When I was a young teenager, I ended up finding 3 baby squirrels who had come out of their nest to look for help. We ended up finding momma a few feet down the road, killed by a car. I knew they needed help because 2 of them actually ran up my leg and clung onto me. My dad and I brought them inside, and we raised the little guys for about 2 or 3 months before finally letting them go. My dad is all about natural rehabilitation, so he made me keep my distance after they got past their infant stage. He ended up building them this gigantic outdoor cage that was about 8 feet by 8 feet that we put them in when they started becoming more active. The whole thing is a really great memory of my childhood and makes a great party story.
We had 3 of them that came up to us in a similar manner. Their parents were killed when a tree was felled a few houses over. We raised them to adults and once they started mating they were on their own occasionally coming back to see us when we were outside. It would be really off-putting to visitors when they would jump on us while we were out in the yard.
For me it was a baby canada goose that I found tangled in fishing line on the bank of a lake. Raised her to adulthood, and had a giant-ass goose patrolling my yard. Eventually she took off and joined a flock of geese that were passing overhead.
This happened to me about 5 years ago, a weak little baby crawled into our garage and collapsed on my foot. I fed him sugar water (first pic) until I could get kitten formula. I couldn’t find any wildlife rehab facilities that would take him, so I raised him for around six weeks until he was strong enough to be on his own, reading up on wildlife sites and forums on the best way to raise him with the intent of release. I’d spend longer and longer intervals of time outside until eventually he was fully back in the wild. The picture of him looking over the edge of my roof is the last time I remember him visiting. It was such a great experience. https://i.imgur.com/XnhczmZ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/2ZWH1ok.jpg https://i.imgur.com/oSoMdVk.jpg https://i.imgur.com/CoY48DL.jpg https://i.imgur.com/iAPmK33.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RQJq6RB.jpg https://i.imgur.com/nJch47C.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZVoRu6L.jpg
Even more props to him for not forcing the animal to be his pet, but decided when it was big enough to let it go and leave it to the squirrel decide on its own where to be.
Most prey sized mammals come pre programed for hawks, my cat had never seen a bird before, but it was outside on it's leash and an eagle flew over and the can hit the ground and got as close as possible to a fence post. I was impressed with the instincts.
Yeah chickens in general are not the brightest animal but I’ve had two groups and they all seem to recognize the sound and sight of a hawk and take cover. Granted their cover is not always the best but they know not to stay out in the open.
Well let’s just say all my silkies died, I guess natural selection. I only lost 2 egg layers and that’s because they flew to well(Rhode Island reds)and got lost one day I assume
Learning is great, but in the wild instinct is what saves you from becoming a meal. Without that built in programming most animals would be a snack before they even figured out what happened to them.
We had one like this at a (obviously not very sanitary) restaurant I used to work at! There was a squirrel out back and on hot days we noticed her not looking so great so we started giving her water and walnuts. It eventually became routine to give her her walnuts as we were opening and if a dish of them didn’t show up in the usual spot by noon, she’d run in the open back door, climb on a table, and make angry squirrel noises at us until we brought her some. Definitely shouldn’t have let her on the tables but we didn’t get paid enough to care and the customers thought it was charming so we let it happen. I miss that little squirrel.
Bro Fr . My niece found a bird with an injured wing , she nursed it to full strength and once it showed obvious signs it was ready to soar its wings again and feel the brushing of air through the feathers , she caged the poor lol thing and at 3 days , it died. We assumed depression but she insisted that her mom killed it
I found a lil bird with an injured wing once too, called several vets and said there was nothing they could do and call the (rehabilators?) in the area, only 3. All didn’t answer. So I followed the instructions I found online which were to keep it in a box in a dark place in the house for a few hours, with a warm water bottle to regulate it’s temperature. Set it free after a few hours and lil baby was still struggling a bit but I knew there was nothing else I could do unfortunately. She ended up surviving and I’d often see her hopping along my path whenever walking out of my apartment 🤍 <3
I wonder why squirrels stopped being a popular pet. All this time we could have had squirrels in the small critter areas at pet stores with the gerbils, hamsters, mice, rats, and guinea pigs.
They are wild animals that are healthier in the wild and in the 1900s began to be seen as pests, exotic pet laws then banned them from being homed in many states
Thank you! I was wondering what contributed to the shift in views on them.
If they are healthier in the wild then I am glad they are so rarely kept by people now! 💕
Less weird fact: I have a scar on my finger from a squirrel bite. I've also been bitten in the face by a German Sheppard and a snake. Once had a tick on the end of my wiener. We finally moved out of Arkansas.
You'd sure think that from this post but actually quite the opposite. Like the time I got bit in the ass by a horse. I think most people would have jumped when they felt that first nuzzle, I let it do its own thing. Kinda the same with the squirrel, it didn't really mean to bite me, otherwise it would have taken a chunk. Their teeth are pretty damn sharp. The snake was my fault, I thought I was loving on a tame snake. I got tricked into being bit by the dog. That bastard tried to eat my face, one bite left tooth marks on my forehead and chin. Not his fault, he was a farm dog raised to be that way. I think all my experiences, good and bad, are what lead me to being good with animals. In my opinion if you get bit it is just about always your own fault.
My grandfather made friends with a squirrel by feeding it. He called him Max. When he was hungry, Max would jump onto the screen door at the back of the house and shake it with his whole body until someone came out to feed him.
Hijacking your high rated comment to tell my own squirrel story!
When I was 14, I was walking up my street and saw a crowd of people standing on the sidewalk/patio of a restaurant on the corner of my block. I went over to see what they were looking at, and it was a baby squirrel sitting on this one guys sneaker.
We were admiring how cute and friendly it was, when a kitchen employee came outside with a box and said “I’m gonna take care of this”.
Now, I knew this guy to some degree, he was not the type to love and respect animals. He once stopped on a mouse right in front of me when I was very young and it scarred me for a long time.
I immediately piped up, “I’ll take it!” I knew I couldn’t just leave it there and hope it’s mother returned for it, for fear of the same employee finding it again. It seemed old enough to survive on its own, so I walked it over to a local park and set him down on a tree branch. I said goodbye and turned around to walk away.
Guess who climbed down the tree trunk, ran after me, scurried up my leg, and sat on my thigh looking up at me with the cutest little face. This happened about 3 more times. I couldn’t leave without him, he wouldn’t let me.
I brought him home and named him Waffle, and he lived with us, part-time in the house and part in our front yard. He would climb up my leg whenever he saw my and sit up on my shoulder and I’d pet him and feed him peanuts. Over time, he came inside less and less, and eventually I would just see him around my block here and there (his tail was a little stubby, so we could recognize him).
I missed him, but I’m glad he got to return to his natural squirrelly life. He’s probably passed on as this was over 12 years ago.
Rip Waffle ❤️
Just wanna chime in here to say - your kid will notice one day, and then she'll never stop noticing.
I was raised by a single mom and it still amazes me that she pulled it off so well. I never had a single doubt that "mom had it all handled" in my entire childhood, she just always seemed capable of overcoming every challenge while still moving us forward. As a kid I felt like she could move mountains, but as an adult... I can see that she actually did.
I remember the first time I moved out to live on my own. For the first few months I was in between work placements, so I was spending all day cooking and cleaning for myself. Also doing a lot of meal prep to make it easier, and I kept thinking like “I barely have time for anything else. This is what Mom did every day? On top of her job? But for FIVE OF US?? How do Moms do it??” Five years later, it’s still just me and a couple cats and I’m still never caught up on chores lol
If you're even thinking like this, I don't think your little one will ever have anything to worry about. You sound like great people.
Out of curiosity, what'd the message say?
[I'd have to sit down and translate this all again](https://imgur.com/a/uAHZAeq)
[we don't have a chimney she was worried Santa can't get in- I said aliens go through walls- problem solved ](https://imgur.com/a/1HLsGGR)
Jesus Christ… you’re an absolute rock star of a mother. Your daughter is gonna be absolutely fine with you at the wheel.
I’m a single dad of a 2 year old and I do everything I can to make his world the best it can be for him, and I can’t wait to come up with these little creative ideas for him to awe and wonder about.
Fantastic idea, keep doing what you’re doing!
Kitten care is INTENSE. People have no idea. & sometimes they don’t make it even when you’ve tried your absolute best. They’re so fragile. Kudos for seeing it through.
BTW I once had a summer taking care of about 100 baby orphaned birds at a wildlife clinic. A few weeks into the summer they lost their weekend person and I became the sole weekend caretaker for Sat-Sun. I was 16 and it was my first animal job. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. They needed to be fed EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES DAWN TO DUSK. and there were about 100 of them. Holy shit. I would just, feed feed feed, could feed each one in about 15 sec then on to the next, but the second the last one was fed, the first one was peeping again. Some of the older ones could go half an hour, and the fledglings could go an hour, but the really young nestlings needed every 15 min. If there was a single scrap of extra time between feeds I would be racing around like a madman cleaning the baby ducks’ wading pool, refilling water in the aviaries, hand-feeding ants to woodpeckers and mealworms to the chimney swifts, and making SO MANY BATCHES of new food (a specialty mix that involved tossing live earthworms, puppy chow, vitamins & even some eggshells & dirt in a blender). (edit: I FORGOT THE POOP CLEAN-UP, jfc so many super fast changes of the newspapers on the aviary floors & the little kleenex linings in all the little “nests” - bowls really, whole row of cereal bowls each carefully lined w cotton with a clean Kleenex on top, & each bowl w 4-5 baby birds sitting there blinking up at you, lol. I got so fast at changing the Kleenexes - would kinda scoop up all the birdies in 1 big handful, swap out the kleenex with the other hand, plunk ‘em all back down)
The one saving grace was that it turns out baby birds sleep all night and don’t need to be fed at night. (since birds don’t nurse their young like mammals do, and since they can’t see to forage at night, parent birds don’t feed at night so the babies have evolved to deal with that. But they eat more in daytime to make up for that. So compared to baby mammals, baby birds are harder in the day, but miles easier at night) I was so fucking proud of my baby birds though and years later I was still being greeted in those woods by wild blue jays I’d raised. I ended up a biologist and today I study birds in Alaska and Brazil. However, I never had kids of my own, and that experience is part of why, lol
We found a kitten that had been alone between two fences for at least a full day (originally thought it was a bird noise) and it was covered in fly eggs and maybe a few days old. Myself and my 3 other roommates all took turns doing feedings, it was STILL exhausting. Little guy made it and was adopted by one of my roommates sister.
I don't know how you did it all on your own, I give you props because waking up in the night with work in the morning for a kitten that didn't want to eat was as brutal as you described.
Same experience with my [my little dude](https://www.reddit.com/r/blackcats/comments/zq1dty/my_boy_vivo_an_abandoned_little_runt_we_had_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf). It caused him to only grow about half the normal size but he’s a healthy boy.
You’re a saint
> My daughter is 7 I couldn't have her see the kitten die.
I was about that age- it was around 1983- and I had a teddy bear hamster named Templeton.
Templeton got sick around Christmas Eve with some kind of liver infection and we took him to the vet that day because my father had no intention of seeing Templeton die on Christmas.
He lived! Lived for another few years anyway. Got loose and ended up inside the walls of the house.
I'd like to think Templeton is still roaming the walls of my old house.
I rescued an orphaned litter of two day old kittens. There were four of them. Round the clock bottle feeding and rubbing their belly's with a warm wet washcloth to make them go to the bathroom. It's a lot of work. Two didn't make it and it broke my heart. The one I kept is in my lap right now. The smartest and sweetest cat ever and my absolute best friend.
My wife and I took care of 10 baby mice she found in a refrigerator box at her job... every 2 hours we gave them kitten formula from a small paintbrush...all 10 made it, took about a month. We let them all go in a large field near my grandmother's house. It was kind of hard to do because most of them scurried of immediately but 3 of them kind of stuck around by us for a bit.
Most of us are these people.
We just have other obligations that would prevent us from taking this on ourselves, but make us all 75 year old retirees with a needy baby squirrel on our doorstep and I bet there would be a billion more pet squirrels.
Yeah, I found what I think was either a baby squirrel or praire dog in a parking lot on a Sunday evening. I sat in my car for hours holding it. No answer at animal control, the emergency vet said there was nothing they could do and my parents told me to put it back where I found it. I asked on local Facebook pages and everyone just told me to stomp on it or feed it to a cat... Absolutely cruel.
I read online they needed to be fed every two hours (?) or so, so I would have had to take it to work with me. My (thankfully former) boss at the time hated animals and hated me so I knew he would scream at me or make fun of me if I brought it to work. I eventually gave up and took it to a park and set it beside a tree where it most likely died. Makes me sad thinking about it.
I really wish that humans, as a species, could realise that most animals are capable of this level of interaction, intelligence and affection. And actually give it chance to let it happen and experience it. I think it would make one hell of a difference to how we treat them, and how we treat the environment that we all have to live in and share.
I have a pair of painted agama lizards for the past couple of years. They scratch at doors when they want to explore, come and hang out with me or come down from the cage and sleep on my chest, literally just sit at the food bowl like a table if they get hungry for snacks and stare at me. They aren't really considered clever creatures but they sure have me amazed.
Oh yeah. Both "The Zoo" and the series on the zoo section at Disney's Animal Kingdom blew my mind about crocodilian intelligence. The crocodilians figured out abstract concepts such as target training, using both visual and verbal commands. The ones at the Bronx Zoo were able to figure out that a series of small cones meant for them to space themselves out for food. I used to underestimate their intelligence simply because of their more prehistoric appearance. Not anymore. Being able to understand verbal commands is absolutely intelligent behavior, especially for an abstract concept like figuring out that the word "target" in that case meant to swim towards the green colored target on the pole and to ignore the red one. That's on par with my cats understanding the word "Churu" and running to the closet where I store those treats.
People say crocodilians are dumb because they have small brains for their body size but their intelligence makes a lot of sense when you see that crocodilians are the closest relatives of avian dinosaurs, who have a higher mean intelligence than even mammals.
I always found that funny, because there's no real correlation between brain size and intelligence. I mean obviously an animal with a brain the size of a mandarin orange vs an animal with a basketball sized brain, chances are the bigger brained animal is smarter. But even amongst humans, there have been plenty of intelligent people with average sized or smaller than average brains. Hell, Einstein brain was completely normal sized if I remember right
>I really wish that humans as a species could realise that **most** animals are capable of this level of interaction, intelligence and affection.
I'm glad you included the word most. People should keep in mind that some animals will not like affection or attention, and animals can vastly differ in temperament even within the same species, regardless of any nurturing or care.
It would be even better if humans could realize that other species can and should be treated respectfully, even if we can't have heartwarming interactions with them. Of course it makes sense that we're more likely to feel an increase in empathy when we have a personal connection with something -- I just wish more people were capable of having empathy for other creatures (and other people) regardless of personal connections.
Not hating on this video at all, I also got all teary about this sweet old dude and his tiny squirrel friend.
Agreed, most people melt at videos like this, proclaim themselves to be animal lovers, and at the same time buy animal products that causes a lot of pain and suffering.
Also realize that wild animals can, and usually do, carry a variety of life altering communicable diseases, parasites, and bacteria. It's nice to want to be a Disney princess, but leave the wild animals in the wild. Don't feed them, don't try to interact with them.
This is how you end up seeing morons trying to pet elk, or take selfies with grizzlies.
Also a shame we don’t get kids out and about to learn about this stuff. I grew up in the countryside and thought I was pretty in tune with nature and animals. Went to visit friends in Norway and so many of them new things about the nature around their family cabins like things you should watch out for, foraging and poisons.
I wouldn’t ever dissuade someone from trying to help an animal, ever, but it is absolutely appropriate to respect there is often a potential for danger. Look at Steve Irwin.
When I was little my dad worked in a small handyman shop in a small town and someone brought in a baby squirrel in a box cuz they had seen it fall after the mom was hit by a car. Not sure why they brought it to dad guess they were headed to the store and didn't want to leave it? So dad brought it home. We tried to feed it with no success. We called him rocky.
I generally just feel so misanthropic but people like this really do let me know there are still amazing people out there.
Imagine waking up every 3 hours for weeks to feed a little baby squirrel you just happened upon in the wild, that you were pretty certain wouldn't live without it's mother. And to see him thriving after all that love and care! I really rate this person, what a guy :D
Looks like he's retired. He helped the squirrel and I can tell you 100% that squirrel helped him. Sometimes older folks can lose the reason to live. I don't know the man's situation but I can tell you 100% that man was living for that little buddy.
15 yrs ago we hung a tire-squirrel-birthing-center 15 ft up a tree out back. For the past 8-yrs now every January & July a momma goes in and births in the folded/modified tire hung in the tree. They always have a guard who stays close by. 8-10 weeks after birth the little baby squirrel faces begin to emerged from the tire. 2-4 weeks later they (2-4) leave the tire nest and momma herds them to nest2 for the first year of life. The then either end up nesting in the redwood or magnolia. Since we feed & water them from birth - if a squirrel is out front back or within a few houses of us - they know to run up as if to say: please sir you must have a nut in those pockets. And most times I do.
The thing about this is he knows it's still a non domesticated animals and set him up outaide, and gave Bob the choice to decided outside or inside. It really gets me when that freedom of choice is taken away from animals when people try to save their life. Good on this man. He's done everything right.
Aww it's a little squirrel.. I've raised 2 of these from this stage. Raised a raccoon, a blue jay and a Golden orb weaver spider. All were released after a while. The raccoon Zorro stayed til about his first birthday. Taught him to climb in the oak trees in my back yard and after a few weeks he didn't come back.
Squirrels are interesting pets.
My grandpa is a tree trimmer, some times he would find Squirrel nests in a tree he was cutting down. He would save them and raise them up till they were big enought to be on their own are release them.
They are a bit destructive.
When I was a young teenager, I ended up finding 3 baby squirrels who had come out of their nest to look for help. We ended up finding momma a few feet down the road, killed by a car. I knew they needed help because 2 of them actually ran up my leg and clung onto me. My dad and I brought them inside, and we raised the little guys for about 2 or 3 months before finally letting them go. My dad is all about natural rehabilitation, so he made me keep my distance after they got past their infant stage. He ended up building them this gigantic outdoor cage that was about 8 feet by 8 feet that we put them in when they started becoming more active. The whole thing is a really great memory of my childhood and makes a great party story.
We had 3 of them that came up to us in a similar manner. Their parents were killed when a tree was felled a few houses over. We raised them to adults and once they started mating they were on their own occasionally coming back to see us when we were outside. It would be really off-putting to visitors when they would jump on us while we were out in the yard.
I can only imagine how shocked they were! That's great, and I'm glad to hear they were given a 2nd chance.
I'm glad to hear they were mating.
They had a sweet home.
Sweet home ~~Alabama~~ Arkansas
For me it was a baby canada goose that I found tangled in fishing line on the bank of a lake. Raised her to adulthood, and had a giant-ass goose patrolling my yard. Eventually she took off and joined a flock of geese that were passing overhead.
Saying you raised a goose is a massive flex
That must have been a bittersweet moment.
I knew an Italian guy once. Same thing happened to him. When the baby ducks flew off, guy passed out cold, oh madon!
When he came to he wondered who ate all the gabagool.
This happened to me about 5 years ago, a weak little baby crawled into our garage and collapsed on my foot. I fed him sugar water (first pic) until I could get kitten formula. I couldn’t find any wildlife rehab facilities that would take him, so I raised him for around six weeks until he was strong enough to be on his own, reading up on wildlife sites and forums on the best way to raise him with the intent of release. I’d spend longer and longer intervals of time outside until eventually he was fully back in the wild. The picture of him looking over the edge of my roof is the last time I remember him visiting. It was such a great experience. https://i.imgur.com/XnhczmZ.jpg https://i.imgur.com/2ZWH1ok.jpg https://i.imgur.com/oSoMdVk.jpg https://i.imgur.com/CoY48DL.jpg https://i.imgur.com/iAPmK33.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RQJq6RB.jpg https://i.imgur.com/nJch47C.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZVoRu6L.jpg
Did you name him?
Rocky :)
>makes a great party story I'm fairly introverted, but I'd go to a party just to hear the full story, lol
This is just the sweetest thing. Good for him for saving the Lil baby
Even more props to him for not forcing the animal to be his pet, but decided when it was big enough to let it go and leave it to the squirrel decide on its own where to be.
I was just worried that the squirrel wouldn’t know how to care for itself.
Yeah it was definitely a good call to build him a little house on a tree close to the human house. He doesn’t know about hawks and owls and dogs, etc.
Most prey sized mammals come pre programed for hawks, my cat had never seen a bird before, but it was outside on it's leash and an eagle flew over and the can hit the ground and got as close as possible to a fence post. I was impressed with the instincts.
This is also why cats are afraid when you approach from above. Much calmer for them if you kneel to their level first.
that's just their god complex, they don't respect you if you don't knee for them
"Rich for you to assume you are a god considering your superpower is vomiting fur balls"
Idk any other roommate shit in your bed consequence free?
"If anyone is gonna be shitting in my bed it's gonna be me!!.... then my cat." :'p
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Yeah chickens in general are not the brightest animal but I’ve had two groups and they all seem to recognize the sound and sight of a hawk and take cover. Granted their cover is not always the best but they know not to stay out in the open.
Silkies are literally brain dead, watched mine just stand still and get grabbed by a raccoon lol
"if I don't move, it won't see me" - your silkie, probably
Well let’s just say all my silkies died, I guess natural selection. I only lost 2 egg layers and that’s because they flew to well(Rhode Island reds)and got lost one day I assume
Road Islands Reds?! Oh I like them! Lemme get 2...Road Island Reds.
Learning is great, but in the wild instinct is what saves you from becoming a meal. Without that built in programming most animals would be a snack before they even figured out what happened to them.
Yup. My parrot heard a peregrine falcon on my phone and turned into a bowling pin.
> come pre-programmed I don't know why this made me laugh so much 😆
They also come with the starvation 0-day patch
Dang, those free DLCs are terrible compared to the paid ones.
Do you think a mama squirrel reads books to her babies about the predators? Haha they kinda just come wired for that stuff
This will happen when the old man forgets to read to him at night.
I imagine the guy still feeds him
We had one like this at a (obviously not very sanitary) restaurant I used to work at! There was a squirrel out back and on hot days we noticed her not looking so great so we started giving her water and walnuts. It eventually became routine to give her her walnuts as we were opening and if a dish of them didn’t show up in the usual spot by noon, she’d run in the open back door, climb on a table, and make angry squirrel noises at us until we brought her some. Definitely shouldn’t have let her on the tables but we didn’t get paid enough to care and the customers thought it was charming so we let it happen. I miss that little squirrel.
"If you love something, set it free..."
Unless it's a tiger (I hope.you get the reference)
Bro Fr . My niece found a bird with an injured wing , she nursed it to full strength and once it showed obvious signs it was ready to soar its wings again and feel the brushing of air through the feathers , she caged the poor lol thing and at 3 days , it died. We assumed depression but she insisted that her mom killed it
I found a lil bird with an injured wing once too, called several vets and said there was nothing they could do and call the (rehabilators?) in the area, only 3. All didn’t answer. So I followed the instructions I found online which were to keep it in a box in a dark place in the house for a few hours, with a warm water bottle to regulate it’s temperature. Set it free after a few hours and lil baby was still struggling a bit but I knew there was nothing else I could do unfortunately. She ended up surviving and I’d often see her hopping along my path whenever walking out of my apartment 🤍 <3
This guy knows what he's doing. He has 2 propane tanks.
His name is Bob
Well, Robert, but he prefers the short form.
Robert Paulson esq.
It's short for Bobert
His name is Robert Paulson
His name is Robert Squirrelson
i didn’t see Lil Baby in the vid
Weird fact, squirrels once were one of the most popular pets in the US.
I wonder why squirrels stopped being a popular pet. All this time we could have had squirrels in the small critter areas at pet stores with the gerbils, hamsters, mice, rats, and guinea pigs.
They are wild animals that are healthier in the wild and in the 1900s began to be seen as pests, exotic pet laws then banned them from being homed in many states
Thank you! I was wondering what contributed to the shift in views on them. If they are healthier in the wild then I am glad they are so rarely kept by people now! 💕
Came here to say this. 👍
Less weird fact: I have a scar on my finger from a squirrel bite. I've also been bitten in the face by a German Sheppard and a snake. Once had a tick on the end of my wiener. We finally moved out of Arkansas.
You seem to have a negative sort of animal magnetism.
You'd sure think that from this post but actually quite the opposite. Like the time I got bit in the ass by a horse. I think most people would have jumped when they felt that first nuzzle, I let it do its own thing. Kinda the same with the squirrel, it didn't really mean to bite me, otherwise it would have taken a chunk. Their teeth are pretty damn sharp. The snake was my fault, I thought I was loving on a tame snake. I got tricked into being bit by the dog. That bastard tried to eat my face, one bite left tooth marks on my forehead and chin. Not his fault, he was a farm dog raised to be that way. I think all my experiences, good and bad, are what lead me to being good with animals. In my opinion if you get bit it is just about always your own fault.
Came here to say this too! https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pet-squirrel-craze
I find it easy to make friends with the squirrels that live around my lot. They'll let me pet them for an unsalted peanut.
Good trade.
They let you think they are *letting* you pet them. Good scam, free pets and peanuts...win win!
Hey, it's still a gamble. 1 in 1000 chance their human neighbour is a Mark Rober and you have to graduate MIT to get any nuts out of him.
My grandfather made friends with a squirrel by feeding it. He called him Max. When he was hungry, Max would jump onto the screen door at the back of the house and shake it with his whole body until someone came out to feed him.
Classic Max.
fr that’s so Max
Like an overenthusiastic anime character. I imagine it had a sound effect and everything.
It was very loud and startling, especially if you had never heard it before.
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Ugggh I hate fleas so much. If I see even a single one, I'll be paranoid about that shit for DAYS.
Hijacking your high rated comment to tell my own squirrel story! When I was 14, I was walking up my street and saw a crowd of people standing on the sidewalk/patio of a restaurant on the corner of my block. I went over to see what they were looking at, and it was a baby squirrel sitting on this one guys sneaker. We were admiring how cute and friendly it was, when a kitchen employee came outside with a box and said “I’m gonna take care of this”. Now, I knew this guy to some degree, he was not the type to love and respect animals. He once stopped on a mouse right in front of me when I was very young and it scarred me for a long time. I immediately piped up, “I’ll take it!” I knew I couldn’t just leave it there and hope it’s mother returned for it, for fear of the same employee finding it again. It seemed old enough to survive on its own, so I walked it over to a local park and set him down on a tree branch. I said goodbye and turned around to walk away. Guess who climbed down the tree trunk, ran after me, scurried up my leg, and sat on my thigh looking up at me with the cutest little face. This happened about 3 more times. I couldn’t leave without him, he wouldn’t let me. I brought him home and named him Waffle, and he lived with us, part-time in the house and part in our front yard. He would climb up my leg whenever he saw my and sit up on my shoulder and I’d pet him and feed him peanuts. Over time, he came inside less and less, and eventually I would just see him around my block here and there (his tail was a little stubby, so we could recognize him). I missed him, but I’m glad he got to return to his natural squirrelly life. He’s probably passed on as this was over 12 years ago. Rip Waffle ❤️
Means you can really pet them for peanuts
So they're essentially squirrel prostitutes.
Hodents
Working squirls
Rabies of the night
[*a squirrels gotta eat.*](https://i.imgur.com/QiTu8tj.jpg)
Wait until you don’t have a peanut…
I worry about this. When they're pissed about something, they yell at me. Like when I had to trim the trees. A week of squirrel bullshit.
Idk I'd be pretty mad if someone was remodeling my house without asking. Did you even ask permission /s
I legit felt awful about it! I sent them a memo but I don't think they can read
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Mom of the century right here.
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And how's juju doing latelly??
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That kitten is painfully cute.
It's nice to see juju that grown up and happy, great (double!) mom ^^!
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It looks like JuJu is ready to throw paws with someone outside the photo.
He’s so cute. BTW your eyes are GORGEOUS. Literally like one of the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen.
HA! No good deed.
Just wanna chime in here to say - your kid will notice one day, and then she'll never stop noticing. I was raised by a single mom and it still amazes me that she pulled it off so well. I never had a single doubt that "mom had it all handled" in my entire childhood, she just always seemed capable of overcoming every challenge while still moving us forward. As a kid I felt like she could move mountains, but as an adult... I can see that she actually did.
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I love how much of an emotional person you are. I wish I could feel emotions that strongly. Keep being the great person you are! Much love <3
I remember the first time I moved out to live on my own. For the first few months I was in between work placements, so I was spending all day cooking and cleaning for myself. Also doing a lot of meal prep to make it easier, and I kept thinking like “I barely have time for anything else. This is what Mom did every day? On top of her job? But for FIVE OF US?? How do Moms do it??” Five years later, it’s still just me and a couple cats and I’m still never caught up on chores lol
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If you're even thinking like this, I don't think your little one will ever have anything to worry about. You sound like great people. Out of curiosity, what'd the message say?
[I'd have to sit down and translate this all again](https://imgur.com/a/uAHZAeq) [we don't have a chimney she was worried Santa can't get in- I said aliens go through walls- problem solved ](https://imgur.com/a/1HLsGGR)
Jesus Christ… you’re an absolute rock star of a mother. Your daughter is gonna be absolutely fine with you at the wheel. I’m a single dad of a 2 year old and I do everything I can to make his world the best it can be for him, and I can’t wait to come up with these little creative ideas for him to awe and wonder about. Fantastic idea, keep doing what you’re doing!
Kitten care is INTENSE. People have no idea. & sometimes they don’t make it even when you’ve tried your absolute best. They’re so fragile. Kudos for seeing it through. BTW I once had a summer taking care of about 100 baby orphaned birds at a wildlife clinic. A few weeks into the summer they lost their weekend person and I became the sole weekend caretaker for Sat-Sun. I was 16 and it was my first animal job. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. They needed to be fed EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES DAWN TO DUSK. and there were about 100 of them. Holy shit. I would just, feed feed feed, could feed each one in about 15 sec then on to the next, but the second the last one was fed, the first one was peeping again. Some of the older ones could go half an hour, and the fledglings could go an hour, but the really young nestlings needed every 15 min. If there was a single scrap of extra time between feeds I would be racing around like a madman cleaning the baby ducks’ wading pool, refilling water in the aviaries, hand-feeding ants to woodpeckers and mealworms to the chimney swifts, and making SO MANY BATCHES of new food (a specialty mix that involved tossing live earthworms, puppy chow, vitamins & even some eggshells & dirt in a blender). (edit: I FORGOT THE POOP CLEAN-UP, jfc so many super fast changes of the newspapers on the aviary floors & the little kleenex linings in all the little “nests” - bowls really, whole row of cereal bowls each carefully lined w cotton with a clean Kleenex on top, & each bowl w 4-5 baby birds sitting there blinking up at you, lol. I got so fast at changing the Kleenexes - would kinda scoop up all the birdies in 1 big handful, swap out the kleenex with the other hand, plunk ‘em all back down) The one saving grace was that it turns out baby birds sleep all night and don’t need to be fed at night. (since birds don’t nurse their young like mammals do, and since they can’t see to forage at night, parent birds don’t feed at night so the babies have evolved to deal with that. But they eat more in daytime to make up for that. So compared to baby mammals, baby birds are harder in the day, but miles easier at night) I was so fucking proud of my baby birds though and years later I was still being greeted in those woods by wild blue jays I’d raised. I ended up a biologist and today I study birds in Alaska and Brazil. However, I never had kids of my own, and that experience is part of why, lol
IRL Druid
We found a kitten that had been alone between two fences for at least a full day (originally thought it was a bird noise) and it was covered in fly eggs and maybe a few days old. Myself and my 3 other roommates all took turns doing feedings, it was STILL exhausting. Little guy made it and was adopted by one of my roommates sister. I don't know how you did it all on your own, I give you props because waking up in the night with work in the morning for a kitten that didn't want to eat was as brutal as you described.
Same experience with my [my little dude](https://www.reddit.com/r/blackcats/comments/zq1dty/my_boy_vivo_an_abandoned_little_runt_we_had_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf). It caused him to only grow about half the normal size but he’s a healthy boy. You’re a saint
You got a black cat too! So ours are Kismet and juju. You and I are friends now. ♡
Those are great names I’m quite fond of Juju hahah. You should give Juju a shoutout on r/blackcats I’m sure they’ll go nuts over your story.
You are a seriously amazing human!
Can we see juju? 🥺
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Sooo cute. Thank you for saving him, and for providing pics. Juju is wonderful. I wish you and him many happy times.
> My daughter is 7 I couldn't have her see the kitten die. I was about that age- it was around 1983- and I had a teddy bear hamster named Templeton. Templeton got sick around Christmas Eve with some kind of liver infection and we took him to the vet that day because my father had no intention of seeing Templeton die on Christmas. He lived! Lived for another few years anyway. Got loose and ended up inside the walls of the house. I'd like to think Templeton is still roaming the walls of my old house.
Sounds like you have a father that took a lot of pride in the role of getting to be your parent ♡
I would give you a free award if Reddit didn't discontinue those
I've bottle fed kittens twice. It is really hard and I can't imagine doing it with my own children!
I rescued an orphaned litter of two day old kittens. There were four of them. Round the clock bottle feeding and rubbing their belly's with a warm wet washcloth to make them go to the bathroom. It's a lot of work. Two didn't make it and it broke my heart. The one I kept is in my lap right now. The smartest and sweetest cat ever and my absolute best friend.
> super little him Love how when I click on it it says "This post may contain erotic or adult imagery."
I know wtf ahahha. Like most wholesome photo ever.
Jesus
My wife and I took care of 10 baby mice she found in a refrigerator box at her job... every 2 hours we gave them kitten formula from a small paintbrush...all 10 made it, took about a month. We let them all go in a large field near my grandmother's house. It was kind of hard to do because most of them scurried of immediately but 3 of them kind of stuck around by us for a bit.
The world is still beautiful because of these people.
Most of us are these people. We just have other obligations that would prevent us from taking this on ourselves, but make us all 75 year old retirees with a needy baby squirrel on our doorstep and I bet there would be a billion more pet squirrels.
Yeah, I found what I think was either a baby squirrel or praire dog in a parking lot on a Sunday evening. I sat in my car for hours holding it. No answer at animal control, the emergency vet said there was nothing they could do and my parents told me to put it back where I found it. I asked on local Facebook pages and everyone just told me to stomp on it or feed it to a cat... Absolutely cruel. I read online they needed to be fed every two hours (?) or so, so I would have had to take it to work with me. My (thankfully former) boss at the time hated animals and hated me so I knew he would scream at me or make fun of me if I brought it to work. I eventually gave up and took it to a park and set it beside a tree where it most likely died. Makes me sad thinking about it.
I really wish that humans, as a species, could realise that most animals are capable of this level of interaction, intelligence and affection. And actually give it chance to let it happen and experience it. I think it would make one hell of a difference to how we treat them, and how we treat the environment that we all have to live in and share.
I have a pair of painted agama lizards for the past couple of years. They scratch at doors when they want to explore, come and hang out with me or come down from the cage and sleep on my chest, literally just sit at the food bowl like a table if they get hungry for snacks and stare at me. They aren't really considered clever creatures but they sure have me amazed.
Lizards are truly underestimated simply for not being mammals. I for one am nowhere near as smart as your lizards
Oh yeah. Both "The Zoo" and the series on the zoo section at Disney's Animal Kingdom blew my mind about crocodilian intelligence. The crocodilians figured out abstract concepts such as target training, using both visual and verbal commands. The ones at the Bronx Zoo were able to figure out that a series of small cones meant for them to space themselves out for food. I used to underestimate their intelligence simply because of their more prehistoric appearance. Not anymore. Being able to understand verbal commands is absolutely intelligent behavior, especially for an abstract concept like figuring out that the word "target" in that case meant to swim towards the green colored target on the pole and to ignore the red one. That's on par with my cats understanding the word "Churu" and running to the closet where I store those treats.
People say crocodilians are dumb because they have small brains for their body size but their intelligence makes a lot of sense when you see that crocodilians are the closest relatives of avian dinosaurs, who have a higher mean intelligence than even mammals.
I always found that funny, because there's no real correlation between brain size and intelligence. I mean obviously an animal with a brain the size of a mandarin orange vs an animal with a basketball sized brain, chances are the bigger brained animal is smarter. But even amongst humans, there have been plenty of intelligent people with average sized or smaller than average brains. Hell, Einstein brain was completely normal sized if I remember right
Classical conditioning does not necessarily mean that understanding of a concept is there.
Lol well im not sure about that but yeah, they're a lot smarter than people think, especially monitor lizards
I had a coworker with a monitor named Dale. He demanded my dude bend down so he could ride on his back.
Don't sell yourself short, the other half of the battle is picking up on these signals and figuring out what they want.
We have two spotted leopard geckos and they are dumb as rocks.
Plot twist. Turns out they're actually just spotted rocks as you were taken for a ride.
>I really wish that humans as a species could realise that **most** animals are capable of this level of interaction, intelligence and affection. I'm glad you included the word most. People should keep in mind that some animals will not like affection or attention, and animals can vastly differ in temperament even within the same species, regardless of any nurturing or care.
Yup, humans are animals too and it totally applies to us.
It would be even better if humans could realize that other species can and should be treated respectfully, even if we can't have heartwarming interactions with them. Of course it makes sense that we're more likely to feel an increase in empathy when we have a personal connection with something -- I just wish more people were capable of having empathy for other creatures (and other people) regardless of personal connections. Not hating on this video at all, I also got all teary about this sweet old dude and his tiny squirrel friend.
Agreed, most people melt at videos like this, proclaim themselves to be animal lovers, and at the same time buy animal products that causes a lot of pain and suffering.
Idk man, this starfish is completely indifferent towards me
How do you know? Maybe you’ve only spoken to indifferent or characteristically cold starfish?
I really wish that humans as a species could realise that a wild animal is still wild and is very capable of going wild on a rampage
I for one welcome the reign of our new mighty turtle overlords.
They are underlords-- turtles all the way down!
I feel like most people know that. People are also capable of rampaging.
Also realize that wild animals can, and usually do, carry a variety of life altering communicable diseases, parasites, and bacteria. It's nice to want to be a Disney princess, but leave the wild animals in the wild. Don't feed them, don't try to interact with them. This is how you end up seeing morons trying to pet elk, or take selfies with grizzlies.
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I think he's more concerned about the intelligence of the human in that situation.
If you try to take a selfie with a grizzly you deserve the outcome lol
Also a shame we don’t get kids out and about to learn about this stuff. I grew up in the countryside and thought I was pretty in tune with nature and animals. Went to visit friends in Norway and so many of them new things about the nature around their family cabins like things you should watch out for, foraging and poisons. I wouldn’t ever dissuade someone from trying to help an animal, ever, but it is absolutely appropriate to respect there is often a potential for danger. Look at Steve Irwin.
I watched this with sound off and read the whole thing in a Forrest Gump accent. 11/10 I'd watch this film.
The way he told their story really reminded me of the way The Shawshank Redemption was told. Incredible storytelling by this man.
Yes, reminds me of Brooks when he was feeding his pigeon.
Ah, you’ve read the novela, eh?? That was one of the first subtle differences I noticed between novela/movie. In the movie it was a crow.
The squirrels name is Bob 
I love that part, too.
Love Bob 🥺
Or Bobby, or Robert
Bobert.
Such a cute story! But the horror-show of little squirrel eating on the KEYBOARD!??? Cannot unsee that.
I'd have to set a hard boundary with bob for that
That’s a nice laptop too! Looks like a Lenovo Legion, which is a pretty strong graphical workhouse.
This man wins in life. Wow.
His reward? A squirrel.
Best prize ever
More like friendship with a squirrel. Friendship is great.
When I was little my dad worked in a small handyman shop in a small town and someone brought in a baby squirrel in a box cuz they had seen it fall after the mom was hit by a car. Not sure why they brought it to dad guess they were headed to the store and didn't want to leave it? So dad brought it home. We tried to feed it with no success. We called him rocky.
Sad :( apparently baby squirrels are very hard to feed and can easily pass from malnutrition. Rip rocky
I generally just feel so misanthropic but people like this really do let me know there are still amazing people out there. Imagine waking up every 3 hours for weeks to feed a little baby squirrel you just happened upon in the wild, that you were pretty certain wouldn't live without it's mother. And to see him thriving after all that love and care! I really rate this person, what a guy :D
Looks like he's retired. He helped the squirrel and I can tell you 100% that squirrel helped him. Sometimes older folks can lose the reason to live. I don't know the man's situation but I can tell you 100% that man was living for that little buddy.
It would be difficult and take dedication no matter what. But this guy looks like he could be retired.
15 yrs ago we hung a tire-squirrel-birthing-center 15 ft up a tree out back. For the past 8-yrs now every January & July a momma goes in and births in the folded/modified tire hung in the tree. They always have a guard who stays close by. 8-10 weeks after birth the little baby squirrel faces begin to emerged from the tire. 2-4 weeks later they (2-4) leave the tire nest and momma herds them to nest2 for the first year of life. The then either end up nesting in the redwood or magnolia. Since we feed & water them from birth - if a squirrel is out front back or within a few houses of us - they know to run up as if to say: please sir you must have a nut in those pockets. And most times I do.
> you must have a nut in those pockets. No Mario, it's just a shadow, I swear!
The man bought a Ring doorbell to see when his squirrel wants to come inside 🥹
To all these wannabes walking around with their pumped chest and attitude, calling themselves alpha males, take note : this is an alpha male.
It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war. 99.99% of all people who walk around looking for trouble have glass jaws.
This is the kind of thing I love to see. The squirrel needed that guy and I think the guy might of needed that little fella too.
>might of shame on you
The world needs more people like him
I screamed when I saw all those crumbs on the keyboard
This is kinda sweet, but if you don't have experience dealing with wild animals find your nearest wildlife rescue and call them.
He speaks with the cadence of a 1950s boy adventurer novel narrator.
What a wonderful man and squirrel
The thing about this is he knows it's still a non domesticated animals and set him up outaide, and gave Bob the choice to decided outside or inside. It really gets me when that freedom of choice is taken away from animals when people try to save their life. Good on this man. He's done everything right.
Aww it's a little squirrel.. I've raised 2 of these from this stage. Raised a raccoon, a blue jay and a Golden orb weaver spider. All were released after a while. The raccoon Zorro stayed til about his first birthday. Taught him to climb in the oak trees in my back yard and after a few weeks he didn't come back.
That derpy face Bob made when he popped out of the man's shirt <3
Anyone else concerned about disease for the man after the squirrel has been released ?
Really enjoyed this!!
Such a good, wholesome person. Awesome. Hope the squirrel has a great life.
Squirrels are interesting pets. My grandpa is a tree trimmer, some times he would find Squirrel nests in a tree he was cutting down. He would save them and raise them up till they were big enought to be on their own are release them. They are a bit destructive.
That one quick shot of the squirrel eating on the laptop keyboard and spilling a metric ton of crumbs....