Feelin Squirrely..=)

2 b so random...

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Feeling Squirrelly..

My hubby was cutting a dead hollow tree for the fireplace one day. After taking this limbless tree down to the ground he began sawing it into seperate pieces to haul back to the house. When he saw something very tiny moving on the ground right next to a previous cut log. Well he brought four of these tiny little critters home.  

 

I had no idea what to do at first, but went to my homework and did my research on Squirrels. I got up twice a night to feed these precious tiny babes. Kept them warm, and took very good care of them..

                                                         Their eyes are starting to open..

Peek a boo..=)) aawww so precious..and look at the tiny milk belly..so sweet..

                               Getting more active, at this point I had to find a bigger box..=)

 
Just something about that maternal instinct in us, the getting up twice a night for feedings really was worth it by this time..they were such a delight to take care of..

 

 
Happy playful babies..but right after feedings they would generally all cuddle together and go back to sleep.

 

They grew so fast, and each day was such a joy to me. I just hated making the transition from the nestlike box to a cage..=( but I knew it was to protect them temporarily until their release..

 

In no time at all, they were all so fat and fluffy..just beautiful and so content.

After meals and playtime they generally preferred to hide under a blanket or in this case a shirt.. ;) to sleep.

They really enjoyed their playtime outside the cage usually a couple of hours..and surprisingly they would all come back to me when it was time to put them back in..

 

They were pretty content during their first six months, as I wanted to wait long enough before release..so their instinct would be keen when returning them to the woods..meanwhile they were a lot of fun for me to raise..

  I ended up adding an additional large cage to this one for more play room..

and daily I would clean their cage and bring in new branches with lots of leaves,pinecones, acorns..and even a deer antler to keep their teeth right..they loved chewing on things.. Feeding time was often pretty funny as they gradated from formula to solid food..their fave was of course PECANS!! woohoo!! haha oh they loved them..they would often have one in their mouth..and burying another..so darn cute..

One month before release I stopped letting them out of the cage, as their wildness was kicking in..which was good..they needed that for prep of being released.. also I refrained from cuddling so much..because when you release them..it's not always good for them to be so tame, as they may run up on people and get hurt, or attacked by dogs and such.so it broke my heart..as I loved to play and cuddle..they were so very tame at this point, but they needed to get woods protective savvy.


 Release day broke my heart, but I knew I loved them too much to confine them, and let them back to their environment..We hung the cage securely in a tree, and would close their gate at night.. until gradually they ventured out for good..I still offered feed trays and water..until eventually they did not return..=)) sweet things..my pleasure being temporary squirrel mama.. <3 to these four fluffy, healthy babies..