squirrel question

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:40 pm

I am no squirrel expert so I have a LARGE squirrel living in my backyard in Phoenix ( of all places )
He is mostly grey in color, but around his midsection I see some red shading.
What kind of squirrel is this, the camera is in the kitchen, picture to be provided at first opportunity.

TedH · Post by **TedH** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:55 pm

It's not uncommon around here to have Grey Squirrels with varying shades of red, brown or even some black tint on their parts. Generally they are noticeably smaller than the Red, or Fox Squirrels though.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:21 pm

A squirrel in Phoenix??????? I lived in Phx for 40 years and never saw a squirrel. You bet I want a picture.

Joe

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:27 pm

Joe,
I was going to write to you and ask if you had ever seen one

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:37 pm

The only squirrels I ever saw in AZ were the little ground squirrels you see in the desert and out lying areas. And some up north in the pine forests. Never saw one in the central Phx or valley area.

Joe

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:39 pm

You know where I live, only thing I can figure is he made his way over here from Papago Park.

JReed · Post by **JReed** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:40 pm

Is it a tree squirrel or does it live in the ground?

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:41 pm

He looks like a tree squirrel to me, the kind you see up in the high country, but he lives under my storage shed.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:42 pm

It is NOT a ground squirrel , if that is where you are heading.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:13 pm

J Miller wrote:A squirrel in Phoenix??????? I lived in Phx for 40 years and never saw a squirrel.

Yeah, sounds kind of squirrelly to me...

HA! I beat Blaine to it!

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:21 pm

Allright you guys, I made sure before I said anything.
Actually, I had convinced myself that I had been mistaken the first time I saw it.
But he put on quite a show today.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:19 pm

mescalero1,

You should make him / her a pet. Then train him to do tricks. He'd be right at home in the Phx City Council chambers.

Oh my, I shouldn't have said that. Poor squirrel would probably go nuts.

Joe

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:36 pm

@#$% Joe,
Why you want to do that to the poor squirrel, them learning challenged, latte sucking, leftist, entitlement giving, yuppie scum, would drive the poor squirrel crazy!
Don't hold anything back Mescalero, tell us how you really feel!
Really, I have been on the net, looking for the proper things to feed him/her.

JReed · Post by **JReed** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:19 pm

Just put up a bird feeder that will do him just fine.

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:23 pm

Yeah, those tree rats can get into darn near anything.

Lefty Dude · Post by **Lefty Dude** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:38 pm

Could be a dis-placed Arizona Gray, from up Payson way. Hitch-hicked with campers or fire wood cutters to the Valley.

I would contact the AG&F Dept. Tell them to come pick up there critter, or you are gonna have Squirrel stew.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:44 pm

mescalero1 wrote:@#$% Joe,
Why you want to do that to the poor squirrel, them learning challenged, latte sucking, leftist, entitlement giving, yuppie scum, would drive the poor squirrel crazy!
Don't hold anything back Mescalero, tell us how you really feel!
Really, I have been on the net, looking for the proper things to feed him/her.

We feed the squirrels here, bread, pizza, crust, cookies, dried feed corn, nuts, seeds. The ones here seem to be almost omnivorous.

Joe

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:47 pm

Lefty Dude,
You really think I should call Fish & Game?

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:49 pm

Just throw it out there, if they want it, they will eat it.

Pete44ru · Post by **Pete44ru** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:12 pm

HEY ! ! LEAVE THE DURN SQUIRREL ALONE ! !

Do you have to mess with EVERY snowbird, that goes to Phoenix on vacation ? ?

.

J35 · Post by **J35** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:25 pm

mescalero1 wrote:I am no squirrel expert so I have a LARGE squirrel living in my backyard in Phoenix ( of all places )
He is mostly grey in color, but around his midsection I see some red shading.
What kind of squirrel is this, the camera is in the kitchen, picture to be provided at first opportunity.

I would bet a whole nickel it is a Rock squirrel, they love to burrow under shed's and out buildings.

Toughest hide I ever tried to peel, you can boil the meat for a week and it is still about as palatable as a chunk of wood.

Have fun

Lefty Dude · Post by **Lefty Dude** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:42 pm

mescalero1 wrote:Lefty Dude,
You really think I should call Fish & Game?

If ya have a pellet rifle, I would pop the little sucker.

They may be cute, but terribly distructive.

If you call F&G, they will say just live with him.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:09 pm

Have a Gamo Shadow 1000, that will do it.
The dog likes to chase him/her
it is light entertainment.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:26 pm

I thought the poor guy took a serious wrong turn.

sureshot · Post by **sureshot** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 9:40 am

I agree that it is probably a Rock Squirrel.

http://www.nhptv.org/NatureWorks/rocksquirrel.htm

Steve

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:51 pm

I now have a picture of the notorious Phoenix squirrel.

Batman1939 · Post by **Batman1939** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 7:20 pm

Amazing the knowledge base of these forum members. I'd bet a bunch it is a rock squirrel just from your description and where it's found. I taught mammalogy for many years at two of the three universities in AZ.

Yep, AZ Game and Fish would just say to "live with it and don't feed it."

JustaJeepGuy · Post by **JustaJeepGuy** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:10 pm

A squirrel that eats CARRION?? There's something I'd never have guessed!

Mike D. · Post by **Mike D.** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:32 pm

Does this squirrel have large "tufted" ears? If so, it is an Abert's, a common tree squirrel of the southwestern mountains.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:15 pm

A hairy chihuahua maybe?

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:28 pm

For that crack, you get to post the pictures, on the way

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:34 pm

mescalero1 wrote:For that crack, you get to post the pictures, on the way

I take it back after seeing the pictures. Do you live near a nuclear waste site?

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:43 pm

Why?
I can't wait till Joe sees the pictures.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:51 pm

In all the years I lived in Phx, I never saw a squirrel there. In the desert yeah the little ground squirrels, but not one like that. His tail isn't as bushy as those we have here, but he's a squirrel.

I think I'd make a pet outa him. Something different than the cats.

Joe

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:57 pm

He/she is rapidly becoming one, light entertainment

Batman1939 · Post by **Batman1939** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:36 pm

Justajeepguy: Hey, those squirrels do more to carrion than eat it. About 45 years ago a mammalogist saw a ground squirrel attempt to mate with a road-killed ground squirrel. He wrote up this observation and it was eventually published in the Journal of Mammalogy-the most prestigious publication of its kind in America. He called this something like: "An unusual observation of Davyian Behavior in a Ground Squirrel". The editor, who had not bothered to ask what was meant by Davyian Behavior eventually resigned when it referred to that old limerick. I'm sure some of the members recall the rhyme: There once was a hermit named Dave--who kept a dead XXXXX in his cave, etc. Thus the ground squirrel's behavior paralled that of Dave. I would also hasten to add that most of the articles in the journal are much more "scientific" than this simple observation.

Sorry, but I digress.

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:33 pm

HA! I beat Blaine to it!

You're nuts.....

Looks like a mid-west fox squill to me......the Greys are skinny.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:49 pm

BlaineG wrote:
HA! I beat Blaine to it!
You're nuts.....

So's my Old Man and according to Mom, the acorn didn't fall far from the tree...

madman4570 · Post by **madman4570** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:14 pm

Its a Gray Squirrel that someone shot it the mid section with a pellet gun(blood)

Put em out of his misery!

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:29 pm

mescalero1 wrote:He/she is rapidly becoming one, light entertainment

Ah, for light squirrel-related entertainment, might I suggest this?

http://media.photobucket.com/video/squi ... ter.flv?o=

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:34 pm

That was bizarre

J35 · Post by **J35** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:34 am

J Miller wrote:In all the years I lived in Phx, I never saw a squirrel there. In the desert yeah the little ground squirrels, but not one like that. His tail isn't as bushy as those we have here, but he's a squirrel.

I think I'd make a pet outa him. Something different than the cats.

Joe

That there is ye old rock squirrel, I have killed them from Lakeside to Nogales.

Some of the first money I ever made on my own was trapping those squirrels at the Indian Hospital on the Papago reservation just south of Tucson around 1967. Those squirrels had undermined so much of the foundations that they were starting to have problems.

Fico( Farmers investment company) they have one of the largest Pecan orchards in the world, based in the Santa Cruz Valley, told me that they estimated ea Rock squirrel on their holdings cost them $500 a year, I told them I would quit my day job for 5 bucks a head, I never heard from them.

In Lakeside my Grandmother and me came in from fishing one afternoon and found a rock squirrel sitting on her dining room table. Funny thing is that on her place she had both Rock squirrels and Aberts tree squirrels.

All thru the 80's I ran a trapline every winter mostly Greyfox and Bobcat every once in a while I would get a really fat animal so I started examining stomach contents, the fat ones were making their living on mostly Rock squirrels.

Have fun

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:49 am

BAGTIC · Post by **BAGTIC** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:39 am

It is a ground squirrel of which there are as many distinct species as there are of tree squirrels. BTW, ''Spermophilus" means 'seed lover'