Hi!

First time squirrel rehabber. My husband and I raised a baby girl that fell from her nest and the mom never came back. I am an animal lover. I have horses and a dog. I NEVER imagined being this attached to a squirrel. I had no idea they had such adorable, funny personalities. I named her Karen. I like human names for animals. The last time I saw her was a month ago.

We gradually put her outside. Built a nice squirrel house for her. She loved being outside. We had a little ritual we would go through. Every day at the same time around 4:00 PM and every morning I would go outside and call her. She always came. After she ate and buried her nuts, I would make a "ch..ch...ch..." sound. She knew that meant "let's play"

We would box and she would twirl on my arm. Run to the tree. I would chase her and she would chase me. Until she got tired. Then she would go way up in the oak tree and go do what squirrels do. Then all of a sudden she never came back. My husband and I are really missing her and we talk about what happened. I'm so afraid she was run over. or a cat got her. My husband told me today that he can't think about her being hurt so he has to believe she went wild and back to her buddies.

Has anyone ever had this happen? That they are here one day and interact with you. Then they are just gone? I knew she would raise her own family eventually, but she was only about 5 months old when she left. Everytime we see a squirrel we think maybe it's her. I loved her so much. I hope she's ok.. Anyone have any idea what could have happened or if this is something completely normal?

Thanks so much for any ideas you may have!