Dear Prudence,
My mom and I have been living together in a town house complex for the past seven years. We have a tall tree in front of our unit that is home to a couple of squirrels. My mom and I leave nuts along the stone wall border of our front yard directly in front of our door. In the seven years that we’ve been doing this, we haven’t noticed any increase in the squirrel population or any mess apart from the nutshells that are left along our wall. We haven’t gotten any complaints either—until now. My mother found a note on our wall from one of our neighbors. In the note, we were asked not to place food on their side of the wall as “the squirrels will attract fleas.”
We have never placed food close to the neighbor’s side of the wall. We always keep it in front of our door. My mother and I have not noticed any fleas, nor have we been bitten. We do not have pets. I don’t think our neighbors on either side of us have pets.
I tried doing my own research and came up with conflicting answers. Some sources said that the fleas that are attracted to squirrels don’t usually prey on humans or cats and dogs. But other sources have said that they do. I’m unsure how to approach this, as my mother and I are really fond of the squirrels and want to keep feeding them. We also want to acknowledge our neighbor’s concerns as well, without this issue escalating to the point of getting HOA involved.
—Squirrelly Neighbors