Everything about your pet
I'm going to explain to you
what are the best conditions you can offer to a squirrel at home.
First thing you need to know is that squirrels are quite nervous animals,
which usually climb a lot and need spacious cages.
We must be very careful, because they can escape.
They will take every opportunity to escape.
Believe me when I tell you that they are very fast and extraordinarily agile.
If they escape from cage at home, it will be quite difficult to catch them.
If they escape, when they are still a little wild and are not yet used to your presence,
If they run away to the garden, it will be almost impossible to catch them.
Because of this, many squirrel species are controlled today.
Possession rights were regulated,
because many squirrels species have become an environmental problem.
They are invasive species.
So, be careful and don't let them escape.
So, here we have a cage and as I said, it must be as ample as possible.
And as always we're going to fill it with substrate.
If you've seen our others videos, you're probably tired of hearing about
the substrate that I like the most for almost all exotic animals.
It's the newspaper substrate, Naturlitter.
Put a paper substrate base and spread it.
A thickness of two fingers is more than enough.
It's a good idea to bring them directly from the store in this type of cage.
Squirrels are very special pets.
As I said, they are very nervous. It's not an animal that you can take and pet at once.
You've seen in almost every video that I take the animals in my arms
so you can see how you should catch them, and how gentle and quiet they usually are.
But this is not the case with squirrels.
I can't do this because squirrel will probably escape.
But, it doesn't mean that you won't be able to play with them in the future,
but in the beginning, until they get used to you,
you have to keep them locked in a cage.
And finally you will enjoy them a lot.
They play a lot with each other, they run a lot
and believe me, they are excessively agile, fast and nervous.
What else do we need for the cage?
For the cage we also need some logs to imitate their natural habitat.
Oak logs and elm logs are preferred, it should be a hardwood.
Eucalyptus is also suitable.
Avoid wood that has resin.
Like pine for example, its better not to use it.
Fruit trees are also good, they can eat them and will serve as an extra fiber in their diet.
We can put the logs in whatever position we want
and we can change them from time to time,
so they don't get bored, always surrounded by the same things.
The more we can put in, the better.
With this cage I received also a ramp.
Let's put it inside.
Let me tell you some other tricks...
For example a nest. It's very important to fill the nest with hay.
But I forgot something, wait a second...
Emi, please, I need a hay.
Look, here we have it!
The nest. We can put it where we want.
It will serve as a nest, especially when we want our pets to have babies.
They will use it as a shelter.
Hay. Perfect!
Well, hay, that's not a mystery either.
It has two main functions:
first they will eat it, it's a source of food.
And second, very, very important, they will use it as a refuge.
So, we're going to take a big handful of hay and put it in so they can hide.
What am I missing? You all know it, the most important aspect: water and food.
Which should never be missing, especially water.
The best drinkers are those that have a ball.
Let's put water inside.
And last but not least, the food.
For them we can use a normal and ordinary food bowl.
I'll explain one thing about squirrel's diet.
There are few things you should remember.
Squirrels can hibernate.
With the arrival of the cold, their metabolism slows down,
in the beginning of autumn they start to eat a lot, because they're preparing for winter,
for hibernation. To be hidden and protected.
But this happens in nature.
They won't hibernate in the house due to the heating, but they'll start to eat more.
So it's important to not exaggerate, especially with the seeds, during this time.
All types of feed for squirrels will contain different kinds of seeds.
Here you can see an example.
You can search for the video in which we talk about the squirrels' diet.
There I explain better, in detail what a complete diet should contain.
Just remember to not overdo with seeds because it makes them very fat.
It makes sense when they are preparing to hibernate.
But it doesn't make sense if the squirrel stays active throughout the winter,
which happens in the house,
where the temperature is constant throughout the year.