There is a second baby squirrel season, and it is happening right now
Most people in Memphis think of baby squirrel season as a spring thing. Late February, early March, a storm comes through, a nest comes down, and the phone starts ringing. That part is true. What surprises people is the second wave, and it is happening right now.
Why there are late-summer babies
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency puts eastern gray squirrel breeding at twice a year: December through February, and again in May and June. Gestation runs about 44 days, and the young are weaned somewhere between seven and ten weeks old.
Do that math on the second breeding season and you land almost exactly here. The babies born in July are now old enough to be out of the nest, big enough to be climbing, and clumsy enough to fall. That is why late August and September bring a second round of calls, and why a squirrel the size of your palm turning up in your yard this week is completely normal.
Three things people get wrong
It fell out of the tree, so the mother abandoned it. She almost certainly did not. Squirrel mothers retrieve fallen young routinely, carrying them back up by the scruff. Human scent does not stop her. If the baby is warm, uninjured and it is daytime, giving her a chance to come back is usually the best thing you can do for it.
It is by itself, so it is orphaned. A young squirrel out exploring on its own is not the same as an orphaned one. At this age they are practicing, and they are bad at it. Watch before you intervene.
I will just give it a little milk until I find help. Please do not. Cow milk, goat milk, kitten formula and puppy formula all cause serious problems in baby squirrels, and aspiration from a syringe kills more of them than the original fall did. No food, no water, nothing by mouth. Warmth and quiet only.
What to actually do
If the baby is cold, bleeding, covered in flies or fly eggs, has been in a cat or dog mouth, or the mother has not come back by dark, it needs a rehabilitator. Cat and dog saliva is an emergency even with no visible wound.
Otherwise: keep people and pets away, put the baby in a box with something soft and a covered warm water bottle or heating pad on low under half the box, place it near where it was found, and give the mother a few hours of quiet daylight to collect it.
Our full walkthrough, including how to judge a baby squirrel age by its tail, is on our squirrel page.
When in doubt, text us
Text 901-340-6534 with a photo. A photo answers in ten seconds what twenty minutes of description cannot, and we would much rather talk you through a reunion than take in a baby that never needed to leave its yard. We are licensed wildlife rehabilitators serving Memphis, Shelby County and West Tennessee, and there is never a charge to ask.