# Baby Squirrel Wants to be Friends (video) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294 "2014-04-16T22:42:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/1 "2014-04-16T22:42:39Z")
My husband and I were working in the yard today when a little squirrel came out from under the bush I was trimming. He was too small to be on his own, but there was no sign of a mama squirrel nearby. I picked him up to move him out of harm’s way (my husband was cutting the grass), but he didn’t want to go. He kept trying to climb on us, so I went inside for a while to see whether he would leave. In the meantime, I looked up a little info on young squirrels. Ours seemed to be genuinely orphaned or abandoned, with little chance of making it on his own, especially with a cat on one side of the fence and a dog on the other. When I went back out, he was still there and came right to me, so I took him to a wildlife rehab. tl;dr [Baby squirrel video!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQd_pm6FPT0) ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/2 "2014-04-16T22:51:12Z")
That is so sweet! Thanks for the video. And thanks for helping the little fella out. You are a good person. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/3 "2014-04-17T00:07:24Z")
Hope he, or she, makes it. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Gnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_gnomer/32/3466_2.png) [@Miss\_Gnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Gnomer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/4 "2014-04-17T10:58:48Z")
That’s so makes me go squeeeee!! I want to go all “Veruca Salt” and say “but I want one”! Thank you for sharing! (I come from Australia where we don’t have squirrels so I’ve always thought they were cute versus pests) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/5 "2014-04-17T12:18:56Z")
They’re kinda cute before they turn into rats with furry tails. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/6 "2014-04-17T13:08:21Z")
The exact same thing happened to my girlfriend a week ago (with a pair of them). They looked to be the same age as yours. The rehab person said that at that age they are good on their own, so we brought it back. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/7 "2014-04-17T15:30:57Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > They’re kinda cute before they turn into rats with furry tails. They are still cute as rats with furry tails, but apparently terribly destructive if you keep them as pets. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/8 "2014-04-17T19:39:15Z")
We get a lot of baby squirrels of varying age brought to us, which we in turn send to a wildlife rehabber. When they are this big a normal wild squirrel will act scared and do the high-pitched squeal when handled which most of them do but every so often we get one that seems used to being handled and friendly. They don’t seem to have anything wrong with them, except maybe being hungry, so my personal theory is that they were hand-raised by someone who just turned them loose without acclimating them to being in the “wild” first. The people may have been well-meaning and did a good job raising them, however they do need time to adjust to life with a human and being a squirrel. The rehabber has a large outdoor cage where they can be with other squirrels and learn to be outside and do squirrelly things. I can understand the desire to raise these little guys, I’ve done it myself a long time ago, but it really is better to let a rehabber do this. They usually have several at a time and don’t handle them too much so the babies don’t get too attached to humans and they go through a period of acclimating them to the outdoors. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/9 "2014-04-17T21:28:29Z")
I wonder why squirrels have not been domesticated. It seems like they could be raised for meat and fur, or as pets. I wish I could have kept my little guy around and had a tame outdoor squirrel. I have always wanted to have little woodland creatures to be my friends and do my housework like Snow White. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/10 "2014-04-17T22:16:55Z")
> [@Silvorange](#): > > I have always wanted to have little woodland creatures to be my friends and do my housework like Snow White. No, no - they [create housework](http://www.graduateridingschool.com/fun_bp.html) ;). ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-squirrel-wants-to-be-friends-video/686294/11 "2014-04-17T22:28:20Z")
Hee – cure squirrel pal. We had a red squirrel hanging around our birdie area all winter. He built tunnels for himself in the snowbanks surrounding it, and would go in one tunnel and pop out another, like whack-a-mole. He got a little pot belly from eating feed all winter so he has been christened Mr. Tubbs. We hope that the foxes who have loped through won’t eat Mr. Tubbs.