Housing.
Our Richardsons Ground Squirrels are temporarily housed in a large 3 tier tower cage. We are planning a
new enclsure for them at the minute.
They are housed together and seem to get along no problems. I have heard of numerous people having
problems keeping pairs together. If you place yours together, please keep a close eye for fighting / disputes.
Two wooden boxes are placed in the enclosure for nesting. Two are placed in so that if any bickering
takes place the pair can retreat to seperate boxes.
Hay and shredded paper bedding is used for the nesting material and a lt is used. The Ground Squirrels
make beautiful nests and just seem to keep adding.
Despite their name and evidence to the contrary Ground Squirrels do like to climb and are quite adept in
doing so, or at least I have found that. A couple of strong sturdy branches have been placed in the enclsure. The Ground Squirrels
have no problems running up the branches to the next level and they are just as fast coming down. I did not provide any stimulent
to get them to climb, within a few minutes of the Squirrels going in the enclsure they were climbing and have never
stopped.
An added bonus to placing these branches in the enclosure is that they gnaw on them. As with most rodents
the Ground Squirrels need to gnaw / chew on hard foods / items to keep their teeth from over growing.
Feeding.
The Squirrels are fed on a mixture of foods. These foods include hamster food, guinea pig food, rat food,
parrot food, bird insectivore food, various nuts, mealworms, moreoworms, crickets, locusts, apple, pear, carrots, fresh corn,
oats and various grains.
Water is by a water bottle and is fresh daily.
