So, uhh, I found a baby squirrel next to my garage. Put him in a box to see if Mom would come back, and she didn't. Now, I guess I'm hand feeding him and raising him until he can be in his own. He's got to only be a day or two old. His umbilical cord fell off after we picked him up. He's inside and warm and eating off a bottle. Much improved than when I found him four hours ago. My 4 year old named him Richie. I wanted to name him Zipper or Nutso. Any advice? (Besides turn him into animal control?)
Total pain in the ass to skin them, but man are they delicious. If you've ever had rabbit it's very similar. As my granddad said, growing up in the Depression dirt poor and all with 2 pairs of clothes and no shoes "if it wasn't for squirrels and cornbread and brown beans we probably woulda starved to death". He was the best shot I've ever seen, makes sense being that .22 shells cost money and if you don't kill something you and the family don't eat meat that night. As a PSA: it is very rarely ever a good idea to consider a newborn wild animal as "abandoned". Their momma knows exactly where they are. People do this all the time with deer fawns and rabbits, enough so that the TPWD and AgriLife guys send out mailers to educate the city people who've moved to the country. You need an eyedropper to feed it. They make fine pets. I have an old picture of a great-aunt of mine and their pet skunk hanging out on the sofa (you remove the stink glands).
I have a friend who has new baby rabbits in her backyard from a mother rabbit that comes by yearly. She had a batch this year and one of them had issues with its hind legs and couldn't move around like the other rabbits. She just took that one this morning to a wildlife rehab place nearby. You may want to look for something like that wherever you live.
I put it in a box for a couple hours to see if Mom would come back. Apparently, squirrel mothers aren't deterred by human smells, though I used gloves. Where we live, I didn't want to leave it out too long, as it wouldn't last out here in the country, with predators, including my barn cat (which I think is how it ended up basically in my garage, as it is). He has a mark on his chest, almost like a bite mark. Did some research. He's an American red squirrel and is about 3 weeks old. He's the cutest little thing. Says I can release him around 12 weeks. Maybe we'll end up with a yard pet. My 4 year old is obsessed and this is a great, cheap lesson in responsibility and humanity.
https://www.wildlifecenter.org/baby-squirrels The internet just taught me that a baby squirrel is called a kit, just like foxes.
I'm dealing with a 96-year-old senior Labrador Retriever and you want to know if I have any advice for raising your baby squirrel? Ay, caramba! Dios mio!
I had to look this up and there's a Lil Squirrel rapper based out of California on YouTube. Can't say he's the "tiktok type", though. lol.
https://www.youtube.com/c/thisgirlisasquirrel https://www.youtube.com/user/bdeitemeyer You have this to look forward to: All members of Rodentia have two perpetually growing front teeth and are compelled to gnaw on stuff constantly. So like cats with scratching posts, you need to give them something to gnaw on that isn't your antique furniture. Also, I have no personal experience, but I've seen a ton of stories of people who rehab squirrels only to discover that the squirrels have become terrified of nature and refuse to leave. So you may have it for more than just a little rehab stint.
It was 2 or so years ago, when I learned that Lil Baby and Da Baby were people, and in fact 2 different people, that I said we obviously have a critically global shortage of rapper names.
Yes, you cannot raise a wild animal as a pet and then expect it to become a wild animal when it gets older.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/red-squirrel-infanticide-Yukon-cannibalism These Adorable Squirrels Are Also Baby-Killing Cannibals Think squirrels are cute and cuddly? Think again. Scientists find evidence of infanticide and cannibalism in the Yukon. In a study published this week in The Scientific Naturalist, researchers report that North American red squirrel pups often fall victim to attacks from nearby males. Sometimes these murderous males also eat the youngsters they kill. Spoiler: Mug shot: A biologist caught this male red squirrel in the act of killing a young squirrel pup Spoiler: This newborn pup had wounds similar to the bite marks seen on other pups attacked by adult males.
