It was a hot summer day on August 9, 2001. I had been outside all morning tending to my garden in the summer heat of North Carolina. I came inside for a cold glass of water when the telephone rang. When I answered it I was greeted by a thick southern drawl. "Yes, Hello? I got your name from the Police Department. Are you a wildlife rehabber?" The caller sounded distraught and out of breath.
"Yes, I am." I replied. "What do you have?"
The caller explained that he was working on a new job site and that a tree had just been removed.
"When the tree was knocked down, I heard some squeaking noises and when I looked through the debris I found two baby squirrels," he said.
I responded, "What kind of condition are they in? Are they injured?"
"No mam, he said. "I don't think so. They look fine to me."
"Is the nest intact? Have you seen the mother?" I asked. He then explained that he had witnessed a very aggressive squirrel making some agitated noises when he was up in the tree. He told me that after the tree was knocked down, the squirrel ran off and he hadn't seen her since.
As a wildlife rehabilitator, we like to make sure that the babies are truly abandoned before taking them in. There have been times when a mother squirrel will return and take her babies to another location. I suggested he put the babies in a box and place them in the shade in a safe location where the Mother might return. I told him to call me back in a few hours to let me know what, if anything happened.
I hung up and sat down to think. I had not rehabbed anything in several years. Maybe the mother would return and take the babies elsewhere, I thought. I went back outside to return to my gardening.
A few hours later the construction worker called again. "M'am, the mother has not returned. I am about to get off my work shift and head home. I don't want to leave these babies here. Can I bring them to your house? It's a very hot day and I think they will die over night." I agreed to take them in.
It was only about 20 minutes after I hung up the phone when the doorbell rang. I opened the door and was greeted by a tall husky man, sweat pouring from his face. He was holding his work shirt in his hands and wrapped up inside were two precious little fur balls. The squirrels appeared to be about 2-3 weeks old. They were fully furred, ears slicked back and their eyes were still tightly closed. I was touched by how carefully he had wrapped them in his own shirt.
As soon as I got them inside, I checked for dehydration. Their skin appeared to be slightly dehydrated when I gently pinched it between my fingers. But besides that they appeared to be doing quite well. They were active and verbal. I took out my rehabber's chart and scale and weighed them carefully. Each one weighed about 65 grams (the weight of a small lemon). I started them immediately on Pedialyte. This is the recommended protocol. It prevents dehydration and prepares their system for a new formula.
I looked through my freezer and found the baby formula I stored for this type of situation. I had plenty available. I pulled out a syringe I had gotten from my Veterinarian and removed the needle. Then I filled each syringe with about 2 cc's of Pedialyte and connected a tiny nipple tip to feed them. They drank the fluid immediately. I then placed them both together on a warm heating pad with a t-shirt between them and the heat.
I sat in my kitchen and watched them balled up together and wondered what I would do next. Baby squirrels require constant care. At this age, they need to be fed 4 or 5 times a day. I was not sure I had the time available. But as I sat there looking at their two little chests, and the tiny breaths they took I simply fell in love.
Over the next several days I slowly introduced their new formula. Over a period of three days they were on the new formula full strength and were actually developing a taste for it. Every three hours or so, they got another feeding. It didn't take them long before they got used to the schedule. Whenever it got close to feeding time, I could hear then becoming restless in their box and high pitched squeaking noises could be heard throughout the house. At first this was a bit alarming for my little dog Fritz. I had rescued him from the animal shelter a year earlier and up until now; he was the only other life in the house. It was obvious he was not sure how to take this new arrival.
One week later on August 15, I came downstairs at about 5:30 a.m. for their morning feeding and I noticed a change. Both squirrel's ears had popped up during the night. Now they looked more like squirrels than little aliens. Gosh, how cute they were. I smiled as I fed them.
During the next several weeks, the squirrels thrived. Whenever I would feed them, Fritz would jump up on a nearby chair and watch with great curiosity. I knew what he was thinking. Who were these little creatures taking up Mommy's time? Fritz has always been a very gentle little dog. He had never shown any aggressive behavior towards any living thing. He may sniff a frog or a salamander he finds in the garden, but it is more of a "Hello, how are you today?" attitude than anything harmful. So we eventually established a routine. While I fed the squirrels, Fritz would be close by sniffing and watching.
I decided to name the squirrels Abbott and Costello. Abbott was the slightly larger of the two but seemed more fragile than Costello. After feeding Abbott I would rest him on my shoulder and he would bury himself in the crook of my neck. When it was time to place him back in his little nest, he would cry. If I picked him up again, he would quiet himself and fall asleep in my hands. I was bonding with this guy in a way I never thought possible. I have rehabbed other baby animals and a few squirrels in the past, but this little guy and I had a connection that I couldn't explain.
On August 19th I noticed that Abbott was beginning to open one eye. I have been told that when a baby squirrel opens his eyes for the first time, who ever he sees is considered "Mom." He looked at me through one eye and I wondered what he was thinking. I can only imagine his surprise to see a being so unlike his own staring back at him. The following morning as I fed Abbott his breakfast both of his eyes fully popped open. Now he was staring right at me. There in the quiet of the morning hour, I felt the closest to the "all that is" than I ever had before. Here I held this tiny little life that was totally dependent on me and I felt right with the world.
Both squirrels continued to grow. Their weight had increased to about 110 grams each. Their eyes were fully open now, and their top teeth were coming in. As they became more active, they became more inquisitive. They frequently tried to crawl out of their box and remained active for longer periods of time. It was fun to see them play with each other. I realized that they would need to be placed in a larger cage. So one afternoon, I went to the hardware store and bought some lumber and hardware cloth. A friend of mine helped me build a small wire and wood cage.
Several days later, I placed them in their new "home." I had several small tree limbs inside for them to exercise their legs. They scurried around their new surroundings in excitement. It was obvious to me that they liked this place much better.
I began to introduce Gerber's Baby Food Flakes as well as rodent block to their diet. I would also give them both cheerios to nosh on and they seemed to enjoy all the new diet choices. It was so cute to watch them sit up on their hind legs and eat a cheerio or a peanut. Some mornings they seemed so hungry that I found it more and more difficult to handle them. Sometimes I would opt for putting the nipple up against the wire cage. They would hang on the cage, their tiny claws wrapped around the wire and their bellies exposed while grabbing the nipple with their teeth through the wire. Within a matter of minutes the formula was gone. They would want more. I would throw more cheerios, fruit and nuts into the cage. They had to learn to eat solids.
By the time they were 9 weeks old, they were quite a handful. The hours they slept were significantly reduced and it was time to move them to yet a larger cage. So back to the hardware store I went and this time the project was no small task. My friend and I built a cage approximately the size of a closet. After the cage was finished, it was placed out on my back deck. I covered the top with a huge tarp to keep the cage dry. I also hung two large bird houses inside the cage for them to nest in at night. Then I went walking through the woods and found large tree limbs to place inside the cage. I lined the bottom with pine needles and after about a week, the new cage was completed.
It was late in September when I decided to move the squirrels into their new "home." They had grown to about 340 grams each, Abbott still being the larger of the two. At this time, they were still getting formula twice a day. They would chow down about 15 cc's at one feeding and then still want more. I estimated that they were both now about 8 or 9 weeks old. They each had distinctive personalities. Costello was very independent and seemed serious about wanting to become a cage-free squirrel. But Abbott continued to enjoy being close to me. He would still allow me to handle him and he would often crawl up my shirt and place his head underneath my chin. There he would sit for the longest time, as if he felt safe.
It was a beautiful Fall day when I placed them both outside in the new cage. Here they were exposed to noises and weather that they had never known. Immediately, they both climbed into one of the two bird houses I had attached to the side of the wire. I am not sure how they both fit inside one house, but they seemed to enjoy being together. I checked them periodically during the day and often found Abbott inside his little house while Costello spent time exploring the new cage, gnawing at the tree limbs and hiding his nuts in the pine straw. He seemed fearless. Abbott seemed to fret over everything.
The weather over the next several weeks was varied. We had heavy rain and blustery winds scattered amongst beautiful warm and sunny days. I worried about them constantly, especially about Abbott. And I missed him too. How I enjoyed holding him in my hand or carrying him on my shoulder. But I also knew that for them to truly be wild and take care of themselves, I needed to create some distance. It was time to untie the apron strings.
Over the next month I kept my distance. The squirrels were now living off the food I placed in their bowls each morning and seemed to continue to put on weight. Then one beautiful day in October I decided to open the door to the cage and set them free. I was told by other rehabbers that for a while they would both continue to return in the evening to sleep in their bird houses which was a comfort to me.
It was about 10:00 a.m. when I opened the door. Costello came bolting out immediately and spent no time leaping off the cage top and heading for the roof of the house. I was afraid he would fall and hurt himself, but he negotiated the brick wall to the top of the roof quite nicely. I was pleased. Abbott remained in his cage for quite a while and finally emerged from the small door I had left open. He climbed up onto the top of the cage and I could see him looking around as if to see where his brother had gone. He seemed clearly disturbed and frightened. I sat outside for a while so he could see me sitting nearby. Eventually I went inside and left Abbott alone to figure out what to do next.
It only took about ten minutes to lapse before I heard this loud verbal cry. To describe the sound is difficult to do. It sounded like a kitten crying, not a meow exactly, but a loud cry. I walked back outside and there on the top of the cage Abbott sat where I had left him. I saw his little mouth opening wide and this pitiful cry emerging. I was surprised to say the least. I had heard squirrels verbalize before but never had I heard such a noise like this one. I approached him and he jumped on my shoulder, placing his head underneath my chin. Still the crying continued. I picked him up with my hand but he squirmed to get free. Then he climbed back up on my shoulder and still he cried. I didn't know what to do to calm him. I sat down on my patio chair and continued to talk softly to him. He settled down and then crawled back into this cage and jumped into his bird house. He was clearly not ready to leave home. I closed the small door I had left open and went back inside. Abbott did not come out of his bird house for the rest of the day.
In the early evening, right before dusk I went back outside and re-opened the small door to the cage. About an hour later, Costello has returned and I found him inside the same bird house cuddled up with Abbott. I locked the cage door and that is where they remained for the rest of the night.
Eventually Abbott did leave home. It took a few days but one morning while reading the newspaper on my back deck, he slowly crawled out of his cage. Slowly he walked, then picking up speed he jumped up into my small oak tree. He looked over in my direction as if to say, "Hey Mom, look at me!" It took about 5 minutes for him to jump to another tree and then another. Higher and higher he went and I held my breath. And then he was gone. Is this the way a parent feels when their child leaves for college?
Over the next month or so, they returned to their cage every night and slept soundly. In the mornings, I would reopen the cage and they would leave for the day. And then one day they didn't return. Another day passed and still no site of either of them. I continued to place food outside and most of the time it went untouched. I felt sad and happy at the same time. Eventually the Fall season turned into Winter and then Spring. Every time I went outside I would look for them. There were other squirrels in the area and they would visit at times. But I knew that they were not the ones I had raised. They were too wild and skittish.
Then one day in April I was outside cleaning my fish pond. I heard some limbs on my small oak tree moving right above my head. I looked up and there staring down at me about 3 three from my face was Abbott. I smiled. It was obvious to me that he recognized me. I walked in the house to grab some peanuts I had saved in case they returned. Abbott followed me to the door. I grabbed the bag and before long, Abbott and I were sitting in the grass together. He sat up on his back hind legs and cracked open a peanut. I sat there with him for the longest time. It felt great.
The following day I was outside with Fritz. When we returned to the house I accidentally left the screen door ajar. About an hour later as Fritz and I sat on the sofa watching TV I saw something moving on my carpet. It was Abbott. Both Fritz and I bolted upright. Abbott looked at me as if to say, "Hey, where's the peanuts." As I stood up he ran out the back door. "What a little bugger," I thought.
Since then Abbott hasn't left. I do not know where he had been the previous three months but I am sure he would have some great stories to share with me if he could talk. It has been over a year and a half now and Abbott continues to visit almost every day.
One afternoon I walked outside and Fritz was sunning himself on the lawn. Sitting nearby was Abbott chewing on a small pinecone. They were only about three feet apart. They looked at each other but neither of them moved. They sat there for the longest time. I was just amazed.
This past September Abbott brought along his new girlfriend for me to meet. She was smaller than he and very cute. She would keep her distance as Abbott would approach and take nuts from my hand. When Abbott would climb back on the fence, his new friend would chase after him obviously in the hopes of sharing his snack. He would have nothing to do with that. Off he would go at a furious pace leaving her behind. Chivalry must be dead in the squirrel kingdom.
About a week ago as I was visiting with Abbott, another squirrel approached. Closer and closer he came to me and then I realized it was Costello. I had not seen him since he left over a year ago. Now he was back. He was very aggressive. He was verbalizing, shaking his tail and behaving agitated. That was his personality. He was never particularly friendly, but he did eventually grab a peanut from my hand and bolt for a tree. I see him from time to time but he doesn't seem too interested in becoming re-acquainted.
Just two days ago I walked out the front door to run some errands. There on the hood of my car sat Abbott, eating an acorn. I had never seen him in the front yard before. I worried about him being so close to the road. I sat down on my front step and picked up an acorn from the ground. Abbott jumped down from the car and sat watching at the end of the cement walkway. I rolled an acorn towards him and Abbott went chasing after it like a dog after a ball. As he dove for the first acorn he rolled over once and then twice. Finally he righted himself and sat up on his hind legs with the acorn in his mouth. I had to laugh out loud.
It may seem silly to have a relationship with a squirrel and I will admit I never thought it would happen to me. But regardless of what kind of a day I have had, spending time with him makes my day brighter. I would like to think he enjoys our visits too.