Management Problem Gallery

Squirrel Damage
Image courtesy of Becky Carroll, Oklahoma State University

Squirrel Damage on Tree
Image courtesy of Becky Carroll, Oklahoma State University

Management Problem

Name: Squirrel Damage

Secondary Name:

Source: Southern flying squirrels create shelters to raise their young or as a daytime refuge. They store food within their nests which are commonly made of bark. These nests are usually made in already existing tree cavities in dead or live trees where a broken limb or fungal decay has created an empty compartment. Flying squirrels are social creatures that do not hibernate so they are active year-round. They sometimes have aggregate nests where up to 50 squirrels live together, but usually the number is between 10 and 20. Studies have shown that one flying squirrel could store as many as 15,000 nuts in one season.

Description: The diet of a Southern flying squirrel includes pecans as well as acorns and other nuts, insects, spiders, slugs, snails, tree buds, flowers, berries, fungi, eggs, bark cambium, and tree sap. They can damage trees and limbs causing decreased yields and tree death. The squirrels may hoard large quantities of nuts in tree cavities. They open nuts with their incisors and the damage has smooth edges and oval in shape.