Lost 9 month old female. I'm loosing my mind.
TL;DR: My 9 month old squirrel is missing outside and I'm welcome to tips and tricks to get her back.
This is my first post so if I screw up one of the rules, please tell me so I don't do it again. Thanks.
The first weekend in September last year my tree trimmer called because I'd told him in the past that if he found baby squirrels, I'd be happy to raise them. He's got a couple people he relies on for this because he hates to see them not get taken in. Well he had four appx 4-5 weeks old. Three females and a male. Birdie, Bubbles, Bertha and Boyd. Birdie was the runt. The others only took a day or so to figure out the syringe, but Birdie would NOT nurse. I had to force feed her for the longest time, just a drop or two at a time. When she finally figured it out she would open her mouth and eat like a bird. I know this has a name, but I can't think of it right now. She didn't finally begin nursing like a big girl till she was 8 or 9 weeks old. I had her almost 24-7. When she was too big for my bra, she moved to my shirt pocket, when she was too big for my pocket I made a little fleece pouch and wore it inside my shirt. All the time trying to feed her up to get her as healthy as the others. Specifically Bertha, cause she was the biggest, hence the name. I always intended to release her with the others.
During their soft release I found that despite seeming so strong and healthy, Boyd went to that big almond farm in the sky. I was distraught, but at the time did not know about MBD. I had raised others on the same formula/feed and everything had gone well. We discovered it when I found Bubbles being stalked by the neighbor's cat the day after we lost Boyd. I was worried it had gotten her because she wasn't using her back legs, clinging to the tree out front. I ran the cat off and retrieved Bubbles. With 6 weeks or so of calcium treatments and little physical therapy sessions, Bubbles turned out just fine and was released at my sister's house where they have no cats. Bertha would occasionally visit during Bubble's sessions but she has grown up and now I can't tell her from the rest of the neighborhood squirrels.
Back to explaining why I still have Birdie after 9 months.
She had no fear. Where the others would scurry away from my old porch cat, she would let him get too close. Our dogs too. She stood her ground far too hard for my comfort. Welp. I broke her. By handling her as much as I did I figured I had "tamed" her too much to be comfortable she wouldn't become a cat snack. My neighbor has 5. Nothing they ever intended, but they found an orphaned litter and it just kinda happened.
So Birdie has been my baby for 8 of her 9 months. I've had her on a leash dozens of times tending my plants/gardening ect. I've taken her on car rides and done all kinds of things with her outside. Monday, Memorial Day, I had planned to do some cooking outside. After all the inside prep-work, I put her harness and leash on her and we go outside. Because she's not cool with being around the stove/oven I knew she wouldn't jive with the grill. So I secure her leash on the patio, 10ft or so away from the grill, thinking this was far enough. So the grill is blazing but she hasn't gotten off the patio. I go around to set her in the grass and she's like "No, Mommy, I still wanna explore." So she starts toward the grill, I think she can't get to it and I was wrong. Her leash was just long enough she got hooked on the wheel and proceeded to freak out cause she was stuck. I couldn't get to her in time. Either the slide lock on her harness slipped or I didn't have it quite tight enough. She got out of it and ran to a rosebush in the center of the yard. I go to get her, talking to her, trying to calm her down. I lift one side of the bush and there she is, right on the opposite side. I go over there and poof, no Birdie. Idk when it happened but there's a big maple tree about 20 feet away. She managed to get to it without me seeing her. I have my husband bring me her jar of almonds because she knows the sound of them against the glass and lid. I shake them, calling her name and using all the sweet words I use when we snuggle. "You so purdy, you so sweet. Are you Mommy's baby?" ect. A few hours later she was apparently coming down the tree and my husband opened the back door. Well that spooked her and she darted across the yard and into the treeline between us and the neighbors behind us. We follow, calling and shaking the jar gently. She comes down out of a tree about 15 feet above me, then goes back up and I lose sight of her. I abandon the grill to my husband and spend the next two hours sitting in the grass behind my neighbor's shed (they're cool with it) calling and talking to her. Just before dark I finally see some action in the trees. There's a bit of darting around between two squirrels. Considering she hate's my current rescue's guts (Irwin) I figured this was a fight. Well about 10 minutes later I see an adolescent about Irwin's size hop into a nest, followed shortly after by two bigger ones. This nest is appx 50 feet up so it's hard to tell if one of these "grown" squirrels is her or not. She's missing the last two inches of her tail, so at 50 feet it's hard to tell.
I know females will sometimes adopt lone females, but I have no clue how long this "application" process takes. If it was her, apparently it takes minutes. Unless this mother squirrel is Bertha and Birdie somehow knows it? I had to separate them to prevent nest nursing, but all their cages were still touching, but it's been like 6 months since they've seen each other. Could they STILL know one another even though one usually smells like fabric softener because she likes to nap in my towels? Lol
I wait until nearly full dark calling and talking to her. I finally go in and have a full on emotional break down. Did she not love me enough to come to my voice? Did I not leash train her enough? Why the hell did I think taking her to the back yard was a good idea when she'd only ever been in the front? Why oh why did I think it was a good idea to take her outside if I was cooking in the first place, knowing my attention would be divided? I just want to turn back the clock and not loosen her harness that extra millimeter. I remember thinking "Oh that feels kinda tight." and loosening the lock juuuust a bit.
Today is day 2 of her being gone. 54 hours in total at the time of writing. I go out in the morning and sit calling to her for about two hours, then again later in the afternoon and again before dark. That last one after dark is the worst. Tonight is the first night I've not screamed and cried into a pillow. I'm a freaking mess.
I've observed 4 in total in this nest. Two adolescents and two big ones. Last night I was worried I was mistaking that the fourth one was her. Tonight though I saw the two adults going toward the nest and started calling to her while playing audio of a baby squirrel crying. The 4th one was very interested in me. I know it's dumb to say that I could tell it was her from her face, but we know our babies right? She was looking down at me and acting as if she wanted to come down. She left the branch with the nest and started coming down through the branches, but I lost sight of her and could no longer see or hear action in the trees. I waited about half an hour and gave up. By the time the bats come out, it's bedtime for squirlies.
I say all this hopefully to illustrate my attachment to her and to reason with why I thought she couldn't be released. Maybe she can. Maybe she released herself. I just feel so bad it's such a cold release. There was no prep past the point that I decided she couldn't be. She's my baby. I don't have kids, physically can't work and I devoted SO MUCH time to her. I'm freaking distraught to the point that people can see it on my face. I just want her back so much. I keep looking up at shelves and things expecting so see her looking back down at me. She. is. my. baby.
I know it's very selfish of me, but if anyone has any tips and tricks to perhaps draw her back, I am MORE than willing to try anything. I'm considering using a live trap, I just worry she's not heavy enough to trip it. I never let her gorge on fatty fruits/veg so she's still quite sleek. Not one of those pudge pudge instagram squirrels lol. I've left corn scattered on the ground below the tree, along with a few almonds. I've seen that the pips of the corn have been eaten, which squirrels do and last night's almonds were gone by this morning when I went out. It could be the deer I observed in the empty lot across the street, but she'd have eaten all the corn, not just the almonds.
I'll take any help you guys can give. I've heard all the "Well you know she's a wild animal" stuff so much I'm sick of it. I understand she's a wild animal, I get it and I might not like it, but I also understand she might never get close enough to get her back.
I just want my baby back so much.
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Charley Chuckles gone from my arms FOREVER in my heart 
but at least it was a mild month and we are in the south.
Originally Posted by Snicker Bar
