cookiebun
05-11-2006, 09:08 PM
Hi. I have found a little squirrel today and I hope someone here can give me some advice .
First some backround info:
I live and work at a large apartment complex in central Ohio. We have 810 units on a 45 acre site. We have LOTS of squirrels. My job keeps me outside most of the day and I have lots of squirrel buddies. They follow me around as I work and I toss them peanuts.
Today I came home for lunch and found a baby squirrel on my patio. He let me walk right up to him. I leaned over to offer him a peanut and he tried to grab my hand. Then one of the adult females came over and I gave her a peanut. The little squirrel tried to go to her and she ran away. He came back to me, climbed onto my shoe and then tried to climb up my leg! I picked him up (with a towel), brought him inside and fixed him up in a guinea pig cage with a heating pad, bowl of water and some food.
I consulted my local wild life rehab site and found this:
"infant squirrels start to venture out of the nest at about two months old and are weaned by three months. They sometimes stray away from the nest before their survival skills are developed. These inexperienced infants may not fear people or predators."
http://www.ohiowildlifecenter.org/test/WildlifeInfo/infant_treesquirrel.asp
So I think my little guy has wandered away from his mom.
After work I took the little guy back outside. I offered him to 3 adult females who were hanging around, they ignored him. I tried putting him into 2 trees, he fell out both times. I tried just letting him go and he wandered over to my neighbor's door and parked himself on her door step. She has a small dog.
Obviously he has no "street" smarts. He even followed me back to my apt. after the other squirrels gave him the brush off.
So I'm wondering, if I get up REAL EARLY tomorrow and take him arround in a pet taxi to meet the rest of our friendly squirrels, is it still possible I could find his mom and she'll take him back?
I really don't want to have to take him into the wildlife center. He's so close to being old enough to be on his own and those folks are so busy now.
What do the experts here think?
First some backround info:
I live and work at a large apartment complex in central Ohio. We have 810 units on a 45 acre site. We have LOTS of squirrels. My job keeps me outside most of the day and I have lots of squirrel buddies. They follow me around as I work and I toss them peanuts.
Today I came home for lunch and found a baby squirrel on my patio. He let me walk right up to him. I leaned over to offer him a peanut and he tried to grab my hand. Then one of the adult females came over and I gave her a peanut. The little squirrel tried to go to her and she ran away. He came back to me, climbed onto my shoe and then tried to climb up my leg! I picked him up (with a towel), brought him inside and fixed him up in a guinea pig cage with a heating pad, bowl of water and some food.
I consulted my local wild life rehab site and found this:
"infant squirrels start to venture out of the nest at about two months old and are weaned by three months. They sometimes stray away from the nest before their survival skills are developed. These inexperienced infants may not fear people or predators."
http://www.ohiowildlifecenter.org/test/WildlifeInfo/infant_treesquirrel.asp
So I think my little guy has wandered away from his mom.
After work I took the little guy back outside. I offered him to 3 adult females who were hanging around, they ignored him. I tried putting him into 2 trees, he fell out both times. I tried just letting him go and he wandered over to my neighbor's door and parked himself on her door step. She has a small dog.
Obviously he has no "street" smarts. He even followed me back to my apt. after the other squirrels gave him the brush off.
So I'm wondering, if I get up REAL EARLY tomorrow and take him arround in a pet taxi to meet the rest of our friendly squirrels, is it still possible I could find his mom and she'll take him back?
I really don't want to have to take him into the wildlife center. He's so close to being old enough to be on his own and those folks are so busy now.
What do the experts here think?