A couple times a month we receive emails from readers asking where they can buy a squirrel. Here's a start at an answer.
First, are you sure you want to buy a squirrel? With a bit of research you may be able to find wildlife rehabbers in your community who would be delighted to give you a litter of orphaned baby squirrels for free.
You can find rehabbers by calling your local animal shelter, Humane Society, veterinarians, or even local tree surgeons.
Second, are you sure you want to keep a squirrel captive as a pet? It's true that baby squirrels are very friendly, and will easily bond to humans.
But when they are fully grown in about 6 months they become more independent, and don't remain the cuddly little fuzz balls they once were.
A great solution to this is to release mature squirrels to the wild, which makes room for a new litter of the fun babies! We've done this three times so far, and it's a wonderful experience, for us, and the squirrels.
Once you've seen how much your own baby squirrels REALLY enjoy being released, and discovering a big world full of trees, it becomes very hard to deny them the life they were born for.
But readers keep asking us about buying squirrels, so we decided to see what's available.
We found Helen's Little Critters who sells red squirrels for $300 and flying squirrels for $125.
What an interesting business! They also sell hedgehogs, possums, chinchillas, chipmunks, foxes, ferrets, exotic birds, and a number of other critters we've never heard of before.
So, there's a suggestion that will get squirrel buying readers started while we research the matter further.
We're going to take this question to the The Squirrel Board, and you may wish to do the same.
Finally, please keep this in mind. Squirrels are social animals and the babies especially need to be with other squirrels. A squirrel living in a cage by itself will be a sad squirrel.
If you're going to get a squirrel, be sure to get at least two.
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Do you have a question about how to raise your baby squirrel? The friendly folks at The Squirrel Board are standing by, eager to answer your questions.
Are you looking for syringes, nipples, and other squirrel care supplies? You can find it all at Squirrelstore.com/
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