Hi

[Keithinwash]

Hello all,
Five weeks ago my friend and I found a seemly dead baby squirrel in my neighbor’s yard. We left him there as we walked by but my friend went back later to bury him. She found that he was reaching and alive. She brought him to my house and he has been here since. His eyes were not open yet. We have bottle fed him and started him on solid food.
He seems to be thriving and happy. We have built him a fairly large habitat with branches to climb on and my friend crocheted him a hammock. He also has a wool stocking cap that he uses as his nest. He enjoys time outside his habitat every day. I have a magnolia tree that we let him climb around in. He is building strength and confidence. We are hopeful that he will be successful in the wild.
George is about nine weeks old now. In about three weeks we will cut a hole in his habitat and run a rope to a large tree nearby. Hopefully that will allow him to transition to the wild.
I really enjoy his personality and part of me hopes that he doesn’t leave entirely. Given the time it I am expecting to keep feeding him throughout the winter.

[RockyPops]

Beautiful baby!

Thank you for helping him.

Here is a primer on baby squirrel care. It's about 6 pages long. Great info.
https://www.henryspets.com/1-baby-squirrel-care-guide/

Diet is very important and a soft release process gives them the best chance for survival on their own.

[island rehabber]

Great photo, adorable boy!!
RockyPops is right - diet is Job One and then the soft release process is essential for your boy to be successful in the wild, especially since he is a solo and doesn't have siblings to chase and wrestle with, building strength. Change up his toys and also provide lots of live branches and twigs for him to chew on. They LOVE bark -- nothing makes a juvie squirrel jump around like a maniac more than a piece of good old bark. Good job!