A color-changing squirrel conundrum

We have a squirrel living in our backyard that is turning from brown fur to gray/white fur. This has been happening for about a month. Started on the head. Is this normal, or does the squirrel have some kind of disease?

An Eastern Gray Squirrel (ODNR)

For our two common backyard squirrels (the gray squirrel and the fox squirrel), it’s normal for growing squirrels to undergo a “spring molt.”

For gray squirrels, this typically involves slight change in color and follows a distinct head-to-tail pattern.  (It’s described quite well on the Wild Adirondacks website.)

Since you mentioned that your squirrel is growing in to gray/white fur, our best guess is that it’s a juvenile gray squirrel growing into its adult colors.

Another possibility is that you’ve spotted a squirrel with the inherited piebald color pattern. (You can find some great photos of piebald-colored fox squirrels in Texas here.)

Diseases like mange, scabies, and fungal skin infections typically result in patches of hair loss rather than color changes.

Keep an eye on your local squirrel, and feel free to send us a photo if you can!

(Of course, if you really want to get into the details of the coloration of gray squirrels, you can always join in the Squirrel Mapper citizen science project. It’s actually a lot of fun!)

Thanks for your question!

-Naturalists Chris Mentrek & Denise Wolfe