New baby squirrel, never done this before!

[Tinkzz]

Yesterday I stumbled upon a tiny baby squirrel in our driveway. I picked her up and put her in the grass and waited to see if the mother would come back. She chirpped a few times and I heard another baby chirp from the tree. A few moments later another baby fell out from the tree. He unfortunatly did not survive the fall and I am quite surprised that this little girl I have now did since it was so far up. I kept my eye on the little one and the mother did not seem to come back. We have a lot of neighborhood cats that prawl around and I didn't want one of them to get to her so I took the darling inside and began to read all about caring for baby squirrels.

We have determined that she is about 5 weeks old. We have been making her esbilac formula to eat and she has a pretty good apetite. She loves to cuddle in our hands and doesn't like being left in her cage. Everytime we put her in there she chirps at us until w come back for her. Our only concern is that yesterday and last night, we kept finding blood in her urine. The good news however is that today there is no blood. We are hoping that it stays that way for we have already bonded with this beautiful little girl. Everything seems to be okay on the outside, she is moving around as much as a 5 week old should without a problem.

Now for some questions!

She loves to burrow in the blankets that we put her in, but I am afraid that she is going to sufficaite herself if we leave one in her cage at night. Should we be concerned about that? For now we have 2 little beanie babies in there that she likes to cuddle up to.

Also we are absolutley set on keeping this little girl and are willing to take on the full comitment and responsibilities that come with her. With that said, she is obviously going to get bigger and Im not quite sure wat kind of cage to get her. Should we buy a big ferret cage? Or are there specially made cages for squirrels?

I wanted to know aswell if we should take her to a vet and/or if she needs to get shots?

Anyother advice that you guys would like to throw our way, please feel free to!

Now for some pictures!

http://i36.tinypic.com/am2ng6.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/2e2ja7r.jpg
http://i33.tinypic.com/28as1p5.jpg

[Tinkzz]

Yes we are feeding her in an upright position. It is soo cute the way she grabs hold of the syringe with her tiny little hands. This board has been sooo helpful. There is a ton of good information here.

I do not have a scale but I will go get one.We have been feeding her until her tummy looks full which is usually about 4-5 cc of formula. We have been looking out for more babies out by the tree but haven't seen any.

She really does like to cuddle. We have an old tshirt in with her now. Do I need to worry about her getting all tangled up in it? I just worry that she can't breath underneath there!:thankyou

[NaturesGift]

Hi I also live in Mo and If I could be of any help just give me a shout.

Ty for saving this lil girl. :thumbsup She is to adorable!

[Tinkzz]

It's good to know there is someone close to me here if I need it! I have another question. Right now we are feeding the baby with a 1cc syringe with no nipple. I have been to petsmart and petco to try to find syringes with nipples on them but have had no luck. I went to the squirrels and more website and I see soo many different ones. Which ones should I get and what nipples should I use? :dono

[FallensMommie]

Each squirrel varies on what nipples they do like. I see some that use the elongated nipples....but my little man gagged on them so I bought one and put a hole in it that didn't let the milk just free flow but required a little suckling action but not so much suckling action that they give up. You might want to upgrade to a 3 cc at this age which will require less filling up the syringes or swapping them out, but still go slow as you learn the ropes.

You might want to buy a few different types to see what yours prefers. I actually had to use two nipples as my little man didn't like anything to far in his mouth. I put a hole in one nipple so it fit over the other nipple and would adjust it according to how much mine like the length of the nipple tip.


It is important to keep your girl caged with time of free time so she gets used to her cage. She needs her cage when you are busy doing errands, cooking etc. and she needs to know that cage is home and a secure home at that.

I had a large bird cage for Fallen when he was young that I put a divider in until it was safe for him to climb and not fall and get hurt. At 8/9 weeks of age I took the divider out. He hated his cage so I allowed him free roam of the house which at this age is hard because they get into everything and break things and chewing is a big :hyper want to do and I have the proof :sanp3

Fallen is a long story to get you to the point....if cage chewing is a problem then I would recommend you build a cage...a LARGE CAGE and use 1/4" wire mesh to enclose it....from what I read squirrels can't gnaw on it therefore creating teeth problems and from what I have seen with Fallen he hasn't even tried to chew the 1/4" mesh wire but did chew on the 1/2" wire mesh. If you build your own DO NOT USE TREATED WOOD or plywood. Plus if she chooses to wild up it would make a great pre-release cage :thumbsup and building one is cheaper.

Good Luck with your little one...they are truly sweet creatures.



Here is a picture of the cage my hubby built. We are still waiting to build the bottom but are waiting on the Cage Replacement Pans that I ordered last week. We are building a base to house the pans and to create storage space for toys, litter, blankies, etc. I hope this gives you a idea. We did use plywood on the outside of the door but the inside is pine...with wire mesh in between.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a320/floridatlc/Family%20pictures/DSC08599.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a320/floridatlc/Family%20pictures/DSC08600.jpg

[foxsquirrels]

Tinkzz,
:Welcome What an adorable little girl. She is so lucky to have found you. You came to the right place for information and help. These people are great! We are in neighboring states, I am in OK. Glad to have you onboard. We love to see pictures, please keep them coming. Good luck with your new baby, sounds like she is off to a good start!

[Tinkzz]

Hi! I just wanted to give everyone an update on the lil baby squirrel we found. We took her to a place called Lakeside Nature Center today. They are going to take care of her and get her together with other baby squirrels her age so that she can be released back out into the wild. They are also going to send us a post card to let us know when they will be releasing her so that we can come see how well she is doing. I want to thank everyone on here for all the great help and information. You guys really do a wonderful job! Take care and thanks again.:thankyou

[island rehabber]

Tinkzz that sounds wonderful -- thank you for putting the squirrel FIRST!! :thumbsup :bowdown It is absolutely true that she will grow up far better socialized and able to survive in the wild because she has other squirrels to play with and learn from. Great outcome to a beautiful rescue -- :thankyou. Please stick around with us, it's lots of fun here even when you don't have a squirrel on hand. (I only have squirrels 7 months out of the year, but I'm here all year round :D.)

[Momma Squirrel]

What a great job and story, sounds like this little one will have a great life at this nature center and live to play and jump through the trees due to your great efforts as a squirrel mom :thumbsup :thankyou :thankyou

Please keep us updated on her progress and release.

[FallensMommie]

Awe...bless your heart, I think you made a magnificent decision on letting her be with others her age to play with and to socialize with...and to be released with :jump

[Tinkzz]

I will keep u guys posted and take pics of her release!!:)

[Sciurus1]

I just read you gave up this baby to this wonderful center. Thank you for caring for this baby to do that! :)