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Thread: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

  1. #21
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    it was just sooo scary, her eyes was bulging and she was druling..,, I could not get it off her fast enough..

  2. #22
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    I meant a harness. I don't think they make leashes for ferrets like they do for dogs. I personally wouldnt use one (too afraid they will strangle the squirrel of they get too hyper) but if Jakebb8100 really wants their squirrel to be able to play outside and not run away, it was a suggestion.

  3. #23
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    If need be I would suggest an outside cage,, but still in my opinion I would not suggest it.. as soon as he smells the wild or a female in season he will wild up and want out.. and it would be crule to cage him.

  4. #24
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Quote Originally Posted by jbtartell
    it umm good luck getting it on saftley...
    I got to laughing thinking about trying to harness a squirrel... still giggling on it....

    Hugs
    CSL

  5. #25
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    I did it and more than once but it was not easy and I will just say this lots Of BLOOD, mine

  6. #26
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Quote Originally Posted by jbtartell
    I did it and more than once but it was not easy and I will just say this lots Of BLOOD, mine

    Well at least you know where you stand with a squirrel.

    If they don't like what I am doing! WHAM! Bit!

    Hope your wounds have healed up giggle giggle.

    Hugs
    CSL

  7. #27
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Hi Jakebb..........I haven't been on the board much lately but I noticed your post and I wish to add something here , just from my own experience.
    I have a handicapped single squirrel his story is here
    http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/s...ht=sweet+simon

    I can not release him, I tried letting him play outside in the grass, didn't work
    I tried letting him play outside in a big cage, it didn't work.
    Now what I mean by it didn't work is I was offering him a chance to see , hear and smell something he really can never have, it made him nasty, depressed, ornery and just down right miserable. So I tried the no outside at all, no sights. no smells. no sounds, nothing...it took a while but now he has settled into what his life is like, inside. I have jungle gyms for him to climb, I give him wood to chew, he loves acorns and pine cones but he cant have very many of them because he has no blatter control and they make his urine very strong and he gets bad urine burns. Now I don't know your squirrel and they are all individuals just like us, but letting a squirrel who has never been outside, out, it is like letting your 4 year old toddler go for a walk around the block by himself.

    Simon's video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzpwo0r35l0

    “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.”
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  8. #28
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Nicely said SSM.. and yes they are healed all were scratches but deep ones that bled alot.. Sam never did bite but once.. and she wasnt going for me..

  9. #29
    dextersmom Guest

    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    [QUOTE=Jakebb8100]I have an adult squirrel named peanut and i want to let him outside to play and forge. He is too domesticated to be released knowing that he is not scared of dogs nor cats one bit and around where i live there are many stray cats who hunt squirrel. But i would like him to venture out and meet more squirrels and play in trees but i wanted to know if he would come back to me. I have taken him outside before and he did not just run away but he would get carried away sometimes and walk a little far but then i would just go and grab him. Im worried if he climbs up a huge tree he wont come down and i cannot get him. What should i do? and if he will try to venture away when i let him outside, what are some ways i can teach him to stay close? [/Q

    Dont worry,they become frightened with unfamiliar sounds and often return home,but not wanting to come back inside..they learn quickly from other squrrells and do quite well....

  10. #30
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    I can't tell you the number of stories of squirrels getting outside, getting spooked or carried away, and then running away. You shouldn't let him. If he's releasable, there is a process of letting them out which allows them to get acclimated first and learn to fend for themselves over time. If this one gets away, he may get lost, or attacked, or all manner of things. It is also argued that many unreleasable squirrels who are introduced to the outdoors start to wild up, which makes their indoor life unhappy. If he must go outside, you could build an outdoor cage, and I know that some people take their squirrels on brief trips while fitted with a vest and leash.

  11. #31
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Too many variables, too many risks, love your squirrel? Do right by it and protect it...the choice was made a long time ago when it was a baby Can't go back on it now. Only way I could ever see a squirrel allowing a harness on it would be to have it wearing one from day one....everyday...the incredible growing harness grows with your squirrel you're probably feeling guilty and projecting those feelings on your squirrel. My squirrel was released and was a neurotic little baby scared of her own shadow..not til we brought her in did she relax and become happy...sooo your squirrel is fine right where it is
    Make the world a better place...one animal at a time



    The Peace of Wild Things
    BY WENDELL BERRY
    When despair for the world grows in me
    and I wake in the night at the least sound
    in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
    I go and lie down where the wood drake
    rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
    I come into the peace of wild things
    who do not tax their lives with forethought
    of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
    And I feel above me the day-blind stars
    waiting with their light. For a time
    I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

  12. #32
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Quote Originally Posted by Jakebb8100
    I have an adult squirrel named peanut and i want to let him outside to play and forge. He is too domesticated to be released knowing that he is not scared of dogs nor cats one bit and around where i live there are many stray cats who hunt squirrel.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jakebb8100
    Yea he is too 'tame' to be released so you guys can go ahead and rule that option out. I know without a doubt he will get killed. anytime someone walks through the door and peanut is out he will jump on their shoulder all the time. He is also not aware of the natural predators that exist such as foxes or hawks.
    Quote Originally Posted by Jakebb8100
    my original question was how i could i let my squirrel play outside.
    :rock1

  13. #33
    ggraddy Guest

    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    I raised a baby squirrel from about 2 weeks old and now she's about 3 1/2 months old. I started taking her outside and letting her go up trees. The 3rd day she didn't come back down before it got dark. I worried all night about her. I went out first thing the next morning and there she was right where I had always put her when we went out. To make a long story short she eventually got to where she wanted to stay outside. I'll go outside and call for her and if she' around she'll always come down to me. I'll try to feed her, but she'd much rather play instead. She seems very happy. There are lots of other squirrels for her to play with. Just thought I'd tell my story since its different than everyone else's. By the way her name Squirrel Squirrel

  14. #34
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Be very careful with "my squirrel is out" and visitors, sooner or later there will be someone he perceives as a threat and they will get a nasty experience. I have participated and been the victim of these. We now have had over 30 squirrels here this summer and of those, two were tame, and "he has never bitten anyone" bit me. I had been handling other wildlife and he obviously didn't like it. We have two NR's and one that chose to be of our own. Have one young wild that hates my wife and she does great with most.
    Understand a nasty experience requires a doc-n-the box and sutures!! Look a Stosh's pics of what his guy did to his face, it could have been worse and this was his squirrel!!!!
    Please be careful and respect the tenacity of these little guys.

    With that said you should "love him and squeeze him and stroke his fur the wrong way"!!!!
    And I agree you have chosen for him to be an indoor squirrel. You will be his forever home and they are not puppy's that anyone can take care of and they don't travel well usually. Just promise everyone here that should you lose interest or be unable to care for him you will find him a forever home via this board.
    Florida Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator
    Director at "The Ark Wildlife Care and Sanctuary Inc."

    “It's not what people see you do, it's what you do when nobody is looking that defines you.”

  15. #35
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Quote Originally Posted by Jakebb8100 View Post
    my original question was how i could i let my squirrel play outside. I knew it was possible because i have seen it but i didnt know exactly how to do it or how to know weather or not he would run or stay or come back. Yes i saw the guy with the squirrel at the flea market so that is what led me to believe that it was possible to have a squirrel play outside. Obviously im not going to go up to the guy and ask what was the life story of your squirrel but seeing this let me know that it was actually POSSIBLE. i just didnt know how and that is what i was asking!
    Ok, I am going to take this question and say definitely that you can't. There are rare cases of someone being able to do so, but it is just that, RARE. These are wild animals. My Rex, who has never known the outside world, still does wild squirrel things because it is INSTINCTUAL. You can't make that go away. They have developed that instinct for millions of years and nothing you do will get rid of it. Just as many have said, you can't have it both ways. Do you really want to test this with Peanut, especially when it is a million to one longshot? Do you want to take a chance that Peanut will DIE because you are wrong? The reason you have seen it is because someone had a special squirrel. There is no trick. I don't even want to find out if Rex will do it because I WOULD NEVER TAKE THAT CHANCE with his life!!! You have a precious trust between you and Peanut. Don't risk throwing that away just because you want to show him off like a parrot.

  16. #36
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    Default Re: Can i let my pet squirrel play outside???

    Quote Originally Posted by stepnstone View Post
    :rock1
    Lolz!!

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