Rehab fail....need advice

[Nikkie906]

I am new to rehabbing, and think I may have caused one of my babies to imprint. I currently have two squirrels wintering over (Stanley and Tracy) and two 12-ish week olds still inside (Penny and Amber). One of the babies (Amber) has some issues and doesn't seem to "squirrel" very well. I can't quite put my finger on the cause, but I do not think she will be releasable. My issue is with the other baby. I have not separated them and they currently have free run of my bathroom. I spend a lot more time with them than I did Tracy and Stanley as I have been trying to work with Amber.

Penny has become more and more needy. She constantly wants to be on me or whoever goes into the bathroom. I have been unsuccessful in finding another rehabber with a similar aged baby to put her with, but do not want to put her in a release cage alone, especially now that I am worried she is human imprinted.

What would you all recommend at this point? In my state, non releasables are supposed to be euthanized, unless you can get an education animal permit for them. I do not intend to euthanize Amber, but I suppose that is a whole other story.

I hope this all makes sense. It's super late and I'm exhausted, but can't seem to fall asleep.... 😴

[LR]

MHO. I wouldn't worry about "imprinting" on them at this point. Just don't let Penny get used to any house pets you may have if you are going to release her. From what I have read, it is not optimal to release a singletons but is done when required. The soft release process will "wild" her right back up.

Now, about Amber.......st art a thread for her and people who know about these things can help you with her.

[Nikkie906]

I did start a thread for Amber when I first got her in and didn't get many responses, but will try again.

I posted in a local rehabber group to try to find someone with similar age babies, but all I got in response were reminders that Amber would need to be euthanized if not releasable so I deleted it.

[LR]

What forum did you post it in? I'll look for it and bump it for you...I've probably read it even. If questions aren't bumped occasionally they sometimes "fall through the cracks" unfortunately.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Nikkie, sorry you didn't get any replying regarding Amber. Sometimes it's as simple as bad timing. If there is a lot going on on the board at any particular time and resources are spread thin a post like yours might get missed. Sorry! Post about her again OR bump the original thread. You might be surprised about her releasability. I have had some that were clearly not releasable or SO I THOUGHT. They seemed developmentally delayed and it didn't seem they would be able to live in the trees. With time, everything changed and they were successfully released. Don't count her out just yet if there isn't an obvious disability.

I definitely wouldn't worry about 'imprinting'. I have released many squirrels and some of those have been singletons. They do fine. Of course, when releasing a singleton I want conditions to be optimal so for me that would be a spring release. I do support my releases by providing supplemental feeding until fully transitioned to the wild. I personally have not had a single squirrel that didn't want to live in the trees. Even the most loving squirrels, when given the choice will head for the trees and leave their human 'mama'. Of course there are exceptions but MOST released squirrels don't even want to be touched after release. It's like a switch flips and the wild instinct begins to kick in quickly. Even those that will climb on me after release don't want me to touch them. I respect that. For those times when I just couldn't resist and want to sneak a stroke they usually are pretty swift to sink those incisors into my hand. :rotfl

[Javarat]

What forum did you post it in? I'll look for it and bump it for you...I've probably read it even. If questions aren't bumped occasionally they sometimes "fall through the cracks" unfortunately.I think she meant on a local forum in her State.. not this board.

[Nancy in New York]

I am new to rehabbing, and think I may have caused one of my babies to imprint. I currently have two squirrels wintering over (Stanley and Tracy) and two 12-ish week olds still inside (Penny and Amber). One of the babies (Amber) has some issues and doesn't seem to "squirrel" very well. I can't quite put my finger on the cause, but I do not think she will be releasable. My issue is with the other baby. I have not separated them and they currently have free run of my bathroom. I spend a lot more time with them than I did Tracy and Stanley as I have been trying to work with Amber.

Penny has become more and more needy. She constantly wants to be on me or whoever goes into the bathroom. I have been unsuccessful in finding another rehabber with a similar aged baby to put her with, but do not want to put her in a release cage alone, especially now that I am worried she is human imprinted.

What would you all recommend at this point? In my state, non releasables are supposed to be euthanized, unless you can get an education animal permit for them. I do not intend to euthanize Amber, but I suppose that is a whole other story.

I hope this all makes sense. It's super late and I'm exhausted, but can't seem to fall asleep.... ��

Are you overwintering Penny and Amber as well. You mentioned they are 12 weeks old, and it's really late in the season to release.
I wouldn't be overly concerned about Amber being too "needy" at this point, she is still young.
I've overwintered many squirrels that remain quite friendly during the winter, and then come spring, something kicks in
and they/(most) want to stay more distant and they become quite antsy.
I've always thought that keeping them on the "friendlier" side during overwintering, makes it so much easier on me and on
them.
It's amazing how their instincts kick in and it can feel like overnight they have "wilded" up.
Last year, I had a little squirrel that stuck to his mother really close, while all his siblings were out
exploring on their own, he stayed right smack next to mom. It took him longer, but he eventually
got the confidence to "break away" from her.
I wouldn't worry at all about her not being releasable.

Here's a couple of pictures of the little one still trying to nurse then play with momma. :)
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-WWqNSZP/0/072908e6/M/i-WWqNSZP-M.jpghttps://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-sw2XJmS/0/9272bfee/M/i-sw2XJmS-M.jpghttps://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-wPQGQtD/0/c2b9a785/M/i-wPQGQtD-M.jpghttps://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-4j5pctk/0/ac767b3b/M/i-4j5pctk-M.jpg

Short video of a patient mamma.
She just gave him time, and he slowly broke away from her.


https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-JNT6CdP/0/012127ec/640/i-JNT6CdP-640.mp4

[Javarat]

I have had many squirrels that looked like they had 'over printed'.
They constantly wanted to be on me, wanted to play, did not to explore, etc.
All of them ultimately started 'shunning' me... not wanting to be touched or handled.

I just released one recently who was like that.
For the first 4 days every time she saw me she immediately ran to jump on me.
The next 4 days she ran over and stood in front of me waiting for food.
After that she only approached me if I waved food.
Currently she acts like every other squirrel.. except sometimes she will surprise me when I am filling a feeder by jumping on me from nowhere and repeatedly asking "what have you got? what are you doing?". She doesn't want me to pet her.. she just has a no fear off me. But she still runs away from any other humans, which is good.

As for the other squirrel... being a little 'off' might be a problem or not. Squirrels are quirky, and every one of them has a different personality. 12 weeks is way too early to tell unless it is a very visible problem like not being able to hold food or climb, but I would suggest the standard procedures: check her diet, give her more wild items like limbs to climb on, check her diet, and check her diet.

[LR]

Ambers thread. https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?59009-Dwarfism-or-just-undernourished

[Jen413]

I become “Momma” to every squirrel that enters my in whatever way they need. I love when love on all of them. I personally would not separate them right now. It will help Penny in the long run. I’m currently raising my first “group” right now and over wintering. Every other baby I’ve had and released was a singleton. I think you will find she will wild up come spring with you put her in the RC. Maybe just separate them a little prior to putting her out to give her time to adjust to that then give her extra time in the RC before you open it for her.

[Nikkie906]

Thank you all, this makes me feel so much better for Penny! I want them to be happy in the trees for sure!

I will post an update on Amber's thread.

[kcassidy]

I second and third what everyone else said. I have had many singletons and I love on them let them sleep in bed with me every night and still the little buggers end up wanting to be outside and once out it’s a matter of 1-2 weeks before I’m not allowed to touch them anymore.

I have a unique setup so mine move out when they want to. I have free in/out access for all of my squirrels. For the singletons I usually go out with them the first few times and take them to a safe tree. They love to hop from my shoulder to the tree back to me. If they had siblings I wouldn’t do this but there is strength in numbers on those first few adventures. ��

Sounds like your doing great no get us some pix! Lol