The state where the Squirrel Refuge is located has censored their website and ordered them to password any pages that show the public how to assist orphaned / injured wildlife. With their permission we have archived and posted their care information on this page with all credit to Michael and Sharon. Squirrel Forum is a card-carrying member of the Internet Defense League and will post whatever we want under the 1st Amendment
How to Tell if a Squirrel is an Orphan
The best outcome for all wildlife is to be raised in its natural environment by its mother in the company of siblings.
If you find a baby, please leave it alone if it appears alert, is warm to the touch and appears healthy. Of course, if the baby is in imminent danger (in the street, near a cat, exposed to extreme weather or injured) you will need to collect even a healthy baby. If you see other squirrels nearby or recently saw a squirrel carrying a baby in its mouth, the baby may have ventured out of the nest or dropped from its mother’s mouth while being relocated to an alternate nest site. A mother squirrel will usually attempt to take her young back if she perceives an opportunity to safely do so. If the weather is mild, you can observe the baby from a distance and only retrieve it if the mother doesn’t collect it after a few hours.
If the nest was recently disturbed, damaged or destroyed by weather, home repairs, tree trimming or removal, please allow the mother several hours of undisturbed time to return and move the babies. Some species of squirrels, such as the common urban eastern gray squirrel, maintain multiple nest sites and will relocate the babies if a site exists and she can safely do so. Please contact us for advice before intervening if you are unsure if a nest has been abandoned. Of course, if you know the mother is dead or permanently removed, please collect the babies and contact a wildlife rehabilitator immediately.
When to Help
Intervention is recommended when the baby can be safely retrieved and:
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The mother is dead or permanently removed
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The baby in injured, cold, or appears sickly or unkempt
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The baby is retrieved by a cat or other pet (even if no bite marks are evident)
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A juvenile squirrel is following people or climbing up a leg
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After warming the baby and placing it back where you found it, the mother has not retrieved it after a few hours of undisturbed and unseen observation
What to Look For
An infant with its eyes-closed (five week and under) who has lost its mother will likely be thirsty, hungry and suffering from exposure. If its mother has been gone more than 24 hours, the baby may have blindly wriggled out of the nest in search of her warmth and nourishment.
Most squirrels nest in hollows or drays (a big ball of leaves) located high in trees, so the initial fall may be from heights of 30 feet or greater. If the baby survives the fall, it may have sustained serious injuries. By the time the baby is found, it can be cold, injured, severely dehydrated, starving, stained in urine, and covered in filth, insects and/or larva.
Keep in mind, where one baby is found, others are likely nearby so check frequently over the next few hours and days for more orphans. Squirrel litters range between two to eight young depending on the species.
Older orphaned babies with eyes-opened and fully furred (between 5 and 10 weeks of age) will often approach, follow, or even attempt to climb passer-bys when in distress. A healthy eyes-open baby who has been missing its mother for only hours rather than days will generally be more wary of people because it’s not yet desperate enough to approach a potential predator.
If a baby is wandering about trying to follow people, it’s most likely doing so not to be cute or social, but because needs help! Baby squirrels rely on their mothers for a long time, weaning gradually from her between 8 and 12 weeks of age. Fall born babies may spend the entire winter in the company of the mother and siblings.
If the baby is on its own prior to weaning, even though it is capable of moving about, it is still totally dependent on the care of its mother.
Unless the mother and siblings are observed nearby, a baby demonstrating this behavior is likely in need of help. Please collect it and contact a wildlife rehabilitator.
If You’re Still Not Sure…
If the weather is cold, and you suspect the baby may have been exposed to the elements for more than a few minutes, gently touch the baby to check if it feels cool to the touch. The mother won’t care if the baby smells of your scent but she wont retrieve it if its cold. For cold babies, alway warm the baby before placing it back where you found it by wrapping it loosely in a soft cloth and placing it next to a warm bottle wrapped in a towel. Conversely, if it’s an extremely hot day and the baby is in direct sunlight, provide some shade for the baby and place a cold bottle wrapped in a towel next to the baby to keep it cool. If the weather is not too cold or hot, and the baby is in a safe location, then leave the baby where it is.
Once you make sure the baby is not in any immediate danger, retreat a safe distance where you can observe without being seen by its mother. If the mother does not retrieve the baby after a couple of hours, then assume the baby has been orphaned and gently collect it.
For the safety of the mother, baby and pets, please move all pets indoors until the baby has been retrieved.
If the nest has been raided by predators, it is unlikely that a reunion with its mother will be possible – although you should try anyway. Predators are often attracted to unguarded nests of babies only when the mother has already gone missing. Mother squirrels are instinctually protective of their babies and when you find one that has not been recently cared for and protected, it usually means trouble for baby and its family.
Stabilizing & Transporting Wildlife
The instructions on this page are targeted towards transporting squirrels; however, they are appropriate for many other species of small mammals.
If you have any concerns about how to safely transport a particular species of wildlife or are concerned about disease transmission, please discuss it with the rehabilitator before approaching the animal.
Squirrels, rabbits and opossums are not rabies vector species and are considered to be relatively low risk when handled properly. To learn how to do this, please read the warnings and steps below very carefully before attempting any care.
Warning!
Always take extreme care to protect yourself, your family and pets. Handling wildlife, particularly large carnivores or rabies vector species, can result in severe injury or death! Rabies vector species include bats, raccoons, fox, skunks and groundhogs. Bats are currently the only known reservoir of rabies in Washington State. It is estimated that no more than 1% of bats in nature are infected with rabies. Of the bats found on the ground 5 to 10% tested positive; therefore, it is recommended that you take extreme care if you choose to handle a bat on the ground.
Preparing an Orphan for Transport
1. Other than to treat life threatening injuries and provide supportive care, do not handle orphaned or injured wildlife.
2. Warm the baby and keep the baby warm. If the baby is cool to the touch. Carefully warm it before doing anything else!
3. Provide older babies a comfortable place to hide. Loosely wrap the baby in an old T-shirt or other soft fabric and place in a box in a quiet, dark, and warm location away from noise or other household activities.
4. Do not feed solid food or offer any milk or juice. You may offer a small amount of water or hydration fluid (such as unflavored Pedialyte) with a dropper or syringe if the baby is clearly dehydrated.
5. For young babies (eyes closed), stimulate the baby to urinate and defecate as they cannot do it without assistance.
Capturing Injured Juvenile/Adult Wildlife
Adult squirrels can be very tricky to handle. Use a heavy towel or blanket to loosely cover the animal. Handle wildlife with extreme care at your own risk! Squirrels have very sharp incisors and strong jaw muscles. Adult squirrels can even bite through heavy leather gloves!
The bite of an angry squirrel is roughly equivalent to having an ice pick stabbed into your hand (usually repeatedly) until either the squirrel gets tired or you let go. Even then, it is likely you will need to gently pry the squirrel’s mouth open by placing firm pressure on both sides of the squirrel’s mouth to open the jaw. You must move quickly secure the squirrel in a towel or let it go by tossing it (yes, gently!) away from you before it latches on again.
Capture Technique
A squirrel has two defenses, the teeth and the claws. When these are secured, the squirrel cannot inflict damage. Severely injured squirrels are typically docile, but not always – always use good judgement.
1. Drape a sturdy towel over the squirrel, reach down and feel for the head and shoulders. Through the towel, place your hand on each side of the head with you palm on the shoulders. Gently pick up the towel with the squirrel inside and wrap the towel around the squirrel into a ‘squirrel burrito’. The towel can remain draped over the head but make sure the squirrel can breath. Place burrito in box and secure top. Make sure air can get in the box.
2. Place a towel in the bottom of a box and use a broom or other tool to very gently ‘sweep’ the squirrel into the box and secure the lid. Make sure air can get in the box.
Only attempt to capture the animal if:
1. It can be done safely for the handler
2. It can be done safely for the animal
3. The handler has the tools necessary to restrain and hold the animal
4. The handler can provide constant observation and attention during and following the procedure.
Transporting the Animal
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Do not handle any wild animal if doing so risks your safety or the safety of others. If you are injured, you cannot help the animal. When in doubt, do not attempt to capture and wait for assistance from animal control or a wildlife rehabilitator.
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Use a towel to cover the animal’s head to calm it down and reduce shock.
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Do not handle or pet the wild animal, this just creates more stress and may lead to deeper shock. Wild animals are not soothed the same way our domestic pets are by our touch or presence. Consider how you would feel being petted by a grizzly bear that chased your down and proceeded to pat your head! What looks like docility is more likely pure terror.
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Keep a safe distance from the animal, and do what you can to protect it from harassment by pets and people (particularly curious children).
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Wear gloves when handling all adults and eyes opened babies. Even though an adult can bite through them, they will provide some level of protection if loose enough that the squirrel is able to bite on an empty tip to keep him busy while he is transported to a cage or animal carrier. These will also protect from scratches.
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Do not offer the animal food. You may offer water if it will be a while before you can transport the animal to a rehabilitator.
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Prepare a well-ventilated, covered box of appropriate size by lining it with something absorbent, like newspaper or clean cloths (without holes or ragged or fringed edges). If you have no other alternative, wrap the animal in a towel or sweatshirt for immediate transport to a wildlife rehabilitation resource. Note: Adult squirrels (possums, raccoons, bears…) will rapidly chew out of a cardboard box. This is particularly inconvenient when you are driving 60 MPH.
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While waiting to transport the animal, place the box in a safe, quiet, dark place that is free from noise, kids, pets and human traffic. Place a heating pad, set on the lowest temperature, underneath half of the box, allowing room to move to a cooler or warmer spot as needed. If the driving distance is far, ensure the animal remains warm and comfortable during transport. Do not play the radio or conduct loud conversations.
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Other than to treat life threatening injuries, do not attempt to treat the animal’s injuries. The best treatment possible is to leave the animal as is until it can be transported to a wildlife rehabilitation facility or veterinarian. Additional handling causes stress and improper treatment can cause further injury. One exception is if the animal is bleeding excessively. If this is the case, simply apply gentle pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. Do not apply a tourniquet of any kind. Animals with amputated limbs are rarely releasable.
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Wash your hands immediately after handling wildlife. Always practice good sanitation. Do not eat, smoke or drink while handling wildlife. Even though baby animals are adorable in every way, resist the temptation to kiss them. Especially baby raccoons! (Actually, we don’t recommend kissing adult raccoons either!)
Do not attempt to rehabilitate the wild animal on your own. Each animal has unique care needs that are highly specific to its species.
Call a licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility to arrange to drop off the animal.
How to Warm a Baby Squirrel
Warm the baby immediately if it feels cool to the touch. If the baby is cold it must be treated for hypothermia, a condition where the animal’s core temperature falls below normal. This can happen quickly when an injured and/or naked baby is exposed to cold, wet or windy weather.
The normal body temperature for a gray squirrel is between 99° and 101° Fahrenheit (F) or 37.4° to 38.5° Celsius, and slightly higher for a fox squirrel. It is vital that the baby be warmed to at least 99° F before attempting to reunite it with its mother or administer any fluids.
Administering fluids or food to a cold baby, or providing inappropriate nutrition such as cows milk, juice, or human infant formula will result in death since a colder than normal core temperature slows or stops the digestive system resulting in the fluid rotting in the gut.
Inappropriate foods cannot digest properly to provide needed nutrition. Rehabilitators often lose these babies because of the actions of well meaning people as soon as we warm them up.
Precautions
The most important point to remember is that you must take care to ensure the baby is not allowed to become overheated or burned – always use common sense and monitor the heat source.
In all cases were a heat source is placed in the box with the baby, there must be ample room for the baby to move away from the heat to a cooler spot.
It very simple: Don’t cook, squish, suffocate, or drown the baby!
Immediate (Temporary) Warming Methods
Some methods of heating are better than others, but do what you can with what you have readily available. The most effective methods surround the baby with gentle warmth, not just on one side.
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Fan the baby with heat from a car heater, hair dryer or closely monitored heat lamp taking care not to overheat or burn the baby.
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Wrap a microwavable heating pack in a towel and place it in the box with the baby or part way under the nest.
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Fill a plastic bottle with hot water. Wrap it with a cloth and place it inside of the box with the baby. Ensure the bottle cannot roll on or come in direct contact with the baby unless wrapped.
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Fill a sock 2/3 full of rice and microwave on high for 2 to 2 ½ minutes. Carefully wrap the rice in a towel and place it in the box near the baby. Take Care – the rice sock gets really hot! Make sure the baby can move away from the heat.
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While holding the baby at all times, immerse the baby in a bath of warm (not hot!) water, ensuring its head is above the water at all times. The baby must be completely dry afterwards.
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In a pinch, warm the baby with your own body temperature by cupping it in warm hands or against your body – make sure it can breathe! Warning, only use this method with babies that have no fur or that you know do not have fleas, mites or other ectoparasites. These are typically easy to see by closely looking at the baby. Reference the link to debugging at the bottom of this page.
Keeping a Baby Warm
Whether the baby squirrel is kept inside a box or a cage, a constant heat source must be provided until the squirrel is fully furred and has reached at least 5 weeks of age (longer is better).
Once a cold baby squirrel is warmed, keep it warm to prevent hypothermia and death. Ideally, a furless baby squirrel will be kept in an environment that’s at a constant temperature of 100° F. A furred baby between 4 to 10 weeks will still be sensitive to cold; however, will do fine in temperatures between 96° to 98° degrees F.
If you have more than one baby, they will typically be able to maintain their body temperature by snuggling together in warm bedding, like fleece or cotton.
For more information on providing a suitable warm environment for the squirrel, follow the link to construct a makeshift incubator.
A warning about bugs!
Squirrels are relatively disease free animals and aren’t considered to be rabies vector species (see Zoonotic Diseases for more information); however, the insects that may live on and around them in nature can carry a variety of viral and bacterial agents that are best avoided! For this reason, one of the first things most rehabilitators do once a baby is warm and stabilized is to ensure all ectoparasites are removed! Please reference the Debugging Squirrels link for more information on how to safely accomplish this task!
Dispose of the nest!
You do not need to keep the squirrel nest; in fact, I recommend you immediately toss it outside in the trash UNLESS you plan to use it in your attempt to reunite the babies with its mom or place the nest back up in the tree. It may contain a variety of vermin that you are not typically interested in rehabilitating and you certainly don’t want in your home.
How to Make a
Baby Squirrel Go Potty
When you find an orphan, it almost always needs to eliminate (go potty or poop). In the wild, baby squirrels are stimulated to both urinate and defecate by their mother gently licking the genital area until the baby relieves itself. This also effectively keeps the baby’s bottom clean and healthy.
Since it is a rare individual who is willing to perform this task in the same fashion as the mom, you may use the method described here to accomplish the same outcome.
What is important to note is that you must simulate the baby to urinate and defecate every time you feed the baby. The baby cannot do it on its own until it is several weeks old (generally around the time it is fully furred at 5 to 6 weeks).
Even if you think the baby is urinating on its own because you see staining on its bedding does not mean it doesn’t need help. Failure to stimulate the baby regularly to empty its bladder and bowels will result in a painful death.
How to Stimulate the Baby to Eliminate
You will need cotton balls, squares or soft tissue and moderately warm (not hot) water. Taking a soft cotton ball or tissue, gently but rapidly stroke the genital area in a circular motion (the way you would expect a mother squirrel would do it).
The baby should produce urine within a few seconds but sometimes it takes a bit longer so be persistent. Soon you should see a yellow staining on the material or feel dampness. Keep it up until the baby stops urinating. Baby squirrels are stimulated to defecate the same way. Normally, the babies feces (poop) is very small, oblong, mild smelling and firm. If the feces looks and smells about the same as the food that went in the front end of baby, then the baby is not digesting the formula. If this occurs or at any time the infant develops diarrhea or bloating, cut back on the concentration of formula (dilute with water) until the situation clears up.
Reference the Recommended Reading links for more information on normal and abnormal feces.
Adding a small amount of acidophilus powder (found in capsules or crushed tables available at most stores that supply vitamins) into the fluid helps prevent and resolve loose stools.
If diarrhea, bloating, constipation or problems getting the baby to urinate persist for more than 24 hours, the baby must receive immediate medical attention from a veterinarian with experience in wildlife rehabilitation.
Try introducing acidophilus at each feeding. It really works to prevent and resolve pale, loose, foul smelling and runny stools.
Stimulate the baby for at least two minutes after each feeding. Clean up the bottom with a scent free baby wipe or warm water on a clean cotton ball or tissue.
It is vital that the baby be kept clean, so frequently clean its bottom and be sure to clean out bedding when soiled.
How to Care for a Baby Squirrel
Learn everything you need to know about caring for the delicate needs of a baby squirrel. Even if you intend to care for the orphan on your own, be sure to reach out to licensed rehabilitator like the Squirrel Refuge for help.
The best outcome for any baby squirrel is to be raised by its mother, and barring that, to be reared in the company of other squirrels in a setting that best prepares it for a successful life in the wild. Squirrels rarely make good pets and in many jurisdictions it is illegal. A single squirrel reared by humans is at a huge disadvantage for learning important social and survival skills.
Before you proceed, ensure that you have followed the steps described in ‘I found a baby’ to address the orphan’s urgent needs. You must never feed a cold baby and it must be fully hydrated before providing a formula appropriate for squirrels. If you aren’t sure what species of squirrel you have, the link to the right can provide important clues to its identification.