The squirrels are growing fast!

The squirrels are in one big group of 12 now and in a bigger cage. They have all kinds of hammocks and boxes in their cage but they all have to sleep in one! The hammock on the left....

 ....I can't believe all 12 fit in there....along with all the shredded newspaper they drag up in there!

 Then they hear mom coming with food! Yayyyyyy...and everyone is up and about.

 Cute little Spot is usually the first to come running.

 Walnut isn't far behind.

 After their formula everyone gets a treat....yummy nuts to exercise their growing teeth on! Some are not patient enough to wait for their own and try to steal someone elses.

 Most have learned to grab it and run to a private corner to avoid illegal seizures, LOL!

 Hey....where's mine!

 Once everyone has a nut, they settle in somewhere to hide and eat the treasured treats.

They all range from 150 to 300 grams now and are growing like weeds. Even little Acorn has finally overcome the issues he had and is gaining ground on the rest. Now it's just a matter of time before they are weaned and moving to a large outdoor release pen.

The first release - Part 1

Wow! Been a crazy couple of weeks! A lot has happened. 12 baby squirrels are doing great and growing like weeds. 16 squirrels are out in the release pens awaiting their freedom. The chipmunk had a visit to Tufts to evaluate it's teeth after suffering severe trauma about 3 weeks ago. (Shame on me, I still haven't gotten pics of the chippy on here!) He's probably going to overwinter while I give it some time to see if the teeth are going to grow in normally so he can be released.

And........some of the gang has been released! (sniff, sniff).

It was a first for us. No release pen! Sort of a "soft" hard release. The location is awesome, an island in the middle of a swamp full of privacy. It requires a boat to get out there! So a first visit over there included bringing den boxes to put in the trees and setting up feeding buckets for them . The next trip was the big move. This past Wednesday, myself, Laurie, Lisa and a friend Bella spent the day bringing the releases over there.

The mode of transportation.....a canoe and a row boat. Laurie and Bella headed out with the first load of crates. Midway across there was an escape! Soldier and Spit managed to pull the door off their crate and there was just no fixing it. Luckily they were actually quite calm about it. Both calmly spent the rest of the trip sitting in a lap, enjoying the ride and apparently understanding jumping off the boat would not be a good idea. Whew! Once the boat landed they were the first to hit the ground running as they explored their new home.

Laurie heads back after dropping off Bella and the first load while Lisa heads out with another group.

Lisa heads in for a second load.

Laurie heads in to pick up me and the last of the babies. I had stayed behind to keep an eye on the gang while the rest were being shuttled across.

The second wave and I patiently await our turn in the boats.

Most of the gang were pretty calm.....

....hanging out trying to get my attention....

.....or just plain old chilling.

A couple were not so thrilled about the whole ordeal! LOL

But once we all made it to the island, everyone was thrilled to be out and exploring! Hopefully those pictures will be part 2. Due to the logistics of ferrying everything over there, and the fear of dropping things in the water, the camera did not take the trip with us. So I got these pics with my cell phone and Lisa got some much better ones with hers! I just have to wait to get those pics from her phone to my computer to post them.

Once all the lugging and lifting and transporting was over, we spent a fun afternoon on the island with the gang. It was a riot watching them explore. At one point Laurie, Lisa and Bella headed out to get some chow for us while I opted to stay behind and enjoy my last day with the gang. Most were running around like crazy, but Sis maybe knew things were changing? She opted to stick close and enjoy one last cuddle with mom.

Finally it was time to depart, and the worst part was rowing away as a few of the gang came to the waters edge to watch....looking like they were almost going to try to swim after us. And OK, I'll admit, that's about when I started balling my eyes out!

And so..... Soldier, Trooper, Doc, Sis, Sammy, Rocco, Brim, Spit and the 4 boat babies (along with 8 of Laurie's babies) have begun their new lives as free raccoons.

If the weather clears up, Laurie and I are hoping to head over there this afternoon to check on them so I'll update you on them soon I hope!

The Squirrels

The three youngest squirrels, Acorn, Almond and Walnut, are doing well. I was a little on the fence with Acorn for a bit. He was still having terrible gut issues and loosing weight as opposed to gaining and just down right sickly, but I think he's finally turned a corner. Last weigh-in he actually gained weight! I'm still keeping a close eye on him, but the weight gain was huge!

The original six maniacs are great! Eating like pigs and playing around like crazy now.
Three of the little ones, Atty, Stripe and Whistler, stop wrestling long enough to pose for a picture.

This is Foxer (one of the 2 big girls) with Spot, the smallest of the little ones.

They are having a blast climbing around and playing.

Little Spot, my sweetheart. She may be tiny, but she huge on energy! No problem keeping up with her siblings and her 2 larger step-sisters.....and she loves her momma too!

Playtime is not restricted to inside the cage either! Trying to keep them in order during feeding time is crazy! When I go to put one back in, the rest are waiting at the door to slip by when I open it...

....grabbing the empty syringes to try to suck down more formula.....

...or heading right for the source....the cup of warming formula....

...or just teasing the younger 3 in their cage.

It's almost time for a bigger cage. Once I see a little more improvement in Acorn, everyone will move up to a bigger cage together to make one big happy family.

Got a call from work on my day off about a squirrel found laying on someones porch. I picked him up and brought him home. He's doing fine! No idea what happened to him. No external injuries and in good shape. He's not a baby, maybe an older juvenile. Basically old enough to want to kill me though. My guess, he had a fall or got a good whack by a car, enough to daze him but not hurt him. Instead of releasing him back near the busy street where he was found, this lucky guy will go out into the release pen and get a soft release here where he has a better chance of avoiding deadly run-ins with cars and humans.

Dumpster diving & other raccoon tales.

Laurie and I went out yesterday to check on what was possibly a sick raccoon that had been in a dumpster for 2 days. We stuck our heads in one very stinky dumpster to see a ball of fur curled up in one corner. A little poke with the net and a very beautiful head popped up to look at us. It's face was clear and alert. Whew! So seeing as Laurie was heading to work right after, I began to mentally prepare myself to jump in one nasty pile of garbage! Luckily though, we were able to manipulate the little fella with the net close enough to actually scoop him into it without climbing in. Once out of the dumpster it was very apparent he was very full of energy and uninjured. Laurie popped some sub q fluids in him and we opened the net and watched one very relieved raccoon bounce happily into the woods! Love the warm fuzzy feelings of a happy ending!

Later that day I headed out to take care of the gang and River and her kids were coming in for a visit. I put some food out there and ran back to the house to get my camera. I came back just in time to find one impatient girl raiding the shed! Bagged!! She made a less than graceful attempt to run out of there as I stood there laughing my ass off!

 Once I figured out it was the animal crackers she was after, I offered up the coveted snack as an apology for laughing at her embarrassing predicament. Surprisingly she didn't even hesitate to come get it right from my hand! They are used to me, but not usually willing to take things right from my hand. Apology accepted I guess.  :)

Amazon is River's #1....she's always with mom and is the first to follow her lead.

 The rest were content to let me throw the treats to them instead. They have grown into big, gorgeous raccoons! Momma is doing a great job.

 One of the rare shots of Howell on the left here. He's the shyest of them.

 The three girls, Nile, Amazon and Tigris with mom River on the right. Howell is actually there, he's just hidden behind mom!

 Nile (below) is a beauty as well. Similar looking to Amazon, but with more browns in her mask. Tigris is the shyest girl and reminds me of Stoney actually...a little bit of an attitude when they were still in the pen.

 As far as the gang still here. The little kids are growing fast. Houdini looks great and his injuries and feet are all healed up.

 Petey is a happy camper as well!

 Spencer is a very handsome boy.

 Pinner is big and beautiful and a brat at times!

 Along with Laurie's 5, this gang of 9 are adorable as hell! Sorry but of all the pics I took in there, these are the only ones that came out!! The camera doesn't always focus these days. May have to bite the bullet soon.. I intend to hold out as long as possible, but can't really have a cute blog full of adorable raccoons without the pictures, can I?