Non-releasable as surrogate mother?

[MsOakley]

Okay, allow me to elaborate. I have a dear brain damaged grey squirrel named Wanda who is about 6 months old.She's mobile, but off balance and her movements are jerky, spastic. She's been living with Archie, a normal male who is long overdue for release. We hate the thought of her living alone when he goes free. My hubby thinks we should put her with new litters as they come along, until they're released, so she always has company. How off the wall is this idea? Has anyone ever tried it ? Would it be safe for the babies? I really need some guidance on this. She's our first non-releasable and we're perplexed. All thoughts on the matter are welcome.

[island rehabber]

MsO, I'll bet she would be an excellent foster mom. I went to one lecture about fostering at a rehabber conference, and the gist of it was that fostering works really well with some species (deer) and less well with other species (squirrels). But it can't hurt to try. Only you can judge, from watching her movements, whether Wanda is coordinated enough for tiny babies to be safe in a nest with her, or whether you should wait until babies are 4-5 weeks old before putting them in with her. We don't want any roll-overs :nono... but there can't be anything nicer for an orphaned baby squirrel than to feel a real live mamma next to them in the nest. Good luck with her!

[Mars]

The other possiblity is as a teacher/example. Squirrels learn by copying other squirrels. By handling your's, playing with her, in front of injuried adults you can help them realize you are not such a fearful threat. :)

[Sciurus1]

I heard of a rehabber by us who used a squirrel as a teacher to show the younger ones how to open up nuts. She surely has a purpose for her life, to share it with others, and with other squirrels I would think would be really good.

[Rhapsody]

What a wonderful ideal....... I hope all works out for you and Wanda.

[TexanSquirrel]

awwww I hope it works out!

[rippie-n-lilgirlsmom]

Thats a good idea for my girl also, I am not so sure she will be accepting..she's used to being the princess.

[thundersquirrel]

you'd have to be extremely careful. start with healthy babies at six or seven weeks old. start by putting their cages next to each other. move slowly from there. but it would be wonderful if it all worked out. :)

[MsOakley]

I've been too busy to update this thread. The squirrel dramas around here are endless. Here's the latest on Wanda. She's temporarily alone in a rabbit hutch size cage in my home office.I spend a lot of time in here so she won't be too lonely. I take her out 2X a day for romping with Mom (or burrowing inside my fleece jacket if it's night). Archie, her cage mate, has been released, but still comes back to the cage to sleep. When he finally moves out, I have 4 that are ready for that release cage.Then I'll move Wanda to their cage, which is much larger then her current abode. Those of you in the rehab biz are familiar with this tune. Cage shufflin'. When babies come along we'll give it a shot with the mothering thing. I need to work on taming her down. She's gotten a little wild living with Arch in the release cage. Those of you with squirrel pets or non-releasables, any tips on ways to work on this? I'm guessing lots and lots of handling? Thanks for your replies, one and all. I'll really try to post some pics of her. I haven't gotten the hang of it yet :-(

[Sciurus1]

I agree with IR that she has to be able to HANDLE IT well, and be able to clean the babies to help them to go and so on. Consider she has to handle being nursed on when she has no milk, that could be really hard on her! Second, if only put in with weaned babies, consider they are a real rough house crowd, and it may just be too hard on her at well. Go easy is my advise. If though she is not to be put IN with them, of course that is fine! If she can open a nut on her own, then she is a good surrigate in that regard. a rehabber nearby me in a non squirrel friendly State, uses one to do that, and it isn't even handicapped, she just kept it for that purpose.