White_rabbit
06-30-2021, 03:17 AM
So a while back my gf was working for a catholic school doing daycare. She came home one day with a baby that was about 4ish weeks old and had a story about how the poor thing fell from a tree after its mother was hit by a car. And once it was on the ground a group of the kids she was watching circled around it and started to terrorize the obviously horrified baby.
My gf noticed this going on and walked over to see what was happening and when she did the baby jumped on her and wouldnt let go no matter what she did. She tried to take it down the street away from the kids, and it wouldnt let her go. She tried returning it to the tree it fell from, and it still wouldnt let go. She waited for a while in the school yard and it still gripped onto her. So she eventually brought it home.
When i saw the little thing i immediately started researching what to do. We hydrated her, kept her warm, and went out and got the proper formula for her and made her a small nest box for the night.
The next day we took her back to the park (it was the weekend so there were no kids around) and we set her down next to the tree she fell out of, and watched from a bench across the park waiting to see if she would return to her nest, or if another squirrel would come retrieve her. After about 4 hours of waiting she still hadnt moved from where we placed her and no other squirrels were nearby. So we took her back home with us.
We built her a cage far beyond the specifications of the rehab center. And she became our newest family member. We named her Alice, after Alice in Wonderland. She bonded to both of us and shes turning 3 in august.
She lets us trim her nails which we do on a regular basis about every 3 days. This keeps her from inadvertently scratching us when she climbs, but theyre still long enough for her to climb on everything, and she does climb on EVERYTHING. She has access to an inside and outside cage at all times through a tube i ran out a window. Her inside cage is 4 feet wide, 7 feet long, and 6 feet tall. The outdoor cage is 10ft wide, 10 feet long and 6 feet tall.
We play with her for a minimum of two hours every day outside of her cage. She loves to hop around in the grass outside and inside she spends her time climbing on us and begging for treats, or play wrestling with our hands for fun. She makes us literally lol every day.
She does chew alot, but i made her cage out of natural untreated wood so she can chew on it to her hearts content. Outside the cage we have the chewing under control. She knows to stay away from cords, plastics, metals, and anything else that we have deemed unsafe for ger consumption. With the exception of lighters. For some reason she really loves to steal our lighters and we havent been able to break her of that so now we put all of them away before she comes out.
We buy her fresh fruits and veggies to eat, mushrooms, apples, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, and alot of other stuff, we vary her diet as much as we can so she gets a healthy assortment of food. We also provide squirrel blocks from a website called henry's healthy pets. They've been an absolute life saver with their pre-made blocks. And Alice loves them all, we get 3 different kinds of blocks and she gets one of each every day, this also helps to keep her diet varied and healthy. But i wont lie, its a drain on the wallet. I spend about $60.00 every time i have to put in an order, and thats not including the fruits and veggies we give her as well.
Treats include pecans(both in shell and unshelled), raw almonds and unsalted pumpkin seeds. Her favorites are the pecans, and especially the one still in their shells. We give her 1 of each pecan a day. She always takes the in-shell pecan and immediately runs out her tube to ger outdoor cage and promptly buries in in the ground before coming back inside to eat her lunch. And for a bedtime treat she gets a shelled pecan to munch down.
She has made traveling difficult as we cant leave her alone for more then a weekend, since no one but the two of us can properly care for her or give her the attention she deserves. So most of the time i stay home while my gf travels out of town to see her family and friends. It has also made renting impossible as no one is willing to rent to us given that we have a squirrel and they are notorious for destroying property. All in all, i love Alice, she is amazing and i wouldnt trade her for the world. But i will say it has been a huge commitment both of time and money. We have had to sacrifice our freedom to rent and move around.
Finally, to anyone whos considering adopting one of these cute little critters, think long and hard about what youre willing to give up to keep them happy and healthy. They require ALOT of SPACE, ALOT of TIME, and ALOT of MONEY. If you have any doubt you can provide that for the 10-20 years of their life, then make the safe decision and hand them over to a rehabber who can properly handle and care for them.
My gf noticed this going on and walked over to see what was happening and when she did the baby jumped on her and wouldnt let go no matter what she did. She tried to take it down the street away from the kids, and it wouldnt let her go. She tried returning it to the tree it fell from, and it still wouldnt let go. She waited for a while in the school yard and it still gripped onto her. So she eventually brought it home.
When i saw the little thing i immediately started researching what to do. We hydrated her, kept her warm, and went out and got the proper formula for her and made her a small nest box for the night.
The next day we took her back to the park (it was the weekend so there were no kids around) and we set her down next to the tree she fell out of, and watched from a bench across the park waiting to see if she would return to her nest, or if another squirrel would come retrieve her. After about 4 hours of waiting she still hadnt moved from where we placed her and no other squirrels were nearby. So we took her back home with us.
We built her a cage far beyond the specifications of the rehab center. And she became our newest family member. We named her Alice, after Alice in Wonderland. She bonded to both of us and shes turning 3 in august.
She lets us trim her nails which we do on a regular basis about every 3 days. This keeps her from inadvertently scratching us when she climbs, but theyre still long enough for her to climb on everything, and she does climb on EVERYTHING. She has access to an inside and outside cage at all times through a tube i ran out a window. Her inside cage is 4 feet wide, 7 feet long, and 6 feet tall. The outdoor cage is 10ft wide, 10 feet long and 6 feet tall.
We play with her for a minimum of two hours every day outside of her cage. She loves to hop around in the grass outside and inside she spends her time climbing on us and begging for treats, or play wrestling with our hands for fun. She makes us literally lol every day.
She does chew alot, but i made her cage out of natural untreated wood so she can chew on it to her hearts content. Outside the cage we have the chewing under control. She knows to stay away from cords, plastics, metals, and anything else that we have deemed unsafe for ger consumption. With the exception of lighters. For some reason she really loves to steal our lighters and we havent been able to break her of that so now we put all of them away before she comes out.
We buy her fresh fruits and veggies to eat, mushrooms, apples, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, and alot of other stuff, we vary her diet as much as we can so she gets a healthy assortment of food. We also provide squirrel blocks from a website called henry's healthy pets. They've been an absolute life saver with their pre-made blocks. And Alice loves them all, we get 3 different kinds of blocks and she gets one of each every day, this also helps to keep her diet varied and healthy. But i wont lie, its a drain on the wallet. I spend about $60.00 every time i have to put in an order, and thats not including the fruits and veggies we give her as well.
Treats include pecans(both in shell and unshelled), raw almonds and unsalted pumpkin seeds. Her favorites are the pecans, and especially the one still in their shells. We give her 1 of each pecan a day. She always takes the in-shell pecan and immediately runs out her tube to ger outdoor cage and promptly buries in in the ground before coming back inside to eat her lunch. And for a bedtime treat she gets a shelled pecan to munch down.
She has made traveling difficult as we cant leave her alone for more then a weekend, since no one but the two of us can properly care for her or give her the attention she deserves. So most of the time i stay home while my gf travels out of town to see her family and friends. It has also made renting impossible as no one is willing to rent to us given that we have a squirrel and they are notorious for destroying property. All in all, i love Alice, she is amazing and i wouldnt trade her for the world. But i will say it has been a huge commitment both of time and money. We have had to sacrifice our freedom to rent and move around.
Finally, to anyone whos considering adopting one of these cute little critters, think long and hard about what youre willing to give up to keep them happy and healthy. They require ALOT of SPACE, ALOT of TIME, and ALOT of MONEY. If you have any doubt you can provide that for the 10-20 years of their life, then make the safe decision and hand them over to a rehabber who can properly handle and care for them.