5 month old grey spending ALL of her out time scavenging for food. Lawd.

[Mayhaps]

Hello all! So, I have a 5 month(ish) old grey squirrel named Luna who is suddenly driving me INSANE when I let her out each day. She is literally spending every single second she is out of her cage looking for food. I mean, LITERALLY. I'm pretty sure I'm giving her enough food every day, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm a tad worried I might overfeed her actually.

**DIET** Luna gets 2 Henry's Healthy Blocks when I wake up and then in the afternoon or early evening she gets her salad. I follow the Henry's Pets food pyramid, so her salad is always a handful-sized mixture of greens (I get her a Spring mix that has a little of every kind of leafy veggie mixed together; romaine, arugula, cabbage, etc.), 2 or 3 broccoli florets, two small amounts of starches - usually 2 or 3 whole sugar snap peas (they're her favorite) along with either a baby carrot, a single smallish whole mushroom, or half of a 3/4 inch thick cucumber slice cut into chunks. Then she gets one or two small pieces of whatever fruit I have for her at the time, but only every other day since I give her a strawberry yogurt treat (for rodents) if she goes back into her cage without giving me any trouble lol. Occasionally I give her a yogurt bite while she is out (like in her picture) but I don't do it all the time so she won't just assume she'll get one every time. In fact, I stopped giving them to her when she is out at all bc of this recent behavior. She never stashes anything at all. She eats every bit of her salad. **DIET**

She didn't start to do this until recently so maybe she is starting to bulk up for winter? She started acting like this in July and I live in Louisiana so I thought maybe that is awfully early to start winter behavior? Is this hoarding/bulking up behavior or is she really not getting enough food every day? I love taking her out but OMG she is driving me crazy. You should see her when I make her stop being naughty. She sits in my palm and I swear, if she was a human, she would have her arms crossed with her bottom lip sticking out when Mommy doesn't let her do whatever she wants.

Any advice or reassurance about this situation? She comes out every day (unless there is a reason such as illness or something) for at least 30 mins to an hour and a half, depending on when my husband comes to bed bc she isn't a fan of him and I figure it's better to let her come out for a short time rather than not at all.

I have some experience with squirrels as I used to be a licensed rehabber in another state. I raised two that were releasable and one that had significant neuro damage from her fall out of the tree. I've never experienced having a normal squirrel that can safely come out and has no medical issues. I haven't released Luna bc she is obviously very imprinted on me and she is entirely unafraid of our cats and our dog so it worries me. She is such an amazing and sweet little personality and I miss our play/snuggle time! She NEVER bites, even when she is making her growly squeaky noises while I pry her off of things or pick her up when she doesn't want to be picked up lol.

OH, not sure if this is significant but she DID wean herself pretty early. She started refusing a bottle at about 12 weeks, which I found odd since she was quite young still, but I know I'm supposed to let her decide when to stop wanting formula so I just went with it and increased the amount of calcium-rich foods I gave her. A couple of weeks ago she got into a drawer and found one of her old nipples and MAN you should have heard the sounds coming out of her when I tried to pry her off of it, so maybe I should start giving her a wee bit of formula again?

Thank you in advance everyone and sorry for rambling. I'm terrible about doing that lol. Figured I'd try to answer any potential questions from the get-go.

[Mel1959]

She is adorable

First, I want to address the idea that she is too imprinted to be released. Spending time in an outdoor release cage adjusting to the sights, sounds and smells of outdoors will help her acclimate to a life outside.

I have released many squirrels in my yard...some leave and never look back, some hang for a few weeks then leave and others have hung around rarely venturing far from my yard for years. I maintained a relationship with all of them even while in the release cage. One boy of three was very attached to me even after being released and comes home to sleep in my garage several times a week so he can get snuggles and scritches. The other nights he must be sleeping in a nest in a neighbors yard but our close relationship has not impacted his ability to live a life as a wild squirrel in the trees.

As for not having a fear of your animals, that two will undoubtedly change once she is in a RC and hears other squirrels alarm at danger. I have an 85lb amazing dog that has never chased a squirrel in his life. He lays in the backyard while I feed the wild squirrels and they walk to within a foot of him because they know he’s safe. However, if the neighbors dog even comes out into his backyard all the squirrels, even my releases, alarm and act appropriately.

Your girl is still young. Her first estrus cycle may change your relationship and her desire to be in the trees.

Second, diet....I think most folks give two meals a day, along with possibly some snacks. Try offering her a block first thing in the morning and once that’s eaten offer her a salad. In the afternoon give her another block and some other veggies that aren’t leafy greens and a piece or two of fruit. You can even provide a treat or snack before bed. If you think she’ll take formula, by all means offer it. Many will take it from a bowl. You can also give a spoon of full fat yogurt...some like it some don’t.

She may be going through a growth spurt and needs some extra calories. Do you offer avocado (no skin or pit)? How about chunks of fresh coconut? Both of these items are high in fat so they provide some additional calories.

Lastly, if she is that hungry, I’d purchase some Harlan Teklad 2018 rodent block and put it in her cage at all times. It is a hard extruded block that is nutritionally complete and safe for them to have as much as they want, unlike Henrys blocks. It must be purchased online, but can be purchased in small amounts.

I hope some of this info helps.

[Mayhaps]

She is adorable

First, I want to address the idea that she is too imprinted to be released. Spending time in an outdoor release cage adjusting to the sights, sounds and smells of outdoors will help her acclimate to a life outside.

Aren't squirrels raised alone, who had their eyes closed when they were found, and are obviously imprinted on a human or humans nonreleasable? Especially once they reach a certain age? There is so much contradicting information on this. When I had training 20 years ago that's what I was told. All the other squirrels I raised, not counting the one with neuro issues, started wilding up almost immediately, and both of them had their eyes closed when they were found. I tried to limit contact with Luna when she was little but she would scream bloody murder until I picked her up and then her eyes opened and she still did the same thing. If her cage isn't in the room with me at all times, she goes crazy, pacing back and forth and not eating or sleeping. She's perfectly fine as long as I am in sight. That's the only reason I am concerned that Luna may not be able to be safely released. She doesn't act wild in any way. I intended to release her from the beginning, as I would with any healthy squirrel, but her behavior with me has made me have doubts.

If it is for sure safe to prepare her for release, should I overwinter her since it is almost Fall? My previous releases were rehabbed in a different state, where the seasons are more normal, but here in Louisiana, we don't have normal winters so I'm not sure if she would have to be overwintered or not.

I want her to be happy and be a wild squirrel if she can be. It's just a huge concern of mine that I found her at such a young age, that she has always been alone, is so attached to me, and is seemingly completely unconcerned with "predators". It also wouldn't be such a worry to me if we had more wild squirrels to help her learn but we don't have many squirrels around my house for some reason. I've only ever seen one, no exaggeration, the past 7 years I have lived here, even though we have woods/swamp in our backyard, so I find that strange. I never hear any and I've only ever seen one nest. We have tons of bird feeders so I would think if we did have more, I would at least see them trying to get the bird food sometimes. The woods/swamp are only a few yards from the feeders.

I love this lil fuzzbutt so much. Luna is my heart. I've never interacted with a squirrel that had such a gentle personality. Even when she should probably bite me, when I grab her to get her out of something, she absolutely will not bite. She'll put her teeth on me but then realize what she is doing and give me love nibbles instead lol. I just want her to be safe and happy. That is my only goal with her.

[DarkLies212]

I'm in Louisiana as well and definitely think it isn't too late to put her in the release cage. In our more mild winters, I've released in late Nov/early Dec. Just depends on what this crazy weather wants to do, but I personally think she'll have plenty of time 😊