Is it possible to release Jake?

[Kyra]

Hello everyone, I have a variegated squirrel (I´m from Central America) named Jake that has been rehabilitating with me because it was found alone in a parking lot of my University. I focused on the fact that I needed to give him the correct nutrition (I've never raised a squirrel and there are no specialist in my country so I had to do it) but I was not worriyng about the fact that he could be released and that maybe I should have limited his interaction with humans. I had to feed him every few hours (He was 4 weeks old when I found him) so I had to have him with me at my work place, so every now and then a person walk into my office and they would see, talk and touch Jake. Unfortunately he is a very social squirrel with humans, he will climb any person legs if he/she moves close to it. He is now three months old and is doing fine with exercise, he is bitting hard and he is almost weaned, so I was wondering if maybe I unintentionally made him too close to humans to be released again in the wild. Let me know your opinions.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Hi Kyra
:Welcome to TheSquirrelBoard

I'm not sure but you might be our first member from Guatemala. :grin2 Welcome!
We have a very active member that lives in Costa Rica. He also has variegated squirrels. They are REAL beauties. We would love to see pics of your baby.

Let me assure you that if your baby is healthy, he can be successfully released. I personally have released 3 pet squirrels (for other members) that were a year old. Their entire life had been human contact. Releasing is a process. We can walk you through it. It basically is putting the squirrel in an outside PREDATOR PROOF cage so that they get acclimated to the sights and sounds of the outside. For some, it is a short period (a week or two). For others it can be much longer. I held the pet squirrels in the outside release cage for 6 weeks in one case and a month in the other.

MOST squirrels want to be free in the trees. It is extremely rare when a squirrel will not leave and head for the trees. Even when raised by people, they long for the trees and freedom. Actually, squirrels make lousy pets. They bite and destroy your property but we still love them. :tilt

More of a detriment to released squirrels is familiarity with domestic pets like cats or dogs. They need a healthy fear of predators like cats or they don't survive long.

[Kyra]

Thank you for the reply :) I'll take him some pictures and I'll share them with you later :D

Thank you for the information also! I think he has a fear of predators, he has never been in contact with domestic animals (I don't have pets) but do you know a safe method to make sure he fears cats and dogs? (He has seen some dogs from a safe distance and didn't run away or freaked out). The only problem in my country is the release site, the ones available for me are still close to human population (I live in the city) and there is nobody in the rural area that could do the whole soft release process. That is my main concern, do you think he'll come close to people if he's released in an area close to people?

[island rehabber]

Hi Kyra, and welcome to TSB!
I think so long as your little guy has access to good food and water, and there are other squirrels where he is being released (but not TOO many because there will be too much competition), I believe he will do fine. I don't think he will approach people unless he gets desperate for either food or water, so hopefully that won't happen. :great

I'd love to see a picture of him - variegated squirrels are SO beautiful!

[Lighten-Up]

Your squirrel is still young, so even though he is friendly with humans now, there is a good chance that as he continues to mature, he will gradually become more wild as time goes on, and seek humans less and less. Every squirrel is different, but this is a very common occurrence, and chances are very good that Jake will do this.

I think this is also why many people say squirrels don't make good pets; because when squirrels are young, they are cuddly, and make great companions for humans, but as time goes on, their natural instinct and desires for freedom and the wild life that they were designed to live, take precedent, and so many people begin to see changes come that they could not foresee when the squirrel was so friendly at an earlier age. It's a natural progression. So I feel that it is very possible to have Jake be fully releasable. Begin to limit his contact with people to encourage the shift.

Best wishes to you and Jake.