This afternoon my husband called me as he was leaving for work. He noticed something moving in the planter across the sidewalk owned by the lady in the condo opposite ours. The one where she keeps her yellow and red plastic flowers. :rolleyes: He said it looked like a chipmunk. After a round of very obvious Alvin jokes we determined that chipmunks aren’t really native to Florida and it was probably a baby squirrel.
Fast forward to my arrival home a few moments ago. As I come up the walk I see something brown and furry literally fall out of the same planter. Yup, it’s a baby squirrel alright. Damn he’s a cute little bugger. I speak to him “Hey, baby squirrel, whatdya doin?” or something like that. He starts coming toward me. I’m sure he’ll stop before he gets too close but then…hey…back off…go away little squirrel I need to get into my house…
I’m carrying a laptop bag, my purse, another satchel of music books and two bags of groceries. I’m trying to shoo him away by rattleing my car keys (worked with my cats) but no, the little beast wants to crawl up my leg or something.
Ok, now I’ve got a problem, how do I get into the house (where the two cats who would love to torture a baby squirrel) live? I’m afraid if I open the door he’ll run inside.
I block him with my laptop case and quickly get in the door. Whew! That was close!
But now he’s sitting on my doorstep squeaking (I had no idea what kind of sound a squirrel makes). I can see him out my bedroom window. Clawing at the door trying to get in and then just sitting there. Poor little guy, I feel sorry for him.
Why isn’t he afraid of me? He doesn’t look hurt but he’s also not moving very fast. But then, he’s pretty small, so maybe he hasn’t learned how to scamper like the big squirrels.
I’m vaguely tempted to feed him but also know that’s a really bad idea. Maybe I should just leave him to his own devices. Or should I call critter control and have them come and get him?
Do you see a mommy squirrel hanging around? If he’s orphaned, and you want to take him on, try this site. My mom and my aunt raised an orphaned squirrel as kids, and he would come back to visit for years after they let him back out in the wild.
Oh, please, pictures! I used to work at a church where the pastor had taught all the local squirrels to climb up to her knee for walnuts. Their little hands are so tiny and people-like.
I wonder if that human-loving behavior might indicate that it is somebody’s pet that got lost. If it’s tamed, it might be unable to live on its own long.
Just after I posted the original thread I looked out the window and didn’t see him. My husband came home from work at about 8:30 and I told him the whole story and we went outside but couldn’t see any sign of him. Maybe he’s hiding.
I went for my walk this morning and didn’t encounter the little guy again coming or going. It does look as though he’s got himself a hiding place both in my neighbor’s planter under the plastic flowers and in a little nook under the siding. Both of these places are just outside her front door so I’m somewhat reluctant to go poking around but she leaves for work before me and once it’s fully light out I may go take a look.
I don’t know how my neighbor would react to the squirrel. She recently tore up all of her shrubs for fear of snakes and seems to prefer plastic flowers to real ones so I’m thinking she’s not exactly a nature lover.
Thanks for that informative site elfkin I had always thought that you couldn’t tame a squirrel, guess I was wrong. I don’t imagine that we’d try to adopt him with two cats but if he comes out again we’ll call the vet and see what we should do.
We had a squirrel fall in our back yard a few months ago. I put it in a cardboard box with a heating pad and a pajama top to keep it warm, then jammed it up in the fork of a tree and watched it for a few hours. Mama Squirrel did come for her baby, thank heavens. I’d read on the internet that the mothers won’t take them back once they’ve gotten cold. It’s okay and fun to touch them, though!
