Been meaning to do an update about this for a while and my god it's already mid November. At this rate the little guy would be in a retirement home by the time I update.

Long story short; he's fine.

So that first day I've got the little guy and learning how to feed him through the eyedropper, which once he figures out what it is that's being jammed into his mouth he takes it pretty easily. Not knowing what else to do beyond this point I start scouring the internet looking for tips. Here is some good news, if you want to learn how to raise a baby squirrel there are AMPLE resources online that will tell you everything you want to know. I found four webpages, and two long videos that tell you in complete detail what to do with them from pinkies on to releasing them. And they were all very consistent, which is very reassuring. It's not very hard, but you do have to be aware of some things.

Like I have to manually induce him to pee at every feeding, about every third hour, or else there is a chance his bladder could rupture. Things I never thought I would do over my bathroom sink.

So my overall goal is to raise this guy through the helpless stage and give him his best chance to make it in the wild. I'm not intending to keep him as a pet. No matter how much he wraps around my thumb to sleep again after I've hydrated him. I know he's been without fluids for about a day, and without knowing anything else the water/pedialyte is the best thing for him right now, but that's going to change in about a day or two. All the websites recommend this kind of puppy formula and not to use other types because that'll make him sick. I'm fairly confident 'Big Puppy Formula' has not infiltrated all these websites to shill their product, and him getting sick at this age, which was a little younger than I initial estimated, could be very dangerous for him. The stuff is a bit pricey, and only comes in a pretty good sized can that he isn't going to even use 20% of. It makes sense, they're selling it for a dog that is going to be like that for around six months instead of a squirrel for like two. Ironically it would have been easier to decide what to do with him if I had had more of them because it would have justified the food. Plus calling around to the few vet places near here they didn't have any to sell, and that formula was not at the supermarket I checked. So I have to make a decision in the next 24hrs.

Secondly, it's best for him to be around other squirrels growing up so he has less chance of imprinting on the human handling him, and develops, I dunno, proper squirrel etiquette. I guess so he doesn't end up as the weirdo adult squirrel spending all his time drawing furry porn or something. So I know me, and I'm a soft heart, and I'm gonna be holding him in my lap after feeding, and playing with him when he becomes more active and I'm gonna tell myself I'm gonna let him go, and I will, but it may not be the best start for him. It's better if he's raised amongst other squirrels.

Reminding myself of my initial goal of giving him his best chance at starting out, I find a local animal rehab place and take him there. So about 48hrs after that original post, that's the last I've seen of him. I'm sure he's fine, it looked very legit and they had like 30 squirrels already. I'm guessing he's just about adulting by now.

Additionally, I learn a little bit after the fact that this was the right decision for a second reason. One of the first things I checked when I got him is 'are you allowed to have a squirrel in my state?' And the answer was yes, this one is apparently one of the few that you can. So I'm thinking good-to-go, right? But no, this is THE LAW, so of course it can't be that simple. One of the ladies at the shelter said something that made me dig a little deeper. Yes you can own a squirrel, BUT, only if you have gotten it from another set of legally recognized pet squirrels. I guess there is a database somewhere. You are not allowed to go out into the wild and capture one to habituate, and you are not allowed to rehab one on your own and raise it. I have no idea why anyone felt the need to make these restrictions, but they are there. Now, I don't expect Fish and Wildlife to beat down my door because I'm harboring an infant tree rat but if anything did happen to him and I had to bring him to the vet, and things were discovered afterwards, I more than likely would have been facing a large fine. So moral is, if you're gonna do this, check your laws.

So that's the baby squirrel saga. He was fun for the 36hrs I had him.