Hi all and thanks. We hope the next baby ~>insert species of your choice hereDaisy. Master Gardener. Puppy corrupter, I mean, role model, pond assistant, kitty head stuffer, mugger with A rubber chicken.... Yes, she manages to put a smile on our faces and perhaps a few bruises from the chicken assault. :-) We also discovered she is a Bird Nutritionist. No high cholesterol for our Downy Woodpeckers, the Pileated guys, the Yellow Hammers, the Nuthatches and everyone else. No way. No how! Daisy jumps up and brings down the suet feeders ... breaks into them and eats the suet! Then she has the bloody diarrhea from eating all that fat! Good girl, Daisy! Sacrificing yourself to protect the little feathered birdy visitors from eating that stuff. Good Girl! Now I need to climb up on a plastic milk crate to hang the suet feeders higher in the trees so Daisy can't pull them down. The other feeders needed to be raised higher too because she's pulled them down and she and Rani have destroyed many seed feeders. :-( Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing. Do I believe this yet? Pets are relaxing. Pets are relaxing.... She brought home a mouse this afternoon. We think he came from the compost pile area. He was wet but not harmed as he ran through the kitchen. He was caught, dried off, fed with grapes, apples and some seeds and water. Then he was put back in the compost pile with some seeds and apologies for being kidnapped. Pets are relaxing....

Hi there! Yes baby squirrels stay very near the nest for quite some time, you need to look at behavior rather than size to see that the squirrel is a baby, they play like kittens, race around and jump on each other etc. The only time I have ever seen TINY baby squirrels is when whe had a nest of them loose the Mom this last spring. A little one made his way out of the tree and came walking up to us, we picked him up and called a rehabber, she told us to watch for more and sure enough I found another the next day, I could find no sign of a nest anywhere, but 2 day later I heard one crying (they will cry loudly if in perril)and will seek human help. I spotted the baby still in the tree cavity,she was too weak to come down the tree so I went up and got her. I held and fed all 3 of these little ones till I could get them to the rehabber (I had good instructions) unfortunatly we found a 4th one had already died in the nest. SO you don't WANT to see a baby squirrel because that most likely means something has happened to the Mother. If you DO see one call a rehabber IMEDIATLEY! I have pics of one of my little guys but don't know how to post them , I will e mail them to you if you would like. lvlice@aol.com Lisa

"Another downside is squirrels raised by humans become very attached to them..." When I was a kid my father's friend's dog came home with a baby squirrel. My father took it and we raised it. He lived as a pet in our house. He'd sit on the back of chairs when we sat in them, he ate a window sill or two. He was actually a great little pet. My father made a good sized cage for him that was in the house. Eventually he moved the cage outside and we'd put him in there at night or when we didn't want him loose in the house (it was summer). Then we started leaving the door to the cage open during the day. He'd stick close to the house but always would come back to use if we called and at night. He eventually spent less and less time with us but would still come up to us. Eventually he just blended in with the other squirrels. Good luck raising the little guy.

Your post reminds me of the time I was walking my dog on a wooded path. I had on some stretchy workout pants with a boot leg cut at the bottom. I saw a bag laying there that looked like it had something in it, so I picked it up. Well, there was a mouse in there, and it freaked out and ran towards me. Next thing I know, it had gone under my pants and was running up my leg!! I totally lost it, I was screaming as I watched this blob coming up my thigh straight to---well, you know. I pulled the pants down, right there in semi-public and the thing went scurrying away. Needless to say, I ran home and took a shower. I had forgotten all about that!