Raising Squirrels and Small Pets

Maybe you want a pet, maybe you don't, but you're looking into it and your search brings you here.

Small animals CAN be fun, rewarding and even therapeutic, but if your expectations are unreasonable and your understanding ABOUT those animals is lacking, then getting pets can be a real pain.

Wrong reasons for acquiring pets include 'my snooty friend has one', 'all the KEWL PEOPLE have one' and 'ooh, they're SO CUTE!'

Right reasons for bringing a small pet into your life include companionship, a desire to GIVE to the animal (give a home, give shelter, give a LIFE to it), and a true admiration for the beauty of the animal in and of itself as a creature of Nature, one which CAN be shaped and molded by interaction with a CARING human.

While Sable Squirrels and Tri-Colors are noticeably more intelligent than hamsters and white mice, that very intelligence CAN make them a bit unruly or unpredictable IF you don't take care to train them correctly.

Teacup Chihuahuas are frequently non-breeders in today's world, because the pelvis of the female is too small to allow birthing of the pup, and not every owner wants to spend the price of the dog on a veterinarian's fee for delivering the pup(s) Caesarean! Take this into account when considering Teacups as pets.

The corollary to this is that IF you do acquire a Teacup Chihuahua, it can be your friend and companion for a few years, but will probably pass on without having ANY offspring.

Having located a source for either a trainable squirrel or a tiny chihuahua, ASK how they will be transported to YOUR part of the world.

Since pups up to 70 days (often more) are protected by their mother's antibodies, it is not a good idea to have pups inoculated prior to age 3 months, even if they're coming in from reputable suppliers overseas.

Likewise, find a supplier who will pack both dogs (and squirrels) with enough non-splashing water to last the flight AND enough chow to more than tide them, even in case of unscheduled waits (which, despite our computerized world of air-cargo today, DO HAPPEN sometimes).

Take care to ascertain that your provider will prepare, pack, and enplane your precious pets correctly AND send them to you ONLY on DIRECT flights. Teacups are NOT fond of the ascents and descents, the going-up and coming-down, so once each is the maximum they should endure on their flight.

It should be noted, however, that Pomeranians are very hardy animals which, with appropriate preparation, can endure LONG air flights to or from virtually any place in the world, even if the trip is 36 hours or longer. (That same 36-hour trip would deliver to you Teacups close to requiring canine ICU, if they survived at all!)

You can let your Teacup live a life of luxury when once you've collected it from air-cargo if you've chosen your supplier well. There is usually little or no wait in quarantine these days, as animals are inoculated, chipped with an R/F chip that has full legal-medical history for that animal; AND they are documented from the country of origin in accordance with all applicable laws.

Now, if you're willing to be gentle and patient, you can set up an acclimatizing habitat for your squirrel(s) or a home space for your Teacup.

Basic considerations include safety, ventilation (must have AIR), ease of cleaning and ease of access.

For Sables and TriColor squirrels, the first training cage can have a gravity-vacuum water-bottle inside and some wood-chip filler spread across the floor, but you should be prepared to patiently hold your hand, your seed-filled hand, inside and unmoving for up to 20 minutes at a time so the squirrel can quickly become acclimatized to your smell AND to YOUR HAND bringing FOOD, glorious FOOD!

I'll defer to other lenses (or to a planned follow-up to this lense) for tips and techniques on training animals, as that IS a story in and of itself.

If you offer your food-filled hand to your new squirrel, in a nearly unmoving, un-threatening manner, it should be eating from your hand in short order. (They do so here, for me and my sons!)

With Teacups, care must be taken to provide your animal with food (