New house; squirrel's demeanor becoming more anxious and territorial
Hello! We recently moved into a temporary house for 2 months--our unreleasable (singleton raised around a cat) rehabbed 1.5 year-old was fine--and then moved into a permanent house two weeks ago. Our playful, sweet squirrel has gotten a bit territorial in the new house and has bitten us twice. She knows how to play with us and not break the skin, so the bites aren't accidents. The first one was mild; the second one was a single, serious bite intended to injure.
We could use your advice! How have you helped your squirrel(s) adjust to a new home when they've been nervous? Is she too changed to safely keep her in our current situation?
More background, if you want it:
The first few nights we kept her habitat in our bedroom to get her accustomed to the new house. Then we moved her into the living room, which has high ceilings, a very open floor plan and generally feels big. It doesn't help that we have almost no furniture in the room or house in general.
She has also been feeling the onset of winter and gotten more concerned about food--she's hiding it very intensely, eating more to bulk up and is generally extremely food-focused. She's originally a southern CA squirrel now living in GA, so this winter is also likely feeling unusually intense to her.
Is it possible she's feeling nervous because of how big and unknown the house is? I'm thinking maybe she needs to be moved back into our bedroom or a small side room to make things feel less intense for her as she's still adjusting. She's been hesitant to explore too much of the house while she's out--particularly the downstairs--so shrinking the amount of house she's interacting with might be a good idea, I'm thinking.
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