Life in Squirreldom

Life Lessons

About the importance of persistence and reaching out your hand (or backpack) to those who might need a little extra help getting up...

Squirrels Gone Wild

Based on the date of my last post—July 14th—you would probably think that I didn't have any more squirrels since then... Um, no.

Quite the opposite in fact. We had a major onslaught of squirrels at the Center during this year's summer season, and I was kept quite busy with my little charges—so busy, in fact, I wasn't able to post anything about them at the time. And even though I've been squirrel-free since the end of September, this is the first time I've had a chance to write about them. It seems especially fitting to do so today, since I'm very thankful I've had the opportunity to work with these brave little animals over the last two years.

The last week of July, after just a few weeks' break from my second spring set, I brought home two brothers. They were 44g and 47g— much smaller than any I had had previously. Here's a pic of these two “shadows,” as we call them, because their hair is just starting to grow in like a 5 o'clock shadow.

I beat that record a couple of days later when I brought home a 34-grammer to join the family. He's the one on the bottom of this pile.You can see his eyelids are still really translucent.

That still wasn't the end, though. A few more days later, I added a little black male, who was only 34 grams. He and the other single turned out to be real runts who didn't develop as quickly as the others. You can see in the next pic, for example, how the brown one's skin grew faster than he did, causing me to refer to him as my Shar-Pei squirrel. :)

I brought home the last one for this set about a week later. When she was brought in to the Center, she weighed only 67 grams, but that was much less than she should have weighed for her size. She was quite dehydrated and very thin. When I looked in the shoebox, she was just lying there, totally limp, and I have to admit I feared the worst for her. But she was a real fighter! Within a week she was in much better condition and had fit in well with her four new brothers, even though she was quite a bit larger than them.

I had a lot of problems with this set, especially the first few weeks when the runts had the worst diarrhea I had ever seen—it was just like liquid pouring out of them. I tried all the usual treatments, which either didn't work at all or helped for about a day. I was really worried about them through this period, but I guess they just finally grew out of it. However, I think this partly contributed to their slower development, since they weren't keeping in many nutrients during this time.

That wasn't the last of the health problems with this group, though. The brothers went through a period where most of their skin peeled off, and one of them had his penis sucked on so badly that the sheath got pulled back, exposing the tip of his urethra. (Don't worry—I won't be showing you a pic of that!) I just counted my blessings that nobody got pneumonia—I think that would have sent me totally around the bend.

Despite these problems, the squirrels continued to thrive, and I was able to take the biggest three to another volunteer's outdoor enclosure by the middle of September; they were successfully released a few weeks later.

The runts were going to need another couple of weeks before they were ready to go to an enclosure. During this time, the Center had literally been overrun with squirrels—about 75 more than most years. There were so many cages set up that it was a real challenge for the Center volunteers to keep them all on a consistent feeding and cleaning schedule, so I decided to bring a group of four females home to add to my two. I was worried that the two groups wouldn't accept each other, since they were all already 7-8 weeks old, but fortunately they took to each other really well. Within a couple of hours of me putting them in the same cage, they were all sleeping in the hammock together.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pics of this new group, so I'm going to close out this post with a brief video of the two runts. It starts with them about halfway through their stay with me, and it ends with a scene when they were just about ready to move on. By then, they weren't very runty anymore!

Gone, Gone, Gone... They've Been Gone So Long...

Okay, so they've only been gone for a week, but it seems like a lot longer!

I took my two not-so-little squirrels to another volunteer's home last Monday. She has an outdoor enclosure, so she'll continue feeding them while they strengthen their muscles and skills so they'll be in prime condition when they are released back into the wild.

They were certainly ready to make the transition. Often when we bring squirrels to an enclosure, they hold back in their carrier or cage for a while and, even once they venture out, it's not unusual for them to run to one place and “freeze” for a while until they feel comfortable. Not these guys! The minute we opened the carrier door, they SPRANG right out and ran all over the sides of the enclosure. One even jumped from one side to the other, missing my head by about an inch I might add!

In case you've forgotten what they looked like, this video has some nice scenes of them thoroughly enjoying the natural foods (e.g. branches, twigs, leaves, weeds, etc. from my backyard) I stock their cage with, which is another sign they'll soon be ready for life in the great outdoors.

So I'm rodent-free for a while, but I don't know how much longer that's going to last, since on Tuesday we got our first babies of summer season into the Center! One of them was too badly injured to save, but the other one is now in the caring hands of one of our other foster moms. Two more came in on Saturday—little pinkies between 20-25g... I'm not sure who's taking them or if they'll make it. But I do know they'll be given every possible chance!

Squirrels in the News

Here are a few interesting news articles about squirrels. The first two I discovered on two of my favourite squirrel blogs: Grey and Red, A Squirrel Journal and My Back Yard. The third comes courtesy of my home-care squirrel compadre, Carla, who couldn't escape the nutty news, even when she was on vacation in Canada!

• Vets scratch heads over bald squirrel Smoothie


• 300ft bridge to save Tufty Club


• The squirrel holds the secret

Going Squir Crazy

These guys aren't going to be with me much longer. It's not just a matter of their size (over 310g yesterday!), but they're so obviously ready to move to bigger and better quarters, as you can see by their energetic antics in this video compilation.

I've seen a huge difference in their behaviour in just the last week. Before then, they were still sleeping most of the day, and when they were up and about, they'd be hanging around on the floor of the cage or resting in the shoebox.

Now they're up for much longer periods of time and they spend most of that time eating, running, jumping, climbing, and wrestling. So since they'll be moving to an outdoor enclosure within the next few days, I thought it would be a good time to post a few more recent pics to enjoy while they're still with me.

Forget Kung Fu Panda

They're Kung Fu Squirrels!

I love watching these guys playing like this. Not just because it's entertaining, but because I know they're building up their muscles and developing important skills so that, when the time comes, they'll be good and ready for their new lives in the wild.

Sk-doosh!

My Giants

As of yesterday, both of my “little ones” were over 250g!

And while they still seem to enjoy a good snooze...

...they're both starting to get a lot more curious and playful, as you can see in the short video clip.

We got a note this week as well from the woman who took in the Fox squirrel I watched for a few days last week. Apparently she fit right in with her new family. Yay!

Foxy Lady

Since we thought that squirrel season was over for the time being (ha!), I had signed up to start working a regular shift at the Center again. So I happened to be there on Friday morning when we got yet another squirrel in that was quite a bit smaller (129g) than should have been out there by this time of the year. And so, of course, I brought her home with me...

The most obvious difference between a Fox and an Eastern is their colouring. The Eastern Grey is, well, grey (or sometimes black), and the Fox has a reddish coat, as you can see in these pics. It's most obvious in her paws, her tail, and on her belly, which you can only see a bit of in the last one, which was taken as a still shot from a video (which is why the quality isn't very good):

They also grow to be quite a bit bigger than Easterns so, at only 129g, she has a fair bit of growing to do before she can go back outside. However, you can't raise the two species together, so I have to keep her in a separate cage while she's here. June, our squirrel coordinator, is working to find someone else who has some Foxes more or less the same size that can take her. It's never good to raise a single squirrel, because they're more likely to imprint on (become too attached to) the rehabber, which will make them too trusting of humans in general—something we don't want in wild animals!

So I don't know how long I'll have her. It's definitely going to be a challenge finding another set to match her up with. In the meantime, I get to enjoy her company. Here's a video of me feeding her. Don't ask me what she's doing with her legs. I had no idea that squirrels could dance a jig! (Although I guess I should have figured that with all that red hair, she must be Irish... :)

One last funny thing... I brought this little girl home on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning, when I looked out in my backyard, a Fox squirrel was eating the food I'd put out for my recently released set! I've seen Foxes once or twice back there over the years, but they never stick around. I figure they see all the Easterns and think, yep, time to move on. But how funny that there was one there right when I took in this one!

Sumo Squirrels

I mentioned last week that I had taken in two stragglers. Well, so far they've been doing very well. They have really healthy appetites, they're peeing and pooping the way they should, and (knock on wood), no one's come down with any kind of illness. There's just one thing...

THEY'RE GIGANTIC!

One of the best ways to judge a squirrel's age is by when their eyes open, which is pretty consistently at the 5-week mark. So, since they had just opened their eyes when I got them ten days ago, that would make them about 6-1/2 weeks old now. According to the charts, they should way between 110 and 150 grams.

This morning, when I weighed them (before they'd drunk a drop of formula), the female was 190g and the male 199! They've been gaining between 5 and 12 grams a day, which is a lot for this age—usually they would gain 2-5 grams from one day to the next.

However, I guess i shouldn't really be surprised. Because the other thing that's different is that they drink the full amount of formula—12cc—at every single feeding. With my other sets, most of them would have at least one feeding a day where they wouldn't be that hungry and they'd push away the nipple when they were full. Not these guys! They take every drop they can get. :)

This is actually a good thing, as the bigger they are when they go outside, the better their chances of thriving. What makes it seem strange, however, is that their behaviour still reflects their ages. So, for example, they're just starting to climb and are quite tentative about it, even though they're as big as my earlier sets were when they were running like maniacs all around the cage.

It reminds me of a story a friend of mine used to tell. When his son was two years old, he was as tall as most three-year-olds. So when he was out playing with other kids, everyone thought he was a little backwards because they thought he was a year older than he actually was. It all worked out fine but when I watch these Amazonian-like squirrels taking a few steps on the side of the cage and then stopping for a rest, I remember that story.

Here are a few pics and a video of my “little” sumo squirrels.

Shower Scene

This is one of the squirrels from my last set. Too bad we all can't clean up this quickly—imagine how much time we'd save in the morning!

However, the downstairs neighbours might not enjoy it...