Raising Baby Squirrels Today

A soda bottle filled with hot water and covered with a sock can be placed near the babies.

Raising baby squirrels today. Even on hot summer days baby squirrels can get chilled quickly. However at that point some squirrels have bonded with their owners and instead of releasing them back into the wild they will keep them as pets. Baby squirrels need to be taken care of until they are 12 weeks old. Keeping the squirrel upright will make aspiration less likely.

The normal temperature for a squirrel is 99 degrees which is close to that of our own temperature of 98 6 degrees. Baby squirrels need pedialyte and puppy milk to grow. I like to use rice bags to keep my baby squirrels warm. Well our baby squirrels will give you just that.

Test to be sure the temperature isn t too hot and place a tee shirt around it to be sure it doesn t roll onto the babies. It s very easy for baby squirrels especially tiny hairless pink newborns to aspirate the feeding liquid which can lead to pneumonia and death. Feeding a cold baby will kill it because it cannot digest the formula when cold. Supervise the reunion attempt carefully but from a distance.

Use a 1cc syringe on small babies to control the feed rate. Baby should feel warm in your hands. While you can certainly raise a baby squirrel no one can raise it better than its mother. Baby squirrels easily aspirate and choke.

A squirrel mama will look for her babies and reclaim them if they are warm. At a minimum a squirrel over six weeks old needs at least one hour in the morning and one at night of free exercise with orphans of similar size and ability extending to several hours per day during pre release conditioning. When a baby squirrel is less than 5 weeks old before it s eyes open it can easily be kept in a cardboard box. They then decide to take the baby in and raise it until it is old enough to be on their own.

I heat the bag in the microwave until it is warm to the touch place it in the box punch it down in the center to make a nest place pieces of blanket or fleece material over the bag put the baby squirrel in and cover it with more soft cloth. Do you need your daily dose of cuteness today. Raising a baby squirrel by hand a childhood dream duration. Appropriate housing at every stage of development is an essential part of providing opportunities for normal growth.

Look for the baby s mother first. You can feed a baby squirrel with a bottle and it will bond to you as its mother you have to keep baby squirrels warm and massage their genitals to make them pee. Hold the baby upright and point the dropper toward the roof of its mouth. Place the squirrel in a box or plastic container with a clean cloth in the bottom of the box preferably a cloth baby diaper or baby receiving blanket no towels and place a light cover over the squirrel.

Never feed a baby on its back or too fast. Always stimulate the baby to urinate after feeding. When you find a baby squirrel it s important to always try to reunite baby and mother before doing anything else.