What do wildlife rehabilitators do with squirrels?

There are some steps that you can follow when you have found a baby squirrel that has been orphaned. The most important thing you can do for the baby is to find it a wildlife rehabilitator. Many places have this kind of rehabilitators that will be happy to take in the baby squirrels and take care of them.

After finding the babies, don’t try feeding them with anything. Don’t attempt to give them cow’s milk. Improper diet can be really bad for the babies and so if you have no know hoe of how to handle them, don’t try it at all.

When you find a baby squirrel, there are 5 possible scenarios that could have led to their predicament:

• The mother has been killed, removed or trapped

• The nest has fallen due to heavy rain, high winds, tree removal and trimming

• The mother is actually moving the babies and one fell off or the two were separated

• The nest was predated on

• The baby has been brought home by a per

The first scenario indicates that the young are indeed orphaned and need to be taken care of. When the infants still have their eyes closed means that they can be starving and totally dehydrated as they had waited for the mother for an unknown duration of time. Babies rely on the mother for milk until they are weaned at 8 weeks.

In the other scenarios, reunion is still a possibility. However, when the young ones are injured, they need help immediately and they need to be taken to a wildlife rehabilitator.

You need to keep the babies arm until you can get them to a rehabilitator. Usually, the rehabilitator will be able to feed the young ones in the correct manner because they have the equipment and knowhow to do so. In case the babies are sick, injured or affected by parasites, the rehabilitator will treat them and walk them back to health giving them an even better chance of survival.

It is the job of the rehabilitator to take care of the young ones until they are old and strong enough to be released back into the wild. The main purpose is to fabricate a fence where the animals could come in, however cannot get out. You ought to make sure that the lock in doors is more or less saloon style, excluding that the doors do not swing open from the inside. That is a trouble-free thing to do; all you have to do is place a piece of wood on the side that you desire to stay close.

Go back to the How to Get Rid of Squirrels page or email us if you have any other questions about What do wildlife rehabilitators do with squirrels?