This is the list we run before an inspection
It is not a substitute for what your TWRA officer tells you, but nothing on it has ever been a surprise to one.
The space itself
A designated facility for your animals. A garage, shed, outbuilding or dedicated room all work. It cannot be inside your normal living space. Not a spare bedroom, not a corner of the den. This is the requirement people most often get wrong, and it is not negotiable.
The reasoning is sound even setting the rule aside. Wild animals that habituate to household noise, cooking smells, television and human traffic release worse. Separation is not cruelty, it is the job.
Caging
Cages appropriately sized for the species you are permitted for, with the ability to move animals up as they grow. Pre-release caging matters as much as intake caging. An animal that has never climbed, jumped or foraged is not ready to go out.
For chewers, and squirrels are ferocious chewers, plastic pans do not survive. Metal pans for Critter Nation and Ferret Nation cages are worth buying up front.
Refrigeration
A fridge or mini fridge for produce and formula. Dedicated, not your kitchen fridge. Mixed formula is discarded after about 24 hours, so you will be using it constantly.
A way to heat formula
A microwave, electric kettle or hot plate in the facility. You are warming formula to roughly the mother’s body temperature at every feeding, which for squirrels is around 101°F, and animals refuse cool formula, which then gets read as "not eating."
A water source
Running water in the facility is ideal. A garden hose or a camping sink is acceptable if you do not have plumbing out there. What is not acceptable is using your household kitchen or bathroom.
Heat for babies
Neonates cannot thermoregulate. You need a heat source that does not have an auto-shutoff, which rules out most modern human heating pads. They are designed to switch off and they will let a litter go cold overnight.
An incubator is the gold standard. They are expensive, and BabyWarm runs a crowd-funding program for rehabbers, so ask before you assume you cannot afford one.
A heating pad without auto-shutoff, placed under half the enclosure so animals can move off it.
A rice sock, for triage and transport.
Patient records
You need a documented plan for patient intake and outcome records, and you will need them for your annual report to TWRA anyway. Most Tennessee rehabbers use WILD-ONE, which is free and built for this. A spreadsheet is acceptable if it is disciplined, but WILD-ONE will save you at annual report time.
A veterinarian
Have the relationship before you need it, not at 9pm on a Saturday with a degloved tail in your hands. Ask other rehabbers in your area who they use. Wildlife-friendly vets are not evenly distributed, and a warm introduction goes a long way.
Before the inspector arrives
Facility separate from living space, clean, and set up as it will actually run.
Caging sized for your permitted species, with pre-release options.
Fridge, heat source for formula, water source.
Heat sources for neonates with no auto-shutoff.
Records system ready to show.
Supplies stocked rather than on order.
Local ordinance compliance confirmed.
Questions
We walk people through this for free, anywhere in Tennessee. Text 901-340-6534.