Baby Squirrel Update

So this totally doesn't fit into my Mofo Pantry Raid theme, but who cares? It's a BABY SQUIRREL!

As some of you may remember, we rescued an orphaned baby squirrel in our backyard a little over a month ago. Our pit bull Maynard was pawing at him, and the squirrel was screaming for its mama. But mama never came, so we took him in and raised him on puppy formula and lots of advice from a wildlife rehab friend. And we named him Herman.

His little eyes opened at five weeks, and now he looks like a real squirrel. He's gone from hairless to sporting this bushy-ass tail.

We assume he's about eight weeks old, and he's still on formula three times a day. But he also eats solid foods now. I've been using this online guide for feeding instructions, and at his age, he's allowed formula, Science Diet Puppy Chow, fruit, and some veggies. He think green beans are just okay. But Herman LOVES apples.

Up until last week, Herman was coming to work with me every day because he was on formula every four hours. He'd get restless in his cat carrier. See!

So I let him run around my desk. He loved to climb the cubicle wall and play tightrope between mine and Toby's cubes.

At home, Herman mostly lives in my bathroom, safe from the six cats and two dogs who share our home. I put a cat tree in there for climbing, and he loves to burrow in the toilet paper in the wicker trash can. I also put some cat toys in there. He likes those too.

When I'm getting ready for work in the morning, Herman uses me as his own personal jungle gym. I attempted to film him on my butt.

Last time I posted about Herman, a few commenters asked about the long-term plan. For now, that plan is release when the time is right. My wildlife rehab friend said they acclimate to outdoors very quickly, and when they're ready to go, they let you know (usually between 12 and 16 weeks). We've been taking Herman outside for supervised playtime. Right now, he'll sniff the grass and run right back up my leg, all the way up to my shoulder. He likes to perch.

But don't worry. I'm not planning to just dump him outside! We will acclimate slowly, and the plan is to let him come and go for as long as he pleases. I just think Herman would be happier living a nice squirrel life outside instead of being cooped up in a bathroom. And the rest of my house is way off-limits since it's filled with predators. If my cats knew he was here ... man, I don't want to think about that. They're evil little bastards.

But I'll keep y'all updated. I'm sure there will be more squirrel posts to come!