Should she stay or should she go

[eezzeee]

I need some advice, I live in Maryland and my baby squirrel is now 11 weeks old. Should I keep her or let her go into the wild .?
She is very active and doing all the right squirrel stuff. I have a nice room for her with ficus trees and life is good for her there.
It is getting cold outside and the leaves are allmost gone from the trees but she is acting like an adult squirrel and is eating good.
She loves me and plays and is potty trained, she only goes on the board that I made for her.
I am attached but I want to do what is right for her.
Any advice would be appreciated -- Thanks Erik

[mugzeezma]

I need some advice, I live in Maryland and my baby squirrel is now 11 weeks old. Should I keep her or let her go into the wild .?
She is very active and doing all the right squirrel stuff. I have a nice room for her with ficus trees and life is good for her there.
It is getting cold outside and the leaves are allmost gone from the trees but she is acting like an adult squirrel and is eating good.
She loves me and plays and is potty trained, she only goes on the board that I made for her.
I am attached but I want to do what is right for her.
Any advice would be appreciated -- Thanks Erik
at 11 weeks squirrels are still very sweet. Invariably they want to be out in the trees to be who they are born to be. It is tough to have a singleton in that they really bond. As she gets older she will become more active, more wild. Instinct will kick in and she will build nests all over your house and hide food items in crazy places.You can do one of 2 things.
**You can let her decide when the time comes...watch for pacing at the window and aggressive behavior. It will take longer to wild her back up.
**prepare her for the wild by building her a large cage. You should try to find another squirrel for her to play with near her age to minimize your contact. In the spring soft release.
Squirrels require a great deal of attention and a varied and rather specialized diet to prevent MBD. They can live a very long time. 10-20 years if all goes well. they require a lot of space and as a singleton she will need to play and interact with you a couple of hours daily. She will also need a rich environment to be physically and mentally stimulated.
Squirrels are very intelligent and they can also be destructive. THey chew up electronics, wood moldings, and furniture like candy and shred draperies with sharp claws. They DON"T LIKE STRANGERS. Expect friends and loved ones to be bitten HARD. You cannot find someone to pet sit a squirrel. She will pine for you.
If Maryland has laws against keeping wildlife you will not be able to have a veterinarian take care of her if she gets injured or sick. If she bite someone She may be confiscated and destroyed.

This is a very serious commitment and not to be taken lightly.
if you plan on releasing her then you must either give her to an experienced rehabber who will overwinter her or you will have to prepare her for release yourself. You MUST NOT allow her around dogs and cats and she will have to learn to be independent of you to the point that she does not run up to you.
Anything else is a death sentence.

Do what is right for both of you

[Skul]

If you have the means to adapt the squirrel to the outdoors, please do so.
Right now, she can most likely adapt and survive.
Give it some serious thought.
Over-wintering can be a real pain.
(been there)

[Kristal]

On the other hand, 11 weeks is definitely too young to release, but you could start getting her used to the outside world at that age. 16 weeks is generally considered the youngest to do it safely, but some rehabbers keep them until they are 6 months old. According to someone whose advice I trust, it is not safe to do a full release unless you still have green leaves on the mast trees, as they are apparently called. Those are things like oaks, maples and chestnuts that produce staple foods for the wild squirrel diet.

Mine are around 15 weeks old. They are still just as sweet as you like, and I don't see any signs of that changing. I've never been bitten hard, and if they are a bit rough during play they try to make it up to me by being extra gentle afterwards. I can literally take food from their mouths with hardly any argument, though I almost never do. They get a LOT of outside cage time, though. I guess they get between 3 and 6 hours a day with hardly any exception days. So they don't get too angsty and bored, I guess :dono I am not finding it hard to keep older juvie kits at all, and I thought it would be. It is true about their being destructive, however.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qi4Ev59-5jE/TNdzcLJpOXI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/eaHYu0ooHzQ/s640/DSCF5316.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qi4Ev59-5jE/TNd1dSCc2tI/AAAAAAAAAoA/rMP8hrS5Yto/s640/DSCF5282.JPG

My books and the nest they dug in the big hanging plant ;)

[eezzeee]

I let her out today but she did not want to go , she is back in her room for the night. I take the whole cage -- her original box -- her ficus trees and her toys outside and put them on the deck, I have a fenced wooded lot. She ran around the yard a little and collected things to put in her box, then told me that she wanted to go back in, so I let her in. Most of the trees still have leaves, and I am going to work her out slowly day by day. There is about 8 squirrels that live in my yard that I do feed - nuts and seed.
Thanks for the advice. Erik

[RockyRocko]

ISN'T 11 WEEKS TOO YOUNG??????

She is too little!!! I am hoping you get more advice from the other memebers
who have more experience, but for myself, I WOULD OVER-WINTER!!!!!!

THEY ARE A HUGE RESPONSABILITY!!! BUT IT IS WORHT IT!!!!

[Kristal]

Yea, even now I could not see them being ready for outside. They just seem to be developing a bit of common squirrel sense. It depends on the kit, as some must just be more serious, like Mugzeema's Ani, but they are really babies at that age, for the most part. Their mom would still be occasionally nursing and keeping a close eye on them in the wild.

I watched a family with kits about the same age and size as mine are not long ago - about 4 weeks, in fact, so we are talking about the same age as your squee is now. Mom was encouraging them to follow her and learn about the good things to eat, but they were all about goofing off and playing. She never let them out of her sight. Occasionally one would come and "help" with building the winter pantry, but they were total kids, for the most part. And that is in the wild, right? Those squirrel kits had the advantage of an entire lifetime outdoors, and they were still just goofy kids at that age.

[mugzeezma]

ISN'T 11 WEEKS TOO YOUNG??????

She is too little!!! I am hoping you get more advice from the other memebers
who have more experience, but for myself, I WOULD OVER-WINTER!!!!!!

THEY ARE A HUGE RESPONSABILITY!!! BUT IT IS WORHT IT!!!!

YES
11 weeks is too soon. In the wild they are out and about but not totally weaned. They come back home.She MIGHT be OK but she will need to be fully fed and watered and sheltered throughout the winter. They need GREEN leaves to build their dreys according to the Casey's of Wildagain.
Because she is a singleton she may be in a better position outside being around her own kind rather than becoming habituated.

[mugzeezma]

Yea, even now I could not see them being ready for outside. They just seem to be developing a bit of common squirrel sense. It depends on the kit, as some must just be more serious, like Mugzeema's Ani, but they are really babies at that age, for the most part. Their mom would still be occasionally nursing and keeping a close eye on them in the wild.

I watched a family with kits about the same age and size as mine are not long ago - about 4 weeks, in fact, so we are talking about the same age as your squee is now. Mom was encouraging them to follow her and learn about the good things to eat, but they were all about goofing off and playing. She never let them out of her sight. Occasionally one would come and "help" with building the winter pantry, but they were total kids, for the most part. And that is in the wild, right? Those squirrel kits had the advantage of an entire lifetime outdoors, and they were still just goofy kids at that age.

If I didn't have Finnagin Ani would have been released by now. She is one serious squirrel! Finnagin is a BUM!!! I swear if would rather play than eat!
Because of that I would hate to let Ani go and overwinter Finnagin because I am positive he would end up nonreleasable and overbonded. He is so much like my Mugzi.

Squirrel mothers are very attentive with their kiddos. In the wild they don't really wean until 4mts because they crawl back in the home drey at night to suckle. If you look up in the tree you will occasionally see a large well built nest and several smaller rather sloppy nests. The kids don't go too far that first year. For a rodent this is pretty remarkable.
A lot has been documented on the intelligence of rats and they have nowhere near the maternal instinct or society that squirrels have.
I love that story BTW :D very cute!

[Kristal]

I mean they just seem to be starting to develop a bit of common squirrel sense, now. My boys are only just beginning with the nest building and food stashing behaviours. Rifa has been at it for much longer, though.

[Kristal]

If I didn't have Finnagin Ani would have been released by now. She is one serious squirrel! Finnagin is a BUM!!! I swear if would rather play than eat!
Because of that I would hate to let Ani go and overwinter Finnagin because I am positive he would end up nonreleasable and overbonded. He is so much like my Mugzi.

Squirrel mothers are very attentive with their kiddos. In the wild they don't really wean until 4mts because they crawl back in the home drey at night to suckle. If you look up in the tree you will occasionally see a large well built nest and several smaller rather sloppy nests. The kids don't go too far that first year. For a rodent this is pretty remarkable.
A lot has been documented on the intelligence of rats and they have nowhere near the maternal instinct or society that squirrels have.
I love that story BTW :D very cute!

Yea, I have been paying a great deal more attention to the squees since these kits came into my life. I always liked to watch animals, in general, but now I pick apart what the squirrels do as if I am studying them. They are a great deal more interesting than I thought... and I thought they were pretty interesting in the first place ;)

:Love_Icon the squirrels ;p

[mugzeezma]

I mean they just seem to be starting to develop a bit of common squirrel sense, now. My boys are only just beginning with the nest building and food stashing behaviours. Rifa has been at it for much longer, though.

Girls are born women and boys...well they stay boys :D

Am I being sexist again?

[Kristal]

Girls are born women and boys...well they stay boys :D

Am I being sexist again?
Well... of course there are exceptions, but in general, there is a reason why clichés come to be clichés ;)

[Kristal]

It is getting cold outside and the leaves are allmost gone from the trees but she is acting like an adult squirrel and is eating good.

Well, if you have a mild winter you can do what the other Erik did which is give her a cat door and let her come and go. I wouldn't be pushing her outside so young, personally, but yea, she needs to meet other squirrels, having been raised by a person alone. Else there is a risk of her just settling in with you for life, I guess. I have only raised my four and never a solo, so I am going by what others say on the subject.

[Jackie in Tampa]

if there are no leaves...
a sq cannot hide
or build a nest
or have food...
there ya go...
got to overwinter!
Least you are lucky enough to have a safe room...my sqs own the couch and eveything here, I have the bathroom to myself...that's it!:D
Hope that was the correct answer and all can live together happily til spring!:Love_Icon

[virgo062]

I let her out today but she did not want to go , she is back in her room for the night. I take the whole cage -- her original box -- her ficus trees and her toys outside and put them on the deck, I have a fenced wooded lot. She ran around the yard a little and collected things to put in her box, then told me that she wanted to go back in, so I let her in. Most of the trees still have leaves, and I am going to work her out slowly day by day. There is about 8 squirrels that live in my yard that I do feed - nuts and seed.
Thanks for the advice. Erik

That's how I released my NutNut (single) I would take him outdoors several hours a day then bring him inside this went on (in the summer) for a very long month. Believe me the soft release in a outdoor cage is best. in and out in and out in and out. One day he started building his nest and he never came back inside again:crazy he finally figured it out so the next few weeks I spent outside with a flashlight like a fool looking for him, I set up a chair at the window (I looked like the grandma in Psycho) and watched him for weeks. I still have that chair there:rotfl