Training a squirrel

[Kooch]

Hey guys :) some of you may remember me back from 6 months ago, when we found and raised a baby squirrel, Bless :) quick recap: she was found 2 days old
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I then fed her Royal Canin Baby dog milk, and we nursed her back to health. So since we had to keep her warm, we put a termophore in the container (we don't have the heating pads here). The termophore wasn't really hot, but since the skin was so thin the heat went right through. Unfortunately she lost her right ear and almost all of her right eyesight. She was 5 days old at the time. Although that happened she still grew up and is a happy little squirrel :) the missing ear doesn't really seem to bother her and she lives a rather full life with us :)
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Ok so now you know the story. Anyone of you, who kept the squirrel as a pet knows, that they are quite a handful, full of energy and enthusiasm. Some of you probably keep them indoors, and let them out of the cage sometimes, or maybe even keep them out altogether like we do. All fine and well, Bless doesn't really damage or ruin anything, but she is still quite messy. The main and only issue here is that she poops everywhere, and hasn't developed a habit where she would only go on one place. The poop isn't big or anything, it's small droppings that dry up really quick, but it's still annoying that it's all over the furniture or wherever she jumps around.

So to conclude. My question is, is the squirrel trainable?? Bless does know some of the basics, like NO! and she comes if you call, but I'm talking about litter training.

Do you think it's even possible to train a squirrel to like go inside the cage and do it's business, and so she doesn't go all around whenever wherever? And if so, how would one engage in such training?
I tried picking up the droppings and putting it on a pile in the cage, then I put her there too and lock her in for a few minutes as "punishment". I only started doing that 2 days ago and I'm not sure whether it works, but I still wanted another opinion or an idea of how to try differently maybe. I know they are quite stubborn and can't really be dog-like trained, but I have a feeling Bless does understand and listens and is quite receptive towards training, I'm just not sure how to start this.

So thats the story and the question, I would really appreciate the help or advices :) oh btw, she is 6months old :)

Greetings and much love from Slovenia :glomp

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hi Kooch. Of course I remember Bless. She looks great and is as cute as can be. :grin2
Training a squirrel is difficult as you already know. I think you might have had better success if you had started younger with Bless. I have one flyer that uses a box for his pee. It is a corner box in his cage. It has a product called CareFresh in it. I doubt you have that in your country though. Maybe you have something similar. It is a compressed paper product. It is very shallow in the bin... like less than an inch. I did put too much CareFresh in the bin once and he stopped using it until I made it shallow.

Don't use pads that puppies use for training because they contain harmful chemicals. Some have used paper towels.

The few squirrels that are trained are only trained for pee. I don't know of any that are trained for their poop. It just rolls out of them constantly. :tilt You might try a shallow box with something with her smell already on it. At this age it's unlikely but you could try.

I had a rescue in the house recently for care. I'm pretty sure she's trained. The only place she seems to pee is on my shoulder. :grin2 :shakehead

[Kooch]

Well I've been at this "training thing" for a couple of days now but I'm not sure how it's going really. It usually did just roll out of her somewhere in her routine jumping path. Unfortunately it's the bed and the sofa. So I covered the bed but she didn't really stop pooping there. For the couch, there is a little improvement in my opinion.
I usually go and pick up the poop and put it in the corner of the cage, then I pick her up (asap as I find the poop or if I see her doing it) and I put her into the same corner and hold her there for a few seconds. Then she has a 5min time out lockdown :p

I don't know, maybe I'm just being really optimistic, but there is a slight improvement I think.

I have a few other questions though. Bless here goes to sleep on my shoulder (she growls until I don't give her my hood) at around 5pm, but sometimes even as early as 4pm. Rare occasions that she goes past 5, even if we're out she sleeps under my shirt not caring about any noise. She then sleeps until 7 or 8am. Is that normal? That's hell of a lot of sleep isn't it? Otherwise she doesn't rest during the day and se is out of the cage 90% of the time...

She also loves car rides. She usually sleeps behind my neck (unfortunatelly me driving or not) or on the passenger seat. Really surprised by that.

Also, Bless swims. We went for a walk once and there's like a little pond there. She jumped around by the shore, then (my guess) accidentaly jumped into the water. I thought she'd scare off, but no, she swam around this small rock where the water's deeper like no big deal then returned to me like nothing happened. Unfortunatelly she "didn't know swimming" a day before when she had to take a bath because there was nothing more horiffic than that. The squirrel from hell arose that day :p

I swear to god this squirrel is going to teach me some stuff before I teach her. :dance

[TubeDriver]

Please be VERY careful if you bring her outside. There are a lot of stories here about indoor/NR squirrels getting startled or scared by some noise for example, and running into the trees and not returning. That would be a death sentence for a squirrel that is unprepared to live outside!

Some people have squirrels that mainly use a bowl but they are a rare breed. In general, squirrels keep themselves very clean but make a HUGE mess of their nests, cages, rooms etc.

She is very cute, little critter!:)

[Kooch]

No, nooo, Bless doesn't go out without a harness. She has one, bought at a vet that fits perfectly and she can't get out of it, i keep the other end wrapped around my hand. I am very careful around that, I know she wouldn't survive the winter so I take extreme caution. Otherwise I try to take her out around with me as much as possible so that she's around stuff and people, she's not that startled by different noises anymore now. She used to freak for random stuff and she got used to different circumstances now.

One thing bothers me a little tho and I didn't expect that. When we're out and somebody is standing near me she sometimes get the urge to jump to the person. Now my friends are used to that, but I need to teach her not to do that at all, somebody might freak :/ she does know NO when she wants to go on the ground, but i have to teach her this too :p

Otherwise she's very attached since I raised her and she shows that a lot. She tolerates my boyfriend, but doesn't want him to pet her or hold or anything, she would bite him, and she bites hard. Her circle of likable people so far is 2, me and my mom :p

[Kooch]

1 more question. I have read somewhere, that squirrels sometimes have "white milky tears" what is that, what does it mean?
Bless has something like that on her damaged eye sometimes. What is it?

[czarina]

I also remember Bliss. I am glad she is doing so well.
I, like Tubedriver, am very concerned about you taking her out. There are a great many horror stories about non-releasable squirrels getting away, never to be found again. Despite their owners desperate searches. Frankly, I and I am sure that many ithers here will also feel the same way. Please, please reconsider this activity. It is just not wirth the risk. Squirrels have an innate fear if noises. It has been inbred for millions of years. They get startled, they run. Fast and high, and they don't look back. If Bliss were able to jump out of your car window ir door, that would be a certain death sentence.

I know you think this will never hapoen, but the only way to guarantee it won't happen, is to leave her safely at home. If that harness is just a smidgen loose, and she is frightened, she will be gone.

I don't know the laws in your country, but in many it is illegal to keep a squirrel as a pet. The government might confiscate and euthanize her. Here, we keep our squirrels secret, because of thise laws.

Also, you mentioned that she will bite your boyfriend. That is normal squirrel behavior. They will usually tolerate only 1 person. And are extremely dangerous and can be absolutely vicious to any stranger. You are risking a lawsuit if she attacks someone. And she will. Plus, many people are fearful if squirrels, and if she unexpectedly jumps on someone, they may violently throw her to the ground, to get her off of them, possibly hurting her very badly.

There are many, many reasons that it is much safer to keep her securely at home. Especially after all she has been through. She really wouldn't stand any chance of survival at all, in the wild. Please, please reconsider taking her out.

[TubeDriver]

A squirrel's tears are milky white. If they are in pain, you will sometimes see this. If that is from her injured eye, it could be from pain or perhaps her tear ducts still work but her injured eye can not clear the tears?



1 more question. I have read somewhere, that squirrels sometimes have "white milky tears" what is that, what does it mean?
Bless has something like that on her damaged eye sometimes. What is it?

[Kooch]

Well the tears happen sometimes, on some days, it's not a constant daily thing. But it does happen and it's on totally random occasions. She could be grooming herself and it happens, or other random things. Also it's not really tears that would come out of her eye, it just waters a little, just enough to see it, and it is ONLY from the injured eye. If I see it I'm gonna take a pic and show you. When this happens she doesn't change her behavior, she's the same and lets me pet her and such.