When a New York homeowner came back home after running errands, he found a very cute surprise waiting for him on his bed. A mother Eastern gray squirrel had constructed a nest of twigs and branches and deposited two bright pink babies smack in the middle.
Who Would Help This Baby Squirrel?
Not being an expert on baby gray squirrels, the man called an animal rescue team to help out, Happiest reports. Christine Reyes and her husband Michael arrived on scene. They spent a good deal of time trying to reunite the mother with her babies but to no avail. She was gathering materials for a new nest after the previous one was destroyed by construction work.
You can see how tiny she was in the photo below.
The mother squirrel, likely nervous about being around people, stopped coming back. So Christina and Michael, both experienced wildlife rehabilitators, started feeding the tiny squirrels formula through a syringe, Metro reports. But one of the poor babies grew ill with a fever and died within a matter of hours.
Abandoned Baby Squirrel Gets A New Life
Fortunately, it looked like the second baby squirrel would pull through. The couple named her Thumbelina because she was so tiny. But there was some bad news as well. After assessing her, a local vet found she wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild.
So Michael and Christina adopted Thumbelina. They even built a bed for her. Even so, the little squirrel had a number of challenges ahead because she’d lost her sister. This gave her no chance to interact with other squirrels.
In the wild, when a baby squirrel learns what foods to eat, it loses interest in milk. But this didn’t happen to Thumbelina. Even now she drinks milk from a bottle. And instead of running and climbing like most young squirrels, Thumbelina prefers to walk and sit her human parents.
Trying to introduce her to other squirrels didn’t work. And she really didn’t like to be cold, something she’d have to get used to if she was reintroduced to the wild.
Now the adorable squirrel curls up on the sofa each night with her adoptive human parents, sometimes she nibbles a bit of avocado and watches TV. She’s so cute who could possibly resist?
And Christina, a fitness instructor from Mahopac, New York says Thumbelina is her “baby” and her “best friend.”
“I love Thumbelina so much,” she said. “My husband and I knew that we never wanted children. Thumbelina is our baby.”
But they also had a bit of a scare recently, because Thumbelina’s veterinarian told the Reyes’s that her progesterone levels were too high, causing her uterus to enlarge causing her to have a hysterectomy in October. Poor little girl.
The situation left Christina feeling scared, but the surgery was a success.
Who wouldn’t love this beautiful little creature?
Plus Thumbelina likes to play dress-up!
It’s wonderful to know there are kind and loving people like Christina and Michael who care so much. Thumbelina is definitely a lucky little squirrel.
The cute video below shows how much she loves taco shells.
Featured image by little_thumbelina_girl via Instagram
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