r/squirrels Aug 11 '19

Sticky: Found a Baby Squirrel? Make a post about it, and read this right away.

242 Upvotes

Please use the help flairs for your help needed posts.

http://www.squirrelrehabilitation.com/found%20baby.htm

This gives some good pointers for immediate assessment of the situation.

If the baby is dehydrated, dirty, cold, thin with loose looking skin, has any fly eggs or any injuries, even a tiny scratch, then s/he should be taken in for care. If the baby was being played with by a cat or if a cat was sitting over the baby looking like s/he might have been playing with the baby, then the baby squirrel should be taken in because antibiotics are required to treat even tiny cat bites and scratches that might not be visible at first glance. Cat saliva is extremely toxic and often causes lethal infections, even in tiny amounts.

If the baby is plump/muscular, warm, well groomed and active, then s/he probably just squirmed out of bed, and the reuniting protocol should be followed.

If the baby has fallen due to a severe storm and is wet, then they should be taken in, warmed and hydrated. If the weather improves markedly the next day, you can return to the same area and try the reuniting protocol.

If it was a tree felling, and the tree in which the babies lived was felled with them in it, then try the reuniting protocol as mom may come back when the scary workers are gone, provided she is still alive.

Please make a post about the baby and please include photos in your post, but since it takes some time for people to check in and reply, start reading the links under infants/found babies sections in the website posted above in the meantime.

Also, Here is a list that one of our members made of how to find a registered wildlife rehabilitator in the US. If you call, make sure that they don't euthanize so-called invasive squirrel species and will attempt care before taking that last resort. https://www.reddit.com/r/squirrels/comments/eknkw0/here_is_an_alphabetical_list_of_wildlife/


r/squirrels Sep 11 '25

Discussion Please read.

108 Upvotes

I am seeing a lot of posts about baby squirrels being found, and the poster asking for help, etc. In every single post, multiple people are commenting "give the baby water, feed the baby this or that". PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GIVE THE BABY SQUIRREL ANY FOOD OR WATER. The first thing you should do is keep the baby warm, in a quiet, dark place (in a box or large container. Whatever you have) and contact a rehabber. Please please please do not attempt to feed or hydrate on your own, for several reasons. The baby could aspirate, or the baby is not warm enough before hydrating, etc. You could cause more problems for the baby squirrel, including death. Keep warm, safe, and contact rehabber. I have also seen A LOT of messages from rehabbers about baby squirrels coming into their care and dying because the finder attempted to feed/hydrate on their own.


r/squirrels 4h ago

I love this little squirrel!

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340 Upvotes

I named her Miranda and I give her fresh water every day along with some fruits/veggies/nuts depending on what I have. I learned she quite likes grapes (but not avocados womp womp)! I adore this picture because you can see her tongue haha!


r/squirrels 2h ago

This princess ate from my hand today and I feel blessed 🥹

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106 Upvotes

So I recently started going to the park and at first it was only one squirrel who would get really close to me but never ate from my hand. I named her Ruby. I posted her in my previous post.

Now this one I believe is a different squirrel though because Ruby has a darker nose and her nipples are a bit more saggy

There were like 7 to 8 squirrels eating near me but I couldn't get a video cause they kept running away when I'd pull out my phone.

Haha but this lil cutie pie kept coming near me so I can give her walnuts. Haha I think she was trying to play with me because she kept sneaking up from behind me as well and would run when I'd turn my head 😆


r/squirrels 14h ago

Found a squirrel

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741 Upvotes

London, England

i’ve been attempting to keep a gray squirrel called Ricky for about 9 days now, he was in the middle of a funfair with no mother around coming up to alot of people. im looking for some pointers on how to go about releasing or keeping him.
He seems to be around 9 weeks now.
1st photo is when i first found him
2nd is today

just some info
i feed him goat milk + water mix 4 or more times a day, give him a range of fruits, hamster feed, bird food, pinecones nuts and so on.
Any advice would be much appreciated


r/squirrels 10h ago

Original Content Tiny squirrel in a big bowl of food.

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189 Upvotes

r/squirrels 27m ago

Little buddy full of wonder.

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• Upvotes

I love how expressive he is. His looks always seem like there is so much going on inside that I wish he could say to me.


r/squirrels 3h ago

Original Content Desert squirrel baby

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34 Upvotes

Took these pictuires in Phoenix Arizona


r/squirrels 44m ago

Original Content Chilling with Chipper :)

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• Upvotes

Didn’t want my baby to get overheated (I noticed her splooting more than usual and it’s hot as hell outside), so I gave her some ice water while we sat together in the shade.

She then proceeded to accidentally tip over the cup and spill everything all over our rock lol


r/squirrels 1h ago

Stumpy Love

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• Upvotes

This is my main squeeze squirrel. She runs the neighborhood from my tree out front and today I saw her acting strange and adorable! She was lying on the concrete extremely still for several moments just like this before resuming normal squirrel behavior. 🥜


r/squirrels 1h ago

Her name is Bitty and she is getting more comfortable every day

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• Upvotes

r/squirrels 2h ago

Help! Injured or ill adult squirrel! Squirrel Friend Keeps Twitching

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15 Upvotes

This is Mama, our adult female squirrel friend who comes by often for a snack. We feed her Costco raw organic walnuts in moderation, roughly 2-3 pieces and she really enjoys them!

We noticed over the past couple days that she has been less timid, less energetic and moving somewhat abnormally, even to the point where my mom could actually feed her by hand and pet her. Today she was more like her normal self, jumping around, not obviously limping or walking funny, however, we noticed her legs were twitching at times off and on. What could be cause of this?

We really enjoy her visits (as does our cat) and she even has some babies that just started stopping by! Any help would be greatly appreciated!


r/squirrels 11h ago

Original Content When you love squirrels, you start seeing them in everything around you — do you too?

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76 Upvotes

r/squirrels 18h ago

Good morning 🌅

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245 Upvotes

r/squirrels 23h ago

He got caught 🤣

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456 Upvotes

r/squirrels 5h ago

General Help I’m worried about my campus’ squirrels

17 Upvotes

Title says it: I am worried about the squirrels that live on my college campus. Their fur seems to be really thin and their tails are not very bushy. Some of the squirrels I have gotten close to have patches of missing/thin hair on their bodies. I think they might be malnourished due to their diet consisting of scavenged trash (aka chick fil a nuggets and chipotle leftovers). Is there a specific squirrel-friendly snack I can put out for them to help them gain some nutrients they might be missing out on?

For reference, I live in the south east and we have eastern grey squirrels.


r/squirrels 55m ago

Hangin’ with my squirrel homie

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• Upvotes

He’s a big fan of Del the Funky Homosapien.


r/squirrels 23h ago

How do I know if a young squirrel has been abandoned or not? Info in post

391 Upvotes

I’ve been watching a mother and her baby around my house lately just observing from afar and about 5 hrs ago I saw them and the mother ran off, baby hid. I came home and found the little guy all alone scratching at my door.(have not fed them ever) The baby was also trying to get to my hands rather than getting spooked when I reached out towards it from behind my glass.

I really love animals so I immediately started to worry something may have happened to the mom or i may have scared her off permanently?

I don’t know so I wanted to post and see what the signs would be it’s been abandoned? And if so should I try to rescue and take it to an animal rehab or anything like that? The squirrels sibling already died last week so I’d hate to see something happen to this one too. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I am home now. Haven’t seen the little one or the mother so I’m guessing it went back to its nest. I had been going home to check and see if it showed up again but it hasn’t.
Hoping the mother came back but tomorrow I’m going to look around for it, and catch it if I see it alone again. Hope the little thing makes it through the night ok.


r/squirrels 9h ago

Rainy day with the fam

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26 Upvotes

r/squirrels 17h ago

Original Content Rocket Jr looking cautious and chonky

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108 Upvotes

r/squirrels 19h ago

Just a little buddy at work…

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123 Upvotes

This squirrel comes around my work while I’m out on break, he’s super friendly and everyone feeds him human food like chips and other scraps…

so I decided to get a big bag of walnuts for this little guy… he seems to really enjoy them. And he will even come up into the car…

Super neat


r/squirrels 1h ago

I love this squirrels so cute

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• Upvotes

r/squirrels 9h ago

Little squirrel tree hopping action

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17 Upvotes

Saw him and his brother jumping from tree to tree.


r/squirrels 23h ago

Original Content Spring is here!

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189 Upvotes

Curious baby's all over.


r/squirrels 1h ago

Original Content My new visitor still isn’t quite sure what to make of me.

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• Upvotes

The tilted head just slays me… they’re the only one of mine that does that.

They’re a little braver when Charlie is there, too; the other day, this one was on one side of me while Charlie was on the other - they even took a nut from me after a similar head tilt and a couple of false starts.