# grey squirrels



## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

if you catch one can you keep it ad love one as a pet and to studie so is it allowed can i catch them and keep them


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

i had one for a pet as a teen...they are great!!!...but you have to start with a baby.


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

thanks but to do it by law am i allowd to catch and keep one was thinking about keeping a couple in a large area after all stops them killing and being a pest and i get to studie what i want


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

greys are an invasive, non-native species there..i don't know how the laws are there


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

if you even attempt it you'll lose a finger. those things have a hell of a bite on em! minehowever is lovely.


























as a baby


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## bigsky (Nov 21, 2007)

yep Daves is great until time to go back in his cage then things get fun.
I ended up with facial damage last time i put him in his house didnt i mate !!.


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

yes lloyd mate, he tried to stop himself falling to the floor by using your eyeballs as a claw grip if i recall :rotfl:


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## bigsky (Nov 21, 2007)

was kinda funny after dave removed him from my face :lol2:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

mine was the friendliest thing!!:no1::no1: but a wild one will tear you a new one!!!


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

mine was barely 2 weeks old when we were given him. he was an uphill struggle at first, mainly because he required round the clock feeds avery hour or 2 for about 3 weeks. as for the legality you can take as many greys as you want out of the wild but be aware VER FEW vets will provide vet care for greys, so theoretically owning one does kinda violate the animal welfare act. just bear that in mind.

also wild adults... trust me dude, you'll end up in A&E :lol2:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

i always wanted a chipmonk....cool little guys...they live under my sidewalk outside...


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

aww so cute but i want to no what the law says about keeping them


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

they are non native. you can keep them if you so wish. they are considered a pest animal. in the laws eyes you'd be doing the eco system a favour.


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

ok thanks would feel bad traping one but i want one lol


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

they make an excellent gravy!


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

HABU said:


> they make an excellent gravy!


Its funny you say that HABU, i did hear they are goooood eatin' :lol2:


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

lol
its not there fault they where let lose in britian


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

in hertfordshire, especially hitchin and stevenage theres a lot of melanistic greys. AWESOME lil black squirrels everywhere. i'd sure like one of those bad boys!


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## bigsky (Nov 21, 2007)

squirrel pie is lovely.
If you want to catch a wild animal thats not native to the uk and will bite and scrtach the hellout of you catch yourself a mink!!!:lol2:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

we have albino squirrels on my street...pretty cool!









Sanguine Elucidations: "In constant pursuit of albino squirrel rights"


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

Luton Reptile Rescue said:


> Its funny you say that HABU, i did hear they are goooood eatin' :lol2:


 
they taste a lot like wild rabbit!


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

lol so take it if you catch a albino or black squirrel it would be the same law

anyone want to catch me one


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

you need a hunting license..that's all.


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

adamntitch said:


> lol so take it if you catch a albino or black squirrel it would be the same law
> 
> anyone want to catch me one


you can go out and trap one if you wish but dont come crying to me when you're typing with just knuckles. try and find a baby to hand rear in spring.


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## weelad (Jul 25, 2006)

gimmie a way to trap you one ill give it ago :lol2: im not going near it with my hands though i like my fingers


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

just a humane rat trap would do it. you seen the black squirrels in stevenage? also i REALLY dont advise ANYONE inexperienced traps and attempts to make a pet out of a wild adult squirrel. you WILL get your batty kicked.


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## corvid2e1 (Jan 21, 2007)

no you can't. as a non-native, invasive species it is illegal to release them into the wild, or to keep them in captivity (presumably incase they escape) without a licence. as a pest species they can legaly be trapped but any you catch have to be humainly euthanised. As already said, unless hand reared, they are very aggresive when handled and can inflict a nasty bite. personaly I find the taste somwhere between rabbit and chicken, very tender and juicy.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

a havaheart filled with peanuts or sunflower seeds...you'll get them every time!


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## weelad (Jul 25, 2006)

Luton Reptile Rescue said:


> just a humane rat trap would do it. you seen the black squirrels in stevenage? also i REALLY dont advise ANYONE inexperienced traps and attempts to make a pet out of a wild adult squirrel. you WILL get your batty kicked.


no iv not seen a black one but to be honest i dont look out for them lol seen a albino one


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

corvid2e1 said:


> no you can't. as a non-native, invasive species it is illegal to release them into the wild, or to keep them in captivity (presumably incase they escape) without a licence. as a pest species they can legaly be trapped but any you catch have to be humainly euthanised. As already said, unless hand reared, they are very aggresive when handled and can inflict a nasty bite. personaly I find the taste somwhere between rabbit and chicken, very tender and juicy.


My environmental health officer says differently. forgive me for taking his proffesional opinion over yours.


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## corvid2e1 (Jan 21, 2007)

then he needs to double check his infomation. sorry



Defra said:


> *Keeping non-native mammals *
> 
> *Legal status*
> 
> ...


incidently, it is also my own "profesional opinion" as a wildlife rehabilitator I deal with these sort of situations on a daily basis.


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

I'd like to point out that WMA-04 licence form states that a licence is required for 'non indiginous rabbits' also. how many french lop, belgian lop or other 'non indiginous' rabbit keepers have this licence? i hardly think defra will bust down my door for a sodding squirrel?


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## weelad (Jul 25, 2006)

:lol2: JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!, also its hardly likly youll catch a baby squirrl in a trap isnt it? i meen wont they stay in a "nest" until their bigger and bader lol


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## corvid2e1 (Jan 21, 2007)

those are domestic breeds. it is a completly diferent situation. I never said that anyone would actuly do anything about it, I know plenty of people who have kept grey squirrels, I have done it myself, I simply stated that technicaly it is illegal, and if someone wanted to be picky then you could be prosicuted for doing it. The person looking for the infomation should be made aware of that. whether he then choses to do it anyway is his choice.


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## Moshpitviper (Oct 21, 2005)

weelad said:


> :lol2: JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!, also its hardly likly youll catch a baby squirrl in a trap isnt it? i meen wont they stay in a "nest" until their bigger and bader lol


Ah yes but mine fell out and someone found him. luckily they called me as they were trying to spoon feed him water?


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

they are trying to pass laws against keeping big cats here. they say that we have more tigers here than they have india!....most privately owned. my state has a lot. a couple got loose this past year...


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

weelad said:


> :lol2: JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!, also its hardly likly youll catch a baby squirrl in a trap isnt it? i meen wont they stay in a "nest" until their bigger and bader lol


 
you'll only get weaned ones in havahearts. you have to work at getting babies or just lucky after a storm.


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## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

Put it this way if you accidententally hit one in your car'etc and pick it up if it's still alive it's illegal to put it back on the floor.You have to keep it with the aim of having it put down :halo: or eat it :whistling2: .Even if it's a black or albino squirrel as these are only color morphs of the grey squirrel onless ofcourse they are color morphs of red's so there the same old pest.But the only way you can really have one in a pet sense is hand rear a baby from young as possible.You do need a licence/permint to keep them but the only way this will be a real issue for anyone is if you live in a red squirrel area.especially if you got it from else where and brought it into a red squirrel area.Other than that if you live in a area where there are only greys to be seen.If it ever did get out it's not really considered a threat so it would be live and let live.After all chipmonk are kept without need of a licence and they share the same risk factors as the grey squirrel i'd say more so chipmonk could easy live in the uk with out problems and they are small so they could con all the special feed traps that let red's feed and grey's not.


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## The Fool (Aug 23, 2007)

adamntitch said:


> ok thanks would feel bad traping one but i want one lol












"Daddy i want one, and as i want one i *will* have one, even if i have to catch it. Even if it has a bunch of babies that rely on it for their very existence. Daddy i _must_ have it"

Get a grip.


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## bigsky (Nov 21, 2007)

Wow i cant believe you guys are having a barny over a poxy squirrel lol.
this brings to a point squirrel= non indiginous=if you see one shoot it and put it in a pie. (two are better for pie though)

Im not going to bang on about the non idiginous species thing, but seriously if defra are that bothered why dont they do anything about the grey squirrels,mink,munkjack deer aswell as many other mammals and birds, then theres the carp,catfish and probably about 40% of all other species of fish in the country.
Not to mention insects and invasive plants too.

At the end of the day if you wanna try and catch a grey and get totaly destroyed by it go for it but trust me it will kick youre arse
Lloyd


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

lol thanks for the info everyone


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## weelad (Jul 25, 2006)

Goat said:


> . Even if it has a bunch of babies that rely on it for their very existence."
> 
> Get a grip.


their a pest anyway


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

just find a nest and knock it out of the tree when they have babies...:whistling2::whistling2:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Corvid is quite right! It's illegal to release one and it's illegal to keep one without a licence - some 80 year old (or so) law about keeping non-native species. (Shame on you David, trying to hand rear a baby and then telling everyone what they taste like!! :whip::whip

And yes, if you take a baby and hand rear it, or an adult out of the wild and it's sick, you'll have a job finding a vet who will treat it if you don't have a licence, because they will have been instructed to euthanase any greys that are brought in.


There is a grey squirrel rescue in Hampshire - this is their website Squirrels.info - squirrel welfare in the UK. who have a network of people across England who are prepared to look after the occasional squirrel. I've no idea if this is a permanent arrangement, but suspect it will be for squirrel kittens that have been hand reared or injured adults that have been brought in and healed, but can't be released.

If you are keen to keep one yourself, why not contact them to see if they have any needing a home?


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

(Shame on you David, trying to hand rear a baby and then telling everyone what they taste like!! :whip::whip



they do taste good!!:lol2:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Bad Habu! :bash: Stop encouraging people to eat squirrels! :whip:


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## ArranP (Jan 12, 2008)

I would like to try and see what one tastes like...

*Grabs squirrel trap*


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## Paradoxurus (Jan 10, 2008)

They are much tougher to skin than, say, a rabbit. In addition, the amount of meat you get off one and its rather indistinctive flavour make it not really worthwhile except for the novelty factor (and its free of course).

There is a thriving colony of ferel chipmunks in the woods around Wuppertal in Germany. Its surprising that there are no ferel colonies in the UK considering how widely they are kept.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

ArranP said:


> I would like to try and see what one tastes like...
> 
> *Grabs squirrel trap*


Bit like chicken!! You've been told!

I'm pretty sure there's a restaurant in the Lake District that actually serves it on their menu!

You'd need a few to make a decent stew though!


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## bugdude (Dec 5, 2007)

*law's*



adamntitch said:


> thanks but to do it by law am i allowd to catch and keep one was thinking about keeping a couple in a large area after all stops them killing and being a pest and i get to studie what i want


hi don't quote me on this but i think that if you catch one then you must keep it as they are pest's, so if you have one that's fine but if you let it go then i think you can get in trouble for letting an alien species back into the wild. adult's would be a bit wild, if so have a baby one.: victory:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

they taste like wild cottontail to me... :whistling2:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

SpikedHumor.com » Squirrel Playing Dead » SpikedHumor.com


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