I’m so glad I found this forum! I am a opossum rehabber doing squirrels for the first time. And as you can imagine they are quite different. I did take a class on squirrels a couple years ago, But I’m a little fuzzy on the process of the soft release. So I read online a bunch of different things and have gotten myself a little confused.
My babies are about 10 weeks old and I thought it was time to take them to their outdoor cage and start getting them used to that. So I got it all set up and brought them out there for a couple hours yesterday. It did not go well. They were really freaked out! It made me realize how attached to them I am at this point. I really didn’t think I was. And they’re quite wild of course. But they literally after a couple hours just started crying for me this high-pitched whine. It made my stomach hurt. I went out and got them brought them back into the master bathroom to their crate where I’ve been raising them.
I thought they would want run in and hide and be in their crate after the trauma that they seem to have experienced. But all they wanted to do was run up and down and all over me for a long time. And the whole time they were doing this purring kind of sound. And it made me realize that they are actually attached to me. I honestly didn’t think they really were. Baby Squirrel behavior is new to me. But apparently they are pretty attached in their own squirrel way. So I let them just run all over me and get comfortable again in their indoor space for a long while. Obviously I got soooo many scratches! But oh well they really seemed to NEED to do this before I put them back into their regular home crate.
My question is how can I make this transition ok for them? Did I try taking them out too soon? I live in a mountain area with lots of wildlife and trees. They will be very happy here. I just want to do this right. Thank you!