If you asked me 4 months ago if I thought I'd ever have any wildlife "as a pet", much less a squirrel and prairie dog, the answer would've probably been no. But in September my dog brought home a baby squirrel (around 6 weeks old at the time) and my whole world changed! I spent all night researching and bought special wildlife baby-formula and "squirrel blocks" and a large bird cage online for the poor little thing. Now 8 weeks later she's grown to be a happy healthy (HIGHLY energetic) part of the family. It's turned into a new passion of mine, and I'd love to rehabilitate more squirrels in the future.
Her name is Cherry. This is her shortly after we found her, she is ~6 weeks old here.
And this is her at about 12 weeks old (Attacking my toe!
)
Bonus picture of her taking a nap in my arms at 13-14 weeks. It's so rare for her to sit still for more than 2 seconds so I'm really glad I got a picture of it.
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Then, last week, I found an ad of Craigslist for a prairie dog needing a new home (the boy was starting school and the mom was going back to work so they wouldn't have time for him anymore) and I posted on the squirrel boards I joined after rescuing Cherry, to see if anyone could help him. (Since I'm pretty low on funds and space) But after they told me how wonderful PDs are as pets and how sad he looked in his barren cage on Craigslist I caved
, ran out and bought a new cage for Cherry, gave Cherry's old cage to the Prairie dog, and now I have TWO exotic rodents living with me. (I'm unable to work due to my disabilities, which gives me all the time in the WORLD to spend at home with my critters. So him and cherry and my cats and dogs get lots of love and attention)
His name is Squeekers (His original owners named him)
As you can see he's pretty overweight from the poor diet they had him on for the last year (puppy food
) but cute as all hell and I love him to pieces already.
Just thought I would share my adventures in small mammal wildlife rescue over the past few months. Wondering if anyone else has done anything similar?
Her name is Cherry. This is her shortly after we found her, she is ~6 weeks old here.
And this is her at about 12 weeks old (Attacking my toe!
)Bonus picture of her taking a nap in my arms at 13-14 weeks. It's so rare for her to sit still for more than 2 seconds so I'm really glad I got a picture of it.
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Then, last week, I found an ad of Craigslist for a prairie dog needing a new home (the boy was starting school and the mom was going back to work so they wouldn't have time for him anymore) and I posted on the squirrel boards I joined after rescuing Cherry, to see if anyone could help him. (Since I'm pretty low on funds and space) But after they told me how wonderful PDs are as pets and how sad he looked in his barren cage on Craigslist I caved
, ran out and bought a new cage for Cherry, gave Cherry's old cage to the Prairie dog, and now I have TWO exotic rodents living with me. (I'm unable to work due to my disabilities, which gives me all the time in the WORLD to spend at home with my critters. So him and cherry and my cats and dogs get lots of love and attention)His name is Squeekers (His original owners named him)
As you can see he's pretty overweight from the poor diet they had him on for the last year (puppy food
) but cute as all hell and I love him to pieces already.
Just thought I would share my adventures in small mammal wildlife rescue over the past few months. Wondering if anyone else has done anything similar?
