Squirrel

A couple weeks ago I made a post about a baby squirrel I had adopted. I really had no choice in the matter. I guess I could have squershed the little guy but it was my fault he was orphaned.

We have black squirrels and chipmunks all over the place and they are feeder robbers. I don't want to kill them so I have a live trap and catch them and relocate them about four miles away. I have relocated over 20 of the suckers. I don't do it during breeding season as I don't want to have any baby's starving.

Well I screwed up. I relocated three of the things a few weeks back and the next day I found two baby squirrels in the lawn. One was dead and the other was sorta stunned. The nest was about 70 ft up and it is amazing they both didn't die. I figure one of the ones I relocated the day before was a mother and these little guys got hungry and came out and fell. I felt like a dang jerk and figured it was up to me to raise the guy until he is big enough to turn loose.

It is hard to find an eyedropper with a size of a squirrels nipple and in fact I had no idea how big a squirrels nipple was. I went to the drug store and told the gal I needed a baby bottle with a squirrels nipple on it. She gave me one of those looks.

I finally settled on one that I thought was rather big but the regular eyedropper would take for ever to feed him. I got some half and half and home I went. I heated the milk up and proceeded to start feeding him. Man that little sucker was starved and sucking like a pro. The problem was he got too much and was snorting the stuff out his nose. Man he spraying that milk all over the place but kept trying. Between the two of us we figured out how to do it so he would not drown but honestly, it took two weeks to get it right. That poor guy.

It is very interesting raising these little guys. I have done it with red squirrels too and if they are not eating, they are sleeping. I think that is the way nature protects them in the nest because if they ate and then ran around, they would not last long in the dang tree.

After a week I tried to see if he would eat some peanut butter and put some on a cookie. Man he went for that! Made a dang mess but he got most of it down. It made it easier with the milk too as he would fill up on the peanut butter and cookie and just drink a little milk.

I started slippin a few nuts in too and seeds and he started working on them, As you can see in the pictures, he has grown quite a bit. The first two are the original ones, right after I found him and the rest I took today.

I came up to Roscommon today, just me and my squirrel for a couple weeks. We are having some open houses and Mary throws me out so I won't make a mess of the house. "Please mister, don't throw me in that briar patch" :D:D:D: I have a lot to do up here to keep me busy.

I brought the squirrel with the intention of letting him get some freedom in preparation of turning him loose.

He is very tame and I am his mama. As soon as I got him I took off my t-shirt and let him use it as bedding. I wanted him to get used to my scent and every time I change his bedding I do the same. He has never even offered to bite and is very gentle.

right after I got here today I took his cage, a canary cage, out on the deck and took him out. I just put him on my shoulder and went for a walk around the yard and up to check the mail. He likes this and climbs all over me, in fact the little guy climbed on top of my dang head! Now I gotta tell you that they have sharp little claws! I took him off but not before he shit on my dang head.

I went back around the house and sat on the deck again. Man he was looking all over the place in wonder. I just took him off my shoulder and put him on the railing and sat back to see what he would do. If he took off, fine but I would let him decide when that would be.

He looked around and moved a little bit. This was his first shot of real freedom. He looked over at me and I kept talking to him. He finally jumped down on the deck and it was fun to watch him explore his new world. He finally jumped to the ground and I just sat the watching. He then disappeared under the deck. Now we would see. I went out in the yard and looked over the flower beds, every once in a while looking back to see if he had reappeared. He was under there exploring for about ten minutes and finally came out. He looked like he was looking for me, which he probably was as I am his mama. :D

I walked over and put my hand down and he jumped on and was soon on my shoulder again. This time we went for a longer walk, I just wanted him to get used to the sounds of the woods, we are in a thick woods. I took him to a small tree and put him in it. He was not sure about this now. :D He climbed a bit but when I got close he jumped to my chest again. Oh well, maybe tomorrow:D

Finally I ended back at the deck again and put him on the railing again. It is fun watching him explore. I noticed the bird feeders were empty so I just left him there to explore and went around the house to the garage to get a can of bird feed. I got it and walked back around the house and the little sucker was setting on the railing, sopping wet. What the heck? Man he was a chattering at me and I could see he wanted me to pick him up. I reached down and he jumped for me and ran up and nestled against my neck. That guy was soaked.

I looked down at his little wet footprints and back tracked him. They came from a big empty planter in the corner. I looked in and it had at least a foot of water in it from the rain. He must have been exploring it and slipped in. Man he could have drown and I do know it shook him up a bit. I had a little hand towel and dried him off. He seemed to appreciate it.

He is not in his cage asleep and we will do it again tomorrow. I want to release him as soon as I can but it will be his decision.

The north country is coming alive. As I have been typing this I have been watching the back. I have seen hummingbirds, Red Breasted Grosbeak, Orioles, Pileated Woodpeckers and right now some doves on the feeder. The woods are alive and I just love it.

"Don't throw me in that briar patch" :D

Ain't much of a story maybe but it is how I spent the last few hours. I just wanted to share it with my friends.