Do squirrels make good pets?

Squirrels may look pretty cute when eating nuts with their claws and using their noses to sniff around, but many consider them as too lousy to be domesticated as pets. With a good internal temperature of between 98 and 102 Fahrenheit, New York squirrels can survive warm climates and even extremely cold conditions , when they have grown furs. Some of the reasons why many will say that squirrels don’t make good pets is because of their insatiable appetite to gnaw, chew and scratch whatever they come in contact with.



For several reasons, it seems the odds against squirrels as pets far outweigh the gains of having them domesticated and these odds include the following:

- Unlike typical cats and dogs, squirrels naturally lack the instinct of depending on humans for food, or companionship, and for this reason, squirrels are good as solitary New York animals , not suitable living with others.

- Young squirrels will need to stay with adult squirrels for the first 6 weeks in order for it to learn the much needed survival skills and behaviour, and after 8 weeks into maturity, New York City squirrels wouldn’t accept other squirrels into their colonies. For this reason, a squirrel that was domesticated right from the first day , does not have any survival skills, thus , it cannot fend for itself and may die when released into the wild.

- Unlike your regular dogs and cats, New York City squirrels don’t adapt to new environments easily, thus they may become more aggressive or fearful when you change their environment suddenly and when they become so stressed they may suffer from seizures and eventually die.

- Squirrels have a typical dental formation that allows their teeth to grow continuously , thus they can chew on anything , including woodworks, and walls. We all know that puppy dogs only chew when teething, but New York squirrels chew indiscriminately and they cannot be trained to stop chewing just the way we train dogs.

- The adult New York squirrels often develop some razor-sharp nails that allow them to grasp, climb and jump easily. Squirrels do not retract their claws like cats, thus they can damage furniture and even the human skin much easier.

- Though,New York City squirrels may be trained to use cages, but they can never be trained to use litter boxes like cats and dogs. Squirrels’ behaviour are unpredictable, unlike cats and dogs, and the reason being that they are more instinctive than cats and dogs. Squirrels are easily frightened and can attack viciously.

- For all these reasons, it can be extremely difficult and unreasonable to domesticate squirrels in New York homes, however, there are good signs that the animals can be partially raised in a natural habitat where they can have lots of activities do indulge in.

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