Ground Squirrel

[cynr]

I found a baby ground squirrel that the outside cats & dog were going to kill. I took care of it for hours but it had internal injuries so it was dying and my husband took it outside and put it out of its misery. I fell in love with it and would like to raise a few as house pets (in a large house/play area). I need help if anyone knows where I can get some & the type of home/play area they need. Thanks!

[Twi_prime]

I found a baby ground squirrel that the outside cats & dog were going to kill. I took care of it for hours but it had internal injuries so it was dying and my husband took it outside and put it out of its misery. I fell in love with it and would like to raise a few as house pets (in a large house/play area). I need help if anyone knows where I can get some & the type of home/play area they need. Thanks!

Hi Cynr. Just wanted to say hi and that this is a great place to learn about squirrels. I'm a newbie and am slowly learning too. If and when you find a squirrel in trouble again, the Emergency (Life Threatening) thread is a great place to get advice on helping the critter and/or getting him to someone who can help him recover. Best of luck and thanks for trying to save this baby.

[rozdow]

Wild animals rarely make good pets - they want/need to be free. They can be quite destructive to your home (and can/will bite!).

State laws vary, but generally it is illegal to keep wildlife.

[iwanenator]

Wild animals rarely make good pets - they want/need to be free. They can be quite destructive to your home (and can/will bite!).

State laws vary, but generally it is illegal to keep wildlife.
only in USA....
but think in historical perceptive....god dont send any pet animal with Adam and eve. cat and dog used to be wild animal too. just think 3000 years ago.Everyone consider their ancestor to be wild animal, fierce, must not be keep, they bite, they scratch, they stealing meat, they happy in nature, they are intamable ... so today people start keeping squirrel so expect in the next 3000 years it will be standard pet likes cat and dog, hamster, gerbil rat, bunny... that is the way thing works with every pet animal.....first they considered wild, should let them in nature and so on but then people knowing animal better and better and the animal learn about human better and better and they became pet....

squirrel has different problem though, problem is it chewing everything...
I dont mind my squirrel chewing my books, speaker, wooden house and my finger but people opinion toward what a pet must be often different with mine:dono

[astra]

only in USA....
but think in historical perceptive....god dont send any pet animal with Adam and eve. cat and dog used to be wild animal too. just think 3000 years ago.Everyone consider their ancestor to be wild animal, fierce, must not be keep, they bite, they scratch, they stealing meat, they happy in nature, they are intamable ... so today people start keeping squirrel so expect in the next 3000 years it will be standard pet likes cat and dog, hamster, gerbil rat, bunny... that is the way thing works with every pet animal.....first they considered wild, should let them in nature and so on but then people knowing animal better and better and the animal learn about human better and better and they became pet....

squirrel has different problem though, problem is it chewing everything...
I dont mind my squirrel chewing my books, speaker, wooden house and my finger but people opinion toward what a pet must be often different with mine:dono
:thinking :peace :) will all due respect, I'd disagree - keeping a wolf as a house pet for 1000 years will not turn a wolf into a puppy. It's a long and complicated process of domestication that turned once wild animals into dogs and cats (e.g., includes such things as selective breeding etc etc ete, much knowledge of genetics, biology etc etc etc).
That's another reason if it is to be done at all (and what for?... why would I want a bear to be a pet?... let him run free and enjoy being a bear, but that's a totally different discussion:) ), but if it is to be done, it must be done by professionals, probably a team of zoologists, biologists, genetics specialists etc etc etc., not ordinary people.
And...:) :tilt we don't really know if dogs and cats were as wild once as wolves and panthers... if God, Adam and Eve are mentioned, then... it's safe to assume that they might have been given at least somewhat domesticated animals, such as cats and dogs... Once Creation is mentioned, Evolution (and domestication is somewhat related to it) is viewed in a different perspective:)

[island rehabber]

The big difference, as astra pretty much already said, is that domestic cats and dogs are not "original" animals. (Fringe hard core animal rights folks even suggest they are mutants. and really shouldn't be alive.....:shakehead) They are the product of eons of selective breeding by MAN, not by nature, and that presents a whole different organism than the pure wild animal, like a squirrel. The idea that simply keeping wildlife as pets will eventually result in tame, well-behaved wildlife that prefers the couch to the trees is, in my opinion, totally without merit. :peace

[Ronda]

Good Posting... both Astra and IR

Having a squirrel in your home...be it pet, NR rehab, or soon to be released rehab - is a HUGE responsibility, time wise, financially, stress wise (etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum)

I would sincerely suggest, to anyone that has fallen in love with a squirrel, that they consider getting a rat or some other "legal" rodent. Rats are adorable:Love_Icon