Easter grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

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The eastern gray squirrel can be identified by its greyish-brown fur with the underside a lighter color, and silvery hairs at the tip of its tail. Eastern gray squirrels measure 17-20 inches in length. They can be found in rural and urban environments, and are most often found near oak, elm, or beach trees. While they live mostly in trees, they forage for food on the ground, usually during the daytime. Their diet includes acorns, berries, tree back, and seeds, which they store away to be retrieved later. They can locate food stored in hundreds of locations, which involves digging up the earth and any plants nearby to get to its food storage. 

Females can carry up to 2 litters per year, bearing 1-4 young, which they raise in tree branches or just as easily in attic spaces. They build a nest called a drey out of twigs and leaves gather for this purpose. 

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Fox squirrel (Sciurus niger)

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Growing up to 28 inches in length, the fox squirrel is the largest squirrel in Florida, and is sometimes also called the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant's squirrel. Their fur can range from a pale yellow-brown to grey or even black, with lighter colored fur on their underside. Their tails are long and bushy and their hind legs are very strong, which enables them to jump with ease to get where they want to go. Fox squirrels inhabit large, open wooded areas, mangroves, and pine and cedar trees. While some subspecies of fox squirrel are considered protected species, in the western part of the Florida panhandle a subspecies called Sherman's fox squirrel abounds. They consume nuts, buds, seeds, and fungi, and occasionally insects or eggs. 

Breeding takes place twice during the year, in the middle of summer and at the end of winter, however a female will typically only breed during one or the other. Female fox squirrels carry a litter of 1-5 young for 44 days, then wean the young for 2-3 months. Unlike eastern grey squirrels, fox squirrels spend nearly all of their time on the ground. Even when confronted with a threat, a fox squirrel is more likely to run along the ground than seek shelter in trees, which they use mostly just to access areas that might otherwise be inaccessible. 

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Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans)

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Southern flying squirrels, which are also called assapans, are similar in length to the fox squirrel, with have grey and/or brown fur on top with darker colors on their sides and lighter colored fur on the underside. They are distinguished by a membrane called a patagium, extending between front and rear legs, that  allows them to "fly" (glide, really) through the air for a short distance. Unlike many other squirrels, the southern flying squirrel is more active at night than in the daytime. Their diet includes fruit, buts, mushrooms, fungi, dead animals, eggs, and flowers. 

Breeding occurs twice each year, yielding 2-7 young in each litter over a period of 40 days gestation. Southern flying squirrels are born blind for up to the first month of life. Females are able to find their young and their buried food stores accurately even after traveling as much as 1.2 miles away. Males tend to have a larger home area than females, up to 80,000 square meters. 

Disease is a particular risk associated with the southern flying squirrel, as it has been linked to transmission of epidemic typhus in humans. Their feces hosts bacteria that can become airborne and easily come into contact with humans, our food, and the air we breathe. This is made especially dangerous when they inhabit an attic space near air ducts or vents.