Any soft release tips would be much appreciated!!! Please read

[Pjthesquirrel]

Hello there, I am located in Oregon which made this releasing process difficult. In July of 2020 I found her a couple weeks old at the bottom of a tree in my backyard curled up, momma squirrel did not come get her because the sky was super smokey from massive fires around the area. She is around 9 months now and I named her PJ(Peanut JR), the original Peanut has been coming to our backyard for years and we hand feed her. Anyways, I bottle fed her probably longer than I should have, she does not like rodent blocks, I put a pinch calcium in her water and vitamins in a walnut and feed her mostly different types of greens and fruits. There’s the backstory.. so now the tough part. When she was due to start the soft release it started to get too cold to do so, so I had to keep her during winter and it has finally been good enough weather to start the soft release. I built a nice 4x4x6’ cage in our quarter acre backyard and put her in yesterday with her original box that she sleeps in. She hasn’t come out at all and she has been super scared and hasn’t eaten or drinken at all. Will she come out eventually soon? I’m a little worried because she is so sweet, I don’t know if she was caged for too long to be released or it’s still good timing? Any tips would be appreciated. Thank you

[Barby]

There are people here with far more experience and expertise than me but I will share my experience. I had never raised squirrels until last year when a neighbor cut down a tree and the tree guys presented them with two -two week old babies. The neighbors had no interest or willingness to do anything so I took them. I read a lot and build the appropriate cage, etc though my male released himself sooner than I would have liked but my female I went through the normal process. The first night I let her out-out into her nesting box, I went out and got her and brought her back inside! She seemed hesitant and scared. My family thought I was projecting: squirrel board folks assured me I was not :) The next day, I let her out and she seemed to "never look back." She stayed around but was more than happy to be amongst the trees. So....my point is this is not normal behavior for a squirrel who is ready. I don't think you kept her "too long" inside: the call of the wild is a strong, strong pull, one not likely to be diminished by a few extra months of cushy-human living. I don't know why or what may be wrong with her but if it was me, I'd bring her back in and work from there.