A recap of the story, which was posted here on my blog and even more detail here, on the Squirrel Board, is that the two vision impaired babies had lost their mother and were now suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. They had been forced to leave the nest prematurely to search for food. They were just beginning eat solid food, but were not yet ready to be weaned. Since they couldn't see, they would have been easy prey for any predator that happened to see them. Not on my watch!

It took 2 days to catch them both, but I did. They ate and drank water, and then seemed totally content to curl up and sleep in the nest of clean rags we'd stuffed in the back of the box. After some observation and net research (Squirrel 101), I decided that these guys needed some dedicated TLC - so I looked for a professional animal rehab.

I was happy to find Operation Wildlife, which is in Linwood Kansas, about a 30 minute drive for me from Gardner. Their website is http://www.owl-online.org/

Donate to Operation Wild Life:

When I first saw that web address, I thought maybe it was a BIRD sanctuary only, because of the OWL in the name - but not so at all. OWL coincidentally, stands for the facility name , Operation Wild Life. OWL assured me they knew just what to do and said they'd take them. Over the past three weeks they have been in the rehab hospital.

I asked if I could bring them back here when the time came for their release, and they said OK. When I brought them back, OWL gave them to me in a box, which was made to hang in a tree and be their nest. I had taken in 2 squirrels, but they were rehabbed with another of the approximate same age, so I took 2 in and brought 3 home.

I got a ladder out and hung the thing up in a tree in the edge of our backyard. I will probably climb up there again soon and secure it a little better, but it seems to be OK for now.

Left - As I finished with the hanging, one of the little guys looks out at me. He was actually pretty irritated with the ride in the box up the ladder. After I hung the box, I went up to the house and watched from the porch. For more than an hour, one squirrel sat and stared out the hole. After a while a second head poked out and they began thinking about getting out of the box.

In the first sequence below, you see the first squirrel figure out how to climb out of the box and on to freedom.

Below - is a sequence of images I took with a still camera and then put them in a video sequence. I had a telephoto lens so I could shoot from a distance but didn't use a tripod, so it's jerky - but still fun to watch if you like squirrels!
When you first push play, it may take a second for it to start moving...please wait

I watched for a lot longer. The guy who had come out, started exploring the tree, one branch at a time. He'd go out six feet and then run back to the box to make sure it was still there , then he'd go out 12 feet and run back to the box, and then 20 and back... and so on. I sat the camera down and began watching the box again for #2 to come out for the first time. He just sat there though, poking his head out with a forlorn look.

But number 2 still never came out. At that point I decided to do an improvement. I added a piece of thick rope for them to use as a ladder to the roof of the house.

But the little guy still wouldn't come out. I thought, well if his brother would return and show him the way, he'd come on out... and brother did come back - which is the next video sequence.

After some time passed from my disruption, he poked his head out again, but still wouldn't come out. The first one though, was having a grand time expolring the tree. He continued the earlier pattern of going farther and farther out but always returning back to the box.

Here he is exploring up in the tip top of the tree. A few minutes after that shot, I stopped watching him and returned my attention to the box. About that time I heard some noise and bam! - the first squirrell had fallen out of the tree. He took about 30 foot fall and made a big thud as he hit the ground. It only took a split second for instinct to kicj in and he scrambled straight back over to the tree trunk and climbed back upwards. He went straight up to the box and then sat in the fork just above.

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You could tell he was shaken, and I worried that he'd sustained injuries from the fall. I thought maybe he'd go inside the box again and rest a while but he didn't. After about 5 minutes, he began his explorations again, unfettered by the experience.

Then, a large squirrel enters the area and immediately looks up at the strange new object hanging in the tree.

He stares at it a while and moves in for a closer look.

This is as close as he ever got. He wanted a closer look but didn't seem to want to touch the foriegn object...

Meanwhile, the little explorer was still out and watching the larger squirel from a near, but safe distance the whole time. He climbs up and onto the box -that is not so strange to him. He wants to check out the stranger... and does...

but he does not get the Welcome Wagon! The big squirrel gets aggressive and makes the little one cry out - but he does a good job of escaping. The big guy then decides to move on ( after I walk out a little closer and wave my arms at him).

The other 2 never did come out that first day. I was a bit worried that #1 wasn't going to go back in the box. I shined the spotlight out there after dark and he was still sitting nonchalantly on top of the box. He finally must of went in though.

Late the next afternoon was the first time I was able to confirm there were indeed three squirrels in that box. I'd begun to wonder. I had never seen more than two at a time outside the box, but late in the day I finally did see all three of them at the same time. They are going in and out of the box and it is definitely their new nest and home base. I can see them out the window from my office desk every day.

I think everything's going to be allright!