Need some advise for Mimi

[Sabrina]

wow...the time really has flown it seems, she's about 18 weeks now and has so much energy. But I keep reading about her "wilding" up?? What does that mean? I let her out every day, she runs all over the living room lol, including my curtains :p But she hasn't distanced herself at all. And what worries me the most is she's tiny, about half the size of a normal squirrel. There's nothing wrong with her she's just the runt of the litter, or a teacup squirrel as we've been calling her. She so spoiled, would she make it in the real world? She doesn't seem to want to go out there much and is happy inside. I've attached some new pics of her taken today :) you can see how small she is.

[island rehabber]

Look at that beautiful, doe-eyed face! She is too much! I say let Mimi decide. If she doesn't want to leave, she won't. If you can provide her with a stimulating, healthy environment indoors and she is happy, well there you go. :tilt

[Sabrina]

What's a release cage? O_o

[Rhapsody]

Generally some where between 4-6 months of age a squirrel will start to shows sign of wanting to return to the wild by "wilding up" --they will be become unsettled, start to nip or bite real hard, run back and forth in their cage none stop, bark or whine a lot, not want other people around - not even their squirrel mommy.

This is when it is time to place the squirrel in an out door release cage where it will spend the next thirty days with out human contact, other than feeding time, getting use to the sounds and ways of nature........ some squirrel may take longer than thirty days to wild up, but this is the average time needed.

Release Info & Pics:
http://mothernaturesrescue.webs.com/release.htm

[Monipenny]

Is that the white part of her eye that I see, a small sliver towards the front of her face? I have read somewhere, not on this site about this, that we should not be seeing the whites of their eyes. I don't know what this means or if is indcative of a health concern. Someone please advise.

[farrelli]

Yes, let it be her choice. Also, be careful not to jump to the conclusion that she's wilding up, if indeed she does start showing signs. Sometimes it's just a passing phase. And if it happens when she goes into heat, it could easily just be that. For now, she's happy inside and maybe that's for the best given that she'd probably get picked on and generally bullied due to her size. Nature is cruel.

[Saverywood]

What a darling baby!:Love_Icon

[Sabrina]

Yea that's the main thing that worries me is her size. Oh and nah that wasn't the whites of her eyes, just her eyelids :p she loves the camera and taking pics. From what everyone is saying, she hasn't gotten wild..at all..what so ever. Other than tons of energy in the morning when she runs around the whole living room jumping and running on things. She's never bitten anyone, not out of spite, she used to nip my husband till I told him to wash his has before he touched her cause she wanted the food tastes on his fingers :p she will lick mine but has never been me or my 2 year old nephew that loves her. Her size though was worry number one. She plays with her toys in her cage but she's never gone crazy in there. She does like to nest in her hammock with bits of tissue and wood. Lol..she looks at me like "oh fine...whatever...I'll just do it all over again" when I clean it out. Comes right to my hand and likes to run all over my shoulders.

I heard someone say something about a litter box? They will do that? How can I get her to try it? Right now she just goes where ever, just not in her hammock.

[Shewhosweptforest]

Baby my "keeper" squirrel just has a favorite spot she likes to go....not in her cage:dono she'll usually hold it until we're home and let her out...my babies love one corner of their cage and that's where I put absorbent paper...I don't use litter because they are still young and try to eat it....I put litter in Baby's cage and she thought it was a cool place to dig and sling litter around:shakehead no bathroom uses:dono

As far as releasing...I know it's not popular:sorry but I think if you can make the commitment (it's huge) you can raise a happy indoor squirrel....but as IR said you have to make sure they are stimulated regularly....lots of out of cage play time....things to chew...and patience when they need it. My Baby made the choice to stay inside...of course that was my interpretation but everything tells me it was correct :shakehead and I thank the powers that be that she did not fall prey to some predator or accident while she was free:bowdown

[Sabrina]

I think I'm going to keep her indoors :) I've had her outside a few times and she seems to want nothing to do with it, and she's going on something like 20 weeks. We have squirrels around where I live cause we are on a 2 1/2 acre lot with lots of trees, but those little guys can get mean sometimes! I'm worried she'd get hurt cause of her size.