How to Help Squirrels Stay Warm?

Submitted by ThatWillIgnite t3_10s1dds in vermont

I have befriended a squirrel over the past few months, mostly by leaving out nuts for her to enjoy. She was already pretty friendly with my neighbor, and now she comes right up to my door whenever I step outside. It's really sweet, even though I never try to pet her and only ever toss her the food rather than let her hand-feed.

Recently, she's made a nest in the small roof over my porch. I don't mind at all, but it's going to be horribly cold in the next couple of nights and I feel bad for her having to tough it out up there. Should I leave scraps of fabric out for her? She might not understand what they're for. I can't invite her inside, so I'm looking to do the next best thing.

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BrendanTFirefly t1_j6yv7vl wrote

As hard as this is going to be to do, it's a wild animal and you really shouldn't interfere with the squirrel whatsoever

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ThatWillIgnite OP t1_j6yvkao wrote

Yeah, that's what I thought. I guess she'll be fine.

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Moth4Moth t1_j6yx4t2 wrote

Hey don't worry about it. They are made for this stuff.

Little chipmunks and squirrel do some psuedo hibernation in the winter, if they are well fed, they develop brown fat tissue that feeds them while they shut their body down. Heart rate slows, body temperature of the little fella can go down to 40F, sometimes lower.

There bodies are made for it. A well fed one will make it through comfortably.

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Don't feed em though, not ideal but I get it

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Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j6z07zo wrote

I can see not feeding bears, but depending on where you are, some squirrels exist on bird food. I feel like feeding a city squirrel isn't a big deal. Could be wrong.

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Moth4Moth t1_j6z0ri5 wrote

Yeah I could see that definitely being true, makes sense to me

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one little squirly can be a fun friend anyway, i get it

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Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_j6zsqm8 wrote

I just feel like animals like city squirrels, city raccoons, pigeons, etc. are already adapted to humans and depend on them for food to some degree. Whereas w/ bears and wolves, etc, we try very hard to avoid that. I could be completely wrong. I do leave nuts outside for squirrels sometimes but I live in urban VT. seemed like a bird feeder to me. I put water out on hot days, they seem to like that. Again, could totally be wrong.

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Moth4Moth t1_j6zyl9m wrote

I won't judge ya

I've been feeding the moose up here magic mushrooms trying to get one to be my friend

so far, just a slightly more insane local moose population

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maddkid53 t1_j6z3x1s wrote

If there's any species that can survive Vermont winters, it's the eastern gray squirrel.

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Unique-Public-8594 t1_j6yvybj wrote

Feeding wildlife is generally not recommended.

Please don’t treat this squirrel like a pet.

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thejeffloop t1_j6zd43k wrote

Don't feed any wild animal- you're just making things worse for them.

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Twombls t1_j6yxxo4 wrote

It will probably be fine in its burrow. There are squirrels that live in pretty harsh alpine environments here and do fine.

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bennyblanco2022 t1_j73ar0v wrote

I would definitely plug in a space heater and run it all night on your porch

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fluffy-flipflop t1_j74rdcn wrote

I have an abundance of wool socks that either lost their pair over the years or developed holes from much use. I leave them out on my fence and they grab them. With the colder weather this week four socks were taken this week.

I also fill suet feeders with clumps of dog hair brushed from my dogs. Both the birds and squirrels take hair from the feeders.

I also up the quantity of food and feeders I put out for the critters. I burned through 40# of sunflower seeds this week!!

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TheSunflowerSeeds t1_j74retc wrote

Sunflower seeds are about 6 mm to 10 mm in length and feature conical shape with a smooth surface. Their black outer coat (hull) encloses single, gray-white edible-kernel inside. Each sunflower head may hold several hundreds of edible oil seeds.

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