Baby Squirrels Open Eyes, Get Neglected by Potential Foster Mother

The three baby squirrels the FDNY rescued from a car fire over the weekend all have opened their eyes today and are getting bigger and stronger all the time. But so far Mickey, the squirrel recovering from a malocclusion, has not gone along with my plans to make her a foster mother.

I repossessed Mickey's squirrel house Tuesday, hoping to get her to pay attention to the baby squirrels. I thought since she had babies herself last year she'd be excited about it. Nope. I guess she isn't a fan of those pictures passed around the internet.  Or that the animals in them are really animal supermoms, like those women who adopt 18 special needs kids.

Mickey's brief foray to get avocado

Mickey, on the other hand, was just furious at the situation. She ran around the cage, chattering her teeth and pushing things over, looking longingly at her house that was just outside the cage. She was like a Leona Helmsley squirrel, only concerned about her real estate, couldn't care less about the little ones. Finally I gave her the house back. She went inside and has barely been out since. She is very aware of the babies; if I take them out for feeding, she jumps at the opportunity to go eat in solitude.


But the babies are growing so they'll soon be able to get into her house. Then I'll have to see if she warms up to them--like she did to the house. Or I may have to separate them. The small, meek girl, Benji, started the eye-opening by opening just one of her eyes Tuesday night. I'm always surprised by how slow the process is, with just a tiny hole between the lashes at first. Now they can clumsily crawl around the cage. They try to suckle a stuffed animal I put in there. That's just the sort of thing that's going to either endear Mickey to them or force me to set up another cage.


Where to Go to See Unusual Squirrels

Where to Find Wild Animals in NYC

Read how the squirrels got here

Read where Mickey came from