Jen,

I haven't seen any flying squirrels around here, but I do see a mess of oak leaves and tips of branches scattered under an oak tree every morning. I think the squirrels are trying to get at those acorns!

I did a Google search on flying squirrels and read that some people keep them as pets! Wonder what your DH would think about that.

Julie

The DH would freak out over having a flying squirrel as a pet! He's afraid of birds, especially hummingbirds (he thinks they are going to peck his eyes out). He goes to work around 2am, and so now he's afraid the flying squirrel is going to try to jump on his head. LOL!

Well, let's hope that flying squirrel doesn't find its way into your attic!

Julie

Oh man aka margo, you gave me the best laugh of the day. Afraid of hummingbirds! Ha, that is a total hoot.

I didnt look up anything about flying squirrels, so cant help you with that. Wickipedia would know. Pondy

You would be laughing even harder if you saw him. A 6 foot man afraid of hummingbirds! LOL! We had a baby cardinal in the garage one time and I thought he was going to have a heart attack!

Found out from the neighbor that one of the times our power went out this spring was because a flying squirrel had built a nest in a transformer box.

Yes, Wisconsin has flying squirrels! I have never seen one myself. I can imagine that anyone who is afraid of birds would be really afraid of these things. lol! I had to laugh at aka_margo's husbands fear of hummingbirds too. Although my mother would react the same way but then she is a 4'11" woman who has a distinct fear of mice (she considers birds to be like flying mice). Click on the link to the WI DNR's website with info on these little buggers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eek! The Flying Squirrel

Found this forum quite by accident, have mainly been busy in the orchid forum. I have in fact seen a flying squirrel up close. It was several years after moving here and a evil neighborhood cat had left one stunned on my deck. Well, in truth I do not think the cat was done with it until I arrived and removed it from the cat's possession. In any event I and my children rescued it and sort of nursed it back to health. Really we just kept it safe from further cat induced trauma until it was well enough to scamper away under its own power, which it did after a day or so of cat-free recuperation right up the sugar maple in front. Have not seen any since but I was quite surprised to find one at all as I was under the impression they had gone the way of the Dodo. I told my kids that I thought flying squirrels we endangered or extinct and they both (after several years of grade school here in Wi) gave me one of those "Aw dad..." looks, and promptly demonstrated they they had indeed mastered some natural history while in school.

I took the opportunity to gently give the little critter the once over while it was still dazed/unconscious just to be sure of it's identity, as at first I thought it was either a gigantic chippy or a juvenile squirrel. I am not sure if it was an adult or not but it was half again the size its evil cousin the gray squirrel. It had a browner coat too, almost chippy like and did indeed have very nifty gliding flaps when I extended its little extremities. I do not have much love for the lowly gray squirrel but I am rather fond of the flying squirrel after this encounter.

I have seen it a couple of times since I first posted this. It's always later at night when I am letting the dog outside. And you're right, it is about half the size of the gray squirrel. We have gray squirrels in that same tree, plus there are tons of robins nesting there also. My husband jokingly said that perhaps the gray squirrel used the nest at night and the flying squirrel used it during the day.