General Question

[Kmw2083]

Good afternoon,
About a month ago my husband and I came across a paralyzed squirrel and thanks to your help, he is alive and well and on the road to recovery. I am messaging because I am not sure how to go about training/taming him. His back legs seem to be getting better, so I am wondering if perhaps we could release him back into the wild one day. If not, I need to get him adjusted to being around me, and I need him to not bite when I am trying to move him out to change his cage. Does anyone have any advice on how to do this? I have tried to give him food when I go into his crate, but he never seems interested and runs away. Thanks for the help!

[SophieSquirrel]

Good afternoon,
About a month ago my husband and I came across a paralyzed squirrel and thanks to your help, he is alive and well and on the road to recovery. I am messaging because I am not sure how to go about training/taming him. His back legs seem to be getting better, so I am wondering if perhaps we could release him back into the wild one day. If not, I need to get him adjusted to being around me, and I need him to not bite when I am trying to move him out to change his cage. Does anyone have any advice on how to do this? I have tried to give him food when I go into his crate, but he never seems interested and runs away. Thanks for the help!

If he is at the 1 month mark already I would say he is getting pretty close to maximum improvement. Nerves can re-wire to some extent but 100% functionality is rare. All animals have a will to live and he will adapt to captivity in one way or another. It takes time with a squirrel who was not raised by people from a young age to learn to trust. Biting is merely a fear reaction and eventually he will realize you mean him no harm. I have a semi-paralyzed female who came in fully paralyzed but can now shuffle here legs and get around. She can climb the cage to a degree but I would not release her for her safety. Barring a miraculous full and complete recovery a partially mobile squirrel would not last long in the wild.

How is his appetite in general?

Watch this video especially from 12:40 and you will see how a tree squirrel has to leap while climbing a tree. Without this ability a tree squirrel will surely fall and be injured or die. A semi-paralyzed squirrel will try because it in his nature and he will fall. You CGS will have similar issues trying to outrun predators on open ground


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7usK9hCMdw

[Kmw2083]

He definitely has a healthy appetite. I have been giving him a calcium supplement in his food, and he seems to continues to improve weekly. He started liftin his tail two weeks ago, and just recently started to move his back legs. He still cannot Air upright, but sometimes he sits back on his feet. He has gain f a lot of weight and seems to be much stronger too. He can climb to the top of the change and tries to jump whe I hold him. I think the biggest issue I am having now is taming him enough to the point where he doesn’t bite when I try to hold him. Specifically when I try to clean the urine off of his bottom so he doesn’t get a rash. When he was really weak he didn’t care, now he runs from me and has bitten my finger twice and it got infected which makes things even more difficult.



If he is at the 1 month mark already I would say he is getting pretty close to maximum improvement. Nerves can re-wire to some extent but 100% functionality is rare. All animals have a will to live and he will adapt to captivity in one way or another. It takes time with a squirrel who was not raised by people from a young age to learn to trust. Biting is merely a fear reaction and eventually he will realize you mean him no harm. I have a semi-paralyzed female who came in fully paralyzed but can now shuffle here legs and get around. She can climb the cage to a degree but I would not release her for her safety. Barring a miraculous full and complete recovery a partially mobile squirrel would not last long in the wild.

How is his appetite in general?

Watch this video especially from 12:40 and you will see how a tree squirrel has to leap while climbing a tree. Without this ability a tree squirrel will surely fall and be injured or die. A semi-paralyzed squirrel will try because it in his nature and he will fall. You CGS will have similar issues trying to outrun predators on open ground


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7usK9hCMdw

[SophieSquirrel]

When he was really weak he didn’t care, now he runs from me and has bitten my finger twice and it got infected which makes things even more difficult.

I can't predict to what level he will tame as all squirrels (and species) are different. In the world of tree squirrels Foxes tame easier than Grays and Reds are the most difficult. I have no idea about the CGS as I have never worked with one being an east coast person. The fact that he has urine control problems shows he still has serious issues.

Don't sweat the infection. It's not from his mouth, usually bacteria on your skin being pushed into the wound during the bite. The way to avoid infection is after "bleeding" the wound immediately soak it for up to 30 minutes in hot water and sea salt, that will kill any bacteria - apply Neosporin. You need to get some handling gloves that he can't bite through.

I use Kevlar gloves and sleeves when handling injured wilds.

Here are the ones I use:

http://www.animal-care.com/product/critter-animal-handling-gloves/

Police gloves that have total Kevlar lining also work, if you search you can find them cheaper:

http://www.turtleskin.com/law-enforcement-gear/gloves