Destiny'smom
09-11-2011, 01:10 PM
Hello,
My name is Vicki and I live in Ohio. I've been rescuing animals since I was young but of course I'm much better at it as a grown up.
My first wildlife rescue was a young squirrel that a friend rescued from his brother who had somehow gotten them out of a nest, he gave one to a group of children ( I tried to find it but could never locate it) and the other he gave to his brother who knew I would raise it so it came to me.
Since that day about 10 yrs ago, I've taken in and raised/released numerous skunks, raccoons, opossum and 3 squirrels that I got a year or so ago. who now live happily in my back yard.
At the moment I have a young squirrel who I've had for a month today, he came to me when he was only about a week old.
I received a phone call from a person who had found a pink baby with a long tail under some shrubs near his porch. He had no idea what it was, only knew that it was cool to the touch and had dirt on it. He send me a picture via cell phone and I couldn't tell what it was - so I told him to warm it up and I would meet him.
The whole time I was driving to meet him - I'm going through a list of animals that could be that size and still not have hair - skunk - no, he said there were no visible markings, kitten/puppy - no they would have been born with hair, ground hog - no, it had a long tail, rat - no, would have had hair by that size - squirrel - possibility, but I had never come in contact with a squirrel so young.
When I met him, I saw immediately that it was a very young squirrel, the first thing I did was drop it down my shirt to try to warm it - his idea of warming it had been to bring it into the house - it was very chilly to the touch. I estimated him to be about a week old. I thanked him for his help and told him I didn't hold much hope for the little guy.
I got him home and put him into an incubator I made from a Tupperware container, with a heating pad underneath it and started on Pedialyte once he was warm.
Needless to say, little "Ethan" (named after the guy who found him) did indeed thrive - I estimate him to be about 5 wks old now and eating good with lots of hair and obvious to anyone that sees him now that he is indeed a squirrel. He's officially my best success story so far.
He joins a household that contains several dogs and cats, a parrot, horses, two pot bellied pigs, 3 sugar gliders and 6 domestic skunks (including a blind girl that was the result of an accidental breeding (not mine).
I'm so glad I found this board and hope to learn a lot to help Ethan grow into a strong healthy squirrel.
My name is Vicki and I live in Ohio. I've been rescuing animals since I was young but of course I'm much better at it as a grown up.
My first wildlife rescue was a young squirrel that a friend rescued from his brother who had somehow gotten them out of a nest, he gave one to a group of children ( I tried to find it but could never locate it) and the other he gave to his brother who knew I would raise it so it came to me.
Since that day about 10 yrs ago, I've taken in and raised/released numerous skunks, raccoons, opossum and 3 squirrels that I got a year or so ago. who now live happily in my back yard.
At the moment I have a young squirrel who I've had for a month today, he came to me when he was only about a week old.
I received a phone call from a person who had found a pink baby with a long tail under some shrubs near his porch. He had no idea what it was, only knew that it was cool to the touch and had dirt on it. He send me a picture via cell phone and I couldn't tell what it was - so I told him to warm it up and I would meet him.
The whole time I was driving to meet him - I'm going through a list of animals that could be that size and still not have hair - skunk - no, he said there were no visible markings, kitten/puppy - no they would have been born with hair, ground hog - no, it had a long tail, rat - no, would have had hair by that size - squirrel - possibility, but I had never come in contact with a squirrel so young.
When I met him, I saw immediately that it was a very young squirrel, the first thing I did was drop it down my shirt to try to warm it - his idea of warming it had been to bring it into the house - it was very chilly to the touch. I estimated him to be about a week old. I thanked him for his help and told him I didn't hold much hope for the little guy.
I got him home and put him into an incubator I made from a Tupperware container, with a heating pad underneath it and started on Pedialyte once he was warm.
Needless to say, little "Ethan" (named after the guy who found him) did indeed thrive - I estimate him to be about 5 wks old now and eating good with lots of hair and obvious to anyone that sees him now that he is indeed a squirrel. He's officially my best success story so far.
He joins a household that contains several dogs and cats, a parrot, horses, two pot bellied pigs, 3 sugar gliders and 6 domestic skunks (including a blind girl that was the result of an accidental breeding (not mine).
I'm so glad I found this board and hope to learn a lot to help Ethan grow into a strong healthy squirrel.