Spring release questions

[cava]

Happy Spring everybody.

What were once two helpless, adorable squirrel babies are now large, heavy, adorable squirrels hanging off my flesh by their scalpel sharp, curved nails and pulling my pants entirely down when they chase each other up my body.

We are all three very ready for release, but I still have some questions as this is my first time:

1. Best recommendation for getting them outside and into it? They are "on to me" every time I go near their cage and they jump out of their box to see what I have. But I have been able to catch them in the house by putting a nut in the pet taxi and shutting the door on them and bringing them back. I was thinking I'd put some nut butter way in the back to keep one from stealing it and running away before the other one catches on. Any other ideas welcome.

2. Will the weather ever really be perfect? I mean, it's going to be in the 60's all week, we had our surprise spring snow last week. But this morning, while warm, there was a mini hail rain and April showers bring May flowers. Do I have to keep them inside until the rains stop?

3. After they are allowed to leave through their tiny squirrel sized door how long should I expect them to live in it? Is there a hard and fast rule? I would like to disassemble it in the summer and just hang their nest boxes.

I could never had made it this far without you guys and owe you a debt of gratitude. Thanks for always being there and giving me a place to talk about squirrels--when the rest of the world was sick of hearing about them.

Me trying to get a respectable photo of us all together. Nope!

[TubeDriver]

They look great! I will be watching this thread closely, as I expect to be having the same questions in a couple months!

[Mel1959]

Can you still handle them? Do you have a release cage with a double entry door? Is there a nest box that they use in their current cage that you can relocate to their release cage either prior to moving them or after you move them? We had the ability to move our inside cage out onto the screened patio during the day and bring it in at night, so we did that for awhile then we started leaving the cage out at night, too. If my memory serves me correctly, we placed two nest boxes in the release cage. One was the one they used while in the cage in the house and the other was a new one. We moved the nest box right before we moved the squirrels. I also moved their cube to the release cage put placed it in an area sheltered from the rain. We were able to handle our boys, so we just put them one at a time into the pet taxi to transport them to the release cage. The RC was all set with food bowls and water bottle as well as limbs to climb on prior to putting our guys in.

We live in Florida so temperature wasn't a factor, but our guys went to the release cage in July. We kept them in there for about 2 months because we wanted to be sure they had a good grasp of all the sounds and smells. They also didn't mind being in the RC because it was 8 x 8 x 6 and built around an oak tree. They had lots to climb on.

I would wait to move them to the RC until you have some good weather. If they haven't been acclimated to the temperatures and sounds outside, it's going to be quite a change. IMHO the minimum amount of time they should be in the RC is a month, if you don't need the RC for other squirrels.

After we opened the portal our guys slept inside for about a week. We actually still have the RC up and use it as a feeding platform because it's built around the oak tree that has their nest boxes in it. They still sleep together in one or the other of the nest boxes every night.

[cava]

We have a strict They-can-touch-me-but-I-can-only-sometimes-pet-their-back-while-they-run-away policy around here. They currently have a cage next to a window that even when it's chilly I keep open to acclimate them to the yard sounds. (My bedroom) They are on the second floor, so rolling the cage out to the deck is not an option. They are out of their cage every morning and night for a few hours to exercise, destroy and injure. And they go back inside when I say and get a piece of nut. If they are being really naughty and refusing, I close the blinds and turn off lights and they go in after a few minutes. If they are being REALLY NAUGHTY and that doesn't work, I get one to go in by throwing a nut in and tell that one what a lucky, lucky squirrel they are for having such a delicious nut and the other one begs to go in.

Anyway, nobody is going to let me pick them up and put them anywhere.

Once I have them in the carrier, I will move their inside nesting box outside next to the outside nesting box that's already in the RC (they have two) and also, thanks to you, bring their favorite cube as well. I do not have a double door, just a small bottom feeding door (off the main door) and a top squirrel sized door. So, once they're in, they're in until they are officially free. I plan to leave one box completely empty and include a bucket of freshly cut foliage for the to learn to use nature to nest (as opposed to a roll of toilet paper).

The cage is 4x4 ft and 8 ft tall. I plan to use a tarp to cover half of the top/or all of it, depending on the weather. I don't plan on keeping them in there for more than 2 weeks. I am home all day and can check on them often once they are allowed freedom. I will plan to keep them inside the house for another couple of weeks, I think.