The sight of an Eastern Gray Squirrel mother leaving her nest, or drey, often causes concern. These common North American tree squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) raise their young alone, and a temporary absence can lead people to worry the litter has been abandoned. Understanding the normal maternal behavior of the mother squirrel is the best way to determine if the young are truly in danger.
Mother Squirrel Foraging Habits
A mother squirrel must leave her young to forage and maintain her health, which is necessary for milk production. Lactation is metabolically demanding, requiring the mother to consume a high volume of food and water. When the babies are young, the mother significantly restricts her movements, sometimes decreasing her normal home range by up to 50% to stay close to the nest.
During this intense nursing period, she typically makes short, strategic trips away from the drey multiple times a day. When the kits are around 10 to 14 days old, the mother may leave the nest three to five times daily. These trips are usually brief, often lasting less than an hour in total throughout the day. This allows her to quickly replenish fluids and gather food from nearby caches or foraging spots, ensuring the young remain warm and fed.
Nest Attendance by Developmental Stage
The mother’s attendance at the nest changes significantly as the young progress through their developmental stages. For the first one to two weeks, the kits are born altricial: hairless, blind, and unable to regulate their body temperature. During this initial phase, the mother remains in the nest almost constantly, relying on her body heat to keep the young alive.
Once the young are three to four weeks old, their fur begins to grow, and their eyes open around four to five weeks of age. This physiological change allows the babies to better control their internal temperature, permitting the mother to take longer and more frequent foraging trips. By six to eight weeks, the young squirrels begin making their first exploratory ventures outside the drey. They are fully weaned and independent around 10 to 12 weeks of age.
Identifying True Abandonment
Distinguishing between a mother’s temporary absence and a genuine emergency requires close observation. If a baby squirrel is found on the ground, the most reliable indicators of true distress are physical signs, rather than simply the mother’s absence. A baby that is cold to the touch needs immediate intervention because it cannot thermoregulate and is in danger of hypothermia.
Other signs a squirrel kit is orphaned or in peril include being covered in fly eggs (which look like small grains of rice) or maggot infestation. Continuous, frantic crying for an extended period, or the presence of visible wounds like those from a cat attack, also indicate a serious problem. Do not attempt to feed the baby; instead, focus on safely warming it and immediately contacting a licensed local wildlife rehabilitator for guidance.