I have rescued a couple dogs in my short life, and they were both wonderful experiences. But rescuing took on a whole new meaning when a little tree squirrel came into my life. When we found the baby squirrel, we found a squirrel rehabilitator that gave us a lot of information on how to rehab the baby. Unfortunately, Casey died of pneumonia a few days later, a result of the severe storm that we found him in. I was completely heartbroken. I loved him to death. When we heard the popping noise when he was breathing, my mom took him to the vet because I had class and I had to work. He died in the vet's office.
A few days later, my boyfriend Shane (who had found Casey) said he had a surprise for me. He had me close my eyes and open my hands. I felt a tiny little thing in my hands, and when I looked down there was a tiny little baby flying squirrel. He told me that some kids brought it to the vet because they saw it fall out of a tree, hit a roof, then roll off the roof onto the concrete. Luckily, she only had a small cut on her nose from the fall. They remembered we had the other squirrel and called us.
So that's how we got Luna. We named her that because flying squirrels are nocturnal, and luna means moon in spanish.
We had the little angel for no more than a week before another baby flying squirrel...this one a little older...also came into our possesion, this time from our vet's sister clinic. We had to feed them out of tiny 1, then 10 cc syringes (needles removed and replaced with tiny nipples, of course) and kept in a box with a heating blanket. After a while, their eyes opened, their fur grew in thicker, and their tails started to grow. When they were old enough to not need a heating pad to keep warm, I would wear a tank top with a shelf bra and keep them in my shirt so they could "bond" with me by being next to my skin and close to my heart. I actually worked at my college with a hearing impaired student at the time, and since I only had to work 3 hrs, I brought them in with me once. It was really funny when the teacher turned around right as I dropped a Cheerio down my shirt. I'm sure he's never seen that happen in the classroom before!!
Luna and Lana were absolutely adorable. I got them a huge cage with lots of branches and things to play on, and let them out to play with me. They would run all over me and jump from their cage over to me, learning to glide. When they were finally old enough, we took them to my grandparent's trailer park where there were lots and lots of oak trees, which is where southern flying squirrels primarily live. We set them free at dusk, and it was the most amazing feeling to see them darting up and down branches and gliding from tree to tree, chirping and playing. I do miss them, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to raise them and set them free again. My grandfather says when he gets up early in the morning (around 4 am or so) and sits on the porch, he can hear them chirping. Since then I have rehabilitated a tree squirrel who, although free now, still hangs around my mom's house and comes to visit every once in a while. I can't wait for the next round of little baby squirrels to come so I can rehabilitate them too!