# My latest orphans



## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

For those of you who might not frequent the wildlife section, tonight I brought home these 4 baby red squirrels, whose drey was blown out of its tree by the gales this morning. Unfortunately the people who found it picked it up and took it straight to the local vets instead of observing the cardinal rule of abandoned young wildlife and observing for a few hours to see if the mother came back to care for them.

I picked them up at 6:00 and it took me the best part of 2 hours to de-flea them cos they were crawling. I took about 15-18 fleas off each of them and then at least another 10 or more from inside the towels which we put in the bath. The blanket and remains of the drey went straight outside into the bin! :gasp:

So far only one is feeding well, the other 3 are fighting against the teat, preferring to put their teeth into my finger and grab my skin at the minute, but I'm sure they will adapt quickly and hoping that I can manage to keep them all alive, as they are a bit lethargic at the minute.

I estimate they are about 5-6 weeks, so still a few weeks before we can start weaning and that will take the pressure off a bit!

For the minute they're in a large cardboard box, to hopefully keep fleas inside (picked up another 4 just earlier!), however, they are burying under the vet bed, rather than lying on it and under a smaller sized piece, but that's up to them.

So this is their first photograph, taken when I settled them down at 9:00pm.










Then when we went upstairs to feed them at 10:00 Barry shouted to come and look at one of them, so I grabbed the camera and this is what I found.

Two at one end:











And two at the other:










This is one of the girls being toileted while half asleep!










And this is greedy guts, the only one who has grabbed the teat properly and sucked and taken nearly a full feed.

And if anyone is wondering why they have green claws, it's nail varnish to identify them for when I weigh them.


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## PresqueVu (Jul 27, 2008)

Oh they are beautiful, shame Mum wasn't given a chance to get back to them though.

Wishing you luck with them, at least they aren't teeny tiny x


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## Nell (May 3, 2011)

Oh they are ridiculously gorgeous! Good luck with them hun. What do you do with the little ones once they've weaned? Can they still be reintroduced back into the wild?


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## Nell (May 3, 2011)

P.S. am loving the nail varnish identification, though I would've done for sparkly red myself...really bring out their eyes


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## EVIEMAY (Mar 6, 2008)

What beautiful little things :flrt:
I am sure they will do really well in your care.

Good luck with them all.


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## FreddiesMum (Jan 10, 2007)

Aww cuteness overload :flrt: good luck I am sure they will do great with your care.


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

So much for 700g! Glad to hear one is feeding ok. - Good tip on the nail polish! 

You have your hands full there hun! Will these be ok to go back into the wild or will they remain in captivity?


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

PresqueVu said:


> Oh they are beautiful, shame Mum wasn't given a chance to get back to them though.
> 
> Wishing you luck with them, at least they aren't teeny tiny x


It is a shame, because she might have been out looking for food or might even have been inside the drey when it fell out, but people being around would have frightened her away, but who can tell?

Oh I'm glad about the size. The previous 2 I raised were only about 14-16 days old and it was a hard slog because squirrels don't wean until they are about 8 weeks old! :gasp: My husband and I were totally cream crackered by the time they were weaned!

This was them 2 days after we got them - you can see there's not a lot of hair there and their eyes and ears (which don't open until about 4 weeks) are still firmly closed.













Nell said:


> Oh they are ridiculously gorgeous! Good luck with them hun. What do you do with the little ones once they've weaned? Can they still be reintroduced back into the wild?


Yes they can and they will be if they make it! They are too young to be released this year (they are extremely late babies) as they won't have time to cache their winter larder. What we will do is find a release site in a suitable area and over-winter them there and then release them in late spring. That's what we did with Jake and Fidget because they were July babies. Unfortunately the people in whose garden we put the pen for Jake and fidget had their house up for sale a year or so ago, so I don't know if they still live there, as the pen is still in their garden, but I'll be chasing that up.



Nell said:


> P.S. am loving the nail varnish identification, though I would've done for sparkly red myself...really bring out their eyes


:lol2: I did that when I was breeding my cats if I had 2 kittens the same sex and same colour, especially with my Siamese as they are all born white. I feel daily weighing is extremely important as I think you can see a weight loss on the scales quite a while before you will notice it with your eyes and can be on top of the problem much sooner and so I follow the same regime with anything I'm handrearing.

Funnily enough I do usually use red, but in my haste last night at 12:00 so I could weigh them I grabbed a bag of nail varnishes in my spare bedroom, but there was no red there - it's downstairs!! So the green which is a "stamping" nail varnish so very thick and quick drying would serve the purpose.


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## sarahc (Jan 7, 2009)

they are so appealing.Not sure whether to feel envious of you or sorry for you.


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## Esarosa (Jul 13, 2007)

Gorgeous :flrt:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

sarahc said:


> they are so appealing.Not sure whether to feel envious of you or sorry for you.


Oh! Don't feel sorry for me i came home last night bouncing! :lol2:

Of course I wasn't bouncing at 6:00am this morning :shock: cos I'm definitely *NOT* a morning person, but at least these are old enough that I'm not having to get up twice through the night to feed them.


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## sarahc (Jan 7, 2009)

I shall covet the little Tufties then:flrt:


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

Yeah all seems like a good idea until the morning alarm goes off


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

I have never seen a red in the flesh (although there are 2 colonies of them within 50 miles of me, one on the Isle of Wight & another on Brownsea Island off the Poole coast :whistling2. I have everything crossed Eileen that they make it, such gorgeous little things :flrt:.


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## sammy1969 (Jul 21, 2007)

they are totally gorgeous Eileen as i knew they would be. Don't envy you the early mornings though lol Will vids be put on you tube like last time so we can share your fun?


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## SnickersTheFirst (Jul 19, 2011)

They are gorgeous! :flrt: Hope they continue to do well.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Kare said:


> Yeah all seems like a good idea until the morning alarm goes off


It sure does! :roll: 

But at least I don't have to get up through the night and I know it's not going to go on for 4-6 weeks like the other two!



sammy1969 said:


> they are totally gorgeous Eileen as i knew they would be. Don't envy you the early mornings though lol Will vids be put on you tube like last time so we can share your fun?


I hope to get some videos, but these are nowhere near as tame as Jake and Fidget were, so it's quetionable whether if I let them loose I'll ever catch them again, whereas the other two when let loose just wanted to jump back onto me.


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## Amazonia (Mar 6, 2011)

Awww, so adorable! Best of luck with these little babies! :flrt:


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## Marinam2 (Sep 4, 2007)

Surely it was pointless observing the rule of baby wildlife if the nest was blown out the tree the mother would have no where to put them or indeed have the ability to keep them safe whilst remaking it? So it was esscential they were scouped straight up?


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I would tend to disagree - you can watch from a safe distance and intervene if a predator comes along. They were still inside their drey, so it was unlikely a flying one would see them. I just think it's better for the babies to at least give the mother a chance to try and get them off the groun and to safety - who's not to say that she was already frantically trying to build a new drey, while keeping an eye on them on the ground???

Anyway, it's an emotive issue and everyone will have their own opinion on it.

A couple of photos taken this morning

Little boy, full, fat and happy 










And one of the girls on the scales.











And a quick video of me making a hash of feeding one of the girls :lol2:

Baby Red Squirrel being hand fed - YouTube


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## sammy1969 (Jul 21, 2007)

feorag said:


> I would tend to disagree - you can watch from a safe distance and intervene if a predator comes along. They were still inside their drey, so it was unlikely a flying one would see them. I just think it's better for the babies to at least give the mother a chance to try and get them off the groun and to safety - who's not to say that she was already frantically trying to build a new drey, while keeping an eye on them on the ground???
> 
> Anyway, it's an emotive issue and everyone will have their own opinion on it.
> 
> ...


Awww Eileen they look so cute shame they arent as tame as fidget and chip as i loved the vids of those two always made me smile, mind you i did love the vid of you feeding the little one. If you hadn't of said I wouldn't of known you made a hash of it lol.


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

feorag said:


> I would tend to disagree - you can watch from a safe distance and intervene if a predator comes along. They were still inside their drey, so it was unlikely a flying one would see them. I just think it's better for the babies to at least give the mother a chance to try and get them off the groun and to safety - who's not to say that she was already frantically trying to build a new drey, while keeping an eye on them on the ground???
> 
> Anyway, it's an emotive issue and everyone will have their own opinion on it.
> 
> ...


 
They really are stunning, are they as glossy as they look in the photo?
(Im not suggesting you polished them or anything:whistling2
Very cute video:flrt:


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

It is all the covetous stroking that makes them shiny Shell. Lol. 

Eileen - I can't believe how much they have come on. Gorgeous little critters. How long do you expect to have them?


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## Bambi89 (May 22, 2011)

They are so gorgeous! 
Hope all goes well for them :2thumb:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Nix said:


> It is all the covetous stroking that makes them shiny Shell. Lol.
> 
> Eileen - I can't believe how much they have come on. Gorgeous little critters. How long do you expect to have them?


:lol2: I don't know about covetous stroking, but I do know there's a lot of head kissing and tummy blurting going on! :lol2:
I don't know how long I'll have them, but it certainly won't be as long as the last 2!

We're busy trying to organise a soft release pen, but they won't go into that until they are fully weaned and independent and a little bit 'hardened off' from the warmth of a house.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

A couple of little update vids of them playing with each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j0RBLHyVeY 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQdL9wKnHfo


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

feorag said:


> A couple of little update vids of them playing with each other.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j0RBLHyVeY
> 
> [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQdL9wKnHfo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQdL9wKnHfo[/URL]


What can I say but Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww:flrt:


They look really well, Im so pleased for you:no1:


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## sarahc (Jan 7, 2009)

they are so lovely and look in tip top condition:flrt:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Well one is going great guns and feeding brilliantly, the other 3 are slower and taking less at each feed, so not putting on much weight, if at all, but they are all very active, which is heartening.

At feed time now we put them on the bed with an open cat carrier and once they've fed we put them in there and they promptly run out and explore around the bed and run back to the cat carrier and back out again, then eventually by the time the last has fed the first has crashed out!

When they have all crashed out, they go back into their proper bed until the next time! :flrt:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

A couple of updated photographs taken yesterday when they'd all crashed out after eating.

The Boy











No. 1 girl on the left and No. 2 girl on the right.










Same 2 girls after having been jumped on by the boy who wanted them to get up and play with him!!










And No.3 girl:












See how brave and adventurous they have become in 6 days. When I first got them they would spit and put their feet out to 'chase me away'.

Handreared red squirrels now venturing out the nest. - YouTube


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

What a great video, they havent half grown up fast. I thought at one point the boy(?) was going to jump on the camera:lol2:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

It's surprising isn't it? Did you see the one who jumped from the bottom of the carrier to grab hold of the wire lid? Someone tried that twice yesterday and failed and yet today they can do it.

Just gave them a little top up and put them back in the pen. 3 are going barmy and one has climbed into the middle of the rat hammock which I've stretched across rather than folded and left hanging down and it's curled up nice and cosy right in the middle all by itself! :flrt: :flrt:

I've had to come back downstairs cos I've broken my Catac bottle and you can't buy them at PaH so I meant to order it on line and forgot to do it today! :bash:


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

They have grown so much, so cute (although they are wild animals). The video brought back all the memories of when i had rabbit kits to hand rear, i used to use a syringe & like you said in the video once they are sucking it is easy to feed them this way as you just slowly push the plunger down :2thumb:.


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## FreddiesMum (Jan 10, 2007)

Oh they are gorgeous :flrt: well done to you :notworthy:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

corny girl said:


> They have grown so much, so cute (although they are wild animals). The video brought back all the memories of when i had rabbit kits to hand rear, i used to use a syringe & like you said in the video once they are sucking it is easy to feed them this way as you just slowly push the plunger down :2thumb:.


I fed a litter of 4 baby wild rabbits and they had such a strong suck that they would pull the plunger down. The problem with the squirrels is that they don't have such a strong suck and they flatten the teat or create a vacuum which makes the plunger hard to push, so it's trial and error. I couldn't buy a Catac bottle locally so I bought a Beaphar one, but the teat is much shorter than the Catac ones and much more rigid, so they hated it when I tried it. I've managed to get 2 of them onto it, but the other 2 steadfastly refuse to even attempt to suck on it, so they're still on a syringe until I can get my Catac bottles which are my favs.

When I got up this morning Girl No.3 was still in the rat hammock, all alone! :flrt: When we put the bedroom ceiling fan on (I have to run that overnight cos I get so hot!) I was worried about a draft, but Barry had covered her with one of the pieces of lambswool fleece. She'd thrown it off and was lying uncovered, but when I got up this morning she had covered herself with it and was lying there all warm and cosy, so I'm presuming she'd been there all alone all night! :flrt:


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Its amazing how fast they mature isnt it, wont be long and they will be doing circuits of the room:lol2:
If I can remember where I put my catac bottle I will send it to you as we dont get on at all:bash:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Well, it's highly unlikely I'll get any more orphans of any kind now cos I just ordered 2 last night! :roll: So now that I've got 3 orphan bottles and more teats than a STO I'll probably never rear another animal! :lol2:

Got a call from Kim this morning to say that the Newcastle Journal wanted to do a spread on them, so I dashed up there this morning where they performed brilliantly, if very naughtily. They would barely eat any food at all and just wanted to run around and play fight with each other, so the photographer had great problems getting photos in focus, but it did look like he got a few good ones.

Kim said she might get Tyne Tees in on the act too, which I'm sure will work because they did a bit about Jake and Fidget and then came back for a follow-up and filmed the little road accident victim that I tried so hard to save.


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

Had a look at your videos on youtube. They are so funny. Seem nice and friendly with you two as well


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## About-Snakes.com (Aug 25, 2011)

so cute


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## ditta (Sep 18, 2006)

all over sky news this morning :2thumb:


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## vonnie (Aug 20, 2007)

Awwwwwww. I caught a bit about it on local radio too. I was scanning through the stations when I got in the car and heard 'FOUR BABY RED SQUIRRELS...' :lol2:

Hope all this publicity means some extra money donated Eileen!


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## pippainnit (Feb 20, 2009)

Homeless baby squirrels rescued after Hurricane Katia blew them out of nest | Mail Online

So wonderful  Not been on here for a fair while now and this was such a lovely thread to come back to.


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## Shadowz (Aug 6, 2008)

I was just gonna say were they the ones all over the telly this morning ?


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

:gasp: Were they on Telly this morning? I didn't know about that.


ditta said:


> all over sky news this morning :2thumb:


The phone has been red hot this morning, just ringing constantly, including Sky who wanted to come and film them! 


vonnie said:


> Awwwwwww. I caught a bit about it on local radio too. I was scanning through the stations when I got in the car and heard 'FOUR BABY RED SQUIRRELS...' :lol2:
> 
> Hope all this publicity means some extra money donated Eileen!


To be totally frank Yvonne that's what it's mostly about! Obviously the squirrels' future is assured as they will be able to be released. However our concern is with 100+ animals that we have which can't be released and there just isn't any money left courtesy of the recession.

I've just done a telephone interview with BBC Coventry who have very kindly let me tell them on air about our plight and how we are struggling financially, so hopefull that might help too!

And Channel 5 news want to come to see them tomorrow, so all this publicity might just get us over the winter - hopefully!!


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## ditta (Sep 18, 2006)

i know you not on facebook, but ive plastered it all over there too:2thumb:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Thanks Ditta! :2thumb:

And Pippa - nice to see you back! :2thumb:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Well the interview with Channel 5 news went very well and the squiggles were brilliant. Totally interactive with the presenter and the photographer and were fascinated by his cameras. He put a small camera inside the cat carrier to record them and they took great delight in chewing on it! :lol:

Then he put his big camera on the table and they were on it straight away so I got out my own camera and videod it.

Red Squirrels being interviewed for Channel 5 News!!! - YouTube


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## blade100 (Sep 26, 2009)

i saw these on channel 5 news the other nite.
sooooo cute.
was that u that said at the end "my you were hungry weren't u"??


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

blade100 said:


> i saw these on channel 5 news the other nite.
> sooooo cute.
> was that u that said at the end "my you were hungry weren't u"??


Any Geordie woman wittering on in any of these videos sadly will be me! :blush:

Weaning has begun, so now dog walking takes in picking blackberries, the last of the raspberries, bilberries, redcurrants, rose hips (what is left cos they're nearly finished now) and hawthorn berries which are in abundance. And from now on there will be a pair of secateurs in my car so if I'm driving along a country lane I can cut off a branch of hawthorn berries to hang in their cage.

The hawthorn berries are a huge success, as are the blackberries so far. Mushrooms and strawberries have been nibbled on too, but the blueberries, they're not eating yet.

Here's the first photo of the first weaning of one of the girls tucking into a hawthorn berry taken yesterday.



















And a couple of videos taken yesterday - sorry about the lighting on the second one, but the bed is in between the window and the pen, so the floor is quite dark and when the light isn't good the quality of the video isn't good either, so it's a bit blurred.

Red Squirrels playing in their pen - YouTube

Red Squirrel kitten eating a hawthorn berry - YouTube


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## em_40 (Sep 29, 2010)

They are sooooo cute :flrt: looks as though they are growing up quick.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

You're not kidding!! 

They're now jumping about 2 feet from the top of the kitten pen to land on me - a week ago they couldn't jump at all!

Every day we can see a difference - it's incredible!


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## natsuko (Jan 3, 2009)

Wow just seen this glad they are doing well. your doing a fantastic job.


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## Esarosa (Jul 13, 2007)

Famous squiggles are even on teddyhilton.com, an american site which is by the same guy who does perezhilton.com which gets hundreds of thousands of hits a day.

World's Cutest Baby Squirrels | TeddyHilton.com


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## Moonshine (Sep 27, 2009)

They were on the news here in Ireland too Six One News: Things looking up for baby squirrels - Video - RTÉ News Player Have been following the thread since the start but only commenting now :blush: They are really gorgeous! You've done a great job hand rearing them :no1:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

*Baby Squirrels exploring the kitchen*

Another little update video of the squirrels' first visit to the kitchen - lots of interesting things to explore and they are very inquisitive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo4s5XSUgrM

I got an e-mail from the guy who runs Meon Valley Squirrel Rescue in the south of England, who I make squirrel pouches and hammocks for as a donation whenever I'm sewing some for me and where I'm on their list as a foster mother to the dreaded greys!!! They've just taken in this beautiful albino grey

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/east-hampshire/albino_squirrel_rescued_from_southsea_s_highland_road_cemetery_1_3090597


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

feorag said:


> Another little update video of the squirrels' first visit to the kitchen - lots of interesting things to explore and they are very inquisitive.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo4s5XSUgrM
> 
> ...



The Albino was found not that far from me :2thumb:. Are you going to be rearing that one or is he staying in West Meon? Your Reds are now famous world wide :2thumb:.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

No, he/she'll be staying there. I'm on their list as a willing fosterer if a grey is found in my area that needs care - of course most greys found in my area are instantly done away with, so not a lot of chance of getting one to rear! They keep a list of people all over the country who are prepared to help greys, either by handrearing orphans or adopting ones that cannot be released into pens in their gardens etc.

I tell you I cannot believe how they have taken off all over the world. It's truly weird - the last 2 caught the imagination of a lot of this country, but nothing like these 4. Autumn Watch want me to do a Skye interview - don't know how that will work though.


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