The squirrel that doesnt WANT to be wild?!?

[barkley_puppy]

I have raised countless squirrels over the years and have released all of them. This year I had four that are now doing quite well in the woods behind my house. However, I also got a pretty late baby as a single, who had to be raised all by himself. When he was brought in to the clinic (I'm a vet tech), I thought he didn't really have a chance - maybe five breaths a minute, absolutely frigid, covered in lacerations, gaping wounds and puncture holes from the family cat who was using him as a play toy. I had to medicate him and treat his wounds regularly, in addition to his frequent feedings, so he became pretty bonded to me. Ordinarily I don't interact with my rehabs much as I want them to be pretty wild.

Well, he finally got old enough to start the soft release and it's not going well. He is running up to everyone he sees trying to climb up their legs, and it's really upsetting my neighbors. He has no wild inclinations in his cute little head. I'm not a huge fan of keeping squirrels as pets, but I don't think he's going to make it in the wild. :( Tonight, when I came home, my neighbors informed me of the rabid attack squirrel that was roaming around. They tried to stomp on his head but luckily he ran away when someone was looking in their house for their pellet gun. AAAHHHHH! He's fine and was sound asleep in his nest box when I got home. I immediately moved him back inside, though. I've never had this problem. All of my previous squirrels LOVE being squirrels! They still come by for a visit occasionaly but they have all adapted very well to the wild.

What should I do with a squirrel that doesn't want to be wild???

[UDoWhat]

I would not leave him outside for now. If a neighbor calls Animal Control they will euthanize him in a heartbeat. Or if he scratches someone he is also in danger. I would either try to release him later in the Spring or find a person that is squirrel friendly out in a country setting that will help support him with food and a nesting place to see if he will wild up. I personally would bring him in. Poor little confused baby. :shakehead :Love_Icon

Marty

[astra]

well, once in a while there are squirrels who do not want to be wild.
It's another one of those human assumptions about animals that ALL animals CAN'T WAit to be wild. There is nothing "ALL" in this world, there are exceptions to almost everything, including wild animals wanting to be wild.

There are quite a few squirrels here on the board, who made it very clear that they do not want to be out there.
For example, Squirrelly Steve's Chuck, who literally ran back home after each release attempt (and there were several release attempts), CritterMom's Mister P, who prefers his fleecy kingdom to the tough outside conditions - those that come to mind first (can't keep up with all of them ;))

So, yes, once in a while, there is a squirrel that does not want to be wild.

And when that happens, when they make that choice, there is nothing wrong with keeping them indoors, call it a "pet" or whatever.
It's wrong when a wild animal is forced to live indoors, against its will - that's wrong.
In this case, it would be wrong to let someone as friendly as this little boy to be outside, until someone steps on his head (Gosh, hate people) or hurts or even cripples him with a pellet gun. Or he gets euthanized because someone called Animal Control.

So, I'd keep him inside.
Unless (or until) you can find a very remote, almost 100% wild woods and trees with no people to try and release him, he needs to be inside.
Maybe, he will live happily like Steve's Chuck, or CritterMom's Mr. P and many other squirrels here who chose to stay indoors.

[Margie]

The other squirrels you raised probably didn't get the intense personal attention this little guy did. So, he is bonded to you and people in a stronger way. It's a little late in the winter for releasing, since he hasn't had a chance to store food or build a nest. I'd wait and try again in the spring, in the meantime, gradually provide less personal interaction with him, so he'll be looking for "better" company when he's released. I have found that saving an animal's life does cause a stronger bond and a much closer relationship with them, no matter what the species. They look at me like I'm an angel or something and just absolutely worship me.

[UDoWhat]

well, once in a while there are squirrels who do not want to be wild.
It's another one of those human assumptions about animals that ALL animals CAN'T WAit to be wild. There is nothing "ALL" in this world, there are exceptions to almost everything, including wild animals wanting to be wild.

There are quite a few squirrels here on the board, who made it very clear that they do not want to be out there.
For example, Squirrelly Steve's Chuck, who literally ran back home after each release attempt (and there were several release attempts), CritterMom's Mister P, who prefers his fleecy kingdom to the tough outside conditions - those that come to mind first (can't keep up with all of them ;))

So, yes, once in a while, there is a squirrel that does not want to be wild.

And when that happens, when they make that choice, there is nothing wrong with keeping them indoors, call it a "pet" or whatever.
It's wrong when a wild animal is forced to live indoors, against its will - that's wrong.
In this case, it would be wrong to let someone as friendly as this little boy to be outside, until someone steps on his head (Gosh, hate people) or hurts or even cripples him with a pellet gun. Or he gets euthanized because someone called Animal Control.

So, I'd keep him inside.
Unless (or until) you can find a very remote, almost 100% wild woods and trees with no people to try and release him, he needs to be inside.
Maybe, he will live happily like Steve's Chuck, or CritterMom's Mr. P and many other squirrels here who chose to stay indoors.

:goodpost :goodpost :goodpost Totally agree!!

[2ndHandRanchRescue]

I would not leave him outside for now. If a neighbor calls Animal Control they will euthanize him in a heartbeat. Or if he scratches someone he is also in danger. I would either try to release him later in the Spring or find a person that is squirrel friendly out in a country setting that will help support him with food and a nesting place to see if he will wild up. I personally would bring him in. Poor little confused baby. :shakehead :Love_Icon

Marty


:goodpost

And Astra's too

My Ginger chewed her way through my screened window and moved right back to the basket on the book case - and that was that.... In my 70+ squirrels - she just decided I was her human.

[astra]

What should I do with a squirrel that doesn't want to be wild???
:D i hope, we've answered your question:D

Would not try to release him again, personally.
I remember reading situations (a couple of them on this board, actually, just a while ago) that even after a seemingly ok soft release, when the squirrel seemed to "wild up", it still kept accosting people. It's just instead of being a friendly squirrel, he was a semi-wild confused little guy which was even worse.

So, there is a chance (that you would not want to take) that even if he gets more distant with you if you stop contact with him, he might still be looking for something from people and approaching them outside. Which, again, might be even worse because if he starts doing that while semi-wild, he might end up biting someone.

(and I, personally, do believe that forcing an animal to become wild at all costs when he does not want to is just as wrong and dangerous for everyone and him first of all, as forcing a wild animal to become "domesticated")

Keep your little boy and enjoy him!:)

[astra]

:goodpost

And Astra's too

My Ginger chewed her way through my screened window and moved right back to the basket on the book case - and that was that.... In my 70+ squirrels - she just decided I was her human.
I didn't know that Ginger just brought herself home. I thought she was an NR or something. GO GINGER!!!!!!!:crazy

[jbtartell]

Hi, I am a rehaber and I do all squirrels. we use what we call release cages that when the babies are ready to go outside we put them in it.. we go out
2x a day just to put food and water in. the cage should be near treas and where other squirrels are. leave them in for about 2 weeks then open the door leave it open but still bring food and water. the baby will still come there for that and safety. eventualy he will make, share or steal another nest safe in the trees.. but in the cage he will get the wildness and the other squirrels will come see him and show him he is a squirrel. This works I have done hundreds of squirrels in the last 2 years and this does work but you cant show him attention of any kind when you feed him. this is for his safety mostly and some for the mean old naibors..lol

[jbtartell]

I meant to also elaberate that age matters too.. is the baby is full grown he has made his choice this will mainly work with juviniles..I cant spell tonight but I think u know what I am saying..lol

[quagmire]

We have one of those kinds too. Quagmire is our first rescue. His eyes were still closed when I found him. The following day his eyes opened and he saw the two of us taking care of him. He has since been a porch squirrel and when very cold out he is brought inside.

We put him outside for sunlight daily but he really doesn't want to be outside. His knees don't work well (so he can't run off), so when we put him down in the grass to dig around, he will dig briefly, then he starts walking to the screen door to go inside. He will sit in the open porch door and stare outside.

Kind of weird but we love him anyway.

So bring the one inside, away from the winter and the nasty neighbors where he/she will be happy. :)

[gs1]

(and I, personally, do believe that forcing an animal to become wild at all costs when he does not want to is just as wrong and dangerous for everyone and him first of all, as forcing a wild animal to become "domesticated")[/SIZE]

Keep your little boy and enjoy him!:)


i totally agree....

also he's endangering the other squirrels... if people start freaking out over one squirrel then they could jump to fearing other squirrels too (as you know people can be crazy)

depending on how legal it is in your state can you tell them that he's just friendly and you brought him back inside so that they're not constantly on guard against him?

(ofcourse if it's illegal to keep a squirrel don't ...i don't want the 'squirrel police' coming to your door)

i don't know how old he is but he could decide that he wants out next year no matter how many kisses and cuddles he enjoys with you until then ...even kissing him 24/7 won't stop that from happening - if that's the case then you could let him out and maybe he'll be an indoor/outdoor squirrel but ofcourse he still can't go up to people ...

at that point it would be a good idea to transfer him to a non people woods/farm type of area .... that would be my last choice ....

as astra said there's plenty of squirrels that do choose to be indoor squirrels and i think it's really unfair that we decide that all squirrels must be outdoor squirrels regardless of what they think for themselves... if that was the case...and all squirrels that wanted to be indoors were being done a disservice then why do we keep NR squirrels alive and not put them to sleep.:dono (after all it's a disservice too)

so keep him ... and let him decide.... :D :thumbsup

as for your being a rehabber and 'did you do something wrong to make him so attached to you and not scared of people' .... absolutely not!!! i had a wild come to my house when she was less than 5months old ... her mother brought her .... (no history with them at all) ... this wild (gs1) would come and go ... she came into the house ..pancaked on my kitchen table when it was hot .... ate inside when it was cold ... she'd let me pet her ...she'd climb up on the hose to get my attention when i was hosing the pavement ... i always had to watch where i stepped and .... she'd go up to strange people as they were walking by the house.... i didn't raise her at all and yet she was a people squirrel...:)

[astra]

gs1 made an excellent point about this little boy endangering other squirrels - people start getting wary and hostile to other squirrels (and someone wants to tell me that humans, unlike animals have intelligence to differentiate?...you know how they say, don't feed wild animals, because they will not be able to differentiate between you and other people and will assume that others are nice, too; well, isn't that what MOST people do in regard to animals?...whatever)
But that's an excellent point.

And yes, I TOTALLY agree with gs1 - there is nothing that you might have done wrong. It's just that some squirrels ARE like that.
I, too, had an AMAZING wild, who, from the start, took food from my hand, would walk inside and explore everything, would climb on me and even let me touch her... miss her so much!.....

So, it's perfectly normal what your little boy does. He is just different ;-).

As for your neighbors, I would tell them THAT YOU BROUGHT YOUR LITTLE BOY TO ANOTHER REHABBER FOR RELEASE IN A WOODED AREA. What's your farthest little town away from you?... Pick some farthest point on the opposite end of your state. Tell them that there is a wooded remote area where he was released away from people.
I would say that so as to put their narrow little minds at peace once and for all.

I would not tell them that he is inside.
They might end up fearing that one day he will escape or whatever.
Also, there might be one or two "good concerned" neighbors who will report you and he will be seized.
You do not want neighbors like that to know that you keep squirrels inside permanently, especially, this little boy whom they came to hate.

TELL THEM THAT YOU TOOK HIM TO THAT FARTHEST WOODED AREA AND HE WAS SUCCESSFULLY RELEASED THERE WHERE THERE ARE NO PEOPLE!

[sdreamcatcher]

gs1 made an excellent point about this little boy endangering other squirrels - people start getting wary and hostile to other squirrels (and someone wants to tell me that humans, unlike animals have intelligence to differentiate?...you know how they say, don't feed wild animals, because they will not be able to differentiate between you and other people and will assume that others are nice, too; well, isn't that what MOST people do in regard to animals?...whatever)
But that's an excellent point.

And yes, I TOTALLY agree with gs1 - there is nothing that you might have done wrong. It's just that some squirrels ARE like that.
I, too, had an AMAZING wild, who, from the start, took food from my hand, would walk inside and explore everything, would climb on me and even let me touch her... miss her so much!.....

So, it's perfectly normal what your little boy does. He is just different ;-).

As for your neighbors, I would tell them THAT YOU BROUGHT YOUR LITTLE BOY TO ANOTHER REHABBER FOR RELEASE IN A WOODED AREA. What's your farthest little town away from you?... Pick some farthest point on the opposite end of your state. Tell them that there is a wooded remote area where he was released away from people.
I would say that so as to put their narrow little minds at peace once and for all.

I would not tell them that he is inside.
They might end up fearing that one day he will escape or whatever.
Also, there might be one or two "good concerned" neighbors who will report you and he will be seized.
You do not want neighbors like that to know that you keep squirrels inside permanently, especially, this little boy whom they came to hate.

TELL THEM THAT YOU TOOK HIM TO THAT FARTHEST WOODED AREA AND HE WAS SUCCESSFULLY RELEASED THERE WHERE THERE ARE NO PEOPLE!


Excellent idea and post. Personally, I would keep the little guy; even knowing the legalities of it all. If you can't, maybe someone in a legal state would be willing to adopt him? Your baby has made his choice and thank God he didn't get hurt by your squirrel hating moronic neighbors. Don't chance releasing him in that neighborhood; he won't have a chance :shakehead :shakehead .

[justAddNuts]

You have to respect your neighbors. Not everyone loves animals. Not everyone thinks squirrels are cool. You have to respect that.

I love animals. I love dogs too but I HATE it when the neighbors let their dogs out to do their thing and they run over and jump on me with their muddy paws. I've watched my wife spend over an hour getting ready and on the way to the car - looking nice too - the dog runs up and jumps on her getting mud all over her nice new outfit (she had to go back in and change). I was almost ready to punch my neighbor because I've asked him nicely several times to please control his dog. The dog is rather large and loves people. It runs up to and jumps onto most anyone he sees. I've seen women who are afraid of dogs literally scream bloody murder at the sight of the dog running at them. I've seen that dog knock down a young woman who was 8 months pregnant at the time. She was OK.

It is quite common for people who know little about squirrels to associate them with rats - after all - they are "rodents." It is also a common belief that squirrels commonly have rabies. It is quite likely that a squirrel that climbs on humans will create panic. There will be people who will perceive him to be a rabid animal. They will kill him. They may turn their anger towards you.

[bcelisa]

Awe. I'm glad I'm not alone here. I do feel responsible for Dexter not wanting to be a squirrel. sigh ...poor guy. At least we tried I guess :)

[Trooper]

I've been doing some in-depth reading and research on the causes of people believing that squirrels have rabies. The United States Center for Disease Control (CDC for short) dos not have a SINGLE case registered of a squirrel giving rabies to any living form.

Surprised ?? well, you'll be more surprised when you hear what the CDC records report about which is the wild animal number one to transmit rabies. In the spirit of not letting you wait for the answer any longer, here it is:

No. 1: Raccoons (36.5% in 2010)
No. 2: Skunks (23.5% in 2010)
No. 2: Bats (23.2% in 2010)
No. 3: Foxes (7.0% in 2010)
No. 4: Other wild animals that include lagomorphs (1.2%)
No. 5: Other rodents (0.6%)

So why is it that squirrels carry such a stigma? It is simply because of the media. Back in 1984 a pack of woodchucks (which are themselves a member of the sciurus family of 278 species worldwide) appeared to be infected by the rabies virus, later to be found that they had gotten infected by a rabied skunk. These woodchuck either bit other animals or people (not confirmed yet as to who they bit) and the story took off to cover all "squirrel" family animals.

"Truth is the accounting of reality in accurate terms so it could be reproduced at a later time in the exact conditions" once said Sir Winston Churchill. In the case of squirrel being rabid, is a matter of probability. The exact way to convey this information is to state that squirrels, just like rats, lemurs, horses, donkeys, venison, bears, dogs, chipmunks or any mammalian living being is capable of carrying rabies or being infected by rabies, but they are not more likely to be in that state than any other wild or domestic warm blooded being not in the CDC list above, at least for he USA.

The singularization of 'squirrels carry rabies' is akin to state that leprosy is highly contagious. After existing on earth for 4,000 years we now know it is only contagious when untreated and then again, it hasn't been demonstrated yet how it actually is transmitted. My point being; the lack of understanding is what causes assumptions and generalizations, and the squirrels/rabies issue is one of them.

Just thought that as the carriers of the torch on behalf of the sciurus families, we should be fully informed.

Thanks,

Trooper

[2ndHandRanchRescue]

Thanks Trooper - Rabies info is good. There's a reason I refuse (I'm sorry can't risk my pets) any adult raccoons (and skunks are illegal to treat in Illinois even orphans - but we don't always listen to that rule) Its rampent in raccoons as is distemper. Squirrels have been known to carry the plague - that I was surprised about. I love having folks visit my rehabbing squirrel - most are scared and are convinced about rabies - they leave here happy and educated on the sweet creature of our addiction. Thanks again for this great info.

[bcelisa]

Wow. I'm kinda tired of hearing this as well ... So I can really say NO REPORTED CASES OF RABIES IN SQUIRRELS in the United States? I read that correctly?