7 week old baby didn't return

[Myshkin]

Found 5 week old squirrel and have been taking care of him for 2 weeks. Let him play outside in backyard tree/bushes for past couple of days. Today I let him play outside at 4pmish while I ran errands for a few hrs then came back and he was gone :( i know i am stupid to leave him alone :( Am currently sleeping under the tree he likes climbing in and put one of his nest box t-shirts in the tree hoping he will return. I am worried because when I drove into drive way I saw one of the 2 neighborhood cats. There are 2 wild squirrels that live in the front yard. Will the wild be friendly to him since he is a baby?
What can I do to find him? I am worried he is too young to feed himself.

[Rhapsody]

The best you can do at this point is to leave a crate out side with some food and water
inside of it for the baby squirrel to eat and hope that he may return. We recommend
that baby squirrels never be let outside unless they are in secure cage for this very reason.

[Myshkin]

Slept on a lawn chair under the tree. Kept waking up intermittently calling his name. At 6am I climbed into the space between the backyard fence and the neighboring yard's 10' high hedge bushes with a stick in case I encountered the huge neighborhood racoon. :eek Called Nebbi repeatedly and he climbed down from somewhere. Such a welcome sight. :Love_Icon He was warm so I think he slept in one of the old squirrel nests in the hedgegrove. Will never leave him unattended outside again!

[farrelli]

No, never let him OUTSIDE again, attended or not! They must never be let outside until they are ready for soft release. What are you feeding him, how much, and how often? It's what most people get wrong. Also, here is the proper feeding technique:

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?36777-PROPER-FEEDING-TECHNIQUE!!

[pappy1264]

Thank god, do not even take him outside again until he is ready to be released and then only in a cage until he is ready to go! He is very, very lucky. If he was with his real mom he would not even have stepped foot out of the nest yet.

[MollyBear361]

Do not let him outside again period.........

[Duckman]

I have to agree with Farrelli and Pappy! You got lucky and that baby could have paid with his life, for your mistake. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but would you leave a human infant in the yard, all alone, while you left to do something else? That is exactly what you did here, except it was a baby squirrel. You can't expose this baby to the dangers of the wild, until he has the tools necessary to deal with them. They are the top meal for so many predators! Please think of this little baby's safety before doing something like this again!!

[Myshkin]

farrelli - Feeding him as much goat milk/heavy whipping cream/yobaby vanilla yogurt/fox valley powder as he wants (~13 ccs) 3x per day via 1 cc oral syringes/rubber nipple + leave Henry's Growth Formula Rodent Blocks in his nest box. I also have a hamster glass water bottle + little 1/2 inch deep ceramic bowl of water in his nest box too. :grin2

pappy1264 - Believe me I learned my lesson! :thumbsup Guardian angel watching over Nebbi :Sham+ he's a smart little guy too.

[puppetgal]

Slept on a lawn chair under the tree. Kept waking up intermittently calling his name. At 6am I climbed into the space between the backyard fence and the neighboring yard's 10' high hedge bushes with a stick in case I encountered the huge neighborhood racoon. :eek Called Nebbi repeatedly and he climbed down from somewhere. Such a welcome sight. :Love_Icon He was warm so I think he slept in one of the old squirrel nests in the hedgegrove. Will never leave him unattended outside again!


Him is a handsome guy too :) I would snuggle him to death! I love looking at baby squirrel pics!

[Negerto30]

Don't let him outside even if you watch him, especially since he's used to being outside now. I took mine outside and he was up the tree and gone in a second. I found him half and hour later , he came to me, and I never let him out again. I watch my recently released squirrel chase strange squirrels out of "her" yard. If your squirrel wandered into our yard, it would be gone. She didn't just chase the other squirrel, but chased it out of eye sight and was gone for ten minutes. God forbid your baby gets chased and bitten because it will never find it's way home. It's just not worth it. They don't know any better and are happy inside while they are young.

[Negerto30]

Right now you are the thing that makes him most happy, he doesn't need trees yet!

[Myshkin]

Ah, ok. Will keep him indoors until 14 weeks. Thank you all so much for your help/advice! :thankyou

[joyceb11]

I am so glad you found your baby, please listen to every ones advice about not letting him out side again, no one is being mean its just it has happened before with very bad out come for some members. Give you little one lots of hugs and kisses :Love_Icon

[TubeDriver]

He is very, very cute!:)

You got lucky, some people here did not get a second chance with their babies. :(

Hope to see more pics of the little fellow as he grows up! :thumbsup

[Negerto30]

I wouldn't let him out until your ready to release him, which is a process. He's so cute!

[sdreamcatcher]

You made me gasp reading this, then breathe a sigh of relief with the update. :eek DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!!! :eek Lol scolding aside and lesson learned and thank God he is safe. sounds like you are right on track with his food, but I gotta say, we need MORE pictures, cause he is the cutest little guy :Love_Icon:Love_Icon

[Nancy in New York]

Ah, ok. Will keep him indoors until 14 weeks. Thank you all so much for your help/advice! :thankyou

14 weeks? I would do the absolute minimum of 16 weeks.
I like them older more like 5-6 months so they can hold their own a little better in the wild. It can be
a harsh place for hand reared littles, and especially a single squirrel.

[pappy1264]

I will never release before 20 weeks. Just from what I have experienced with babies I have released. Gives them time to get old enough to stick up for themselves if they have to but yet still be a baby, so hopefully not get into too many scuffles. I judge each one individually, but never before 20 weeks, but that is me.