Here are some photos of the Eastern Grey Squirrel babies that I have received. All of these squirrels were released back into the wild.
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These little guys were lucky enough to be found by Allen in New York. They are about as newborn as most people will ever see. They are at the most 1 day old. These guys appear in good shape considering their nest was destroyed in a storm 7-15-2000 and the mom would not take them back.
Their ears are closed, their fingers have not separated yet and the one in the upper right hand corner still has the umbilical cord attached.
Thank you Allen for sharing these photos of the babies and giving everyone a chance to see just what a newborn looks like.
Many thanks to Allen for taking this photo to show the relative size of these newborn squirrels to a quarter.
Update 7-15-00: The babies are now with a rehabber in Queens.
This little guy was about 1 week old when I received him. That tube next to him is a tube of Neosporin so that you will have a point of reference to his size. A cat had gotten hold of this little guy and he sustained a real bad cut over one of his eyes. I am happy to say that the cut healed up just fine and there was no scar. At this age he is being fed every 2 hours around the clock.
This little one is 2 weeks old. Many thanks to Shelia Kipp for sharing this fantastic photo for everyone to see. As you can tell from the photo, the hair is starting to come in more and more. With this closeup, you can also see the nails and whiskers real well. At this age, they are still being fed around the clock and no sleep for the rehabbers at this stage of the babies growth.
These 3 little ones are almost 3 weeks old. These were some squirrels that I received when they were about 1 week old. Their fur is just starting to come in and they have just started getting the fur on their tails. Their eyes are not open at this point, but their ears are just starting to open. These squirrels are being fed about every 3 hours around the clock.
This is another group of squirrels and they are about the same age as the ones above, almost 3 weeks.
These guys are about 4 weeks of age, their eyes are still not open and about the only difference in them from the 3 week olds is their size, weight and more fur. These squirrels are being fed every 4 hours around the clock.
These guys are between 5 and 6 weeks of age. Their eyes are open but they have not really started moving around yet. It takes them awhile to get their legs working to where they can walk steady without falling over. At this age I offer them Cheerios to eat. They are able to hold onto the Cheerios fairly well and it is good for them. I just put the food in with them and they can nibble on it in between their regular feedings which are still every 4 hours around the clock.
This is one of my squirrels that is in the aviary. He is sitting on top of his nesting box eating on what appears to be a pecan. That is a piece of broccoli in front of him. They are given a variety of vegetables, fruits and nuts while we have them. This squirrel is about 11-12 weeks of age. I generally release the squirrels when they are about 12 weeks of age, but it depends on how they are doing as a group. There were others in the aviary with this one, I just happened to catch this one sitting on the box eating a snack.
I hope that you have enjoyed viewing these pictures. I hope that they have given you some idea of how these squirrels develop from newborn to 12 weeks.
Squirrel Sounds:
Single squirrel WAV RealAudio
Multiple squirrels WAV RealAudio
Sound recording copyright Lang Elliott
NatureSound Studio
www.naturesound.com