I got another squirrel on Sunday. It was really windy all day, so I wasn’t surprised when I got the call. Her nest had been blown from a 30-foot palm tree. She was brought in the Center with her bigger brother, but unfortunately he had too many serious injuries for us to be able to save him. She, on the other hand, seems to have a real fighting spirit and she’s doing very well now. (However, I’m always more than happy to accept any good thoughts headed our way!)

Here’s a picture of the four of them right after a feeding. She’s the one on the right.

And here’s a closer look at the two on the left, just because… 🙂

The new girl came in at about 52 grams, so she’s a little younger than the other three, but close enough to be able to raise them together. She was very cold and thin and dehydrated and, like most we get, riddled with fleas. But we got her warmed up and hydrated and now she’s on formula and eating really well.

We call squirrels that look like her a “dirty face” because they have very dark markings around their nose and mouth. You can get a sense of the difference in this pic.

Here’s another photo of the four of them. That’s her jammed in the middle… sometimes I wonder how they don’t end up smothering each other!

In case you’re wondering about the fuzzy things in the pictures, people donate their used furs to us and we cut up pieces so that babies can feel like they’re sleeping near their mother.

You might also notice in that photo that she has another interesting characteristic. Her tail is shorter than it should be. It’s like the tip has been cut off at some point. I can’t imagine this was a result of the fall, especially since it wasn’t bleeding when she came in. It’s possible it was a birth defect. So far it doesn’t seem to be bothering her at all. And I’ve got a couple of backyard squirrels that only have about half their tails, so it’s not something that will impair her as an adult.

Here are a few more pics from the last few days.

And one last bonus pic. I managed to get a nice shot of one of my backyard Fox squirrels. I didn’t raise her (I know because I’ve never released Foxes here). I just love her coat… that red colour is so striking. But looking at how fat and furry she is, it’s hard to believe that she and my little skinny guys are the same type of animal!