New Squirrel Mom

[kac428]

Hi Guys, my name is Kristin. My husband and I just adopted a 3 yo eastern grey squirrel named Bella. Her owners had her since she was a very young baby and were no longer able to care for her due to their housing issue. We love animals and help out when ever we can whether it be fostering dogs or helping wildlife. We raised 3 baby mallards a few years ago and successfully released them into the wild.

Bella was said to be tame, but she is still very aggressive with me and my husband. The first day we had her she was lunging at us when we would get near her cage. By the 3rd day she finally let me pet the top of her head after she runs around loose on the outside of her cage. She even crawled up my arm and over my back and then went back into her cage. She tends to want to nibble on my hand (fingers and knuckles) and then bites hard. I am not able to pick her up or hold her without heavy duty gloves on. Most of the time when I put food into her cage and she will attack my hand.

I understand that it is going to take a while and a lot of patience before we ever get to a point of mutual trust. I did read up on squirrels before agreeing to adopt her so I was semi prepared but she is so ornery! Any helpful tips for a new squirrel mom would be appreciated.

TIA,
Kristin & Tyler

[HRT4SQRLS]

:wave123 Kristin and Tyler
:Welcome to TheSquirrelBoard

Oh my, you have yourself a pickle there. :grin2 I sure hope this works out for you BUT it will definitely take time and a whole lot of patience. As a general rule squirrels that are kept as pets tend to bond to one person. They will select one person as 'their' person and can be quite vicious to everyone else. Taking in a 3 year old is very risky. As a general rule squirrels make lousy pets but I guess it's too late to be talking that kind of 'trash' considering you're the brand new owner of a pet squirrel. :peace:rotfl

Seriously, we always advise against getting a squirrel as a pet due to the many problems. Granted there are MANY on this board that do have non-release squirrels in their home due to disabilities that make them unable to survive in the wild. Even squirrels that were raised from pinkies tend to wild up to a certain degree when they get older. Some more than others. Wilding up, biting, eating the furniture and drywall, pooping everywhere, inability to go on vacations due to lack of care for the squirrel and lack of vet care are just a few of the problems.

If you have the patience, there are a few that can be tamed when they are older. Some will never adapt to a change when older. Some are as sweet as sugar and some are as mean as a mama grizzly bear. It depends on the squirrel.

With that said, you definitely should hang around TSB because you are in like company. It is a resource like no other. We can help you with diet and even health concerns. Depending where you are, we might even be able to link you up with a squirrel friendly vet. I didn't mean to be such a downer but I did want to be honest with you.

Hang around ... we can help.
The first issue to discuss is diet. What does Bella eat? :tilt

Again welcome!!!

[kac428]

I ordered her food off of "the squirrel store" website. I bought a 3 lb bag of rodent block and 3 lbs of Zupreem Monkey Biscuits. I was told to give her 2 pellets of each every day. I have also given her HOR lettuce and Cucumbers, carrots and apples. I also bought some parrot food because it had a good mix of nuts and dried fruit. So shes been getting a good mix, at least I hope!

[HRT4SQRLS]

Here's a link to the healthy diet for pet squirrels.
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=224695&d=1391033425

I looked up the Squirrel Store and I see they sell Mazuri rodent block. That's one of the rodent blocks that are recommended so you're OK there. If later on you would like a 'better' block you might want to consider Henry's Healthy Blocks developed specifically for squirrels but the Mazuri in fine.:thumbsup Many also feed the Zupreem biscuits so those are OK also.

I'm a little concerned about the parrot food. Those seed/nut/dried fruit based parrot foods are very unhealthy for squirrels. Nuts must be only be given as treats in limited amounts. Go to the nutrition section and read about calcium: phosphorus ratios. The best foods are 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorus. (2:1 ratio). You will find a chart that gives these ratios for different foods. That will help you know which are the best foods to feed. When you see the charts you will understand why nuts and seeds are so bad. The are VERY high in phosphorus and can lead to calcium deficiency which is deadly in squirrels. It's called Metabolic Bone Disease.

Other than the parrot food I think you've got a good start on the diet. When you see the diet pyramid you can begin to add healthy veggies. Fruit is also limited.

I'm hopeful that Bella will come around for you. Be very careful during this transition time. Squirrels can really hurt you.

[kac428]

Thank you very much for the advise! The exchange between her previous owners and I was not at all what I was expecting. I thought I would be invited in and they would tell us all about her and introduced us to her slowly. We have a mutual friend so that's how I learned she needed re-homing. Instead my husband and I show up, they get Bella from the garage put the her into our small dog carrier and load the cage and off we go. A bag of salted peanuts was given to us too (I rolled my eyes because I read ahead of time that nuts should be given in small amounts and usually as a treat and NOT peanuts!)

I have already thrown the peanuts away... poor Bella, she's probably in shock of the difference in environments.

I'll continue to do research. She does a chattering sound with her teeth and I learned that is a warning signal to stay away. She does that quite often unfortunately.

Always up for a challenge but I might have jumped the gun with her.

This is Bella Maria

261886