Baby Squirrel

[Tywais]

Before anyone jumps on me with the 'should leave it to nature bit', the parent(s) apparently were killed by birds and the nest destroyed so limited options when it comes to helping the little guy out. The guy feeding her is experienced and knows how to care for it. He said you can't just put it into another squirrel family nest as it would be unaccepted. She was really lapping the milk up. Pretty noisy guy also with a high pitched squeak. Anyway, enjoy a rather unusual photo/video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nOMYQ3SAWs

[Goshawk]

odds are heavily stacked against it surviving under these circumstances, but i really hope it does.. fingers crossed & keep us informed Tywais.

[Tywais]

odds are heavily stacked against it surviving under these circumstances, but i really hope it does.. fingers crossed & keep us informed Tywais.

I just did a little research on the caring of baby squirrels and see it is not as simple as I thought. The articles state it must be returned to the wild within a few weeks or it won't survive. Also dehydration is a critical factor and NOT to give it milk/formula until re-hydrated. I believe he has done this before successfully but will see what happens after I get back to work Tuesday (long holiday weekend).

When he first showed me the squirrel partly covered with a blanket in the box, immediate thought was a bird (chick) than closer look thought it was a rat.

[wolf5370]

You are always finding baby animals in distress arn't you - what happened to the owls last year (or was it the year before???)

[Tywais]

You are always finding baby animals in distress arn't you - what happened to the owls last year (or was it the year before???)

There were two sets at two different times and believe they are safely back to the wilds.

[wolf5370]

You are always finding baby animals in distress arn't you - what happened to the owls last year (or was it the year before???)

There were two sets at two different times and believe they are safely back to the wilds.

That's great news (was thinking about the one that you rescued from red ants - I think - by CMU). In the UK my cat brought in a fledgling black bird - no feathers at all, but eyes open. Much to his chargrin (the cat's), I took it away from him - and over the next few months hand reared him (including mashing up meal worms and watering with an eye dropper every hour as first) - he used to sit on my shoulder as I washed his cage out in the garden. He took to clumsily flying around the house - the sadest and happiest day was when he (I say he - but they are a year old before they can be sexed without x-ray) went back to the wild. He was on my shoulder as I washed his cage out and suddenly he flew up over the trees at the end of my garden - about 40 feet high spruces - he flew a bit with the local birds as I watched (he was much slower - needing the exercise, but kept trying). He came back and landed on a branch next to me at head hight (on my oak tree - low branches) and sat there watching me for about two minutes while I spoke to him - them he flew off and was gone. I like to think he came to say thanks and good bye (sentamental crap probably), but a teary eyed moment for sure. Nice to know that he is likely to live some forty years and produce many offsping in that time. We named him scruffy because of the state of him on day one.