OK prolly not... but anyway we have one that hangs around our backyard that is at least 5.... He showed up about 5 years ago with no tail just a bloody stump.. I was convinced he would die from infection... but 5 years later he is still around and rules our yard, whoever said squirrels need a tail for balance and such never met this dude.... And talk about camera shy it's almost impossible the get his pic, he see's you looking out the window and he is gone... they say the can live for twenty years in captivity..
That's pretty cool. I watched one the past two years outta one of my stands. He had a big bald spot on it...lol Sent from my XT830C
Here is some information I pulled up from the all mighty Google "Red squirrels live long lives compared to their size. The oldest squirrel in the wild was 10 years old, and the oldest in captivity was 9 years old. Their average lifespan is 5 years. However, red squirrels have difficulty surviving past 1 year old. In fact, only 25% of red squirrels survive past 1 year." " Only 25% of gray squirrels survive their first year. Mortality remains quite high for the first two years of life after which the mature, experienced gray squirrel has a high survival rate for another four of five years. In wild populations of gray squirrels, though, there are almost no individuals older than 7 years. The impact of disease and debilitation (tooth loss, cataracts, parasites etc) slow down older individuals just enough to compromise their ability to survive."
I thought everyone had a squirrel with no tail who they've named "Stumpy" We have one on our property that no one is allowed to shoot. I didn't know they could live that long in captivity, pretty neat. I remember my grandpa put peanuts on his front porch leading up to his chair where he sat for hours drinking coffee and he actually got a squirrel eating out of his front pocket. It was the darndest thing.
Tons of hickory trees in my part of the woods. There's a infestation of squirrels around here, not unusual to see 10 squirrels at once.. So every once in awhile, I get out the .17 and start picking them off. I also hate squirrels, I have had them spoil so many hunts for me and like I said there are way to many of them around and they breed like rabbits so it's necessary to shoot them to keep the population in check. I'm not surprised they live that long, I've shot so many of them and it seems like as soon as I go on squirrel control and shoot a handful of them there are just as many squirrels out the next day.
