This Wild Squirrel Made A Nest For Her Baby In Her Rescuer’s Drawer And It’s Adorable
It’s really hard to turn away when you find an injured person or animal. Simone Serfontein from South Africa definitely knows this feeling. In October of 2016, she found a baby squirrel who fell out of a tree and her mother was nowhere to be found. “When we found her, she was still a ‘pinky’ and a funny looking creature with no hair. She was around 5 – 6 days old when we picked her up. Ice cold and screaming for her mom who unfortunately never came back for her.” she told Bored Panda.
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Simone knew that the squirrel would never survive in the wild alone, so decided to raise her and named her Dingetjie
But no matter how cute these little animals are, “raising a Squirrel is definitely not an easy task,” Simone admits. “For the first few weeks I fed her every hour, even at night I normally set my alarm to feed her and help her with the ‘bathroom situation’,” she explained. For three whole months, Simone brought her new little friend to work and let Dingetjie sleep close to her body.
“I got her a small shoebox with some blankets inside, but she did not want to sleep in at all. She felt warm and safe with me and to this today she still sleeps in the bed with me.” Slowly Dingetjie has become a beloved pet. “We used to always take her with us when traveling and she always seemed to enjoy it. She would get out of her traveling cage in the car and get onto our shoulders and just enjoy the road trip with us.”
But Simone knew that she eventually would have to release her to the wild. And when that time came, Dingetjie decided that she didn’t want to say goodbye to her rescuer. After spending some time outside for the first time, she came back to the house she was raised in. Simone says, that allowing her to stay outside has become a daily routine. “Dingetjie almost always came back in the evening. There were only 3 nights when she slept outside but returned in the morning”.
When Dingetjie got pregnant, she chose to make a nest in Simone’s house
Instead of a tree, the squirrel picked out a drawer in the house and made a nest in it out of toilet paper.
However, her first pregnancy was complicated. “She was not ready, and the natural instincts did not kick in as it should have. She fell asleep during birth and we had to keep her awake and help her get the baby out. This process took about an hour and the baby did not turn and come out tail first. We knew the baby was not alive and still had some hope but unfortunately, it was stillborn.”
But things went a lot better with her second pregnancy. “We noticed that she’s quite fat but overall she was always bigger than the normal female tree squirrel. It was only a few weeks before she gave birth that I felt and saw the baby moving in her tummy.”
In April she gave birth to Tinkie in the nest she made in Simone’s closet. Sadly Dingetjie’s baby passed away a few months later. Last year, in September, she gave birth to another baby – Mistie. And once again Simone had a chance to raise a baby squirrel because Dingetjie was not producing any milk.
Here are some photos of how cute her babies looks
Today Simone share a beautiful bond with both Dingetjie and her baby. Let’s just hope that this beautiful friendship will last a long time!
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I had a pet squirrel as a kid. It got kicked out of it's nest because it had seizures. The squirrel ate and pooped in the correct places right away. It greated me like a dog. Slept with me at night. Was never locked up. Was allowed to go outside and always came back in. I was amazed at how easily it became my pet. One day a seizure took it's life.
Oh, no. That's so sad. But you will always remember your time with her. 😥
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What an absolutely gorgeous little fur family you have, love them! Her failure to look after her own litters is most likely because she sees herself as a furry human, not a squirrel and with having no maternal contact from her own mother she doesn't have natural maternal instincts. That being said, well done for nurturing such a young baby, that is definitely dedication! I did it with 2 feral kittens that were abandoned by their mother at a week old. Her nest in a stack of pallets was disturbed and she didn't go back. The guys were worried rats would eat them so I took them in. They lived in a shoe box too
We rescued a kitten like that. Her mother was feral and she took the rest of the litter out, but left one behind. I was cleaning out my storage shed and the dogs kept barking. She was a feisty one and it was hard to get her out. We called her Little Debbie. I do miss her.
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Anyone who does this, just be careful as some countries/cities have laws forbidding the public from keeping these kind of animals as pets. Many cities will require citizens to turn the animal over to a vet or animal control. There are two reasons for this. First, animal control will raise the animal with a hands off approach so that the creature can eventually be returned to the wild. Second, the law is there to prevent people from actively going out and finding "abandoned" wildlife to hand raise. Too many people seeking out those unusual pets can upset an ecosystem that depends on animal remains to provide food for other wildlife and removes viable animals from the breeding population.
Calm down Carol, its only 1 little squirrel. I do agree this has been far too hands on though, thats why the pregnancy's haven't been successful i believe. This lady is awesome though, she has only done what she thought was best, its all out of love and compassion and i for one thinks she is lovely.
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My goodness, this is what I did. We live in the country. One day I was outside. I saw a cat acting strange. When I looked she had a baby squirrel. She had scratched it a little, but I grabbed it quickly. I then fed my squirrel the same as Simone. I was up every hour. I used a heating pad on low for a while. This wonderful little animal loved me and I loved him. Eventually I realized he needed to be in the wild. So we took him into the mountains. I could not just let him outside because of cats. For years I looked at a high shelf where he had left a little a peanut. It stayed there until we move.
I wonder if you could spay the squirrel. Seeing how difficult her pregnancies are + how she is disabled to live fully outside and take care of her children and bring them up to be wild squirrels, it might be a better idea to get her spayed.
The best thing now would be to get her spayed so she doesn't get pregnant again.
"I whip my tail back and forth, I whip my tail back and forth" They look so sassy!
omg that was the cutest story!!! Aw poor mama squirrel losing the first few babies. SO happy the last one lived!
Check out those incredible tails!! So very awesome! Thanks for helping the little guys. Her and her baby's life is so much better because if you!
Sweet story, but a mother squirrel will always come for her babies...unless she is dead, but she'll wait to be sure it's safe.
My mom found a baby squirrel that had fallen out of a tree in her yard and raised it. As it grew up it lived in a tree right next to my mom's deck. 5 generations later those squirrels all love my mom. Nobody else could ever get close to them but they all come right up to and hang out with my mom any time she's on her deck or out in the yard.
This is such a heart warming story. As a fellow South African it makes me proud to see that people here DO actually care about others! Baie dankie Simone! ( It means Thank you, Simone ;-) )
Was Dingetjie allowed in and out, freely? I'm wondering where she got knocked up.
I had a co-worker who had adopted all kinds of pets. She's had dogs, cats, turtles, birds raccoons, rodents all kinds of animals and I would ask her to tell me stories about them all the time. I once asked her what her favorite animal that she cared for was. She told me it was a squirrel. I remember her telling me she put him outside when she felt it was time to let him go he cried outside her door all day long and it just broke her heart. I think I remember her tell me she let him back in.
Soon there will be more..... and more....... and more......
Squirrels poop wherever they please. You cannot litterbox train them. Her house if full of squirrel poop.
Very cute, squirrel , I live this animals, when they are list to go out, you need accept returned to the wild.
I had a pet squirrel as a kid. It got kicked out of it's nest because it had seizures. The squirrel ate and pooped in the correct places right away. It greated me like a dog. Slept with me at night. Was never locked up. Was allowed to go outside and always came back in. I was amazed at how easily it became my pet. One day a seizure took it's life.
Oh, no. That's so sad. But you will always remember your time with her. 😥
Load More Replies... What an absolutely gorgeous little fur family you have, love them! Her failure to look after her own litters is most likely because she sees herself as a furry human, not a squirrel and with having no maternal contact from her own mother she doesn't have natural maternal instincts. That being said, well done for nurturing such a young baby, that is definitely dedication! I did it with 2 feral kittens that were abandoned by their mother at a week old. Her nest in a stack of pallets was disturbed and she didn't go back. The guys were worried rats would eat them so I took them in. They lived in a shoe box too
We rescued a kitten like that. Her mother was feral and she took the rest of the litter out, but left one behind. I was cleaning out my storage shed and the dogs kept barking. She was a feisty one and it was hard to get her out. We called her Little Debbie. I do miss her.
Load More Replies... Anyone who does this, just be careful as some countries/cities have laws forbidding the public from keeping these kind of animals as pets. Many cities will require citizens to turn the animal over to a vet or animal control. There are two reasons for this. First, animal control will raise the animal with a hands off approach so that the creature can eventually be returned to the wild. Second, the law is there to prevent people from actively going out and finding "abandoned" wildlife to hand raise. Too many people seeking out those unusual pets can upset an ecosystem that depends on animal remains to provide food for other wildlife and removes viable animals from the breeding population.
Calm down Carol, its only 1 little squirrel. I do agree this has been far too hands on though, thats why the pregnancy's haven't been successful i believe. This lady is awesome though, she has only done what she thought was best, its all out of love and compassion and i for one thinks she is lovely.
Load More Replies... My goodness, this is what I did. We live in the country. One day I was outside. I saw a cat acting strange. When I looked she had a baby squirrel. She had scratched it a little, but I grabbed it quickly. I then fed my squirrel the same as Simone. I was up every hour. I used a heating pad on low for a while. This wonderful little animal loved me and I loved him. Eventually I realized he needed to be in the wild. So we took him into the mountains. I could not just let him outside because of cats. For years I looked at a high shelf where he had left a little a peanut. It stayed there until we move.
I wonder if you could spay the squirrel. Seeing how difficult her pregnancies are + how she is disabled to live fully outside and take care of her children and bring them up to be wild squirrels, it might be a better idea to get her spayed.
The best thing now would be to get her spayed so she doesn't get pregnant again.
"I whip my tail back and forth, I whip my tail back and forth" They look so sassy!
omg that was the cutest story!!! Aw poor mama squirrel losing the first few babies. SO happy the last one lived!
Check out those incredible tails!! So very awesome! Thanks for helping the little guys. Her and her baby's life is so much better because if you!
Sweet story, but a mother squirrel will always come for her babies...unless she is dead, but she'll wait to be sure it's safe.
My mom found a baby squirrel that had fallen out of a tree in her yard and raised it. As it grew up it lived in a tree right next to my mom's deck. 5 generations later those squirrels all love my mom. Nobody else could ever get close to them but they all come right up to and hang out with my mom any time she's on her deck or out in the yard.
This is such a heart warming story. As a fellow South African it makes me proud to see that people here DO actually care about others! Baie dankie Simone! ( It means Thank you, Simone ;-) )
Was Dingetjie allowed in and out, freely? I'm wondering where she got knocked up.
I had a co-worker who had adopted all kinds of pets. She's had dogs, cats, turtles, birds raccoons, rodents all kinds of animals and I would ask her to tell me stories about them all the time. I once asked her what her favorite animal that she cared for was. She told me it was a squirrel. I remember her telling me she put him outside when she felt it was time to let him go he cried outside her door all day long and it just broke her heart. I think I remember her tell me she let him back in.
Soon there will be more..... and more....... and more......
Squirrels poop wherever they please. You cannot litterbox train them. Her house if full of squirrel poop.
Very cute, squirrel , I live this animals, when they are list to go out, you need accept returned to the wild.
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