Cut Down Tree With Flying Squirrel Nest

[Somesawguy]

i cut down a tree yesterday over at my parents place that had quite a bit of rot in the bottom. I figured it wouldn't hold up too long, and needed to come down. Once it was on the ground, we found a nest with six or so baby flying squirrels. The mother was around keeping an eye from another tree.

We left the nest alone, and are hoping the mother will move the babies. While I'd like to wrap up cutting up the tree, the squirrels need a chance to move. Should I just leave it alone for a few days, or would checking on it not be an issue?

Thought? Suggestions?

 

[RandyMac]

How far along were the babies?

 

[savageactor7]

I'm thinking the mother relocated her babies by now.

 

[Somesawguy]

How far along were the babies?

I don't think they had their eyes open yet, but they looked like they had all their fur at this point.

 

[RandyMac]

I don't want to sound negative, but keep a shovel handy.

 

[CWME]

It may sound mean and all but I would dispatch the whole group. The house I grew up in was infested with Reds, Grays, and Flying squirrels. Try sleeping at night with them scratching in the walls by your head. I killed countless numbers of them inside the house. The two flying squirrels in the kitchen were fun and we still laugh about it to this day. My FIL's place has the same issue. My trailer had .22birdshot holes in the walls from killing reds that chewed in. My wife was not happy with me for that one.

Currently I can't keep the reds, grays, and chipmunks out of my shop building. They chewed up all the wiring forcing me to install everything on the inside of the ceiling and walls. They make nests in the drawers and poop and pee everywhere.

Hate me if you will but I dispatch every cute little furry critter I see on the place. I would suggest you do the same. You cut down their home, where do you think they will go next? Nice heated abode with fuzzy insulation maybe? They may be cute but they are still a rodent/pest in my book. Upside is that I get some target practice. .204 Ruger does a good job of making them DRT.

Ready for the and

 

[milkman]

It may sound mean and all but I would dispatch the whole group. The house I grew up in was infested with Reds, Grays, and Flying squirrels. Try sleeping at night with them scratching in the walls by your head. I killed countless numbers of them inside the house. The two flying squirrels in the kitchen were fun and we still laugh about it to this day. My FIL's place has the same issue. My trailer had .22birdshot holes in the walls from killing reds that chewed in. My wife was not happy with me for that one.

Currently I can't keep the reds, grays, and chipmunks out of my shop building. They chewed up all the wiring forcing me to install everything on the inside of the ceiling and walls. They make nests in the drawers and poop and pee everywhere.

Hate me if you will but I dispatch every cute little furry critter I see on the place. I would suggest you do the same. You cut down their home, where do you think they will go next? Nice heated abode with fuzzy insulation maybe? They may be cute but they are still a rodent/pest in my book. Upside is that I get some target practice. .204 Ruger does a good job of making them DRT.

Ready for the and

I'm with you on the Flying Squirrels, had an antique White Mountain hand crank ice cream freezer stored in the attic of my shed and a family of the varmits moved in and chewed the tub all around the top and ruined it. I'm sure they chewed it up because of the salt, I didn't know we had any of them around here, that family was evicted.

 

[Somesawguy]

It may sound mean and all but I would dispatch the whole group. The house I grew up in was infested with Reds, Grays, and Flying squirrels. Try sleeping at night with them scratching in the walls by your head. I killed countless numbers of them inside the house. The two flying squirrels in the kitchen were fun and we still laugh about it to this day. My FIL's place has the same issue. My trailer had .22birdshot holes in the walls from killing reds that chewed in. My wife was not happy with me for that one.

Currently I can't keep the reds, grays, and chipmunks out of my shop building. They chewed up all the wiring forcing me to install everything on the inside of the ceiling and walls. They make nests in the drawers and poop and pee everywhere.

Hate me if you will but I dispatch every cute little furry critter I see on the place. I would suggest you do the same. You cut down their home, where do you think they will go next? Nice heated abode with fuzzy insulation maybe? They may be cute but they are still a rodent/pest in my book. Upside is that I get some target practice. .204 Ruger does a good job of making them DRT.

Ready for the and

So far they haven't had any problems. There's plenty of places for them to make nests outside. I don't have a problem with critter control if they become a problem, but I try not to kill animals needlessly.

opcorn:

 

[Somesawguy]

I don't want to sound negative, but keep a shovel handy.

If it comes to that, we have a spot out back.

 

[CWME]

So far they haven't had any problems. There's plenty of places for them to make nests outside. I don't have a problem with critter control if they become a problem, but I try not to kill animals needlessly.

opcorn:

I hear you. If they would stay out of the buildings they would be left alone. My experience has been that they like the buildings more than the woods so they get shot.

Been fighting squirrels since I was 8 so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I am not a rampaging idiot with a gun and a taste for blood. My Mom bought me my first .22 rifle and paid me $5 a head. Business was good for a week or so and then she couldn't afford to pay me because I was killing so many. I had free ammo though I blocked off one end of the house with hardware cloth so they could only get out one way. She would take a broom and knock on the walls and ceilings to scare them out. I would shoot them off the side of the house as they came out. Never did hit the house. We had one hemlock tree close enough for them to jump to. If I didn't get them on the house they would try to hide in the hemlock. Once I was a little older I got my Remington 870 12 gauge which worked great for tree clearing. That hemlock tree was so shot up by the time I was a senior that it died. My Uncle was so mad cutting that thing up:msp_sneaky: He junked at least one chain by hitting all the steel shot etc.

 

[crowbuster]

Seems late in the year for babies in your neck of the woods? Hope she takes care of em

 

[Henry and Wanda]

Hello,
I'm with CWME !!!!!!!! I've had so many problems with squirrels that I shoot every one I see around my house. Just this morning, Wanda was out on the porch and told me it sounded like a squirrel was running on the roof. Now I live on top of a mountain on 18.5 acres and they have plenty of room to live.......but no, they have to run on my roof and on my porch deck !!!!! I don't even go hunting and don't really like to kill things, but squirrels are another matter !!!!! Like CWME said, I probably sound like a crazed old man just wanting to kill things, but I tell you that is not the case. Over the years they have eaten a 2 foot diameter hole in a new TR6 car cover I had just bought, ate the wiring harness in my pickup truck (it's a wonder my poor old truck still runs), ate a hole in my gas line of my truck, ate through my windshield washer hose, chewed holes in the lids of 2 new trash cans I bought, nawled on the egdes of my picnic table that I made (messing it up) and many more things that I can't remember right now !!!! They also got into my sister's attic by eating through a gable end vent and tore the crap out of the insulation and such !!!!!! That is what I don't want them to do at my new house here on the mountain. So I try to keep them thinned out and hope they tell their buddies that the crazy old man in that house just killed my Pappy and 2 of my cousins, STAY AWAY !!!!! I hope the word spreads like wildfire !!!!!!

Henry and Wanda

 

[3fordasho]

We have red and grays. The grays don't seem to bother much other than making a huge mess in the yard around the black walnut trees. The reds on the other hand I try to shoot every one I see, they are very distructive and will get into buildings, cars, and my current issue - my woodshed. They fill the spaces between splits with grass clippings, walnut shells, and other crap...I be cussing them all winter long with every split I pull out of there.

 

[andydodgegeek]

I cut down a red oak with a nest a couple years ago. I was bucking the log and Sarah was loading the truck. She tipped a log on end and a bunch of baby flying squirrels came out. I kind of picked them up with a piece of bark and moved them to the other side of a tree out of our way. A few minutes later something swooped by my head, I didn't think anything of it and then again by my head. Well I stopped sawing and me and Sarah watched as the mother squirrel would swoop down grab a baby climb a tree and then jump and glide over to another big tree to stash her baby. Then she would come down and get another. She did this untill she had the whole family safe in the other tree. It was fun watching.

 

[lmbrman]

Flame away but i would get rid of the pests. I have killed over 40 with traps in the last two years just in the shop attic. Also have them chewing to get in the house, which I dealt with by other means(.410). Someone told me they are on some federal species act, which I laugh at considering dozens of my neighbors have the same problems with them.

One guy north of us fed them each night and thught it was cute to have them in the attic. His house burned down a few years later from electrical causes in the attic.

Cute rodents and very clean. If they would leave the house alone I would let them be. I don't trust them.

-dave

 

[rwoods]

Revengeful little critters

I let it slide when the squirrels snacked on my defroster duct and windshield gasket during one of their little pretend road trips. But after they began eating my plug wires, I moved their little playground. Not too long afterward as I’m cruising through an open field, I smell the aroma of a nice oak fed campfire. Trouble is there’s no campfire in sight. Hmm, what’s that smoke boiling from under the hood? Acorns ablaze on top of the manifold – flames about 10” high. Fortunately, I got the hood open before it was scorched and the fire out before it spread.
Ron

View attachment 251843

 

[Somesawguy]

They were gone when I checked this morning. I completely understand taking care of business if they are getting into things. You won't be hearing any flaming coming from me.

On a slightly related note. I had a tree land on my saw today. At least it only took out the air filter cover, but it was an interesting morning. :msp_mellow:

 

[benp]

My squirrels are pretty much pre-occupied with the bird feeders.

The flyers I could care less about, I think they are fun to watch. It's funny when they buzz the dog in the dark.

The others Red, Gray, and Chipmunks I thin out once the numbers get too great. For the most part they make FANTASTIC baby sitters for the dog.

They torment the life out of each other and occasionally I find the random carcass from Clint getting the drop on one. It keeps his mind off of finding the black and white kitties. I shouldn't laugh though about the kitties as I know it will bite me in the butt.

Although, my attitude would be much different if the squirrels turned destructive on the house.

 

[RandyMac]

odds are, the babies are scat.

 

[Somesawguy]

odds are, the babies are scat.

Maybe, but I did what I could. :msp_smile: There weren't any digging marks, so I'm thinking they are ok. I could be wrong though.