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Q:
Do tree squirrels hibernate?
Question by Dustin321BANG. Uploaded on October 05, 2009
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Answers (18)
If you mean gray squirrels and their relatives: no. They build a leafy nest in a tree, and spend most of the winter trying to stay out of the wind. They come down to forrage for acorns, beechnuts, etc on the forest floor, especially when the weather is calm. They probably have it worst in February.
No. They also mate 4 times a year.
BEAT ME !
They do "sleep in" on rainy/snow days, but just like you mostly at night.
Good Luck and Good Hunting !
They would never go all winter hibernating like a bear. You have me looking this up now! I think they may do "torpor" instead of "hibernation" as clearly IMO there can be long periods of inactivity [several days] in bad weather.
>They build a leafy nest in a tree
they prefer a den in a hole in a tree, in which they put that nest. Some years there are squirrels aplenty and you don't see many nests. It is certainly true that wind bums them out.
Tree RATS do not hibernate, they stay curled up in thier warm rat nests. tree rats will hide nuts for the coming winter, then search out the nuts as needed. They move less in the winter because there are no leaves to hide their movements from hawks, owls and other predators, but they still move.
It is a fact that squirrels do not remember where they bury their nuts.
More squirrel trivia...
I shot a fox squirrel in the head with a 60lb stick bow and it split my G5 small game head in half. If that says anything about how hard their heads are (or how junky the G5 head is).
>Tree RATS
spoken like a man who doesnt eat them.
we are talking about a rodent all right... but one that is a delicacy, sir. That only sounds like I'm joking!
>If that says anything about how hard their heads are
hides are tough too. Do not use light loads as for dove in your shotgun. Calls for "high brass"
I beg ur pardon? I make the best tree rat tips & gravy in my neck of the woods. I'd lay odds that I've ate more wild game than you will your entire lifetime.
Tree squirrels have a number of adaptations for coping with the winter, including, but not limited to: food caching, lowered metabolism, thermo-regulation in micro-climates, torpor (frequent periods of lowered metabolism, lowered body temperature, and inactivity), and group nesting. There are very few true hibernators.
Fox squirrels are active all winter and feed actively over the deep snow in the frozen tundra of the midwest. Their fur gets real thick and they put on fat for the winter.
>I beg ur pardon? I make the best tree rat tips & gravy
Excuse me then, but you are not invited to join our foundation [Americans for Squirrel at Every Dinner Table] if you keep calling them rats [g]. Donations accepted.
>squirrels have a number of adaptations
>for coping with the winter
I was hoping we would hear from Bioguy!
You guys are skirting the issue: would you eat a rat?
Gray, fox, and red squirrels don't sleep threw the winter. They sleep longer, But dont hibernate
>would you eat a rat?
AFSAEDT opposes this kind of conversation, sir, but if I knew a rat was eating nothing but hickory nuts I could be pretty sure it'd be fine if I could get over the idea.
changing that foundation name to ASEDT, pronounced "asset" [g]
Wouldn't eat the species of rat that hangs out around garbage cans, but tree squirrels have a very different diet and are only in the rodent family.
Post an Answer
If you mean gray squirrels and their relatives: no. They build a leafy nest in a tree, and spend most of the winter trying to stay out of the wind. They come down to forrage for acorns, beechnuts, etc on the forest floor, especially when the weather is calm. They probably have it worst in February.
No. They also mate 4 times a year.
BEAT ME !
They do "sleep in" on rainy/snow days, but just like you mostly at night.
Good Luck and Good Hunting !
They would never go all winter hibernating like a bear. You have me looking this up now! I think they may do "torpor" instead of "hibernation" as clearly IMO there can be long periods of inactivity [several days] in bad weather.
>They build a leafy nest in a tree
they prefer a den in a hole in a tree, in which they put that nest. Some years there are squirrels aplenty and you don't see many nests. It is certainly true that wind bums them out.
Tree RATS do not hibernate, they stay curled up in thier warm rat nests. tree rats will hide nuts for the coming winter, then search out the nuts as needed. They move less in the winter because there are no leaves to hide their movements from hawks, owls and other predators, but they still move.
It is a fact that squirrels do not remember where they bury their nuts.
>Tree RATS
spoken like a man who doesnt eat them.
we are talking about a rodent all right... but one that is a delicacy, sir. That only sounds like I'm joking!
>If that says anything about how hard their heads are
hides are tough too. Do not use light loads as for dove in your shotgun. Calls for "high brass"
More squirrel trivia...
I shot a fox squirrel in the head with a 60lb stick bow and it split my G5 small game head in half. If that says anything about how hard their heads are (or how junky the G5 head is).
I beg ur pardon? I make the best tree rat tips & gravy in my neck of the woods. I'd lay odds that I've ate more wild game than you will your entire lifetime.
Tree squirrels have a number of adaptations for coping with the winter, including, but not limited to: food caching, lowered metabolism, thermo-regulation in micro-climates, torpor (frequent periods of lowered metabolism, lowered body temperature, and inactivity), and group nesting. There are very few true hibernators.
Gray, fox, and red squirrels don't sleep threw the winter. They sleep longer, But dont hibernate
Fox squirrels are active all winter and feed actively over the deep snow in the frozen tundra of the midwest. Their fur gets real thick and they put on fat for the winter.
>I beg ur pardon? I make the best tree rat tips & gravy
Excuse me then, but you are not invited to join our foundation [Americans for Squirrel at Every Dinner Table] if you keep calling them rats [g]. Donations accepted.
>squirrels have a number of adaptations
>for coping with the winter
I was hoping we would hear from Bioguy!
You guys are skirting the issue: would you eat a rat?
>would you eat a rat?
AFSAEDT opposes this kind of conversation, sir, but if I knew a rat was eating nothing but hickory nuts I could be pretty sure it'd be fine if I could get over the idea.
changing that foundation name to ASEDT, pronounced "asset" [g]
Wouldn't eat the species of rat that hangs out around garbage cans, but tree squirrels have a very different diet and are only in the rodent family.
Post an Answer