Baby Fox Squirrel

[Atclc]

Hey everyone! I have been rehabbing Little Nutt for about 3 weeks. She was in the road trying to climb up a friends leg. We attempted to find Mom with no luck, we made the decision to bring her home a few blocks over. I immediately got on here and learned how to rehydrate her, we fed Espilac until we were able to get Fox Valley in the mail. She is now also eating Henry’s cubes and I recently introduced arugula. She is very motivated to try chewing and eating things. With supervision I have allowed a pecan branch in her cage.

She is currently living in a smaller cage and with supervision a larger one that the smaller one is located in. Over the weekend we are adding chicken wire to the outside of the larger one so she can’t get out (that’s why she can only be in with supervision as there are some larger gaps she could get out if she wanted) we keep her in our garage that has windows and a side door that opens to the yard. We have a pecan tree so a few resident squirrels who have shown interest in her, I’m hoping them seeing her and smelling her will help with the transition when we release. We do plan to build a large cage for outside and have a box made for her that once released fully we will attach to a tree.

I guess what I’m asking here is advice on enrichment to put in the cage either full time or with supervision. When should we get a box that we keep in her cage and let her start learning to nest? Also food advice, I know we will keep giving her the milk and blocks but what can we introduce to supplement? Since pecans will be her major source of food when she is out should we start putting whole ones in her cage at any point? The current squirrels have them buried all in the yard and we have another bucket of them.

Lastly any help with age would be appreciated, I’m having trouble figuring it out. I live in East Texas, our coldest months are January and February. My belief is she would be old enough to release in January but that holding off until March might be best since she is a singleton.

I do know a rehabber would have been best but I wasn’t able to find one locally with any proof they had experience or currently has a squirrel. Luckily she was old enough after the first few nights I have felt comfortable she is healthy and happy. Just looking to set her up for a successful release.

Thanks for any advice! I know all this info is in here and I have read a lot of it but I thought if I had one space I could refer to it would be nice.328387328387

[Mel1959]

She is VERY cute! :Love_Icon

Here is a link for healthy foods and safe trees. https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?44440-Healthy-Diet-for-Pet-Squirrels. You can also provide a water bottle for drinking. I would not give any nuts at this stage. You will want to wait till she’s in a release cage as they can become very aggressive if they have a nut hidden. Nuts are not good for squirrels. In the wild they can balance the harmful effects of eating nuts with calcium rich items they find and eat. A captive squirrel has to rely on what you provide them.

Enrichment toys can be stuffed animals, with no hard eyes or bean stuffing, undyed wooden parrot toys, undyed wooden children’s blocks, antler pieces, toilet and paper towel tubes.

As soon as she can navigate climbing well and is in a cage large enough to hold a box you can provide one for her. In the meantime fleece hanging cubes like what Henry’s sells are a favorite.

[Atclc]

Thank you for the info!

For a water bottle do you just use like a hamster one?

[Mel1959]

Yes, one for hamsters will work. Keep in mind, if it’s the type that is hung inside the cage it should be a glass bottle because of chewing.

[Atclc]

About how old do you think she is. Any tips on when I could start the release process?

She also is kinda itchy but no signs of bugs, hair and skin look completely normal. She has grown a ton so not sure if it’s itchy where she is growing new hair? Not crazy itching or anything just thought it was worth mentioning