by Michelle N. Broughton

Created on: July 02, 2008   Last Updated: July 11, 2008

Understanding Squirrel Eating Behavior

Skitter arrived in our home one fall day, a small gray tail sticking out of Daddy's vest pocket. After shedding his coat and cap, he told me to hold out my hands and close my eyes.

A shock of furry softness followed by the scratch of tiny nails brought my eyes open fast! Nestled in my hands, a baby squirrel waited for the verdict of certain death from the massive predator grasping him in her claws. Fear kept him from trying to run away. Daddy had gone hunting that morning. When he shot at a grown squirrel, Skitter fell from a low branch to the ground and froze at the sight of Daddy. Knowing he couldn't get him back up in his nest, Daddy brought the little fellow home.

Within three days Skitter convinced himself I wouldn't hurt him. I raided the refrigerator for fresh veggies and the precious white grapes Mama saved for special treats. With his stomach full, Skitter earned his name by running around the room and skittering up the inside of my pants leg. Fortunately for both of us, the hand-me-down pants hung on my small frame. The squirrel's head and front feet popped up at the waist and for the rest of our time together, that's how he traveled. As he grew, so did my required pants size.

As my first acquaintance with this particular type of rodent, I thought all squirrels would be of a gentle, fun nature. I found out how wrong my perceptions could be when Granny went out to pick pecans from a tree planted away from the other four on our property.

Using a stick, she beat the branches to shake ripe pecans loose and proceeded to pick them up. She held the bottom corners of her apron together to form a huge pocket for carrying the nuts back to the house. Mama ordered me out to help pick up the paper shell pecans and I walked out of the back door just in time to see the furred fury leap from a limb onto Granny's head.

Chittering madly, the adult squirrel bit and scratched Granny until she dropped the bottom of her apron losing all the hard earned booty and ran for her life. Halfway back to the house, the squirrel gave one final savage bite to her cheek and dropped to the ground. It raced back to the tree to gather the nuts it believed to be its rightful harvest.

A squirrel's cuteness belies the fact that it's still a rodent and wild. Although it has no shame in accepting food from humans or robbing every bird feeder in town, it is never lenient in sharing its bounty with others outside its nest. Like every wild animal, it seizes

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