The Squirrel Part II

Sorry to keep you hanging, but moving on the rest of the story...

Poor thing was covered in fleas, head to tail. We couldn't bring him in the house like that, I have a zoo in here to begin with, I don't want all of them to get fleas, too. So we decided that he was so feeble, he may not live anyway, so we may as well try to give him a little bath. So we did. We used puppy shampoo and luke warm water, careful not to get his little eyes wet. He loved it. He acted almost relieved. We didn't know what to feed him, where to put him, etc. So we had the smaller aquarium that we had used for the lizard when he was smaller, and it had a screen top. So we put him in that with some towels. We didn't even know if he'd make it through the night. Well, we got our answer the next morning. When we got up and went into the "bar room" which is were we put his little aquarium, he had wriggled out of his towels, and was screaming. And all 3 of our cats were up on the bar, looking at this little rat-looking thing, no doubt wondering how to get in there to eat him, and also how so much noise came from such a little guy. He had made it!

Now, at this point we didn't have a computer, much less internet. So we were clueless as to how to take care of a baby squirrel. So, off to the pet store went my husband. He came back with puppy formula and a syringe. He was told that we had to feed him this 4 times a day. Well, I was only a couple months pregnant at the time, and everything smelled bad to me, everything made me feel like hurling. Including the puppy formula. Nasty. But who ended up feeding the little guy most of the time? Me. Fighting my gag reflex the whole time. Well, this little guy was so sweet when he was little! After he got done eating, he wanted to root around under my arms, around the back of my head, etc. Anywhere he could get to. And he loved pockets. Therefore, I named him Root. Or Rooter-Pooter. It fit, and it stuck.

Well, I thought we would nurse him back to health, and eventually put him back out into the wild. My husband had other ideas. As he grew and grew, and got off the formula and on to other things, my husband built him a cage. It is about 6 feet tall, 3 feet deep, and has a little house and trees in it. Complete with leaves at the bottom. This cage is in the "bar room".

Problem.

Baby coming. Need the "bar room" to be changed to a nursery.

That's a story for another time.

But, Root does still live here with us, he is crazy as a bed-bug, the cats don't try to eat him anymore. He is still sweet when he wants to be. But he can be a devil! We let him run around his room sometimes, and in the living room, too. He doesn't break too much.

So that's how you have a pet squirrel in your house.

Yep, that's my life and I love every minute of it!