Cycling UK Forum

pete75 wrote:

Cugel wrote:
The squirrel also has a sense of humour, going by how well they tease the collies with a "chase me" then sit up a branch pelting them with husks and other detritus. They are quite accurate and can hit a collie-conk at 15 yards.



Cugel

I've seen them teasing dogs but it appears they don't know the difference between a dog and a cat. One did that to our cat. Came home from work that evening and found he'd killed four squirrels. He hadn't really bothered with them but after that took to killing them regularly. Never seemed to eat them though.

I expect a few park rangers would be grateful for a loan of your cat.

well my squirrel dont like bannana. likes black sunflower seeds. Also likes Lidl Granola Super Nutty mix I got on a week end special offer.


cheaper than bird food at the time

pete75 wrote:

Cugel wrote:
The squirrel also has a sense of humour, going by how well they tease the collies with a "chase me" then sit up a branch pelting them with husks and other detritus. They are quite accurate and can hit a collie-conk at 15 yards.



Cugel

I've seen them teasing dogs but it appears they don't know the difference between a dog and a cat. One did that to our cat. Came home from work that evening and found he'd killed four squirrels. He hadn't really bothered with them but after that took to killing them regularly. Never seemed to eat them though.

Does the cat know it is a cat? Horses apparently think bents are hunting animals, are animals stupid?

Cyril Haearn wrote:Does the cat know it is a cat? Horses apparently think bents are hunting animals, are animals stupid?

Here's a cat that's discovered its got ears.
[youtube]5uK5F21rA3s[/youtube]

Cyril Haearn wrote:

pete75 wrote:

Cugel wrote:
The squirrel also has a sense of humour, going by how well they tease the collies with a "chase me" then sit up a branch pelting them with husks and other detritus. They are quite accurate and can hit a collie-conk at 15 yards.



Cugel

I've seen them teasing dogs but it appears they don't know the difference between a dog and a cat. One did that to our cat. Came home from work that evening and found he'd killed four squirrels. He hadn't really bothered with them but after that took to killing them regularly. Never seemed to eat them though.

Does the cat know it is a cat? Horses apparently think bents are hunting animals, are animals stupid?

A cat will know it's whatever cats know themselves as. They certainly seem able to distinguish between their own species and any other.

When I lived in a city, my cat could recognise the sound of my motorbike coming up the street and would run out to meet me.

meic wrote:When I lived in a city, my cat could recognise the sound of my motorbike coming up the street and would run out to meet me.

They seem able to distinguish between engine sounds better than most people.

Was it a Du-cat-i perhaps ?

Sorry unable to resist, I'll get me leather jacket on the way out.

I used to see a lot of Black Squirrels in Letchworth and Baldock,

a form of Grey Squirrel that is spreading, there was even a pub in Letchworth G.C called The Black

Squirrel.

If you're ever in Letchworth , just go to the little park by the paddling pool at the foot

of the Leys Avenue, there are always plenty there.

All is explained here...
http://www.thecomet.net/news/research-e ... -1-3636378

pete75 wrote:

Cugel wrote:
The squirrel also has a sense of humour, going by how well they tease the collies with a "chase me" then sit up a branch pelting them with husks and other detritus. They are quite accurate and can hit a collie-conk at 15 yards.



Cugel

I've seen them teasing dogs but it appears they don't know the difference between a dog and a cat. One did that to our cat. Came home from work that evening and found he'd killed four squirrels. He hadn't really bothered with them but after that took to killing them regularly. Never seemed to eat them though.

Someone needs to sell some better armaments than the nut husks to those squirrels. Perhaps catapults with a sack of BBs? On the other hand, pussycats will follow their inclinations and may only escalate matters by acquiring boots, swords and a blunderbuss.

Cugel

mercalia wrote:Also likes Lidl Granola Super Nutty mix I got on a week end special offer.

cheaper than bird food at the time

With nearly 20% sugar content, that might not be the best option for the birds. Nor for humans, for that matter.

well the atleast 2 squirrels I have in my garden are greedy so and sos - seemed to have emptied one of those cylindrical feeders within just 2 days. I will have to try dangling it using very thin transparent fishing line that is so thin they cant climb down it. Ebay here I come! Iwatched one of them about an hr ago finish up the last quarter of the tube.

mercalia wrote:well the atleast 2 squirrels I have in my garden are greedy so and sos - seemed to have emptied one of those cylindrical feeders within just 2 days. I will have to try dangling it using very thin transparent fishing line that is so thin they cant climb down it. Ebay here I come! Iwatched one of them about an hr ago finish up the last quarter of the tube.

When one gives stuff away (such as bird fud) one has .... given it away. It's no longer yours. Finders keepers.

The squirrel is a good forager and can also see orf even a gang of goldfinches albeit at risk of a peck i' the eye or even two.

Cugel

My uncle had a battle against the squirrels with the his bird feeders. He liked to watch the birds, and after he retired, this became one of his main past times.

But the squirrels!

He modified some baking tins with teflon coating to use as shields. They hung above the the hung feeders, and below the ones on the poles. That worked in a way. The squirrels then jumped from a bush to the feeders. My uncle trimmed the bushes back further and further, so that the squirrels were jumping almost 3 metres to get to one of the feeders. He ended up taking the bushes out and planting some further away, and wrapping the trunks of a couple of trees in sheet metal at the heights from where they could leap to the feeders. They kept trying, anyway, so he eventually put peanuts out for them. Between being fed well enough and making the feeders hard enough to get to, they mostly left the feeders alone.

This became years' long saga.

Vorpal wrote:My uncle had a battle against the squirrels with the his bird feeders. He liked to watch the birds, and after he retired, this became one of his main past times.

But the squirrels!

He modified some baking tins with teflon coating to use as shields. They hung above the the hung feeders, and below the ones on the poles. That worked in a way. The squirrels then jumped from a bush to the feeders. My uncle trimmed the bushes back further and further, so that the squirrels were jumping almost 3 metres to get to one of the feeders. He ended up taking the bushes out and planting some further away, and wrapping the trunks of a couple of trees in sheet metal at the heights from where they could leap to the feeders. They kept trying, anyway, so he eventually put peanuts out for them. Between being fed well enough and making the feeders hard enough to get to, they mostly left the feeders alone.

This became years' long saga.

seems like peanuts are bad for squirrels has a chemical in them that can cause them to slowly starve

With us, I'm sorry to say, it's been not squirrels .... but rats.

We originally had a wooden bird feeder, on a wooden post. The rats had no trouble at all shinning up the post. So we changed it for a metal feeder, on a slender metal pole. I think you can guess how long it took the rats to figure out how to climb the metal pole.....

Sometimes I think, if we exterminated Grey Squirrels, rather than let the Red Squirrels back in, it'd merely provide a new ecological niche for Rattus norvegicus....