Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Wild flying squirrels, not to be confused with wild sugar gliders in Florida

The cat brought in a present last night.  Like all other "presents" I grabbed a paper towel to take the kill outside.  You can imagine my surprise when the "dead" animal turned over, looked at me with it's big, cute eyes and ran up my arm.  I, of course, gave a small shriek and did a little on point jig while the little fella ran right into the bathroom.  I thought, perfect, he has no where to go, I will just corner him and bring him back outside.  Again, you can imagine my surprise when he shimmied up a teeny, tiny crevice under the cabinet.  To myself I said, "Where'd he go?" out loud I said, "Where'd whooo go?" (then I chuckled at my cool movie quote) I just stood there and stared in disbelief for a moment.  Now what? I can't demo the bathroom to get this little guy.  He can't go anywhere....I don't think.  So I stared some more.  Then I shut the bathroom door.  Then I texted my husband who just so happen to be out of town....his advice...."Name it."  Thanks babe.
I figured he would have to come out eventually, there was no where to go and he would get hungry.  I brushed my teeth, washed my face, shut the door and went to bed.
This morning when I woke up I surveyed the bathroom and nothing.  I went to shut the door and spotted a little brown fur ball out of the corner of my eye.  He was balled up near the little crevice under the cabinet.  I grabbed the cat carrier and headed in.  I put a little piece of cardboard to block the crack and pushed him into the carrier.  He hopped right in, I'm guessing because it was darker and there was a towel for him to nestle under.
I will wait until tonight to release him because they are nocturnal little guys.

A quick side note:  At first I thought is was a Sugar Glider.  It looks just like one; little and cute.  So I googled.  It seems that sugar gliders can survive in the wild, but are considered invasive and should not be re-released.  So I googled again, to try and confirm exactly what I had.  Come to find out it was as my son suspected a flying squirrel.
They don't look like the ones I've seen on the animal channels on tv.
Here's what we have.
wild florida/flying squirrels
image from outdooralabama.com

there's our little fella

You can Google flying squirrels in Florida and see tons of pics of these little cuties. 

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