Letting my squirrel go who is very attached to me

[Keith]

Hi, so I have a serious question. I found the baby squirrel last fall and I raised him from a bottle. It's now March 26th and he's extremely healthy. I made a mistake in the beginning though and after his bottle I started feeding him nuts because I thought thats what they ate in the wild. I realized that they needed more nutrients and I've gotten in contact with people since then and try to convert him to the healthy blocks which he will not eat. I've made boo balls and still he won't eat those either. I even started raising mealworms for protein he loves those. I take the healthy blocks now and I mix nuts in it to make it more nutty with a pinch of calcium powder and a pinch of squirrel booster and I mix that all together until it turns into like a peanut butter and I'm trying to get him to eat that. I've tried all kind of different recipes even with baby food in it and sometimes he'll eat it and sometimes he won't. He just doesn't have a consistency. I have about six different types at any given time that I try to give him even with lots of nuts and he still just rejects it most of the time.. he really just wants things like pumpkin seeds pecans walnuts natural things he would find which of course I don't give him until he eats these. But I feel like he wants to be outside because he just runs from window to window. At my house he runs freely in the house he even sleeps in my bed with me when he's tired and he's very very attached to me. I'm worried about easing him outside and him not having any friends. So I need help knowing if I should let him go or not I know I need to do a slow release I'm going to leave his cage out there eventually. My plan is to take him out in his cage for about an hour each day for maybe 3 to 4 days and then I'll let him stay in the cage outside overnight for a while and then I'll open the door and leave it open for him and spend time with him outside. But I'm really worried about him since he's so attached to me. But I'm going to be traveling a lot and right now I look like I have some disease cuz he's just shredded my skin from just staying on me all the time running. He's very healthy I'm just really worried about hurting his feelings or him not finding some mate or friends or not having the skills to survive outside. He's around 7 months old now. Does anybody have any advice on what to do? I'm just very confused as to what to do with him I don't know if I can keep him forever due to my schedule plus just tear my skin up and worrying about him eating all the time. He is extremely picky. I want to release him but I don't I'm going to break my heart. I don't know if he's safer with me or outside he doesn't know to be scared of animals he has cat friends here. Is definitely not scared of animals. But I just don't know if I can care for him properly besides that my skin is just all ripped up and I have business. And I feel like it's selfish so any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for rambling.

[Spanky]

Hi Keith... to TSB!

I am so glad that you saved your squirrel friend (do they have a name?). Sounds like your squirrel has been very lucky and an "exception/ to the rule" if they were truly raised on a "bottle" and not using a syringe for formula feeding. Bottle feeding almost always results in Aspiration Pneumonia (AP) in baby squirrels, which is fatal if not treated with proper antibiotics.

It is correct that nuts, seeds and dried corn are terrible foods for a captive squirrel... meal worms can be included in the list of "junk foods" that are very bad for captive squirrels.

As far a not eating healthy foods, I always characterize this as having chosen the difficult path at the critical moment when the squirrel was young. The easy path is starting with rodent block, then after they are eating the block well start introducing healthy veggies, then some fruit and eventually and finally "treats" like nuts, seeds and meal worms.

The difficult path is very much like converting a human toddler than has lived the first few years of their life eating lots of fried foods, fast foods and the only "veggie" in their diet is french fries. If you place a plate with grilled (not BBQ) chicken breast and fresh steamed broccoli they'd probably not eat it willingly. But, if they had no other options they would eventually eat the healthy food versus actually, literally starving to death. They may whine, scream, throw tantrums and even act out violently but they will chose to eat healthy over starving to death.

And providing extra calcium does not... can not... compensate for a diet with too many "calcium robbing" foods like nuts, seeds, meal worms. It's equivalent to drinking a diet coke with the super sized Big Mac meal and calling it a healthy meal.

And so it is with your young squirrel... though the squirrel might be even better at pulling at your emotions convincing you they'd rather starve than eat broccoli!

First I would tell you that if you are not prepared to deliver this "tough love" and establish a healthy diet for the squirrel, you probably should not even consider not releasing.

Second, I would say no healthy squirrel should be denied the opportunity to be released. This squirrel is right about the age a lot of fall babies are being released... most rehabbers in the north have to keep many squirrels over the winter having not been able to release them before the weather turned really bad. In fact, I am in the South and am working on releasing 3 fall 2024 babies as I type.

Sounds like you could release him in your own yard? If the habitat is appropriate and you place the cage in a good spot, he'll need to be there day and night for a few weeks before the door is opened. And by door, I mean portal.. it should be only large enough for a squirrel to come and go so that cats, raccoons, hawks and whatever else are not able to get into the cage. And the bar spacing should be 1/2" or less so that things like raccoons cannot reach inside, which they will if they can and it will be tragic. With the portal open, he'll likely come and go for a while... anywhere from days to weeks. That cage will be his safe spot until he has established a drey in the treetops. Keep putting food and clean water in the cage during this period. Your squirrel may even hang around your place for years and visit you regularly. He *may* not chose a life in the treetops... but let's be honest we could never provide the kind of habitat with 75 foot tall trees and acres and acres to live an explore that squirrels were meant to live. And squirrels are typically one-person animals and often will attack other people that come around... and often even their "main person" (nuts bring out aggression in squirrels BTW).

I hope this helps, and if you have any questions or comments, just keep posting. There are tons of folks here that have faced this same predicament.

[TomahawkFlyers]

What a terrific writeup! I'm printing and taping this to the fridge.

Jamie