Squirrel Breeding seasons

Recieved a squirrel call today. To be honest I haven trapped but a few squirrels, and never inside. I have been told squirrels sometimes breed again this time of year. Lady claims she hears something in the wall of her second story. Should I be worried about babies?

Yes, dig up Jonesie's six phases of the grey squirrel. Pay attention to the discussion of first and second generation squirrels. From that you learn that with urban squirrels breeding seasons are more of a generalization than a set time table as it should be with wild squirrels.

Odds are in my area the last litter is weaned and mobile but I've learned to expect pinkies on every squirrel call.

First, determine if the problem is even squirrels. A lot of squirrel calls turn out to be mice.

If you do have squirrels, trap them outside. The job will most likely go faster and easier.

Our eastern grey squirrels are breeding right now in NH. With a gestation period of about six weeks I wouldn't expect babies at this time but California is a large and diverse state with several squirrel species so identifying the one your dealing with and researching the biology will help you.

The only way to know for sure if there are babies is to see if the squirrel you catch is a lactating female.

Caught one of these Christmas Eve while trapping the middle unit of a 3 unit senior living home that had shared attic space spanning the whole unit. With my (horrible) luck, the attic was sheet rocked off which stopped my access. Let's just say the nest wasn't in the first two units I checked.

Never trust a squirrel and the calendar.

Almost a postitive. She will hear from the Pest control guys today. She found a christmas bag full of acorns in the attic, thats what tipped me off

Uh-oh, flying squirrels or rats would be my immediate suspicion. Grey squirrels cache food outside by burial. Both fliers and rats cache inside in bulk.

Somewhere on here Jonesie posted a pictorial of lactating females to be used to determine the age of a litter.

I'd like to see that, too.
In our area, mating starts about Christmas. I've seen pinkies (~ a week old) in late January ONCE.

Once again, I find out of state stuff very interesting. We won't have much gray squirrel breeding before the first week in February.

Most of our grays are born around April Fool's day.

watch your squirrels running around outside. you can see the breeding time frames in the general aspect, in other words you see 2 squirrels chasing one squirrel all over the place, then maybe breeding at least for that squirrel is getting close as far as her giving off scent. another telltale sign is you see a single squirrel trailing nose to the surface like a hound dog on a rabbit. I started seeing that last week in some of my areas. another indication I think is that long call they give in the attic just after dark. I sometimes think and again maybe totally wrong on this but a female in heat will call. it is a different sound on the end. I can do it but can't describe it with words I have seen where a female doing that long call, has had mature males come running. I also saw not more 5 feet from me, while holding pinkies in my bare hand, doing the sounds of the young with the female doing the long call that a male ran up behind her and she almost took his nose off!!!! and I put the pinkies down LOL again another flag, the family unit that has been there for the past 3 months is now one squirrel. and the squirrel spending a lot of the time in the same place. there are a lot of signs or flags. This year I have not had one pinkie since OCT but my squirrel calls are way down. I believe that the consistent environment of the attic lets the young squirrels that may be born out of our human perceived time frames, will make it to that 12 weeks age where the young squirrel born in a nest out on a limb will not in the same winter temps. best and most effective way though is check your squirrels. the belly does not lie and a big balled male will not be there if the pinkies are. he is there for one thing GET LUCKY!!!!!!and May be 3 or 4 of them! where's the red light!!!!! The female will not allow it if pinkies, or at least it looks that way to me. every area is going to be different in the breeding times.

Sounds like squirrels might be too much for me

I run squirrel dogs and I haven't noticed it yet.

Of course not. Squirrels are fairly straight forward, just pay attention. If I've learned anything it's to pay attention and note exactly what the squirrels are doing.

the advantage the that catching squirrels vs excluding is, when catching you can check every squirrel caught and KNOW what you have at that job, rather than exclude and wait to see if she attempts to tear the house down to get back in. again if the squirrel is forced out and working overtime to get back in then is all probability there are young inside. what age to be figured out. of course if they are 3 to 4 weeks old then your customer will tell you before you find out for your self. if they are pinkies well may never know except for the feamles actions.

First squirrel caught on my current job is a big balled male, second a female. Still observing activity so will see what the future brings.

Is that normal breeding season for them? Back in the middle of November while bowhunting, I watched a couple gray chasing, stop and breed, repeat for 20 minutes. Man they can contort their bodies.

bankrunner, this is what I find so interesting. What is normal for us is not necessarily normal for other states of the same latitude.

( There's also the chance that the female you saw was a "squirrel of the evening" and was doing it for acorns. )

Here it is Jan 2nd and the sqrs. are chasing each other all over the place. I have not seen any personal action going on yet.

Paul,

What you consider normal isn't normal for anyone else. :-)

...is here!

Set one today with one acting all hormonal.

Went hunting last sunday for squirrels, I shot a big balled male and my buddy shot a juvenile. For what thats worth