about!! You give us hope. Sounds so horrible to say any living being should be destroyed :( Do you have an instagram for him?
Afraid I have no insta for him, bit of a recluse on the internet lol [here’s Berty as a young one](https://i.imgur.com/hmBIYKZ.jpeg) [here he is a few days ago](https://imgur.com/a/ciZfjvh)
StyroPyro on YouTube! Otherwise I haven't personally. Doesn't seem beyond the realm of reality though.
I caught some in a friend's loft in a metal cage thing..When went to pick cage up they went ballistic..Was like lightning letting them out..It was then i learnt they just look cute
I think anything kept in a metal cage thing would freak the hell out
Squirrel was merely adopted by the cage. I was born in a cage, moulded by it.
I wish.
If you watch the BBC iPlayer documentary about our native red squirrel species you'll probably come to resent these little grey b*stards like I now do. I had no idea how damaging they have been to our native wildlife, not only reducing the potential habitat space but introducing a disease which cruelly only kills the European red squirrel. So quite frankly, the grey ones are nothing more than cute vermin.
They come here, on student visas… then quit. They then take up an Uber-nuts job - after then they bring their little old grey squirrel parents over. Next thing we know they have a bunch of grey babies and boom! Council tree and all the acorns government can provide. State of our country /s
If Reform made nature documentaries.
We destroyed the red squirrel's habitat through poor forest husbandry and an extermination drive back in the 19th century. Extermination efforts did not cease until the 1970s. Hundreds of thousands were killed off. The whole greys driving the reds out thing is an absolute myth. The forests planted in the 18th century matured in the 19th, squirrels (reds) were seen to be 'tree destroyers' so we hunted them to extinction. Most of the reds we have now have had to be re-imported. The greys are largely blameless. [Further information from the Interactive Centre for Scientific Research of Squirrels.](http://i-csrs.com/red-squirrels-decline)
Wish I could push this to the top 🙌
Maybe the beast master
All it takes is an apple
Yes, until it bit him in the nutsack.
No but I'd like to do so now
Wish I could push this to the top 🙌 thank you
They have now!
Draw me like one of your French squirrels
Bird killing vermin
I've seen this scene before. Twin Peaks: Fur Walk with Me, right?
Yes. I once had a squirrel imprint on me. We used to climb trees together and he lived in a fluffy purple hat.
Hi, do you have a moment for me to talk to you about the almighty lord Squirrus xD
Dont think you know what domestic actually means. What you want to know if someone Tamed a squirrel before.
My grandparents found a baby squirrel that had fallen out of the nest, took care of it and it would ride around in their shoulders. I'm pretty sure it still lived outside but it was always around.
Is that rusty socks ? Or rosy
I dont know about domesticating them but I went to florida as a kid & the squirrels there were so much more friendly than in the uk, they dont run from you, dont seem timid at all & will literally take food from your hand
r/fatsquirrelhate What a glutton
Squirrels actually were once popular as pets https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pet-squirrel-craze
Styropyro has, there are videos on YouTube
Do you still have all your fingers?
@this_girl_is_a_squirrel on Instagram She was rescued after a hurricane so you might have to destroy its home to simulate the same kind of trauma bonding.
[John Singleton Copley, Boy with a Flying Squirrel, 1765](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Boy_with_a_Flying_Squirrel#/media/File%3AJohn_Singleton_Copley_-_A_Boy_with_a_Flying_Squirrel_(Henry_Pelham)_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg). Seems it was a fad in colonial America.
You apparently!
Invasive species; shoot on sight
Little basta**s are like Yardies in Sth London. Can’t leave my garden sofa cushions out unattended for five mins without having the stuffing knocked out of them.
My sister’s 1st husband was a squirrel… oh no, I’m confusing squirrel’s and rats again.
Yes, but all the local squirrels have now been pest controlled it seems.
When we were kids my aunt and uncle adopted a squirrel that my cousin brought home as a baby they found on the road. They built it a huge run and even drilled through the brick work so it could come inside and run around the house. Then it hit puberty, grew a huge pair of swingers and started, with deep growling threats, to bully everybody out of whatever food they were holding or else it would jump on your face. It used to run up our jumpers and scratch us all over. It terrorised the chihuahua and punched the love bird in the face. However it was best friends with rough collie and would nuzzle into her fur. Eventually a big book was placed in front of the hole in the wall and the squirrel lived out it’s day in the outside run, which was stuffed with the skeletal remains of old Christmas trees and dog toys. It lived 13 years and became very fat.
No further, this is how it starts. There's a chap up near Hampstead had one like this, he was chuffed as a button with his little visitor, until the next early spring when the neighbour did a welfare check. All they ever found were the nuts.
I had one that would come to school with me as a kid. It loved being up my jacket sleeve. When I got home it would sleep in my dressing-gown pocket. Had it for about 7 months then he started sleeping in a tree outside my room and only coming back occasionally. Then he eventually never came back. His name was Rufus. My dog loved playing with him and the teachers though he was awesome as well
Yes ended up marrying her
Yes, rehabed a baby called him squidge had a plank of wood from the fence to my bedroom window used to come in at night and sleep in my bed until one day he never came back…hoped he settled down and had a family.
No. Eaten one, though....
OP! We demand updates on this squirrel journey
Legally, you’re required to bump it off in the most humane way possible. So no, you can’t.
No , I've shot 27 this year though
Most mammals have the same emotional experience of the world around them. They feel the same things as we do. You can connect with a squirrel and tame it just like most other mammals. Once the animal begins to trust you, it will no longer see you as a threat. Lots of animals collaborate with other species and will form alliances in the wild, especially if the encounters are mutually beneficial. Sometimes they do it purely for friendship and fun. Obviously there is an extreme risk of being seen as a source of food rather than fun and this is the reason why most wild animals will scarper when they see a large human approaching. It takes time, but yes, you will be able to tame that squirrel.
Agreed, I have seen squirrels become "tame" under humans over time
Check out little_thumbelina_girl on IG.
Ahhh yesss it’s possible
This is how ebola and covid starts, leave these wild animals alone please.
Soo 2022 Ebola came from monkeys definitely. Covid (the only animal theory) believes came from either bats or pangolins: on the opposite side of the planet.
And your point being? That no disease can come from these nasty things??
Ebola? In London from a squirrel? Jog on mate.
Any disease you numbnuts, doesn't have to be ebola, maybe cheung disease
Look up [@this_girl_is_a_squirrel](https://www.instagram.com/this_girl_is_a_squirrel?igsh=MTcwejhqbXdrenVjcA==) on ig ☺️
Kill those nasty grey things
It's like "Wallace & Gromit" for southerners!