My baby squirrel

I found my baby squirrel on the 17th of February 2012. He was about 5 weeks old and very small. He was about 16 centimeters long including the tail. I should tell you how it all started.

My mom had just come home from a ride on her bike. She was listening to music when we heard the alarm call of a squirrel. I thought nothing of it until i went into the bathroom to drink some water. When I was walking out I saw a strange thing sitting on the floor very still. I thought it was one of my brother’s toys and walked straight passed it. Then something caught my eye because it was wriggling its whiskers. I walked back to it and took a closer look. Then it clicked and I shouted to mom that there was a baby squirrel on the floor.

We caught it and calmed it down. We looked everywhere for the mom but we couldn’t find it. Then I remembered that the day before a squirrel had been taken by a bird and guessed that that was its mom and that it had been abandoned. I took it in and looked after it. Not knowing what a baby squirrel eats I went onto the internet and looked it up. I found a milk recipe and how to feed it. We fed it with a syringe which had the needle removed and put a bit of small pipe on the end to let it suckle it. It worked like a charm. We started feeding him other stuff like banana, carrot in small pieces, and brand flakes. He loved all those things.

After three or four day we decided he would be ok. We named him Tiger because his colors where like a tiger’s. He has been very happy with us and is growing up fast. He is now 7 weeks old and still going. When he is hungry he gets all frisky and runs around and when he has had his milk he goes straight to sleep. He sleeps in a box with a scarf in it. I put it at the end of my bed so that I know when he is making a noise or awake and hungry. He needs plenty of play time because he gets very bored. He loves it when you scratch his tummy. In school he always sits on my lap. My dad says he is very proud of me.

Sarah Barbour, Kisampa