Hi. Jillis is about 13 weeks old. I raised him since before he opened his eyes and he is very attached to me. He wants to play all the time and fortunately I've been out of work so I had the time to spend with him. About two weeks ago as soon as I would stop paying attention to him he would wander off my balcony to explore the yards below. It really worried me but he always came back within a few hours and always before dark. Last week he got curious about the wild squirrels and was chased by the mothers of some other juveniles but nothing too aggressive. He is cautious of humans but will approach them. I kept him apart from my dog and cat and he was afraid of the dog but not much afraid of the cat though he got angry if she came near his cage.
3 days ago he did not return. I live in a neighborhood where the houses are close together but there are lots of trees but also cats. My gut feeling is that he was killed by one of these cats because he did not like the dark or rain and I don't think he would stay away by choice. He liked his cage and I had little trouble putting him back in for the night. He was very playful and happy and gentle once he learned not to nip hard.
My question is should I give up looking for him? I am heartbroken and can't barely eat or sleep worrying that he was chased off by the wild squirrels or may be wounded. Or he may have gone into someone house. He tried to get in my downstairs neighbor's door once. My neighbors are all looking out for him and I've had many false alerts. I put his cage out on the balcony with the door open the past two nights a raccoon was in it looking for food.
Has anyone one had the experience of a very tame squirrel just taking off like that?
PS. This board has been extremely helpful to me. I was not able to find a rehabilitator so I did it on my own and all went well up till now.