Our Yard "Home"
Not all the squirrels that visit our yard are named (yet. . .muah hah hah). However, there are some regulars here that we know and can identify at a glance. The term "we" is being used very loosely here, as Nate (my husband) can only truly identify Ratty. That's because he is not OBSESSED with squirrels like a certain other person that lives at our house. Tee hee hee!
That all changed when he ate his first peanut.
CutieBaby soon realized that the peanuts were coming from ME, and that if he was going to continue on his peanut frenzy, he'd have to conquer his fear of the cuckoo lady who ran up and down the driveway, yelling "PEANUT PEANUT PEANUT!" in a very high-pitched voice.
After two weeks of extensive hands-on training (in the freezing cold, may I add), CutieBaby took his first peanut from me. Since then, he has turned into my stalker, although I am not considering a restraining order at this time. He greets me each morning as I go to my car for work (he knows the sound of my garage door opening), and he runs right up to me for his treats. To the untrained individual, he may appear to be rabid, as most wild rodents do not follow human beings around quite like he does. However, he is not rabid. At least I don't think so. :)
RabieBaby, on the other hand, charges full speed ahead and doesn't stop until he's about a foot away. But he does not stop for long, because RabieBaby is almost always on the move! He's quite jittery, and even though he's a littermate of CutieBaby (both were born in late March of 2005), they have completely different personalities. CutieBaby is way more trusting than RabieBaby is!
In the photo to the left, you can see that I'd much rather have RabieBaby take a peanut off my shoe than out of my hand! He's NEVER bitten me or even nipped at me or anything like that, but I just don't think he completely trust me yet, so it's probably better for him (he probably feels much safer!) to have to deal with my foot than my hand.
