SQUIRREL FORUM

Welcome

Welcome to the Squirrel Forum!

The Squirrel Forum is the worlds largest squirrel emergency, baby squirrel care, and general squirrel information website. There is a link to our partner board – the awesome Squirrel Board with top rehabbers, wildlife professionals, vets, vet techs, and our own Squirrel Forum geared toward captive (pet) squirrel holders. A forum (same as a board) is a site where one can post questions or opinions and get responses from a like minded community on a specific subject. Navigate through our pages by clicking the links on the green navigation bar at the top of this page (under menu on smart phones). All diet and medical information is based on accepted practices within the squirrel rehab and veterinary community.

Serious Problems with SOME Wildlife Rehabilitators

Some of you may have called rehabilitators or gotten on social media platforms only to get attitudes, chiding and condescension. This page exists to help you find excellent rehabilitators who will actually help your squirrel and make every attempt to save it. Some rehabilitators and so-called “wildlife centers” are nothing more than euthanasia stations because it is inconvenient to save infants and helpless animals with eyes closed. We will help you find the many good individual rehabilitators who actually care. Squirrel Forum’s goal is to save every viable squirrel. 

Serious Problems with SOME State’s Fish and Wildlife Departments

Some State Fish and Wildlife Departments have declared war on wildlife rehabilitator’s making it very difficult for them to operate forcing caring squirrel finders to attempt to do this at home. We will ALWAYS attempt to help you find a good, caring rehabilitator. Due to rehabilitator shortages we can also talk you through raising a squirrel yourself, although this is NOT the first choice. You have to follow the care instructions on our basic care page to the letter and our forum (coming soon) moderators will help guide you through it!

Squirrel Help Facebook Pages

Beware of the many so-called “squirrel rehab”, “advice” & “squirrel help” Facebook pages. Some are filled with misinformation and admin who will attack you for your untrained efforts at saving wildlife. At Squirrel Forum we never admonish people who try and help animals. Our only goal is proper basic care information, finding rehabilitators, and helping persons with NR’s with long term care. 

Here is Our Menu (Top of Page) Breakdown for key topics

  • Basic Care > Emergency and basic care for baby squirrels and injured adults
  • Non-releasables > Total care information for older captive, non-releasable squirrels that are held in captivity
  • Squirrel Forum > Public forum where posted questions are answered by experts & squirrel holders
  • Diet > Proper diet for captive non-releasable squirrels
  • MBD > All about diagnosing & treating deadly Metabolic Bone Disease
  • Rehabilitation > Medical and procedural information for licensed rehabilitators, subs, vets and vet techs
  • Veterinarians > (Coming Soon) Online veterinary service for squirrel holders staffed by licenses vets
  • Supplies > Trusted company that sells quality rehabilitation supplies for rehabilitators and holders
  • Laws > Breakdown of state laws regarding the possession and hold of non-releasable squirrels

Mission

Our mission is to help squirrels that are found abandoned or injured and to educate those who keep captive squirrels regarding their proper care, nutrition, and enrichment. This website has links to common questions about initial care for infant squirrels and emergencies like treating Metabolic Bone Disease, a common life threatening issue with captive non-releasable squirrels. Although the information on this site focuses on tree squirrels Prairie Dogs are ground squirrels and information on their care is under “PD’s” on the green link bar and there is a link for flyer help as well.

GET HELP for baby & injured squirrels

FIRST – If you have a squirrel medical emergency or have found a baby squirrel go immediately to our Basic Care page for vital information, and our Non Releasable page for help with your captive non-releasable squirrel. Forums or Boards are not staffed 24 hours and vital information is often hidden in sticky’s or large volumes of posts. The Basic Care page is a compilation of the best emergency care information from top rehabbers and vets.

SECOND – After reading this important information on our Basic Care Page register on our FORUM (coming soon) and post your follow up questions regarding your emergency. It is very important you do this. You post a question and receive real time advice from expert squirrel rehabbers. This is where the experts congregate and all work cooperatively to solve complex emergency medical issues. 

Until the forum is up and running call our helpline for referral to good rehabbers who will help your squirrel. 

Terminology used on this informational website, our forum and other boards

NR: Non-releasable into the wild for a variety of reasons
Captive: A squirrel in captivity. We do not refer to them as pets. Why does it say “pet squirrel” on our header? Because people search for that keyword.
Holder (also Handler): Person responsible for care of a squirrel(s). It is illegal to “own” wildlife in all states including “pet” squirrel “friendly” Florida, so one cannot “own” a squirrel. Some will say your squirrel owns you!
Para: Paraplegic squirrel. Some paraplegic live happy lives as captives. Quadriplegic squirrels should be euthanized.
Neuro: Neurologically impaired squirrel due to head injury or congenital defect.
Mals: Malocclusion or disruption of normal teeth pattern causing inability to eat and swallow without human intervention (trims)

Foster: Someone who commits to hold a squirrel for short or long term

Policy 

We do not advocate keeping captive releasable squirrels or violating state laws. With that said we realize some people do responsibly keep non-releasable squirrels. The Squirrel Forum is a safe space where you can discuss all aspects of properly keeping a squirrel. People come to the forum looking for answers and our expert moderators, rehabbers and vet members provide them without bias. You will not find cliques on this forum and everyone has equal access and respect. This forum is run in a professional, factual, friendly manner and is welcoming to newcomers seeking help and answers.

Captive Squirrels

Most State Fish and Wildlife agencies mandate euthanasia of non-releasables. In the real world this is not always observed and some squirrels that have the ability to recover with disability and live a pain free existence are diverted to homes with qualified experienced individuals. Our members and partner board members have squirrels that are dwarfs, may be paralyzed, neurologically impaired, have severe dental issues and other problems that prevent release. Some squirrels are too friendly and imprinted after years of living in a home. These squirrels are bonded, well cared for and are loved family members. Our only goal is seeing that such special needs squirrels get the best possible care, not encouraging people to keep pet squirrels.

Squirrels do not make good pets. A bonded captive squirrel is still wildlife with special needs and not providing for those needs is cruel and inhumane. Unlike a domesticated animal even a bottle raised squirrel retains all of it’s wild instincts and behaviors. A person who keeps a captive squirrel is a holder not an “owner”. You cannot own wildlife in any state in the U.S. With that said some states are friendlier than others when it comes to holding captive squirrels. Check out our Laws page to learn about laws in your state. Younger healthy squirrels that are releasable should be and licensed rehabbers have a system for “soft release” to accomplish smooth transition to the wild, you cannot just dump a squirrel in the woods. You also cannot release a long term captive squirrel you can’t handle anymore because it has become inconvenient for you as the squirrel will NOT survive. Our Non Releasables page has important information on captive care.

Security / Privacy

Note: Our pages and forum are formatted lean & simple to keep things uncomplicated and mobile friendly but is best viewed on a PC. In keeping with a free and open Internet we use phpBB an open source platform much like Linux. We take our members privacy very seriously utilizing NMAP, NIKTO & 3DES (upgrading to AES) Encryption to prevent hacking and information theft. We are a member of the Internet Defense League, support Net Neutrality and keeping the Internet free of control by greedy corporate, government and special interests.

Photos courtesy of Admin

Fun Squirrel Facts

  • The name Squirrel is from the Greek words skia meaning shadow and oura meaning tail or “shadow tail”
  • Squirrels front incisors grow continuously about 6″ per year
  • A Gray Squirrels bite force is between 7000 & 22,000 PSI. A grizzly is 1,200 PSI & 2,125 for an alligator!
  • There are 289 species of squirrel worldwide and only 22% are found in the US.
  • Squirrels sweat from glands on their feet for thermoregulation and aid in gripping
  • Squirrels can run up to 20 MPH
  • Squirrels run inn a zig-zag pattern to thwart predators
  • Gray squirrels can jump vertically up to 5 feet & horizontally approx 10 feet
  • Squirrels can rotate their ankles 180 degrees to descend a tree headfirst
  • The smallest squirrel is the African Pygmy Squirrel at 2 3/4″ in length
  • The largest is the Laotian Flying squirrel at 3.5′ in length
  • A squirrels tail is a sunshade, blanket, parachute, communication device, & for balance
  • Squirrels can control the flow of blood to their tails to regulate heat
  • Squirrels practice deceptive caching of food indicating high intelligence
  • In the wild a squirrel lives an average of 1-3 years, PROPERLY cared for in captivity they average 9
  • Gray squirrels nest alone but a share a nest in the winter to conserve heat
  • The earliest squirrel fossil record is Protosciurus from North America about 37 Million years ago
  • Prairie Dogs are ground squirrels
  • There is no record of a human ever being infected with Rabies from a squirrel

 

 

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