Squirrel Cache Condo
View of the Cache
Condo |
After building
my first nest box, I did a little more research on the habits of red
squirrels in the wild. When available, red squirrels will create chambers
for food storage and place to build a nest inside the hollow of a tree.
The Cache Condo was built with this in mind. I wanted to Recreate the
hollow tree system that a squirrel may find in the wild.
To do this I built a central tunnel with four separate chambers branching off of it. Squirrels naturally prefer having more than one entrance and exit, (for escape purposes from preditors) So I provided an entrance at the top of the Condo and another at the very bottom. This bottom entrance/exit, literally allows the squirrel to run straight up the tree and into the condo, while being able to exit out the top. Good way to trick other animals which the squirrel may want to hide from. In three of the chambers I placed a handful of different nuts, to give Her the idea, but in the 3rd chamber I placed sheeps wool for nesting material. It worked prefectly. 30 minutes after I finished placing the Condo up in the tree, Winnie had begun exploring It. Within an hour she was already storing food in it, and by 4th day, she had spent his first night there. She still hasn't spent a night in the First NestBox I built, but she has filled it with food. Within the first week Winnie had returned carrying peanuts I had given her month ago. One by one she brought them back from her old nest in the neighbours Garden shed, to the new home in the condo. The Two feeders, the nest box fill with food, the birdbath for water, and the 4 chambered Cache Condo were to attractive for her to resist, she needed closer quarters to watch over her new domain. |
| Here
is a cut-away drawing of the Cache Condo. Access is gained by two
openings, one at the top and the other at the bottom of a tunnel that runs
through the center of the structure. The chambers branch off from the
interior of the tunnel to the left and right.
If you are thinking about building a Cache Condo of your own for Grey Squirrels, you probably would want to increase the overall dimensions of the Condo due to the fact that Grey's are quite a bit larger than Reds. I don't even know if Grey Squirrels would like a condo of this type, but they probably would, squirrels are squirrels. | Plan View
Drawing |
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The Cache Condo is mounted about 18 feet
up in a poplar tree which is approx. 6 feet higher than the Nestbox. Winnie
has since moved in and has been quite busy filling the chambers with a
variety of nuts. Placing the Condo in the tree required a ladder (which wasn't long enough) a 60 foot length of static line with a pully and me suited in a climbing harness. Luckly for me a friend happened by while I was merrily swinging from limb to limb and offered a hand. Even with help, it took 1 and a half hours to complete the job. I'm sure the neighbours had lots to talk about around the dinner table that night. lol :) |
| Bottom shot of the condo
showing the bottom entrance. Winnie can run straight up the tree into the Condo and exit from the top. |  |
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Another shot taken from a ladder. The Cache Condo is mounted into the tree with two 6" galvinized lag bolts. |
| Winnie checking out the new "Untreated Cedar" feeder. This feeder replaces the old rotten blue and white feeder that was falling apart. Squirrels can be prone to calcium deficieny, So they will often chew on disgarded deer antler to get their calcium needs. I wasn't able to find any deer willing to part with their horns so I had to settled with a large white bone purchased from a pet store. The bone is held in place with a single stainless steel bolt that is mounted through the bottom of the feeder. You can see the bone just inside the doorway. |  |
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Another condo shot. Where's Winnie?
She's watching me from a nearby tree the whole time I was taking these shots. Actors are so fussy about their appearance. :) ) |
| Shot through a zoom lens with the zoom pulled way back. Kind of interesting. |  |
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Good shot of the top entrance. Durning
bad wheather, Winnie likes to sit just inside and peek out the top. It has snowed since this shot was taken and the roof provides a little snow cashe for Winnie to chew on whenever she needs a drink. |