Hello Everyone!
I am new to this site. Thank you all for your time to read this new thread. My wife and I discovered a nest in the attic of our home where a female Douglas Pine Squirrel birthed 3 infants. Leaving it undisturbed, we observed the daily entrance and exit of the mother for 6 weeks. Tragically, I discovered the mother deceased - 12 days ago out on the road in front of our residence. The infants exited the nest and on our front porch. Two got away but we captured a male who had not yet developed claws or incisors. Unfortunately we never found the other two, but this little guy we called "Chewy" , has been under our care for 12 days and is now thriving, robust and very healthy. The bad part of all this is that Chewy has had no association with others of it's kind and has 'bonded' to my wife as it's mother. Chewy now goes for daily walks on either her shoulder or mine, outside around the property. We started Chewy on Esbilac puppy milk formula and various baby foods such as peas, carrots, applesauce and bananna pureed and administered through 1 cc syringes starting at 7 cc's every 4 hours to 10-12 cc's every 8-10 hours. Two days ago Chewy graduated to solid foods ( apples, carrots, strawberries, grapes, cherries, peaches and walnuts and pecans. He will not take food from a syringe, so we have a small dish of water and milk. He has been bedded in our garage, kept warm with a bottle full of warm water under his bedding ( cotton fabric, not towells or rags so he would not snag his claws.) Six days ago i left messages with 3 squirrel rehab specialists and have still no answer from them. Since my wife and i have no experience in introducing CHewy back into the wild,( - plus a neighbor cat who is on a rodent-hunting spree), We are going to take him in to the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife today so he can be introduced to others of his kind. We have both put ALOT of tender love, care and work into Chewy's survival, so euthanization is NOT even one of our options. If we cannot facilitate adoption for Chewy, we will try it on our own when he is ready. Besides predators, our winters here are severely COLD, SNOWY and LONG. Any advice would greatly be a comfort. THANK YOU all and anyone taking your time to read this lengthy post. I promise next time to be more brief. thanks!