Baby Squirrel, a Fond Memory

A few years ago my neighbor found two baby squirrels; the cat had gotten the mother and the babies had puncture marks. 

Did I want to raise one?  Sure, my nurturing nature kicked in.  So I took it right in the middle of yard work. 

Now what?  I went online and found a wonderful article on how to raise and release squirrels. 

The most important thing was NOT to use puppy milk from the pet store.  It will kill the baby squirrel.  Use scalded milk only.  That is what I did and she thrived, unlike her brother at the neighbors.





I kept her in an aquarium for the first few weeks, laying on a towel on a heating pad on low.  I fed her every 3 or 4 hours during the day and did not have to feed her at night.  I used an eye dropper.  She finally grew fur and started to look like a squirrel.  As she got bigger, I added a branch in the aquarium and started giving her fruit and vegetables.

   
When she got too big for the aquarium, I built her a screen house so she would be safe from my 3 house cats.  I would take her out of her cage and she would crawl all over me and run back to her house.  She graduated to a hanging water bottle and nuts!
 

   

When she was 6 months old , it was time to release her, so I set her house outside and continued to feed her and play with her. I have a fenced-in yard, so she was safe.  Every day she got braver and walked in the yard a little further each time.