Squirrel Invasion!

[velessa]

So it seems the ground squirrels at the barn are every bit as conditioned to the sound of grain as the horses.

Today while I was filling up Bo's dish, as soon as I started pouring the grain, this chubby squirrel appeared from under my tack box and stared at me, then started inching closer and closer to me. I was surprised by how close he was getting. I shooed him away and took the dish to Bo, then I started mucking out his stall.

I turn back maybe ten seconds later, and there's Fatso squirrel sitting in the dish with Bo eating around him! I've seen the squirrels and the rats come out and snatch grain from the dish before, but now they've gotten lightning fast at it! Bo doesn't seem to notice or care most of the time, but he'll sometimes pin his ears at the squirrel and shoo it away with his nose, haha. Anyway, I was so amused by the squirrel's boldness and persistence, that I sat and watched him steal grain for a while and took some funny pictures and video of it. =)


The culprit appears...


...inches closer...


...checks out the menu...


...and hops on in! Bo gives him a funny look...


...but goes ahead and shares this time.


What?


Double Trouble! Chubsy and Fatso (as I'm calling them) both dive in.

Comments

[kateandjack.livejournal.com]

Aww, they're kind of cute! I bet it'd get annoying after a while though!!
Do you worry about them spreading disease or anything? I'm not sure I'd want them actually sitting in my horses feed bowl.... although my horse would probably eat them along with his feed lol.

Bo's whiskery nose is so adorable!

[velessa.livejournal.com]

Not really, since there's nothing I can do about it...I used to hang a bucket for him, but he kept destroying them by crushing them against the wall, so I switched to a rubber dish. It doesn't matter where I put it, the rats and pigeons can still get to it, and I think the pigeons are the probably the most dangerous as far as being a disease vector. This seems to work better as far as they go, they're not crapping in this dish the way they used to do in the bucket.