Acclimating to outdoor temps.

[oliviaeberhardt]

Hello! This is my first time posting on here and I couldn’t really find anything on the forum regarding this, so, I am wondering how I should go about acclimating my 7 - 8 week old baby eastern gray squirrels to the Florida summer heat. Up until now they have been in an air conditioned room with a heating pad under half of the cage. I recently moved them into a larger cage (the top half only of a critter nation) and moved it into the garage by the back door where they can get some light. I noticed that as soon as I did this one of them started to seem lethargic and was laying in odd positions (laying next to edge of shelf with head hanging over). So I immediately started freaking out and read on here that squirrels can overheat. (It’s been in the low 90’s). I wheeled the cage back inside and he perked up almost right away. I’m just wondering how I can acclimate him to the outdoor temperatures as he is the one that I will be releasing. (The other one cannot be released due to malocclusion however he seems fine with the heat.) Thanks in advanced!

[Rock Monkey]

moved it into the garage by the back door where they can get some light. I noticed that as soon as I did this one of them started to seem lethargic and was laying in odd positions (laying next to edge of shelf with head hanging over). So I immediately started freaking out and read on here that squirrels can overheat. (It’s been in the low 90’s). I wheeled the cage back inside and he perked up almost right away.

What is the temperature inside the garage? If it is freestanding with it's own roof it can get even hotter than the outside. It can turn into an oven with no air movement.

Is there a water bottle inside there cage?

Alternatively, you could take them outside in their cage, put the cage in the shade, and sit there with them and see how they respond to that.