To Release or Not...

[olorin19]

So, Guro has been with me since early September when she was about 6 weeks old. She had both front limbs paralyzed at first. She regained full use of her left foreleg but only limited use of her right forelimb.

As I would have done much the same with her either way (keep her in a large cage in my home office, take her out twice a day to play on the porch or in the basement), I deferred making a decision on whether she could be released this spring.

https://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/...imbs-paralyzed

Her current status is that she does not use her right forelimb at all to climb, run, or even rest upon. Despite this, she is incredibly agile - running, climbing, etc. She even does this crazy kangaroo hop where she will be upright and hop off both back feet 2-3 times in a row while staying upright. A couple of times, she has done the same thing but sideways - upright then hopping to the side.

Guro also seems to have impressive core muscles. Many times I have seen her take a nut from me while in her cage and sit there eating where she is facing out and only hanging on with her back. Not hanging upside down, but with her torso at about a 45 angle with head higher than hips and one back foot above her body and the other below.

Guro does use her right front paw to eat. She is able move it at the shoulder okay, but my guess is that her independent elbow movement is some flexion but no extension. And she does not seem to move her fingers. So basically she uses her right paw to help hold food, pressing with the knuckle side of the paw. She tilts her head slightly to the right as she does this as the range of motion in the paw is limited.

She has no trouble gnawing on twigs and bugs or eating things like HHBs, green beans, yams, or carrots. When it comes to pecans or hazelnuts, I have never seen her open one up on her own, not even small pecans with thin shells. If I crack them slightly, she is fine and is able to shell and eat them just fine.

When I put branches and leaves in her cage, she is quite capable of using them to line her hammock, etc. (I am not sure she would be able to build an actual nest from scratch, however.)

She likes to hide nuts and did in the dirt, but this is does with the left front paw only. (The right front paw moves around while she does this, but does not accomplish anything.)

So, I have quite a bit of trepidation about releasing her. On the one had, I work from home and have neighbors and nearby adult children who can stop in when we occasionally go away. So if Guro is able to maintain her space in my yard, she would be fine as far as food, water, a nest box, etc.

My biggest two concerns:

Would she would be able to take care of herself if she gets driven off?
What if she injures her left front paw (or even one of her back legs)? I have often seen squirrels with an injury to one paw or leg, and they do fine getting around on three legs while they heal. But I do not see how Guro would be able to get around if she hurt her good front paw/leg, or even one of her back legs.

A third concern is mobility from predators. There are dogs across the fence, plus hawks in the area. While I have never seen the dogs get a squirrel (and only once seen a hawk do so) despite there being so many squirrels, squirrel safety depends upon being able to scamper away then quickly scoot up a tree or the chain link fence.

So anyways, I am asking if anyone has any advice and in particular any experience with a similar situation.

My alternative is to build a fairly large outdoor enclosure, complete with shrubs, etc. But however nice, a cage is still a cage.

Thanks in advance!

[lukaslolamaus]

I'm giving your post a bump and let someone more experienced help you

[stepnstone]

I have a girl that had to have a back leg amputated, I've had her for 12 years, she's very agile but I'd never release her. They need/use all their legs to propel themselves, hold on, etc. IMO she would be compromised.

[olorin19]

I have a girl that had to have a back leg amputated, I've had her for 12 years, she's very agile but I'd never release her. They need/use all their legs to propel themselves, hold on, etc. IMO she would be compromised.

Thanks stepnstone

What's your girl's name?

Where does she live - large cage, roaming house, a bit of both? And is she much of a chewer, i.e. when she is roaming is your house safe?

Most of the squirrels I have overwintered have been occasional chewers during their time inside and my house and porch have a few bite marks as a result. Some have been worse than others. A released female (Arya) continued to be quite the chewer even after release, which she tended to express on our deck chairs and hose caddy.

I have had several released males (Dustin and Mookie) who both had periods back indoors to recuperate from bite wounds. I just spread blankets or towels on the furniture to minimize damage from claws but neither chewed any of the woodwork despite ample opportunity.

For Guro, perhaps the best solution might be a large outdoor cage with a wire tunnel to connect it to an indoor cage.

[olorin19]

Just came across this from Spanky on another thread and adding it here as it might be relevant to others who might read this thread at some point:

"The general rule is they are NR if unable to shell a nut."

With Guro, as long as I crack a pecan sufficiently to where her teeth can get purchase, she is able to shell it and eat it on her own. But I have never seen her manage to shell a whole pecan, and if there is not enough of a crack she will try for awhile then abandon her efforts.