6 Week Old Baby Squirrels Finally Drink Milk and Start having FUN!

When my neighbor told me about a baby squirrel in need of help, I had no idea I'd soon be spending three exhausting days trying to capture not just one, but a litter of three orphaned baby squirrels. Capturing them was a challenge, but I knew the real work was only just beginning. Rehabilitating them for a future back to the wild. With barely any sleep, I woke up early to check on the squirrels and start their feeding routine. I began with Tort, the baby squirrel we rescued last night. He was extremely dehydrated and responded very well to warm honey water. And he was still very thirsty. Since he responded so well, I decided to take a step back with the other baby squirrels. So I tried the same with his brother, and he loved it. Then their sister, who also eagerly drank the water. I realized I had been too eager earlier by trying milk too soon. For now, water was what they needed most. Last night I gave the new squirrel a lot of water with honey, and he absolutely loved it. I then gave the other squirrels the same, and they went crazy for it. So I think the squirrels have just been very dehydrated, and even though I felt I'd given enough water, they still wanted more, which is fine. So hopefully they like the milk. I've added some honey, so hopefully the transition from nice honey water to honey milk is better for them. Finally, it was time to try milk again. Tort hadn't had any milk in at least three days, and after a moment of hesitation, he latched onto the syringe, Next was his brother, who finally began to drink properly. And then their timid sister. I added a drop of honey to the syringe to encourage her, and it worked. She also started drinking too. Seeing all three babies drink milk made me so optimistic about their recovery. With that relief, I managed to catch a quick hour of sleep. You see that one's not breathing very well, but I think it's just scared. For now, I've kept them in a small box to help them feel safe and calm. Who's first? Hello. Tort, as usual, was the first to feed. Okay, it's finished. It's finished. It's coming. This is the newest one. See, he's very good. I couldn't help but develop a soft spot for this little guy. I think that's enough for you, sir. Can we have a quick look at your bum? Hello. You're not sure what to do with this. His brother, the mischievous one, always needed a bit more convincing. That was good. And the little sister. She was still nervous and quite unsure, so I started with the honey water to ease her into feeding. But she finally was drinking the milk, which felt like a small victory. One of the rewards to save the squirrel forest was a raffle to name the other male baby squirrel. And today, I'm going to reveal the name. In this mug, I have the names, and I'm going to take one out by random. How I gathered the names is I made a form on my website, which was very easy to do. And this video is actually sponsored by Squarespace. On Squarespace, it's really easy to make a professional and beautiful website. There are loads of features like making a gallery, having an online shop, and also making a form. I use forms all the time, such as when patrons get their free calendars. Okay, let's reveal the name of the other male baby squirrel. Okay, the name of the baby squirrel is Loki, named by Avril. Of course, if you want to give Squarespace a go, head to squarespace.com slash danny connor wild, and you can save 10% of the new purchase of a website or a domain. So I've been on the phone for an hour, trying to work out a good solution for these baby squirrels. I called the vet in our county, and they have wild animals, and they won't take them. I tried to find a squirrel rehabilitator in the whole of northern Sweden, but there still isn't one. And my friends, who are squirrel rehabilitators in Stockholm, will happily take the baby squirrels. But these squirrels aren't going to survive an eight-hour journey, if it's even eight hours. We'd have to stop, because I'd have to feed them, and it would just be extremely stressful for them. The baby squirrels are so nervous and so wild, I don't even really want to handle them that much, let alone put them in a car. The law in Sweden is that you can only have wild animals in your possession for 48 hours, and I completely understand why the law exists. It's to protect people, to protect wildlife. I completely get it. However, my only alternative at the moment is to take them to a vet and get them euthanized, which I'm of course not going to do. I tried to apply for a permit a year or so ago. Actually, I didn't even apply. I asked to apply, and they basically didn't even let me apply, because apparently squirrels are not threatened in northern Sweden. But with the amount of clear-cutting plantations, feral cats, I would argue that there's the same reason to have a squirrel rehabilitator in northern Sweden as there are in Stockholm. There's around 10 in the south of Sweden, and literally none in the whole of the north. My inner instinct, my inner morals, my inner ethics, tell me to care and raise these baby squirrels. I have the skills to do so, I have the facility, I have a soft release cage, and also squirrels are extremely adaptive and resilient and very capable of being rewilded and released to the wild. So I'm going to raise these three baby squirrels. I always test the temperature of the milk. Tord was first, as usual. Okay, I'll give you half. Let me clean you up. It's empty. It's finished. You're next. Ideally, I'd use a nipple attachment for the syringe, but I didn't have a spare one at the time, so I had to make do with what I had. Thankfully, I had milk powder, which turned out to be a lifesaver. Well done. You fed really well. He's scared. I was amazed by how much the baby squirrels ate on their first day. Since they were very timid, I created a new box setup so that they could explore extremely nervous. The good news is that she wasn't having any breathing issues, but she was trembling out of fear. To ease their stress, I started to feed them from the box, which seemed so quickly and it was time for some enrichment, so I added a deer antler, lots of little sticks and pine cones for them. And that's when the fun chaos began. In the next episode, the baby squirrels explore out of the box and stretch their legs, and it was already time to prepare the soft release enclosure for the three new guests.