Arm waving - air hugging - interpretive dance

[Bajing]

Hi everyone - I'm in Indonesia with a baby (I'm guessing 5 or 6 week old, eyes opened a week ago) plantain squirrel that fell out of a nest above our house or was dropped by mum after a large tree snake raided it. The snake hung around for a long time and she's still reluctant to come back to the tree. So far he's been doing well on a formula, goats milk and yogurt mix, and mushy mangosteen (seems to be the favourite fruit that he eats by himself) and is plumping out and bushing up very fast. I have two questions.. the first one, is -
Are there any tricks to getting the mum to take him back?
She's around and comes by at dawn every morning but I can't get her to take him. I've tried playing baby squirrel calls and leaving him half way up his nest tree in a basket for her, but she gets scared and won't go any further down the tree. Now he's also way too active to be placed up the tree and there are way too many birds of prey (and snakes) around.. so we're trying to build a cage aviary that he would be safe in, but that she can access him from if needed. Any chance it would work? How long will she keep coming back for him?
The second question is -
Why does he wave his arms at me in an interpretive dance when I put him down? It's a reaching for the sky, air hugging wave, one arm at a time. It's terribly cute and perplexing haha Would very much love any insights! We are new to the world of squirrels..
Thanks!

[redwuff]

welcome to the squirrel board:wave123

It sounds like the window has passed for momma to get her baby. She must have approved of the job you are doing with her kid.

we would love pictures and or a video of the arm waving. The behavior sounds intriguing!

[Bajing]

Thank you Redruff for the welcome on board!

Sadly, I think it may be true that I've missed the window. The same gang of squirrels come most mornings and afternoons so I hope they welcome him in when he is ready to go because it seems plantains work very much as a team (?). They come close to the house early in the mornings before the dogs wake up, but once the dogs are around they hit the high treetops and start drilling coconuts.

This is a photo of the little guy a few days ago, full of goats milk and formula, literally the day before he suddenly became a very very active teenager. We had a bit of a panic as it happened (over literally hours) that very quickly the cardboard box he was in placed inside a travel crate wasn't a possibility for an hour longer as he went from always asleep mode to almost always jumping and crawling up every surface. He's now is 2m x 1m x 1m that hopefully is enough for a few more weeks. :grin2

If there is anyone on here with experience with plantains I would love to ask some questions. The rate of change each day is very fast - he went from a sleeping, drinking, pooping baby squirrel to an active, jumping, climbing, play fighting, air hugging, vocal and solid foods eating squirrel in a few days. He's gotten a little aggressive about milk now and he tries to latch his mouth on to anything near or around the smell of milk, and then his whole body freezes up arms and legs out while he latches on to whatever he's managed to stuff in his mouth. Help? He's loving eating fruits and I'm finding it easier to feed them to him as he at least goes a bit more slowly with them. He opened his eyes just over 10 days ago - can I reduce milk down to 2 times a day with the rest fruit and does anyone have any tips for getting him to eat the rodent blocks (or do plantains just hate them?).

Many thanks! :hamster

I will try to post a video of the arms waving - air grabbing when I'm fast enough to film it. It seems to be related to nesting material, wanting milk, or wanting my hand :thinking

[GeorgiesMom]

What is the light-colored protrusion on his stomach?

[stepnstone]

What is the light-colored protrusion on his stomach?
His penis... http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/yellow-hd/embarrassed-smile-smiley-emoticon.gif

[Charley Chuckles]

No, I'm seeing it too....to the right upper middle of the picture 🤔
OK weird angle, it is his manly part 🤭

[Sommer]

What is the light-colored protrusion on his stomach?
I see it too! I see his anus, then above it a nub that's dark at the tip, then that thing! Also I've never heard of a plantain squirrel. That is so stinking cute! Now I must look them up...