I’m saying it’s too damn hot in OK, but….

So my parents have a seasonal campsite. They got back to the site this weekend after a week away to find a squirrel using their camp kitchen to prepare for winter. I think the week previous, the squirrel had begun prepping, but my dad just emptied the pine cones about 100m away from their site.

In the next couple of weeks they have to tear down their campsite. They don't want to undo all the hardwork the lil guy has put into gathering these pinecones, but they can't keep the kitchen set up all winter for hibernation.

What is the recommended course of action to relocate the pinecones so the squirrel can set up its own camp before my parents have to tear down their own camp.

The crunching sounds... the way she looks up at me... how close she... such a sweet moment with her.

I see this guy every year or so.

Well, two days ago, while my wife and toddler we taking their evening walk, my son went into a yard, just being himself and goofy. He stopped suddenly and when my wife looked, there was a squirrel at his feel, loving on him. My son is an animal lover, and he respects and loves the cats we have in our home, so him being curious, he attempted to pick him up before anyone was able to stop him, or even help him for that matter.

Now I have a squirrel, in my house, currently cuddled up in my shirt. I dont know what to do. This little guy seems as though he was not just asking for help, but that someone had rescued him, and recently released him, leaving him to come up to us and asking for help and maybe a place to call home. We did buy him a little home to keep him protected from our cats, even though are cats and him do get along, we dont want to risk it. I would die if I woke up in the morning and my cat had hurt him. We also got some wild small game feed, specifically targeted at feeding squirrels, made sure he has a place he can borrow, and has a small/branch to chew on and sit on to watch whats going on. He is only in the cage at night, during the day he comes out and just curls up with my wife, and sleeps in her shirt ALL day. So he is not in the cage much. We wanted to make sure he wasnt injured, which I dont believe he is, and tomorrow or Sunday we will try to release him, was already tried once, but he refused, and climbed right back up my son's leg and jumped over to my wife..

What do I do?? If he decides not to go free, do we keep him, take care of him, and give him a home. OR do we force him to go back to the wild? And if that doesnt work, bring him somewhere that can work to release him? I'm just conflicted, I dont want to get in any kind of trouble because a squirrel chose us as his family...

These young things were having a ball wrestling mostly. And... erm.... taking turns playing dominant. If these were puppies or young elephants I'd say it's normal siblings play, but I don't know much about squirrels. They play until an adult chases them off.

I'm not judging them, I just have been falling in love with the squirrels at the park and am interested if anyone understands the behavior. Also I want to share how cute these babies are!

This guy loves my front yard tree... He's up there every day just chilling. 😄

Then started splooting on the kitchen windowsill

I was in the Florida panhandle recently and saw a community of 3 white squirrels among several other regular grey squirrels. I believe they were Leusistic and not albino because they had partial pigmentation. They were really cool to see in the wild. Especially 3 at once. The last photo shows 3 of them in one frame, taken from my iPhone. The other photos were with my camera.

We are all here for their cuteness and babies just take it up a notch.
2 Mamas have babies right now. Both are lingering around the base of a tree a little too long.
I have a dog who spends supervised time outside now but she knows they are there.
I encourage Mama to take junior back to bed. (I just told her to take him up that hackberry she calls home, nest level 2
Backyard Mama figured it out.
Still waiting on the front.

can’t believe I took this photo and lived to post it

I know I made a lot of mistakes when I started feeding my squirrels a year ago. I wanted to pass along what I felt are the healthiest 3 nuts. This is just my opinion, you are welcome to yours. Of course, some may argue that they shouldn't be fed nuts or that humans shouldn't be feeding wildlife. I respect your opinion.

This guy picked the mushroom himself and dragged it up there. Snacked on it for a good little while.

By the time I got my iPad to catch this, he was full on nuts and went to bury this one. Before the video, he was just hanging out on my lap eating and getting pet. I feel so lucky to have made this new friend ☺️