wordsfromanneli

Thoughts, ideas, photos, and stories.

Biting the Hand that Feeds

45 Comments

I pushed my luck today. I did a dumb thing and offered Lincoln his breakfast from my hand instead of putting it in a jar as I usually do.  I had a palm full of sunflower seeds and I guess he wanted some meat with his seeds.

The first nip didn’t hurt, so I thought I’d wait to see if he took the seeds next, but he took a bigger nip of my finger and that’s when I decided to let him get his own breakfast from the jar. The bit of blood makes it look worse than it is, but I did check out diseases you can get from squirrel bites. I won’t put my hand out to him again. Lesson learned.

It was awkward taking a picture of my right hand with my left, but “you get the picture.”

A nearby junco saw the whole thing and I heard him say, like Tweetie, “Ooooooh! Dat hadda hurt!”

Meanwhile, Lincoln went back to enjoying his quiet breakfast, sassy little guy. After all, he is a wild animal, and not a pet. Wake up call for Anneli.

Lincoln ate sunflower seeds for breakfast while I had humble pie.

Author: wordsfromanneli

Writing, travel, photography, nature, more writing....

45 thoughts on “Biting the Hand that Feeds

  1. I was warning you earlier! A bit of polysporin and a bandaide over it will do – LOL! He is so cute and he showed you who is the boss on the woodpile.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Yikes Anneli! Do you need a rabies injection? The Junco is adorable. 🥰

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I don’t want to be an alarmist but you might call your doctor. Animal bites are nothing to fool around with.😬

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Hi, Juanita’s sister here—I think squirrels have poor eyesight. I got nipped by one at Woodland Park Zoo trying to give him a peanut—he missed and got the tip of my finger!!

    Liked by 1 person

    • I think this happens to people frequently. The captain had a similar experience. I think the squirrels were trying to tell him (and you) that they don’t like peanuts. I read that they aren’t good for them (being legumes, not nuts). I made the same mistake at first. But as for being nipped, so glad you shared that, Rita, and good to know you survived it.

      Like

  5. Hi Anneli.
    I sure hope nothing bad develops from this “Bite”
    Sometimes the cuteness factor of animals and their behavior takes our caution away.
    One can not usually trust people 100%, much less wild animals, although the reason for this bite is probably not malicious.
    Cheers !

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I love the little juncos. 🙂

    I hope you’re okay and you don’t start growing a fuzzy tail and running over the furniture. 😉

    Like

  7. I can just see me busy as a squirrel with a big feather duster, scampering all over the place swishing away the dog hair that fills our house constantly. I’ll let you know if that happens!

    Like

  8. He is cute, but their teeth are sharp. I’d take care of that bite.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Uh oh! Good luck with healing!
    Stay safe,
    Pit

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Oh no – that squirrel was bold! I hope your hand heals well.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. I have to agree with Susie. Keep an eye on it. This is why I don’t like squirrels! I don’t like them attacking my blogging buddies or coming into our attic.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. You sure are forgiving of Lincoln, Miss Anneli. That bite looked like it hurt. Keep it clean and I’m sure you’ll be fine, but keep an eye out for that bushy tail out your backside. 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    • You know how fingers can bleed. It was just a tiny puncture and I had wiped the blood off but by the time I got the camera pointed at my hand, another little puddle of blood had seeped out. I still think he’s the sweetest thing.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. In the eight years I had my pet squirrel, I got my share of bites — three or four, as I recall. He always warned when he was in a bad mood; I just didn’t always take him seriously. The funniest time was after he’d gotten into some fermented mesquite beans. He was a mean drunk!

    Liked by 2 people

  14. OH NO!! Make sure it doesn’t start getting hot and red. Keep us updated. We care!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Oh man… swift healing and may a well timed acorn fall on his head to serve him his just desserts!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Cute and adorable but still we need to be cautious. Take care.

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Oh, ouch. I feel that bite. Some years back, I was trying to get an injured grey squirrel into a box for medical treatment when it panicked and sunk its nutcracker teeth into my thumb. The volume of blood was astonishing. I went round to the hospital to check there was no fracture and to get a tetanus jab, and told the receptionist in the accident and emergency room that I’d been bitten by a squirrel. She tried to keep a straight face. She failed.

    PS I’m sure there’s no rabies issues here, but for what it’s worth, any suspected injury from a rabid animal should be immediately scrubbed out with soapy water. Thereafter, one has to submit to being jabbed with enormous needles repeatedly for weeks. I know courtesy of an incident in Alberta in 2007. :s

    Liked by 1 person

    • I believe you, Adele. I know that there has been the occasional rabid bat on Vancouver Island but I’m pretty sure we are okay here. I hope I’m right anyway. If I stop putting posts up after April 30 you’ll know it got me!

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Oh no! Naughty Lincoln. I’m glad it wasn’t at worse, Anneli.

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment