It's been a while and rehabilitation hit with a bang this year, with some 20 raptors from American Kestrels to Swainson and Red-tail hawks, several barn owls and a grey fox. Now I'm down to a black-tail jack rabbit, one rock squirrel and a peregrine falcon which I'm holding for transfer. The jack rabbit and the rock squirrel both are firsts for me, the rock squirrel the first of its species and same for the desert jack rabbit. I've developed admiration for these plucky little species who generally are on the main menu for the most predators around here.
Oh, I've taken care of lots of squirrels, fox squirrels, the largest squirrels; grey squirrels hundreds, flying squirrels, but never a rock squirrel. The fox squirrel is the the most even-tempered; the grey squirrels can be a bit psychotic, and flying squirrels are in a class by themselves, but the rock squirrel so far seems the most intelligent.
She was found in the Holiday Inn Express parking lot, dehydrated, half-starved and the other half, dead. This is the proverbial concrete jungle, adjacent to other hotel parking lots, and to I-10. Who know how the squirrel got there -- most likely carried off by a predator-- and who knows how long she was there? She lucked out being found by a vet tech who was returning to Georgia after a trip to California. The woman was just driving through and found the squirrel by chance as she checked into the hotel.
The baby squirrel's eyes were just starting to open, but she wasn't focusing yet. The first thing she saw was me, a frightening prospect for any species. It was touch and go for a few days, but eventually the squirrel pulled through and she is thriving. A bit fat as she gobbles down nuts in preparation for winter cold.
The psychological ramifications of the incident seem to be imprinted upon her brain. My little baby is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. For the first few days, I was awakened each night with thready screams. I'd run into the room where I keep the critters I found she was sleeping. She was having a nightmare (proving that squirrels like dogs dream.) When I'd awaken her, she would open her little eyes, see my face and then settle back into slumber. When she was awake or if she awoke and found herself alone, she cried, and the only thing that reassured her was my presence. It's only in the last week she stopped screaming for me, and she has been moved outside.
I worried that I had a true case of imprinting, but the separation process is already starting. She is an escape artist. The first cage was not very sturdy; she could have fit into a 1/2 cup container, she didn't need anything heavy, but I needed easy access to accomadate her bottle-feeding schedule. Then she began to do what all babies must do, grow up, and one day as she was chewing on her cage door, she lifted it up. You could almost see the lightbulb going off as she realized that she had found the way to freedom. I used bread ties to keep the doors closed; she learned to remove them, and also learned that they were not good to each, which puts the rock squirrel in the genius category of the squirrel family. Eventually I put her in a heavy-duty air kennel that would have challenged a raccoon, and she found her way out.
