Day Six: An Education

Theodore watches everything as though he is studying for an exam. I brush my teeth. I fold laundry. I make coffee. I click away at the keyboard. His huge dark eyes follow. He sits quietly, like that nerdy kid in the front row. As he grows and gets fatter, I find myself worrying less about his health and more about his education.


Please stop paying attention now.

I mean, how many squirrels in the wild brew coffee? They aren't outside in the cold morning, leaning against a tree sipping at a steaming acorn mug. They probably don't have a tail signal for hot beverages. They focus on more squirrelish activities, like pretending to hide nuts.

They do that.

I read all about how obsessed they are with hiding their stashes from each other. Like furry little drug addicts, they are constantly paranoid another squirrel is watching them. They have been observed reburying nuts up to five times. Somehow they memorize all of this and keep track of which ones are about to germinate.

Squirrels have a huge field of vision, by the way. And natural built in sunglasses. That must be nice. You'd never misplace them.

By Day 6, I realized I need to plan for his education. I need to get creative and teach him useful skills like jumping.

Some things seem instinctual. Potty training, for example, appears to be hardwired into him. He has started alerting me when he needs to go. When I put him in his hamster cage, he goes in the corner. I read that they NEVER go in their nests. Oddly, Polar Bear is following his example.

Yeah.

My squirrel potty trained my rat.

Now I am working on my squirrel education. BBC has some interesting videos
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Eastern_gray_squirrel#p007g7yv