Squirrels, dormice, and white mice are sometimes kept in
captivity by those whose lives are chiefly spent in towns, and
who have no knowledge of the wild and frolicsome creatures
in their native haunts; but they appear to lead very unnatural
lives in confinement, and are not very desirable pets for
the house. It is difficult to keep their cages quite sweet and
clean. All may be domesticated, however, and are, we believe,
capable of attachment to their owners. We have never kept
any ourselves, but our brothers had dormice from time to time,
and several small families were born and brought up under their
care, but most of them came to an untimely end.
The Squirrel. — The squirrel seems so delightfully free and
happy, playing about on the tops of the tallest trees in the
woods, launching himself boldly into the air, and taking tre-
mendous leaps from branch to branch, that, after seeing the
pretty little creature at his ease, one does not feel inclined to
deprive him of the liberty he seems so thoroughly to enjoy;
but if he is captured, his life ought to be made as happy as
228 DOMESTIC PETS.
possible, and he should be allowed as much exercise as he
can have in the house. His cage should be at least three or four
feet long and three or four feet high, and instead of the revolving
cylinder, which is very injurious to the little prisoner, he
should have a good-sized branch of a tree, to form perches for
him, and be able to frisk about at pleasure in his little parlor,
A little sleeping-box must be attached to this, with a door at
the back, and the board forming the floor should be drawn out
like that of a bird cage. Every part of the cage must be kept
as clean as possible, and the moss and cotton wool, which
must be put into the squirrel's bedroom, must be changed near-
ly every day. The active little creature does not often live long
in confinement; but if taken young, and very carefully man-
aged, it may become a very tame and a very engaging pet, and
may sometimes be trusted to frolic about out of doors when
tame enough to return at his owner's call. His cage should,
however, be lined with tin; for he is apt to gnaw the wood with
his sharp little teeth when impatient of confinement. He should
be fed on nuts, almonds, filberts, beech masts, walnuts, acorns,
wheat in the ear, and fir cones; and he is fond of milk, cold
tea, and bread and milk. A little bit of boiled potato, and
even a tiny morsel of cooked meat, may be given as a treat, and
a stale crust of bread to gnaw. All creatures require variety
in their food, and in his wild state the squirrel gets animal food
by robbing birds' nests of their eggs occasionally. He lays up
a store of food for the winter in various holes and crevices,
and is much too acute ever to put by a nut in which a maggot has
been, or to miss the place where his treasure is concealed, even
when several inches depth of snow covers the ground. The
female is a very affectionate mother, and will remain with her
young in the nest even while the tree in which it is, is cut
down, or will carry them, one after another, in her mouth, to a
place of safety. She generally builds on the topmost branches
of the fir tree, and the nest is made of dry grass and sticks,
very slightly yet firmly put together, and lined with fur, which
she scratches off her body before the young ones are born.
Page 158
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Squirrels, dormice, and white mice are sometimes kept in captivity by those whose lives are chiefly spent in towns, and who have no knowledge of the wild and frolicsome creatures in their native haunts; but they appear to lead very unnatural lives in confinement, and are not very desirable pets for the house. It is difficult to keep their cages quite sweet and clean. All may be domesticated, however, and are, we believe, capable of attachment to their owners. We have never kept any ourselves, but our brothers had dormice from time to time, and several small families were born and brought up under their care, but most of them came to an untimely end.
The Squirrel. — The squirrel seems so delightfully free and happy, playing about on the tops of the tallest trees in the woods, launching himself boldly into the air, and taking tremendous leaps from branch to branch, that, after seeing the pretty little creature at his ease, one does not feel inclined to deprive him of the liberty he seems so thoroughly to enjoy; but if he is captured, his life ought to be made as happy as
possible, and he should be allowed as much exercise as he can have in the house. His cage should be at least three or four feet long and three or four feet high, and instead of the revolving cylinder, which is very injurious to the little prisoner, he should have a good-sized branch of a tree, to form perches for him, and be able to frisk about at pleasure in his little parlor, A little sleeping-box must be attached to this, with a door at the back, and the board forming the floor should be drawn out like that of a bird cage. Every part of the cage must be kept as clean as possible, and the moss and cotton wool, which must be put into the squirrel's bedroom, must be changed nearly every day. The active little creature does not often live long in confinement; but if taken young, and very carefully managed, it may become a very tame and a very engaging pet, and may sometimes be trusted to frolic about out of doors when tame enough to return at his owner's call. His cage should, however, be lined with tin; for he is apt to gnaw the wood with his sharp little teeth when impatient of confinement. He should be fed on nuts, almonds, filberts, beech masts, walnuts, acorns, wheat in the ear, and fir cones; and he is fond of milk, cold tea, and bread and milk. A little bit of boiled potato, and even a tiny morsel of cooked meat, may be given as a treat, and a stale crust of bread to gnaw. All creatures require variety in their food, and in his wild state the squirrel gets animal food by robbing birds' nests of their eggs occasionally. He lays up a store of food for the winter in various holes and crevices, and is much too acute ever to put by a nut in which a maggot has been, or to miss the place where his treasure is concealed, even when several inches depth of snow covers the ground. The female is a very affectionate mother, and will remain with her young in the nest even while the tree in which it is, is cut down, or will carry them, one after another, in her mouth, to a place of safety. She generally builds on the topmost branches of the fir tree, and the nest is made of dry grass and sticks, very slightly yet firmly put together, and lined with fur, which she scratches off her body before the young ones are born.