I am a permitted squirrel rehabber for the State of Texas

When you find a baby squirrel (or baby squirrels) and go to the trouble to locate a squirrel rehabber, I am sure you want it to have the best chance to be released into the wild.  Ask every squirrel rehabber you talk to what they feed.  If the answer is "boiled or scalded milk or evaporated milk" just say "thank you" and call someone else.  This diet will cause Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD).  When you go into a squirrel rehabber's home, look to see if there are lots of grown squirrels that are not releasable.  See if the cages are big enough for the squirrels to move around easily and stand up on their hind legs.  If not, just say "thank you" and find a better rehabber.  You never want to keep squirrels as pets, let them know the thrill of leaping from branch to branch and being wild as they should be.

This is a baby squirrel that was 5-6 weeks old and only weighted 64 grams, half what she should have.  Got her rehydrated and started on powdered Esbilac, a puppy formula, and in less than a week she had gained 16 grams.  NEVER TRY TO FEED A COLD BABY SQUIRREL.

You may find some web pages that say acorns will kill squirrels and that squirrels are vegetarians and I can only say not totally true.  I have seen squirrels catch and eat lizards, grasshoppers and raid birds nests.  They love the acorns and I think plant as many as they eat, at least from the number of Oak trees that are coming up.<g>

DO SQUIRRELS MAKE GOOD PETS?

No!! As they get older they want to be free and will start biting.  Before Sweetie(see her story below) was able to be free she would be out in the large release cage and just pace.  It was so sad and now she has learned to climb and is out being a wild squirrel.

Rambo is one of the first squirrels I raised and he is getting one of his favorite RARE treats of Cool Whip.  Rambo was in our yard when a cat killed him Aug 01.  He was 9 years old and we miss him.  He was a Fox Squirrel.	This is where the babies go for about a month learning to walk the rope, climb and even play on the small tire hanging at the right of the picture.  Then the door is left open for them to go out and they will keeping coming back to sleep in their bed for about a week.
This nipple is called a Catac and is what I use to feed the babies.   Tiny babies I will use a 1cc syringe and as they get used to sucking will be increased to a 6cc.  Will have to feed 2 of the 6cc at each feeding as they get to be big babies.	This is Sweetie.  She is a gray that was being raised for release when she dove into a cup of  HOT coffee.  I picked her up from an Emergency Vet Clinic and this picture was taken 4-9-02.  On the next page you can follow her progress.

This is an excellent link on squirrels:::  www.squirrel-rehab.org/ 

For more pictures click here

Don't know who created this little squirrel, but great job.

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