This little guy has survived so much, I feel obligated to help him. Literally, here is this little guy's plight. Saturday my son and I cut down 2 trees on a 6 acre wooded lot we own in a subdivision a couple miles from us. To make things easier, we used my excavator and dump truck. Literally, both trees were dropped (hard) as trees that were in the way.
From there, I picked each tree up with the thumb on the excavator and de-limbed the trees until they were only about 8" in diameter. Then, while holding the trees at a comfortable 3' off the ground with the excavator, I cut them into 10' sections and dropped those sections into the back of my dump truck. Two reasonable large trees (about 20" diameter at base) pretty well filled the dump truck.
Man, using an excavator to hold the trees while they are cut and to load 10' sections into a dump truck sure is easier than wrestling them around on the ground trying to keep my chainsaw blade from hitting the ground or getting pinched while cutting them into 18" sections and hand loading them into a pickup!
Anyway, just as I was getting ready to lift the last log into the dump truck I blew a hydraulic hose off the thumb on the excavator. That dropped the largest section (the one I'm fairly certain he was in) about 7' onto the asphalt road. After a quick repair and then cleaning all the hydraulic fluid off the road, it was too late to unload and cut the wood. I just pulled the truck into my barn and left everything in there until yesterday.
Yesterday I raised the bed and dumped all the logs onto a concrete area in front of my barn and used the excavator to pick up and hold each log to be cut into 20" sections. All logs were cut into sections and, after a short break, out came the log splitter. By then I had my youngest daughter, Madison, and my wife helping me. They kept me supplied with 20" log sections close by and then stacked the split wood on pallets as I split it.
About half way through a hollowed log I heard a really loud screaming sound over the engine of the splitter and all the other noise. The noise was from this little squirrel peaking out from where the log had been split and, literally, screaming for his life! I shut the splitter off (worried he had already been mortally wounded) and walked around to see him. When I reached for him, he jumped into my hands and curled into a ball while he was still shaking like a leaf and making all sorts of noises.
So, now you can see that he is completely uninjured and thinks Madison is his mother. He holds a spoon and drinks water or Pedialyte from it. He also is eating some small crushed nuts etc. as she offers them to him. He will allow others to hold him but, if frightened or bored, dashes back to her to hide in her hair on her shoulders or the back of her neck.
So, after all he's been through, what do I do? This little fella has been extremely lucky, undoubtedly traumatized, yet is already friendly and playful. It appears, from looking on the internet, he is a common North American tree squirrel. However I don't know how old he is. Any guesses to his age? Anyone ever had a squirrel for a pet? Thoughts? Opinions?
From there, I picked each tree up with the thumb on the excavator and de-limbed the trees until they were only about 8" in diameter. Then, while holding the trees at a comfortable 3' off the ground with the excavator, I cut them into 10' sections and dropped those sections into the back of my dump truck. Two reasonable large trees (about 20" diameter at base) pretty well filled the dump truck.
Man, using an excavator to hold the trees while they are cut and to load 10' sections into a dump truck sure is easier than wrestling them around on the ground trying to keep my chainsaw blade from hitting the ground or getting pinched while cutting them into 18" sections and hand loading them into a pickup!
Anyway, just as I was getting ready to lift the last log into the dump truck I blew a hydraulic hose off the thumb on the excavator. That dropped the largest section (the one I'm fairly certain he was in) about 7' onto the asphalt road. After a quick repair and then cleaning all the hydraulic fluid off the road, it was too late to unload and cut the wood. I just pulled the truck into my barn and left everything in there until yesterday.
Yesterday I raised the bed and dumped all the logs onto a concrete area in front of my barn and used the excavator to pick up and hold each log to be cut into 20" sections. All logs were cut into sections and, after a short break, out came the log splitter. By then I had my youngest daughter, Madison, and my wife helping me. They kept me supplied with 20" log sections close by and then stacked the split wood on pallets as I split it.
About half way through a hollowed log I heard a really loud screaming sound over the engine of the splitter and all the other noise. The noise was from this little squirrel peaking out from where the log had been split and, literally, screaming for his life! I shut the splitter off (worried he had already been mortally wounded) and walked around to see him. When I reached for him, he jumped into my hands and curled into a ball while he was still shaking like a leaf and making all sorts of noises.
So, now you can see that he is completely uninjured and thinks Madison is his mother. He holds a spoon and drinks water or Pedialyte from it. He also is eating some small crushed nuts etc. as she offers them to him. He will allow others to hold him but, if frightened or bored, dashes back to her to hide in her hair on her shoulders or the back of her neck.
So, after all he's been through, what do I do? This little fella has been extremely lucky, undoubtedly traumatized, yet is already friendly and playful. It appears, from looking on the internet, he is a common North American tree squirrel. However I don't know how old he is. Any guesses to his age? Anyone ever had a squirrel for a pet? Thoughts? Opinions?