Coast & Canyon Wildlife Rehabilitation

Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!!! The Coast and Canyon Wildlife Squirrels love you!

My babies! Came in when they were about 10 days old and I have to let them go to face the world. look down to the April 5 pic.

Ahh!!! The good life.

Two days ago a woman brought me this newborn baby desert cottontail with placenta attached. Baby bunnies are notoriously difficult to raise. So far this little one is eating and doing well.

The first baby ground squirrels of the season. Seven babies were removed from a homeowner’s ceiling. He put 3 holes in the ceiling locating them. Instead of anger, he tried to reunite with mom but after 36 hours he gave up and brought them to me. That’s one wonderful guy.

As a follow up to the discussion about bees loving the squirrel nest boxes, here I am removing one of the boxes taken over by the bees. I have several people who are happy to receive the hives and the boxes are usually filled with honey.

Released squirrels are still enjoying their nest boxes. In Southern California they generally prefer to live in their own nests. We watch them so the nest boxes can be retrieved as soon as the squirrels disperse since they are the honey bees favorite homes. You can’t convince me there’s a bee shortage with how many times I’ve had to take down boxes filled with bees.

Oh, no! We thought we might have a longer break than this. But baby squirrels arrived at the shelter yesterday.

Happy Squirrel Appreciation Day!!! (Douglas Squirrel) Douglas squirrels are pine squirrels commonly called Chickarees because of the sound they make. She’s actually quite small about 1/2 the size or less than the tree squirrels you are used to seeing.

Look what came in yesterday. The last intake of 2019. Baby desert cottontails.

It may not be squirrel season but that doesn’t mean other babies stop coming in. Here’s a baby deer mouse.

These ground squirrels matured too late to be released so they are overwintering at Casa Coast and Canyon. California Ground Squirrels go into a semi-hibernation in the winter. They have to be released early enough to create burrows and gather food for the winter even though we dont get much of a winter in Southern California.

Newly born squirrels are referred to as pinkies. You can tell they are squirrels because they have black toenails. I’m always amazed at how undeveloped their eyes are. Just black bumps. Everyday they develop more eventually forming eyelids. They grow fur and look like miniature squirrels before they are ready to open their eyes around 4 weeks old. One of our supporters Sara Kearns knitted these little nests for us. Thank you Sara.

This squirrel has defeated his foe in battle. Well done!

After a good meal, baby squirrels often go into what we lovingly call a food coma. That one little girl is so stretched out we couldn’t help but laugh. If you look at her belly you will notice the milk line. We often use this indicator in the pinkies to let us know when they have digested their food and are ready for another round.