This isn’t the first injured squirrel I’ve had spend a lot of time in the feeder. Sometimes, I think they managed to escape a hawk or some other larger predator. But squirrels fight each other too as do most other small animals. You’d think that given how fragile life is for them that they would stop attacking each other, but that’s not the way it works.
Rabbits fight and can (and sometimes do) kill each other. Squirrels don’t seem to be as lethal as rabbits, but they pull each other’s fur out. Especially tails. This guy looks like he lost his mulligan in a bar room brawl. Not badly hurt, but wounded.
Why do they fight? They fight over food. The boys fight over the girls. They fight for dominance. Sex causes a lot of trouble among all species that have sexes. Probably not so much with worms who don’t seem to be gendered.
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Categories: #animals, #gallery, #Photography, #Squirrel, Wildlife
MINIATURE RED SQUIRRELS 
A SUDDEN EMERGENCE OF SQUIRRELS … 
THE HUNGRY CREATURES 
IT’S STILL RAINING 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Never seen a worm rumble myself. Unless … never mind.
Hope this poor guy (gal?) is going to be OK.
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He isn’t badly injured. I’ve had some linger much longer with serious injuries from which they could not recover. Short of taking them in as pets — which was (though I thought about it long and hard) impractical on many levels I doubted they’d survive the winter. It’s sad, but sometimes there’s nothing you can do but make sure they get fed. It’ll take a while for his fur to regrow, but that’s a relatively minor injury and probably inflicted by another squirrel. They pull each other’s fur out, typically their tails which take months to regrow.
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Did not know they could regrow a tail. They need that thing for balance I think.
When I was kid we went to England and there was these little lizards that if you grabbed them by the tail their tail would come off. I think there’s some Republicans like that.
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They pull out the fur which has no weight. The actually tail is still there so they still have the balance.
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I’m always torn when I see squirrel video or squirrel footage (watched the squirrel obstacle course vid dozens of times by now). On the one hand, my, they’re intelligent, interesting, athletic and impressive creatures with cute bushy tails.
On the other hand, those same intelligent, athletic things are gonna come into my gardens and start tearing the place up once the plants get going in the spring. Me and my BB gun versus them is gonna be tough, especially after this week of plant-killing cold we’ve had. My seeds are still in trays and the bok choy is starting to sprout. I’m not even gonna put them out there til the plants are a few inches tall. No point otherwise, really, because they’ll just get torn up.
I like squirrels, generally. They like to make my dogs go crazy and give them exercise, and they seem so gentle… unless you’re a plant and it’s hungry. I just hope I can keep them away.
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Feeding them helps. If they have enough to eat, they eat YOUR food rather than you plants. My problem with this one is that they eat wood and can really destroy a house. I consulted with all other house members and we simply couldn’t see it working, especially not with the Duke who like all dogs, goes wacko when he sees a squirrel. But cats are just as bad.
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I’m trying to think of other locations I can throw food for birds and make it squirrel accessible, too, far enough away that they’ll leave my plants alone. Probably won’t work–a tree’s too close to the garden plot and they can jump over the fence easily and through it, of course.
But oh well–Maybe I can make a dummy plot toward the tree line they can tear up to their heart’s content, especially if my seed trays are going to town and all the prepwork takes off. Won’t have room in the bed if ALL of them start sprouting. Gonna consult my friendly critter removal/repellant books again and get ideas. Might be dry enough to at least get a start tomorrow.
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Also, the more food they get somewhere else, the less of your garden they will eat. We didn’t have a squirrel problem. We had a skunk problem. They eat bulbs and they are great diggers. And you don’t really want to get in their faces. So I rigged a chicken wire fence over the top of the garden, sort of a dome until they got big, then removed it. They are less interested in full-grown plants.
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Poor little one. I’m glad he was able to have a good relaxing bite at your place.
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It’s good that they have a safe place to eat. Everything gets hungry, including squirrels and especially this time of year.
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Looks like he’s healing up nicely. The Dodo featured a squirrel that was rescued with a similar head wound and back legs that didn’t work. It looked like a close call but it recovered it’s ability to walk and was eventually freed:)
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We had one who had a back leg that didn’t work at all. We kept him alive through the fall, but I doubt he survived this winter. If we had a way of keeping them safely inside, I would have tried to corral him, though I think that would have been harder than it looked — but we don’t.
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It’s tough for them, and wonderful that you cared for it.
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I do the best I can. I feel for these small creatures who live in the cold. If we don’t feed them, they will die. So I do what I can.
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Poor thing, so glad it wasn’t any worse!
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He didn’t have a run in with a big predator and wasn’t attacked by a hawk. That was a fight between squirrels — almost always the boys. They are quarrelsome with one another.
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