Territorial squirrel - Weird circumstances, need advice please. Looking for rehab

[Alynxi]

I have a male western grey squirrel I rescued over a year ago as a fallen baby. I am in oregon. He is entirely tame to us and being handled/coddled, and unfortunately is beyond attached to our family and our property as our home has been his as well since his eyes first opened and now he's displaying aggression towards people coming to our property near where he hides his food and has attacked our neighbor twice both times when she got too close to "his" area of the property on our side, (his area outside overlaps the property line on her side as well because hes a greedy little fella.)
Long story short, I need help from someone in rehabbing him to being releasable because I dont want to just dump him somewhere in the woods and expect him to make it, he's closer to a house cat than he is a wild animal and that is entirely our fault.
I would like him to live healthy in the wild but I know that may be either extremely difficult or impossible to get him to that point. He sleeps on top of my Lovebirds cage behind two stuffed bears in a nest of blankets but spends most of his time outside, but he still likes to be inside and near me as I was the one he seemed to have imprinted on, like Im his mama or something. He's a year and a half old as of June, we love him to pieces as he is like part of our family, and he's such a little character. I need to find someone with the time and skill to rehab and make him ready for the wild, or provide him a forever home he will be safe and others will be safe from any territorial squirrel tirades. I would like to ask for resources you might be able to share so I might be able to find a licensed rehabber or willing wildlife center. Thank you so much, I know this is long and super specific but thats why Im bothering I dont just wanna dump Lrrr somewhere he's like my baby and I feel like a horrible F*****G person for ruining this beautiful animal all from my own stupid good intentions to rescue a cold, blind little baby. It wasnt hard for me to raise him but figuring this out is. :(

Im not here for judgement because as someone with bipolar II depression and anxiety I find myself judging myself enough as it is though i deserve it.

[Lighten-Up]

If we are honest with ourselves, we have all made mistakes.

You meant well, and this happened, yet you still love him, and want his best, I honor that. Not everyone would agree with me, but I do believe that if you could find, or become an animal communicator, that your little ones behavior could yet be modified. Or, maybe someone will take you up on your offer to take him or relocate him.

Please be forgiving with yourself, we are all on a journey of learning and modifying ourselves and our situations.

Hopefully someone near you can help. :Love_Icon

[TubeDriver]

Provided that he is overall physically healthy, a proper soft release (~2weeks to a month) in an outside cage should "wild" him up.

The issue with aggression towards your neighbors is harder to deal with. There is a chance that as he wilds up in the soft release cage, he will develope a normal fear or at least distrust of people. One other option would to locate a rehabber who has a remote soft release area where people are not really an issue, they could soft release him.

[Alynxi]

Thank you both for your responses, and kind words as well <3

Im currently working on getting responses from rehabbers near-ish to me and Ive recieved an email back letting me know my wall of text will be forwarded to a supervisor at one of these centers at least, just waiting on a response now.
I just dont trust myself to be able to fully rehab him to wild given how attached he is to me and vice versa.
Him being a year and a half old now doesnt make things any easier. I definitely will need help from a rehabber.



Far too comfortable with people, again, my fault, as I only perpetuated it for getting too attached to him.

290032 290033

[HRT4SQRLS]

PLEASE .... contact Duckman on this board. Send him a Private Message. He is in Oregon/Washington. Do NOT contact rehab centers in your area. There was a tragedy several years ago regarding a situation just like yours. Duckman will know exactly what to do. He is licensed, he is experienced, he will know who to trust AND he is an awesome human being. You can trust his advice 100%.

The previous 'BAD' incident in your state practically scarred me for life and I was 3000 miles away. I will never get over it and I wasn't even involved.

Contact Duckman. You will never regret it.

Don't beat yourself up. We've all made mistakes. If the worst thing I ever did was rescue a baby squirrel and love it too much ... well, I'm OK with that.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Alynxi, I sent Duckman a Private Message for you. I hope he can help you. :hug

[Alynxi]

PLEASE .... contact Duckman on this board. Send him a Private Message. He is in Oregon/Washington. Do NOT contact rehab centers in your area. There was a tragedy several years ago regarding a situation just like yours. Duckman will know exactly what to do. He is licensed, he is experienced, he will know who to trust AND he is an awesome human being. You can trust his advice 100%.

The previous 'BAD' incident in your state practically scarred me for life and I was 3000 miles away. I will never get over it and I wasn't even involved.

Contact Duckman. You will never regret it.

Don't beat yourself up. We've all made mistakes. If the worst thing I ever did was rescue a baby squirrel and love it too much ... well, I'm OK with that.

Thank you so much, I messaged him, and your words really do help me to feel a bit better about this knowing Im amongst those who understand what Im dealing with.... Thank you

[Duckman]

I have responded with my phone number and an explanation of what we can do to help her get Lrrr back to the trees. I am so thankful that she contacted the board, instead of calling a local rehabber in Oregon. I know many of us still have nightmares about Nuts and I personally don't ever what that to happen again!!! :Love_Icon:Love_IconNuts:Love_Icon:Love_Icon

[HRT4SQRLS]

I have responded with my phone number and an explanation of what we can do to help her get Lrrr back to the trees. I am so thankful that she contacted the board, instead of calling a local rehabber in Oregon. I know many of us still have nightmares about Nuts and I personally don't ever what that to happen again!!! :Love_Icon:Love_IconNuts:Love_Icon:Love_Icon

I know Duckman, I know. :shakehead The similarity of this situation to Nuts almost made me have a panic attack.

:Love_Icon :Love_Icon Nuts :Love_Icon :Love_Icon :sadness

I can't thank you enough Duckman. :grouphug

Alynxi, you can trust Duckman 100%. Call him. If those other people return your call, don't answer.

[Gray Squirrel]

Does western gray stash all there nut in one place? I wonder what would happen if you took his stash away. He would probably be upset with you but he might decide to stash nut somewhere else, hopefully not somewhere that would be worse. May be if you put the nuts you took in a place on your yard far from your neighbor he would stash them in your yard

[Duckman]

Unfortunately, I have not heard from this person. :poke Please call me soon, as I am fearful of the consequences if you don't...
:Squirrel:gun2 This is what Oregon will do to the squirrels in a large radius, if Lrrrr bites someone. They will eradicate all of the squirrels to ensure they get the aggressive one.

[Duckman]

Ok, we spoke earlier and we will be bringing Lrrr into the Refuge, so he can begin his journey to the trees!! Thank you everyone who helped in this endevour, and especially Thank you to Lrrr's mama, for realizing what was best for him AND going about finding the right path to his release, so he wouldn't be used as an "Example", as :Love_Icon Nuts :Love_Icon was!! I will post once he is here and settled in!

[HRT4SQRLS]

I'm so relieved to hear this. Thank you Duckman.

Also, thank you Alynxi for searching for help for Lrrr. You can be confident that he will be released properly and live a full life in the trees. I'm sure you have mixed emotions about this but let me assure you that you are doing the right thing for your friend Lrrr. :grouphug

[TubeDriver]

A hard decision but one that is in the best interests of the squirrel!:great Which makes Alynxi a truly worthy finder and adopted squirrely parent.:clap

Lrrr will be in great hands with Duckman and can look forward to a life high up in the trees!:w00t

[Duckman]

I wanted to take a quick moment to update everyone. Lrrr is doing well. He has started his wild up process and will be in a nesting box tonight. I am amazed at the size of him, since he is the first Western Grey I have ever seen. He is literally twice the size of a Western Grey!! I am sure he tops out at about 1500g!! :eek He has a great appetite and seems to have adapted to the cage he is in (although he will go in a bigger cage tonight, when I give him his new nesting box).

I did have a funny story I wanted to share (I already shared with Alynxi)! On Tuesday, I went in to check on Lrrr and found him on his back, with his mouth wide open and one paw stiffly up in the air. He wasn't moving at all and I had seen this stiff position before, but only with squirrels who had passed over to the Rainbow Bridge! I yelled out at the top of my voice "Oh my God!! What is going on!!!" (In tears mind you!). No response from Lrrr. I opened the cage door and picked up one of the blankets that was covering his lower half and he shot straight up to the top of cage! Both of us were extremely agitated (obviously! Me thinking I had somehow killed this poor guy (and desperately trying to figure out what had gone so horribly wrong), and him having been very rudely woken up from a very deep sleep!!). I am happy to report that Lrrr no longer sleeps so deeply (always wakes up when I come in, which for a wild squirrel, is a good thing!) and I now expect to see he looking like he has passed on to the Rainbow bridge, even though he is just sleeping! I am still waiting for my heart to slow down! LOL!

[TubeDriver]

1500gs? That is a big boy! I know the feeling of seeing a squirrel non-responsive in a deep sleep. You feel your heart stop as you think "Oh no, what happened?". Then they wake up and look at you suspiciously like you were sneaking up on them.:grin2

[HRT4SQRLS]

I just love that story Duckman. :rofl4 I bet you didn't love it so much. :eek You scared Lrrr into next year!

I would love to see a 3+ pound squirrel. That's 3x the size of FL squirrels.
Duckman, I am so happy that you were able to help Alynxi and Lrrr. :grouphug :serene

[Alynxi]

Holy crap! 3 pounds?? Didnt realize he weighed that much, haha! He's definitely a big, gorgeous boy! Thank you all for all the support for Lrrr, Ive been pretty busy with stuff since I got back from taking him to Duckman and just got on today, and Im so happy to see how diligent and caring this community is :Love_Icon :grouphug

[Duckman]

Lrrr will be going to his release site tomorrow, with one of our affiliates in Salem Oregon. I have their absolute assurance that if he is not able to be released, he will come back to us. I trust these people 100%, as we have worked with them the last 4 years and they are wonderful!

I do have to say though, that when I transferred him to his new temporary cage, with his new permanent nesting box, he was able to latch onto my thumb and almost relieve me of the top 1/2" my thumb! I didn't realize just how strong they are, or how squiggly they are!! I swear he has the strength of 10 Eastern Grey's, and can twist and spin like the devil!! He has tasted my blood and he seemed to smile a little bit more afterwards. At least I got him where he needed to be, so he didn't win that battle, but I do have an even greater respect for him and those gnarly teeth!!

[TubeDriver]

Ouch!:tap