Sunday, February 27, 2011

Stewey


Stewey at about 5 weeks old
We nursed him with an eye dropper
Stewey now at about 1 1/2 yrs.
We never planned on keeping Stewey as a pet, but he adopted us anyway. Stewey was rescued from a downed tree in a friend's yard about a year and a half ago.  We figured we'd nurse him and prepare him for a life in the wild.  We slowly introduced him to the outdoors, watching as he ran around the back yard, climbing up the tree and then back down.  Then one day he discovered other squirrels and would spend hours at a time running with his new friends.  Eventually he disappeared for a week; we figured we had done our job and if we were lucky he would make an occasional appearance.  One afternoon my son Matt was sitting in the garage when he was startled by Stewey, who came running in and leaped into his lap.  From that point on he would only venture out for a little while and then come running back in.  My husband has become very attached to his little buddy.  Did you know that a squirrel in captivity can live up to 20 years?  Looks like he's going to be around for a while.