File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
Soup /an/

Today at around 8am I found a baby squirrel. There were some huge storms last night and I'm guessing he fell from his nest. Anyway, I never got close and waited for the mother to come back, but as of 5pm she never did. He somehow rolled off the ledge he was on was hanging for dear life, so I decided to go rescue him.

He's currently in a box with a towel and a heating pad (low) underneath. His eyes are closed, but had a full coat and is moving quite a bit. He seems to be slightly dehydrated, but not worrisomely so. I called the closest wildlife rehabilitation center and they said they would only take in injured animals, but told me to not feed him and place him in a box up in a tree (even though I told them over and over again I have no idea what tree he fell from) but there's another big storm and flood warning scheduled for tonight so I chose to ignore their advice and keep him for the night. Is there anything I'm doing wrong? Anyone have experience in this?

Pic related, he looks just like this. D'awww.
>> Anonymous
Don't give it anything to eat/drink, hydrate only with Pedialyte or some equivalent.

It's unlikely that this squirrel was the only one in the nest. If the nest became abandoned, or the mother died, then they will be crawling out of the nest over the next few days, so look around for them, so you can turn them all over to the rehabber on one trip.
>> Anonymous
and don't forget to take a warmish water bottle, wrap in a towel, and put in the same box as him. Then he can regulate his temperature by moving towards and away from it as necessary.
>> Anonymous
>>228947
The rehabilitation center lady said absolutely nothing to eat, although some other sites mention fruit flavored Pedialite (or a mixture of sugar, salt, and water in emergencies) if the squirrel seems dehydrated. I've made the water mixture and have it ready just in case.

I have not handled him at all. Like I said, I left him out there from 8am to 5pm and the mother never came back, even though I saw a few squirrels up in the trees. I'm very hesitant about leaving him outside in a box again tomorrow, as the high will be 45.
>> Anonymous
>>228952
It's possible that he'll get adopted by another squirrel, but after 8 hours, the chances are slim to none. Keep in mind that he will definitely not get rescued by his family overnight, since they are not active after sundown.

Also, is 45 in Celsius or Fahrenheit? It could be chilly or extremely hot, depending on where you're from :D
>> Anonymous
By the way, don't worry about getting your smell on him. That stuff about mother squirrels abandoning their young after a human touches them is a bunch of horse shit.
>> Anonymous
>>228961
After 8 hours without getting taken back, it doesn't matter anyway. During the first few hours, why risk it?
>> Anonymous
ive had a squirrel before, and we fed him nuts, cereal and gave him water in a dish...i say leave it for him in the box and he will take it if he wants to...also, it might be a good idea to put him into a cage of some sort rather than a box because he will jump out once he has the strength to do so and will run around your house. i kept mine for 3 years and after a few weeks he let me pick him up and stuff so theyre pretty ok animals to have...if the animal rehab place wont take him and you dont think his family will take him back then i think you should just keep him as a pet and take care of him..theyre neat little animals and are alot of fun =)
>> Anonymous
>>228968
Enjoy your fines and lawsuit
>> Anonymous
>>228971
...lawsuit?
>> Anonymous
>>228971
the squirrel parents can't sue in civil court.
>> Anonymous
if he does not pee or poo on his own, use a cotton ball dipped in warm water to stimulate the rear end. Usually (like cats and kittens,) the young will only eliminate if the parent is licking the behind. If you don't do this and it's a very young one, it can die from uremic poisoning...everything backs up into its system.
>> Anonymous
You can try baby cereal (the instant rice stuff some people call it pablum) with an eyedropper. Good luck!
>> Anonymous
OP here. He somehow survived the night. Then again, he somehow survived falling out of his nest, a hail storm, and hanging off a ledge for about 5~10 minutes before I rescued him. I'm planning on feeding him a little of the water mixture with a turkey baster (the closest thing I have) because his skin is looking quite wrinkly and then making the tree box to try again to see if his mom will pick him up. I'm quite worried about the weather (36F now), but it can't be that warm up in the trees that he lived in up until now. Somehow, I think this box in the tree thing is easier said than done.

Later I'll go check on him to see if he's alive or has been picked up. If he's alive and still in there by dusk today, the rehabber told me to call them back, but I still don't know if they'll take him in or not. I guess I might have to gear up for the feeding every four hours day and night for twelve weeks thing, because I can't just leave him out there to die an orphan. Anon has a conscious? I don't habeeb it.
>> Anonymous
So from the advice so far I need to not touch it to keep it smelling right, starve it, and anal rape it with a warm q tip. Anything else?
>> Anonymous
>>228994
I think he means it's illegal to keep a squirrel in your home for over 48 hours in the US. The fines for this are hefty. and yeah, squirrels should be able to sue in civil court. They let Mexicans do it, so why not.
>> Anonymous
I met a guy that had a squirrel once, it sat on his shoulder and you could pet it and everything. He'd rescued it as a baby and hand reared it.

He was very gay, though.
>> Anonymous
>>228971
i dont live in the US so i think ill be ok without the fines and lawsuits
>> Anonymous
If you do end up keeping it, be very careful when feeding it. You should use an eye dropper and squirt a tiny bit of formula into his mouth at a time. Don't let him suck formula out of the dropper, as baby squirrels tend to inhale the liquid, and it can cause respiratory problems.
>> gizmogal !MmLOyiCYJs
GIVE IT TO ME
I WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF SAID ADORABLE SQUIRREL

Honestly though, check out what your local animal control/wildlife rehab place says.
>> Anonymous
LOL these threads are all the same

"The animal was laying out and wasn't picked up by its mother for hours so I rescued it"

"OMG U KILLED IT WTG U EBIL HOOMAN"
>> Anonymous
The fuck?

The whole "MOTHER WON'T TOUCH IT BECAUSE IT SMELLS LIKE HUMANS" is a HUGEEEEEEE fucking myth. It gets alot of animals screwed (baby birds, squirrels, ect) because people hope the mothers will simply come back. You can rub an animal in your anus and the mother won't care.
>> Anonymous
Something similar happened to me a several years back. A storm blew through, baby squirrel fell out of the nest, watched it, no mother, etc. Like you I spent a couple days calling around and got pretty much the same responses, "nothing we can do," "leave it out for the mother," etc.

Eventually I said fuck it and decided to raise the thing. I wasn't going to let it die. I kept it in a box with a warm cloth which and heated waterbottle wrapped in another cloth. I bought kitten formula and fed the squirrel through an eye dropper. Be warned, it is very tedious. After several weeks, his eyes opened and hey could eat hard food, nuts, mixed seeds, etc. I kept him for about a year until I was certain he was healthy and let him go.

There's my story anon, take from it what you can.
>> Anonymous
>>229610
True. I can't believe that shit is still so widely believed.

You have a helpless infant on your hands, OP. The mother isn't going to take it back, this should be clear by now. You either commit to it's care (or find someone committed) or it's going to die. I'm not trying to make this super dramatic, but I don't want you to put off taking care of it in favor of the "wait and see" approach. Bring it inside, keep it warm, and get family/roommates to help with the feeding schedule.
>> Wolfshadow
     File :-(, x)
This happened to me as well. I was walking home to my apartment from my (then) boyfriend's house and had a baby robin land on my HEAD. Had some strange white crested birds attacking me before I realized it, and ran. Somehow the robin chick managed to hold on while I ran full throttle and once I was a safe distance away, I noticed something was on my head and discovered the bird...

Had her for about 3 and a half weeks. She had learned how to fly, bathe, etc. I was feeding her super-mashed-and-blended puppy chow. I was starting to ween her onto fruits as I had read, once they fly, the father teaches them how to pick berries and such. I had no money to buy grapes and such, so I started with applesause mixed into her food of puppychow.

I was on my phone with my dad and she was making a ruckus, so I left the room. She kept getting louder so after a few minutes I told him I'd call back after I took care of her and found her dead on her back. WTF.

She looked almost exactly like this when I found her.