Keeping Squirrels
Jan. 6th, 2013 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithTHE SQUIRREL.
LIKE the white mouse, the squirrel can hardly be recommended on the score of usefulness. You could, for instance, scarcely expect it to guard the house as a dog would, or to catch beetles; and I don't think many people would be tempted to try squirrel pie. Putting utility on one side, however, it is impossible to have a more interesting, amusing, and handsome pet than Mr. Squirrel.
It would be sending coals to Newcastle to tell a country reader anything of the habits of the squirrel, much less how to catch him. Many a tall fir have I swarmed up to dislodge a little ball of red fur clinging to a slender, swaying branch, and then, when the branch has been reached and vigorously shaken, and Mr. Squirrel drops to the ground as light as a feather-- oh, the grief to see it slip through the too eager hands of my schoolfellows, and go scampering up another tree, taller and more inaccessible than the last!
Sometimes we were successful, however, and there was a triumphant march home, with the terrified animal struggling in a handkerchief. Our pets soon pined away and died. I suppose they found it impossible to delude themselves into believing that their new domicile--a soap-box--was as good as the boundless freedom of the forest.
From Chums, 26 April 1892
LIKE the white mouse, the squirrel can hardly be recommended on the score of usefulness. You could, for instance, scarcely expect it to guard the house as a dog would, or to catch beetles; and I don't think many people would be tempted to try squirrel pie. Putting utility on one side, however, it is impossible to have a more interesting, amusing, and handsome pet than Mr. Squirrel.
It would be sending coals to Newcastle to tell a country reader anything of the habits of the squirrel, much less how to catch him. Many a tall fir have I swarmed up to dislodge a little ball of red fur clinging to a slender, swaying branch, and then, when the branch has been reached and vigorously shaken, and Mr. Squirrel drops to the ground as light as a feather-- oh, the grief to see it slip through the too eager hands of my schoolfellows, and go scampering up another tree, taller and more inaccessible than the last!
Sometimes we were successful, however, and there was a triumphant march home, with the terrified animal struggling in a handkerchief. Our pets soon pined away and died. I suppose they found it impossible to delude themselves into believing that their new domicile--a soap-box--was as good as the boundless freedom of the forest.
| To be a real success as a pet, the squirrel should be captured when quite young, for then it will not find confinement so galling, and its heart will be more susceptible to the kindnesses of its captor. If the squirrel must be purchased, it should be bought about September, as it is then that it will be fat and healthy, and its fur in its prime. It is well to be wary, however, of whom you purchase from. There used to be, and I have no doubt there is now, a number of men who perambulate the big towns with a tame (?) squirrel or two in a little cage, which they wish to sell owing to the hardness of the times, etc. Beware of them. The squirrel may look quiet and tame enough in their hands then, but it has probably been drugged, and will be as wild and savage in an hour or two as ever it was in its life. If ever a cage should be large, it should be the squirrel cage. Abhor those horrible dens which only permit of the poor animal struggling round and round in a crazy wheel. The wheel may be added with advantage to the cage, but it should certainly not be the principal feature. The living-room should be large and lofty, and should be thickly studded with perches; or, better still, a portion of the stump and branches of a small tree might be stood upright in it. In any case, your pet should have ample opportunity of exercising itself. The floor should be a sliding one, to permit of it being readily cleaned. The sleeping-box may be put in one of the top corners. It should be about a foot square, and should have a hole three inches in diameter in one side to serve as an entrance. The lid of the sleeping-room should be on hinges to facilitate the removal of bedding, and general cleaning. Hay makes a good bed, and may be supplemented by a little dry moss or white wadding. As to the food, nuts--small nuts--will of course be the staple article of diet. It is one of the prettiest of sights to see a squirrel take a nut in its fore-paws and chisel off the point with its sharp teeth, then with a. dexterous wrench split the shell and leisurely devour the kernel. A few grains of wheat, an occasional acorn, and stale crusts of bread, will all be found acceptable. And now, in choosing your squirrel, see that its teeth are white (the sign of youth), and not yellow and decayed, his fur bright, and his feet clean. If he is lacking in these points, do not allow yourself to be rushed into a purchase, but move on, for better luck may await you. |  |
From Chums, 26 April 1892
