Coffeeculturegvl
12-12-2016, 10:28 PM
Hello everyone. Glad to be a member and not a lurker finally.
I've got four squirrel rescues. Or rather, they have me. It's up for debate.
Allow me to introduce my brood.
Three of the four I'm getting ready to release were hurricane orphans (there were SO MANY throughout Florida with two landfall hurricanes!!) For the past year and a half I'd become enamored with my backyard squirrels and began feeding them, posting Facebook videos of their backyard antics, naming them, and learning all about them in the process. My friends started calling me The Crazy Squirrel Lady.
When the hurricanes came through, I got so worried about my backyard buddies, especially knowing several females had litters. I don't know WHAT I was thinking, but I posted on Facebook that if anyone found downed babies, to contact me. Not an HOUR later, I had a message from a friend of a friend, who'd found 3 babies roughly two weeks old, in the road amongst the remnants of their nest. Oh geez! Off I went with a shoebox filled with fleece and rice bags I warmed before I left. I was very suddenly a new Squirrel Mama and terrified I might be in over my head.
I get the trio home but I knew one wasn't going to make it. He was severely injured from the fall during Hurricane Hermine and died in my arms an hour after I got him home, poor little guy. The other two, the "twins" Greyson and Hermione- MineyMo for short, are 16 weeks old now. (And yes, the sister's name Hermione is not an accident- my daughter named her after the hurricane that orphaned her...combined with a Harry Potter reference, and she named the boy after her best friend Grace and was coincidentally appropriate since hes an Eastern Grey.
The 3rd, Nugget, is the oldest. I'd barely been home three hours with the first group when my doorbell rings. My friend just handed me a wadded up dishtowel and said, "It's a squirrel." He hadnt even called...just saw my Facebook post, went out on his property and searched all his fallen trees for babies, found one and just drove straight over! Nugget opened his eyes three days later.
The 4th came along a few weeks later. He was about 3 weeks old at the time. He had been rescued from a hawk and delivered to me because my former employee (also a former wildlife rehabber) knew I already had several babies. The more the merrier? Better he be raised with other squirrels, and Florida had far too many orphans and far too few rehab volunteers. So....Blitz made four. He was touch and go for several days since he had talon punctures and a tail injury. At the time, he seemed to recover fine but some facial neurological issues developed as he grew. Guess there was more damage than a few punctures :(
So, other than a few inexperienced speed bumps along the way, I've been told by my former wildlife rehabber friend that I've done well. I must say, I never thought I'd be soaking a squirrel in a pot of warm water because of bloat. Oh, the things we learn, yes?
It's been quite the ride so far, to say the least. If I wasn't nursing a squirrel, I was online researching taking care of infants and the raise-to-release process. Nursing four squirrels with 3 different age groups and feeding schedules wreaked hell on my sleep (or lack thereof.) By the time I'd finished feeding the last one, I had maybe an hour and a half before someone else needed feeding again.
We also have two dogs and four cats. I knew it would be a death sentence to release them if they'd gotten used to domestic pets, so I kept the squeebs sequestered in my craft room. They had ONE encounter with our pets. I'd forgotten one of our cats can open doors (he opens them just because he doesn't like closed doors) and he'd plucked Greyson from the incubator box. Our 70lb dog responded to the cries and "protected" him from the cat. They don't call Pit Bulls the "Nanny Dog" for nothing :)
That was the first and only time any of our pets ever got around the quadruplets.
But we all made it. They graduated out of the incubator tote to a double decker ferret cage. I filled it with oak limbs and lots of long rope dog toys I bought at the dollar store. They got out of cage time twice a day and completely demolished my craft room. It will never be the same. Ha!
On Thanksgiving, with great fanfare and a three hour chase to catch Nugget (he is a VERY smart and resourceful squirrel,) they graduated to the Pre-Pre Release enclosure I built with panels I constructed out of large repurposed political signs, some plywood, some metal window screens, and a couple big rolls of store-bought screening (With an added cross piece on the bottom legs, each sign frame became a perfect 4'x8' panel.) I built the panels and constructed an L-shaped monstrosity on my screen porch. I figured it needed to be big to house four INCREDIBLY ACTIVE JUVENILE SQUIRRELS. In the next few days, I'll be DEconstructing it as the only way to get it OUT of the screen room and putting it all back together again in the back yard for the final stretch to The Wild, as I say.
Three of them will be easy, I can tell. They've wilded up on their own fairly well. The fourth, Greyson, I'm afraid may have decided he wants to be a pet. I'm hoping the next few weeks in the outdoor enclosure will wild him up too. It's not looking likely, though, as he's gotten VERY depressed when I attempt to start the "no contact" part of the process. Who knew squirrels get depressed?!?! He was also the most terrified to move into the big enclosure and hid for three days in his nest sack.
Blitz, the youngest, has been ready for The Wild practically since he weaned himself early. He's never been very appreciative I saved his life. Hmph! He makes me think of a crotchety old man. Despite being a month younger than my oldest, he has been ahead of the curve all along. He's partially blind in one eye, according to my vet... scar tissue likely from the hawk encounter...he's got a lopsided ear and droopy eye from neurological damage suffered at the same time (I assume.) Yet, he is the bravest of the bunch. He was the first to try nest making skills, the first to "pace" the enclosure, the first to go nose to nose through the screen with the backyard locals, the first to challenge me and chase me from his food...and the first to bite me. Ok...the ONLY one to bite me (on purpose.)
They're exposed to the dogs now only because we have to pass through the screen room to let them out for bathroom business. The cats are all very annoyed they aren't allowed on the porch right now. The squirrels, however, are appropriately scared of the dogs and hide in the knotty, hollowed tree stump I found for their house.
What we're going to do with this small building of an enclosure I've created, is up for discussion. I've suggested closing it in with siding and making the shed we sorely need. My 13 year old daughter wants to make it into a Fort for herself. My husband wants to take it apart and store it somewhere "for the next time" since he's certain there WILL be a next time for me. He valiantly declared he would not get attached by refusing to feed or spend time with them from the beginning. That was all for naught. One day I yelled out for his help because I couldn't manage to get all four back in their cage without one or more escaping as I put another in. Gah! YouTube-worthy moments had anyone thought to video record. They all took an immediate liking to him (well, except Blitz, but Blitz doesn't like anybody.) A couple face nibbles and "I want to play" antics, coupled with the twins snuggling into his jacket to fall asleep, and that's all she wrote. He doesn't tend to them the way I do (and prefer, for a better release) but he's definitely Hooked-On-Squirrel now. I kind of wish it had happened when I was nursing them every two hours...but better late than never :)
Christmas Day is the date for the soft release. What better Christmas gift than freedom, right?
I've got four squirrel rescues. Or rather, they have me. It's up for debate.
Allow me to introduce my brood.
Three of the four I'm getting ready to release were hurricane orphans (there were SO MANY throughout Florida with two landfall hurricanes!!) For the past year and a half I'd become enamored with my backyard squirrels and began feeding them, posting Facebook videos of their backyard antics, naming them, and learning all about them in the process. My friends started calling me The Crazy Squirrel Lady.
When the hurricanes came through, I got so worried about my backyard buddies, especially knowing several females had litters. I don't know WHAT I was thinking, but I posted on Facebook that if anyone found downed babies, to contact me. Not an HOUR later, I had a message from a friend of a friend, who'd found 3 babies roughly two weeks old, in the road amongst the remnants of their nest. Oh geez! Off I went with a shoebox filled with fleece and rice bags I warmed before I left. I was very suddenly a new Squirrel Mama and terrified I might be in over my head.
I get the trio home but I knew one wasn't going to make it. He was severely injured from the fall during Hurricane Hermine and died in my arms an hour after I got him home, poor little guy. The other two, the "twins" Greyson and Hermione- MineyMo for short, are 16 weeks old now. (And yes, the sister's name Hermione is not an accident- my daughter named her after the hurricane that orphaned her...combined with a Harry Potter reference, and she named the boy after her best friend Grace and was coincidentally appropriate since hes an Eastern Grey.
The 3rd, Nugget, is the oldest. I'd barely been home three hours with the first group when my doorbell rings. My friend just handed me a wadded up dishtowel and said, "It's a squirrel." He hadnt even called...just saw my Facebook post, went out on his property and searched all his fallen trees for babies, found one and just drove straight over! Nugget opened his eyes three days later.
The 4th came along a few weeks later. He was about 3 weeks old at the time. He had been rescued from a hawk and delivered to me because my former employee (also a former wildlife rehabber) knew I already had several babies. The more the merrier? Better he be raised with other squirrels, and Florida had far too many orphans and far too few rehab volunteers. So....Blitz made four. He was touch and go for several days since he had talon punctures and a tail injury. At the time, he seemed to recover fine but some facial neurological issues developed as he grew. Guess there was more damage than a few punctures :(
So, other than a few inexperienced speed bumps along the way, I've been told by my former wildlife rehabber friend that I've done well. I must say, I never thought I'd be soaking a squirrel in a pot of warm water because of bloat. Oh, the things we learn, yes?
It's been quite the ride so far, to say the least. If I wasn't nursing a squirrel, I was online researching taking care of infants and the raise-to-release process. Nursing four squirrels with 3 different age groups and feeding schedules wreaked hell on my sleep (or lack thereof.) By the time I'd finished feeding the last one, I had maybe an hour and a half before someone else needed feeding again.
We also have two dogs and four cats. I knew it would be a death sentence to release them if they'd gotten used to domestic pets, so I kept the squeebs sequestered in my craft room. They had ONE encounter with our pets. I'd forgotten one of our cats can open doors (he opens them just because he doesn't like closed doors) and he'd plucked Greyson from the incubator box. Our 70lb dog responded to the cries and "protected" him from the cat. They don't call Pit Bulls the "Nanny Dog" for nothing :)
That was the first and only time any of our pets ever got around the quadruplets.
But we all made it. They graduated out of the incubator tote to a double decker ferret cage. I filled it with oak limbs and lots of long rope dog toys I bought at the dollar store. They got out of cage time twice a day and completely demolished my craft room. It will never be the same. Ha!
On Thanksgiving, with great fanfare and a three hour chase to catch Nugget (he is a VERY smart and resourceful squirrel,) they graduated to the Pre-Pre Release enclosure I built with panels I constructed out of large repurposed political signs, some plywood, some metal window screens, and a couple big rolls of store-bought screening (With an added cross piece on the bottom legs, each sign frame became a perfect 4'x8' panel.) I built the panels and constructed an L-shaped monstrosity on my screen porch. I figured it needed to be big to house four INCREDIBLY ACTIVE JUVENILE SQUIRRELS. In the next few days, I'll be DEconstructing it as the only way to get it OUT of the screen room and putting it all back together again in the back yard for the final stretch to The Wild, as I say.
Three of them will be easy, I can tell. They've wilded up on their own fairly well. The fourth, Greyson, I'm afraid may have decided he wants to be a pet. I'm hoping the next few weeks in the outdoor enclosure will wild him up too. It's not looking likely, though, as he's gotten VERY depressed when I attempt to start the "no contact" part of the process. Who knew squirrels get depressed?!?! He was also the most terrified to move into the big enclosure and hid for three days in his nest sack.
Blitz, the youngest, has been ready for The Wild practically since he weaned himself early. He's never been very appreciative I saved his life. Hmph! He makes me think of a crotchety old man. Despite being a month younger than my oldest, he has been ahead of the curve all along. He's partially blind in one eye, according to my vet... scar tissue likely from the hawk encounter...he's got a lopsided ear and droopy eye from neurological damage suffered at the same time (I assume.) Yet, he is the bravest of the bunch. He was the first to try nest making skills, the first to "pace" the enclosure, the first to go nose to nose through the screen with the backyard locals, the first to challenge me and chase me from his food...and the first to bite me. Ok...the ONLY one to bite me (on purpose.)
They're exposed to the dogs now only because we have to pass through the screen room to let them out for bathroom business. The cats are all very annoyed they aren't allowed on the porch right now. The squirrels, however, are appropriately scared of the dogs and hide in the knotty, hollowed tree stump I found for their house.
What we're going to do with this small building of an enclosure I've created, is up for discussion. I've suggested closing it in with siding and making the shed we sorely need. My 13 year old daughter wants to make it into a Fort for herself. My husband wants to take it apart and store it somewhere "for the next time" since he's certain there WILL be a next time for me. He valiantly declared he would not get attached by refusing to feed or spend time with them from the beginning. That was all for naught. One day I yelled out for his help because I couldn't manage to get all four back in their cage without one or more escaping as I put another in. Gah! YouTube-worthy moments had anyone thought to video record. They all took an immediate liking to him (well, except Blitz, but Blitz doesn't like anybody.) A couple face nibbles and "I want to play" antics, coupled with the twins snuggling into his jacket to fall asleep, and that's all she wrote. He doesn't tend to them the way I do (and prefer, for a better release) but he's definitely Hooked-On-Squirrel now. I kind of wish it had happened when I was nursing them every two hours...but better late than never :)
Christmas Day is the date for the soft release. What better Christmas gift than freedom, right?