Oli showing aggressive behavior

[nenita65]

Hello, I am new to this forum. I rescued a baby squirrel on April 2 from a crow. She just started opening her eyes at that time. I did some research on the net to figure out what to feed her. Gave her puppy's mik (Esbilac) and she thrives, then transition her to all organic fresh fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds. Then, I learned about Henry's blocks just about three weeks ago and started giving them to her and also adding some calcium and protein supplements. She seems happy and full of energy. About a week ago, she started showing aggressive behavior especially to my husband. They used to play a lot but now she doesn't want anything to do with him. It's been exactly three months now since I rescued her. Her tail was shorter due to the trauma from the crow attack. Not sure if that would be a disadvantage when she goes back into the wild. We got her a huge cage within a week of rescuing her to keep her safe from our 4 cats. We used to do out of cage play time before the aggression. She nibbles our fingers before but not really hurting us until last week when she bit my husband's hand and actually drew a little bit of blood. Now we're both afraid to take care her out of the cage. She chatter her teeth especially when my husband is around and sometimes with me. We are both attached to her now and want the best for her. I feel conflicted. I want her safe and thrive but want her to be free also. Being in the cage all the time is not fair but we're afraid of the aggressive behavior. We live in California and don't have any idea how and where to go from here. Can anybody help?

[Spanky]

This is completely typical behavior.

Baby squirrels are usually very playful and cuddly, but as they grow up their natural instincts and wildness almost always kicks in.

Squirrels generally will "tolerate" only one person and be very aggressive to all others, including attacking them, sometimes viciously. It is highly likely she has chosen you as her 1 tolerable human, and everyone else, including you husband, will not be tolerated.

We have to understand these are wild animals... after all if they were cute and cuddly throughout their life they'd be a much more popular "pet". They are wired to live in the treetops, so even when we have squirrels than cannot be released due to injuries, we are (or at least I am) saddened knowing that no matter what I do they will never live the life they were meant to live high in the treetops.

Her missing part of her tail is not ideal, but certainly nothing to prevent her from being released. I am more worried about the 4 cats. Has she been acclimated to them? Do they come into the same room as her cage, and if so does she start barking and alarming very loudly?

Squirrels require a "soft release" and here is a link to a thread that goes over that process. Please look it over then ask any question might have and we will try ti help.
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...t=soft+release

[sundoesshine]

This is completely typical behavior.

Baby squirrels are usually very playful and cuddly, but as they grow up their natural instincts and wildness almost always kicks in.

Squirrels generally will "tolerate" only one person and be very aggressive to all others, including attacking them, sometimes viciously. It is highly likely she has chosen you as her 1 tolerable human, and everyone else, including you husband, will not be tolerated.

Yes, so normal. I Really wish this fact was emphasized more when states and rehab facilities cite that they shouldn't be kept as pets. I think it would be much easier for folks to hand them over to rehabbers if they knew there was a 30% chance they would turn aggressive in a few months.

If you search the board for aggression, you will see all the folks who like me, probably joined to present this situation as if it were an anomaly. Unfortunately it is par for the course and was completely unknown to me too until I found this board. My guess is 1/3 of rescues wild up and turn on humans. Luckily you've found the board in time to learn about the release process. Welcome and happy reading!

[nenita65]

Thank you so much for the reply. Yes, she has been acclimated to my cats and not afraid of them. In fact, she would try to reach out to them when my cats would be near her cage. We never heard her barking at all. A few times we've heard her made what sounds like a call (like a bird tweeting) especially when she saw a rabbit outside or when she heard me coming in the house. When we used to play with her outside the cage and rubbed her belly, she made like a burp sounds. I rescued her from about 40 miles from where we live. We have sizeable carob tree in our backyard and we started taking her cage every day to get her use to the outside weather. We have not seen any squirrels in our neighborhood either. In this sense, would our backyard a good place for her release?

This is completely typical behavior.

Baby squirrels are usually very playful and cuddly, but as they grow up their natural instincts and wildness almost always kicks in.

Squirrels generally will "tolerate" only one person and be very aggressive to all others, including attacking them, sometimes viciously. It is highly likely she has chosen you as her 1 tolerable human, and everyone else, including you husband, will not be tolerated.

We have to understand these are wild animals... after all if they were cute and cuddly throughout their life they'd be a much more popular "pet". They are wired to live in the treetops, so even when we have squirrels than cannot be released due to injuries, we are (or at least I am) saddened knowing that no matter what I do they will never live the life they were meant to live high in the treetops.

Her missing part of her tail is not ideal, but certainly nothing to prevent her from being released. I am more worried about the 4 cats. Has she been acclimated to them? Do they come into the same room as her cage, and if so does she start barking and alarming very loudly?

Squirrels require a "soft release" and here is a link to a thread that goes over that process. Please look it over then ask any question might have and we will try ti help.
https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...t=soft+release

[nenita65]

I have a soft spot with animals. We had no idea that they can become aggressive. I've been up many hours of the nights scouring the internet and found this board. Initially, we were scratching our heads trying to figure out what we're doing or giving her to make her aggressive. Yes, I have been reading and learning a lot thru this board. Thank you.

Yes, so normal. I Really wish this fact was emphasized more when states and rehab facilities cite that they shouldn't be kept as pets. I think it would be much easier for folks to hand them over to rehabbers if they knew there was a 30% chance they would turn aggressive in a few months.

If you search the board for aggression, you will see all the folks who like me, probably joined to present this situation as if it were an anomaly. Unfortunately it is par for the course and was completely unknown to me too until I found this board. My guess is 1/3 of rescues wild up and turn on humans. Luckily you've found the board in time to learn about the release process. Welcome and happy reading!