Ramsey, Charles W.

English

Texas A&amp;M Repository

L-1524SQUIRREL NEST BOXESCharles W. Ramsey*All wildlife species need food, cover, water andliving space. Squirrels, for example, need den trees inwhich to live. Often these den trees are oldhardwoods with natural hollows. In cut-over forests,there often are an insufficient number of good dentrees for squirrels.Squirrel numbers may reach five to an acre, butone to three is considered a maximum population.The density of squirrels depends upon available livingspace in the habitat. At least three dens per acre arenecessary to insure a good population of squirrels. Ifother necessities, such as food, are present, the use ofsquirrel nest boxes can increase a squirrel population.Texas Tree SquirrelsThere are two common species of tree squirrels inTexas, excluding the secretive flying squirrel. Gray or"cat squirrels" are almost entirely restricted to theeastern portion of the state in big hardwood timberareas of river bottoms. Fox squirrels also live in EastTexas, as well as farther west through Central Texasand along river ways into West Texas. Fox squirrelsinhabit more open woods areas than gray squirrels do.Fox squirrels weigh about 2 pounds, while graysweigh about 1 pound. Fox squirrels usually have anorange or fox-colored breast. Gray squirrels, as thename suggests, are usually gray on the back and sideswith whitish underparts. Various color phases in bothspecies overlap somewhat, making color distinctionbetween species difficult. One identifying charac-teristic, as many hunters know, is that when cookedthe bones of fox squirrels are pink, while the bones ofgray squirrels are white.These two squirrel species have different habits.Grays are most active in early morning and late after-*Extension wildlife specialist, The Texas A&M University System.37.11noon, while fox squirrels are most active from morn-ing through mid-day and into the afternoon. Foxsquirrels return to their dens or nests in the eveningabout the time their livelier and noisier cousins, thegray squirrels, come out for their evening foraging.Fox squirrels seem less active and more retiringthan grays, do much of their traveling on the ground,and are not nearly as agile as grays in running andleaping through the treetops.Mating HabitsFox squirrels appear monogamous, and may pairfor life. At any rate, if undisturbed, one pair may befound inhabiting the same area for a number of years.Field observations indicate that gray squirrels arepolygamous.Both species have two distinct mating seasons.The heavier winter breeding season occurs in De-cember and January, while the light summer seasonextends from late May through August. Food andweather have an effect on these seasons and on littersizes. The winter breeding season is more variablethan the summer mating period. Squirrels that do notbreed in winter usually do the following summer.The gestation period is 42 to 45 days. Therefore,the number of births is highest during March andJuly. Squirrels usually have from one to four young,though they may sometimes have as many as six perlitter. Females may have two litters per year.Squirrel HomesBoth species use tree dens and leaf nests. Wood-pecker holes or holes in decayed limbs are mostcommonly used as dens. Den trees are extremely im-portant to squirrel survival because they provide es-cape cover as well as protection from winter weather.In addition, between 85 and 90 percent of youngsquirrels are born in den holes, although the youngmay later be transferred to nests.Squirrels build two kinds of nests. Summer nestsare made of loosely woven sticks and twigs. They arequickly built and last only a few months. Winter nestsare constructed of limbs with leaves attached, andlined with layers of leaves and shreds of inner barkpressed tightly together to keep out the weather.These winter nests may last several years.Nest Box PlacementPlacement of squirrel nest boxes is important tomake these manmade structures acceptable to wildsquirrels. Houses should be placed in trees that are atleast 10 inches in diameter. Houses should be placedabout 20 feet above the ground. The entrance holeshould face south or east, away from prevailing winterwinds. The house should be half filled with dry leavesto make it more attractive.Houses in dense woods are more apt to attractgray squirrels, while houses in open stands or on theedge of woods are more apt to attract fox squirrels.ConstructionFollowing are instructions for building a durablenest box. The shape, size and location of the entrancediscourages predators. The hardware cloth floor al-lows quick drainage and lets old leaf fragments fallthrough. The box is easily removed from the tree forchecking and maintenance.List of Materials1) LU11l,ber. I-inch rough-sawed heart cypress,pentachlorophenol-treated pine, or westernred cedar is used to make the following sec-tions:Front and back: 7 inches wide. Bottom cutsquare; top angled; 19% inches long on oneside and 18% inches long on the other. 2%-inchcircular entrance cut in front, 14V2 inches fromthe bottom.Side near tree: 9Vi inches x 19% inchesSide away from tree: 9Vi inches x 18% inchesRoof: 10 inches x 12 inches. Cleats should bejust under 7 inches long. They should be lo-cated on the roof board so that they will fitfairly snugly inside the 7 inches x 7 inches boxtop, thereby preventing shifting of the roof.The roof should overhang sides and back about3/8 inch and should overhang front and backabout 13/ 8 inch.Batten: 2 inches X 21% inches. Cut Vi-inch-wide slot, 1 inch long, in center of one end.2) Sheet steel (for hanger): 2 inches X 8 inches,20 guage galvanized. Drill "keyhole" largeenough to fit over 40-penny nail head near oneend; drill five nail holes to fit shaft of 6-pennynails near other end.3) Hardware cloth. (for floor): 8 inches X 8 inchessquare of %-inch by %-inch mesh, galvanized-after-welding, 14 guage iron wire. Bend eachside at right angles % inch from margin, to form7 inches x 7 inches x % inch pan.4) Wire (for steadying box when mounted in tree):# 10 solid, polyethylene covered THW conduc-tor, or similar solid core, flexible plastic-covered wire.5) Nails: 8-penny galvanized box - 12 for boxconstruction and 2 to pin roof to box. 6-pennycommon galvanized box - 5 to attach hanger tobatten and 6 for cleats. 6-penny common gal-vanized - 5 to attach batten to box. 40-pennycommon galvanized - 2 to suspend completedbox from tree. Staples - 8 small galvanized toattach hardware cloth bottom.How to BuildInstall floor after sides, front and back have beenassembled. Turn hardware cloth pan so edges pointdownward. Insert into bottom of box until wire edgeis even with box edge. Staple in place.Fasten batten to side of box by driving 6-pennygalvanized nails through batten well into, but notthrough, side of box.Mter box has been assembled and roof set inplace, drill one hole each through the top center ofthe box's sides (or front and back) and through roofcleats. Nails can then be inserted to secure roof.Attach hanger to bottom by driving 6-penny gal-vanized box nails through hanger and bottom. Clinchprojecting ends into batten.Leave at least 2 inches clearance between tree andheads of 4-penny suspension nails to allow for treegrowth.Place I-inch layer of dry leaves on wire floor.Pick box location on trunk of tree, high enough todiscourage vandalism or possible shot damage. Donot rest box on limb, as this will eventually damagetree and box.Use single strand of plastic-covered wire to makebox mount sturdy. Pull wire taunt around box andtree trunk and twist ends together. Wire will untwistas tree grows.20 gao golv.I: ''\ ., , .~ !'\ : ",: I'!' I. I:'0. , .; i1', .I. ('./\''t(Design by Dr. F. S. Barkalow, Jr. and Mr. R. F. Soots, Jr., De-partment of Zoology, North Carolina State University.Educational programs conducted by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service serve people of all ages regardless of socio-economiclevel, race, color, sex, religion or national origin.Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics, The Texas A&M University System and the United States Departmentof Agriculture cooperating. Distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8, 1914, as amended, and June 30, 1914.10M-4-77 WM 8

Squirrel Nest Boxes.

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Squirrel Nest Boxes.

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Squirrel Nest Boxes.

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