You might already know about squirrel, about this little nutcracker, and nut chewing creature that can be quite cute to look at but can be quite annoying too. Squirrel, as you might think of, are wild animals, which means they are afraid of a human being. They don’t trust human easily and they think of the human as a threat. It is not a surprise that wild animal is afraid of human. It can be quite troublesome and annoying if you try to force wild squirrel to be your pet at home.
However, sometime you might found some abandoned baby squirrel that is abandoned by their mother. It is up to you to pick them and adapt them to be your pet or abandon them to their certain doom. Adopting baby squirrel might be hard but with some effort, you can do it easily. If you don’t want to adopt squirrel but instead you want it as a pet, then there are actually squirrel that you can buy from the local pet shop and breeder. A squirrel that you got from a pet shop or breeder might have gentler nature and trust you easier. That is why it is recommended to pick it from a pet shop.
However, one thing that you might want to consider when buying squirrel is their life periods. Squirrel is generally creature that has a short lifespan, shorter than most the mammals like dog or cat. There are actually some types of a squirrel that have a longer lifespan. Longer lifespan means a longer time you can pet them. Now, what are the types of a squirrel that can live for longer periods? Here are 5 Types of Squirrels Which Have Long Life Periods.
Types of a squirrel that have a longer lifespan and generally healthier
Squirrel generally live in a very short period of the lifespan. In the wild where there are many death factors for a squirrel like the hunger, predatory animals, disease, injuries, and human, squirrel doesn’t live out much longer. The lifespan of a wild squirrel is merely 6 years in the wild. However, it is not the case of squirrel in captivity. In human care, where there are not much wild death factors, a squirrel could actually live out until 12-14 years. With great and careful care squirrel could live up for longer than 12 years. There are some types of a squirrel that naturally have longer lifespan though, so here we are on types of a squirrel that have naturally longer lifespan than another squirrel.
1. Grey squirrel
Grey squirrel is very common squirrel type which you can see in any parts of states, and they can also be found in various regions and continents. Grey squirrel might not look like longevity animals, but with great care in the right hand, they can live up for at least 8 to 10 years. It was distinct greyish with slight brownish fur, along with black stripe fur will easily distinguishable for any kind of squirrel.
If you want to adopt grey squirrel, keep it in mind that not every state and country allow domestication of the grey squirrel. In many states, it is illegal to take grey squirrel at home and keep them in captivity. Although some states are fine, and you can find a handful of breeder that breed this squirrel. If you found abandoned baby grey squirrel make sure you know the law in your states first.
2. Rock squirrel
Rock squirrel is native from the southern part of North America, and in some part of Mexico. This squirrel might look really similar with prairie dog and offer many distinguish feature from a prairie dog. Some people might even can’t differentiate between this type of squirrel with a prairie dog, Common mistakes for everyone, as they are both comes from the same family, and they are both actually considered as a squirrel.
Rock squirrel had distinguished greyish fur with speckles of white underneath their fur. Their belly fur is also white too. Rock squirrel could reach up for more than 7 years in captivity, however, the owner should provide their squirrel with other squirrel friends and provides much attention they need as rock squirrel is a very social animal and they need more attention and affection from its owner.
3. Flying squirrel
You might already know about flying squirrel like sugar glider but actually, there are other kinds of its. Flying squirrel is probably by far the most popular kind of pets squirrel and you might already know about it. Flying squirrel is highly sociable, can bond with its owner, easy to train and take care of, and they are also very cute pet to have. Flying squirrel actually can’t fly like its name. They only glide using membrane between their hind legs and back legs then glide from tree to trees or places to places. If taken care of correctly, the flying squirrel can reach up for more than 6 years in captivity.
4. Prairie dog
You might doubt about naming prairie dog as a kind of squirrel. However, the prairie dog is a squirrel. They come from the same family of squirrel and chipmunk but comes from different from the rodent family. The prairie dog is bigger than most of the squirrel, however, they are still squirreled after all. The differences are their diets and habitats. Squirrel mostly eats on nuts and fruits while live in hollow tree trunks while prairie dog mostly eats fiber and other kinds of vegetables and live in a burrowed nest.
5. Chipmunk
Some people might already know chipmunk as kinds of squirrel and become really popular thanks to popular film and comics “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. Chipmunks is kind of squirrel that have chubby cheek, big rotund body compared to another squirrel, with grey and brownish fur. Chipmunk is actually pretty easy to get, easy to take care of and have a decent lifespan.
That’s it on the 5 Types of Squirrels Which Have Long Life Periods If you found more interesting types of a squirrel or other kinds of guides and tips on taking care of squirrel or other animals, be sure to mention us in the comment section to give your opinion and share your ideas.