How to Adopt a Squirrel

Series Summary

An exotic pet is a rare or unusual animal kept as a pet, or an animal kept as a pet that is not ordinarily thought of as a pet. Sometimes any unique or wild-looking pet is called an exotic pet, and this term may also be used for a species which is not indigenous to the owner's location. Many major pet stores and service providers tend to classify any animal besides cats, dogs, or fish as exotic. In this free video series, a veterinarian provides advice for taking care of a number of exotic pets. Discover how to adopt a squirrel, how to buy a pet raccoon and how to house a chinchilla. Learn about taking care of skunks and rabbits as well. Find out everything there is to know about researching, buying, mating, housing and feeding exotic pets.

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about adopting a squirrel. Now there are legal issues with this. Squirrels are considered wild life in most states. Now there are some places where they're bred and they're sold, but in a lot of states these are considered wild life and you can't adopt one unless you have a rehab, rehabilitator's license. And so you have to check with your state as far as state to state legal issues with them. Now, lots of squirrels, when they're babies become orphans. And so you never want to handle an orphan unless it's traumatized or you absolutely have to. The best thing to do is call your state's wildlife agency and get advice from them first, or if you have local rehabilitators that are listed to call them as well. Only at their direction should you handle an orphan because sometimes orphans are not necessarily orphans. The baby squirrels seem to get in a lot of trouble because they're in trees, if there's a storm or something like that you'll end up with some of those guys being out of the nest. And so again, it's a legal issue. You're not allowed to typically rehab squirrels, in most states, by yourself. So always check with your wildlife agencies locally and check with rehabilitators where they can guide you."