Hello, this is my first time posting here so a little bit of background is in order, I recently took in a baby squirrel who fell out of a tree, which the person who found it assumed it was gonna die and was going to “put it out of it’s misery” I immediately told them not to and took it in to care for it myself considering I’ve found baby squirrels before and was able to get them to a licensed rehabber for proper care, however I was not able to contact any rehabbers in my area this time and took it upon myself to care for the squirrel which I have named Risu (it means smile in Latin and squirrel in Japanese lol). I took her to the vet because she had pneumonia and got her treated for it as well as rehydrated, I fed her Fox Valley formula until she started refusing it/only wanting a little bit. I have been feeding her rodent block,veggies and fruit, also nuts in the shell which she quickly learned to open :) I recently added Exotic Nutrition Deluxe squirrel food to her diet along with calcium supplements and multivitamins. In other words I have done my research and cared for her to the best of my ability and she’s extremely healthy and active, so my question is what now? The vet told me I was taking very good care of her and I should keep her as a pet but I don’t want to limit her life to that and she paces by the window longing to go outside and I feel so bad I want to just let her outside but I’m afraid she is not prepared especially for the winter to come. She is not afraid of humans, dogs or cats and is very crazy and fearless lol i have woods all around my house and I see squirrels all the time In my yard and I know the resources are available here for her to survive, I’m just scared the other squirrels will run her off or kill her, or she womt be afraid of predators etc. what can I do so that she has the best possible chance to survive on her own? I’ve bought her a nesting box to put outside in a tree so she has a shelter when we release her, I’m just very scared and not confident that my care has prepared her for the wild :( I will be extremely heartbroken if all I have done was for nothing and she doesn’t survive, I would feel equally as bad if she can’t be released and has to live inside forever. I really need some advice on what to do? ( I inserted a picture of her when I first got her and a picture of her currently) the first picture was taken on August 18th 2017 and the last picture was taken today October 15th