Little Guy

Did you know that January 21st is National Squirrel Day? Weird but true. I figured it was an appropriate day to tell the story of Little Guy.

One day in March of last year I was in the back yard running laps. As I ran around I noticed Emmy poking at the ground in a certain spot. Pausing for a moment I saw that she had found a baby squirrel that had fallen out of a tree. Running back near the house I got Meric's attention and told him about the squirrel. I asked him to take care of it.

Now when I said take care of it I meant to put it out of it's misery and bury it somewhere. Meric thought I meant to put it in a box and start looking up what a baby squirrel needed to survive. I was a little frustrated because while Meric had the week off and could be the one taking care of it I knew it was only a matter of time before I was the one responsible for it.

After doing a little research we estimated that the squirrel was maybe 5 weeks old. His ears were starting to stand up but his eyes were not yet opened. For the first week I referred to him as "daddy's squirrel" and Meric faithfully fed him homemade food from a syringe.

Mel loved having a squirrel and I have to admit as the week went on the little guy started to grow on me. In fact that is what we started calling him Little Guy.

After a week he opened his eyes. I started taking care of him and didn't mind it too much at all. I would feed him and wrap him up and carry him around with me. Little Guy started moving around and exploring more. We moved him from a box to a cage. Mel loved playing with Little Guy.

Eventually I weaned him off his homemade formula to solid food and taught him how to drink out of a rodent water bottle. Slowly we started taking him outside to explore the back yard. At first I would stay with him but then slowly started leaving him outside for an hour at a time.

One day I put him outside and then went shopping. The shopping trip took longer than normal and by the time we got home it was almost dark. I went outside to get Little Guy but he was nowhere to be found. Usually when I went out to get him he would see me and come down the tree but this time there was no squirrel. The next morning I went out and down the tree came my squirrel. I tried to bring him back in but he didn't seem to want to so I left him outside.

I rigged his water bottle and a cup for food in the tree so that I could still take care of him. Most times when we would go outside Little Guy would come down the tree and play with us and get treats. I fed him rodent block for the nutrition but his favorite snack was sunflower seeds.

I did bring him back in for a couple of days. During the spring/summer we get downpours. It pours rain then stops, rains then stops, rains then stops etc. In between the showers I took Mel into the back yard to splash in puddles. Little Guy came running up to us soaking wet, muddy and shivering. I took him in until the storms past. He was not ready to deal with that yet.

After Little Guy had been outside for about a month Meric, Mel and I left on a trip for a week. I made sure Little Guy's water bottle was full and spread around extra sunflower seeds but I really wasn't sure how he would do. We returned after a week and the first morning I went out, my squirrel came down the tree. I was amazed he had survived and was so happy to see him. He was happy to see us too. We could be outside for the next two days without Little Guy being on our heels. Meric was doing some work on our truck in the backyard and I had to sit out there and keep Little Guy company or he would get in Meric's way.

I kept the water bottle full of water and everyday put food in the cup in the tree. Little Guy came down whenever we went outside. He let me carry him and we had a little game we would play. He would stand on my arm and jump to the tree. I would stand further and further back and he would jump.

I am always amazed by nature. I taught Little Guy how to drink out of a water bottle and tried to help him practice jumping but there is only so much I could do. He started making his nests in the trees and acorns became one of his favorite treats. Sometimes he would eat them and other times he would run off and bury them. It was fun watching him dig a hole and then shove the acorn in it. Guess that is a natural instinct.

We got Little Guy in March and he was outside full time by May. He would come down for treats and to play. It was such an unique experience to go out and have a squirrel come running to you. He was very friendly especially if you had sunflower seed.

October was the last time I saw Little Guy. I would like to believe that he found himself a family and a new home. Probably not but that is what I would like to believe. I never thought I would miss a squirrel.