Orphan Squirrel

Ahhh, spring! The daffodils are blooming, the birds are singing, and the earth is awakening from a long winter slumber. And all sorts of baby critters are being born. When you live in the country, sometimes those baby animals find their way into your home, and heart.

When I woke up yesterday I heard what sounded like a small raptor screaming in the windbreak. But it was an unusual sound for a bird to make. Maybe it was a baby bunny? I went out to investigate but couldn't see anything but Oscar in his nest box. A few hours later, the noise was still coming from the windbreak. The boys went out in the front yard to play catch and a baby squirrel attached itself to Ian's shoe and hung on until he got to the driveway. Jim picked it up and put it in his pocket. That was all it took.

Jim got a baby bottle and some puppy milk replacer recommended by the vet. He's been carrying the little guy around in his pocket all day and even got up in the middle of the night twice to feed him. He is a cute little bugger but I'm on the fence about having a squirrel for a pet. Maybe we'll return him to nature when he's bigger and can care for himself. In the meantime he's learning how to be a squirrel and how to climb on things (check out those big feet!), how to sit and eat a raisin with his front paws (very tricky because it requires balancing on those huge hind legs!) and he is making chattery little squirrel sounds. Jim is smitten! The boys like to hold him too.

We're housing him in a spare ferret cage furnished with an enclosed hammock. He crawls into the warm, dark hammock and curls up into a ball with his tail wrapped around his body. It is the cutest thing we've ever seen here yet (it certainly beats the baby snapping turtle Jim found last fall).