Hand tamed/socialized babies make very unique and excellent pets that actually form a bond with their owners. You will need to spend time bonding with your baby flying squirrel for several weeks after rehoming. Many people use a bonding pouch, while others simply carry the squirrel around in their pocket. Make sure you also play with and handle your squirrel daily to achieve a strong bond with your pet. Remember individual animals have different temperaments and while flying squirrels are docile by nature some make better pets than others. It’s up to the owner to ensure ample time is spent handling, socializing and training their young flyers. Always remember, flying squirrels are delicate creatures and can’t tolerate rough handling. 

There are some people that wish to bottle feed their baby to help with the bonding process. That is the person’s choice, but we won’t rehome a baby until we are sure it is capable of leaving the nest box and eating on its own. Bonding with a flyer is still possible without bottle feeding.

Keep in mind...

There's a couple of important items when deciding on a cage or enclosure for your baby. First and foremost, they are little escape artists. If there is a way to get out of a cage, they will find it. Houdini would be proud. Until you are sure the cage is inescapable, get in the habit of putting the toilet seat down and don't leave anything filled with water that your flyer can fall into. Secondly, they are rodents and love to chew things up; pouches, nest boxes, anything and everything. We recommend not placing anything plastic in their cages. Better to be safe than sorry. Wouldn't want them chewing and eating pieces of plastic. 

When it comes to a cage or enclosure the larger the better. They need plenty of room to run, jump, and climb. A double wide bird flight cage is more than enough room for a squirrel or two. Remember the escape artist comment earlier? If the spacing between the bars of the cage is too wide, they can slip though them. After their first escape and the anxiety you go through, hardware cloth and zip ties will become your new best friends. Pretty much any home improvement or hardware store will carry them. Go with 1/2" or smaller for the hardware cloth. Many bird cages have extra little doors that slide up to open. Flyers can and will figure out how to get them open. Zip tie them closed.

Nest box or a pouch? 

We've done both and found the flyers get a little lax in their grooming when they have pouches to live in. We go with finch size nesting boxes. You'll need one more nest box then the number of squirrels in the cage. One squirrel=two nest boxes, two squirrels=three nest boxes. The extra boxes give them a place to store away food and when multiple squirrels are involved, a second home. Just like humans, flyers can get into arguments. If you're housing a mixed pair of squirrels, the female will kick the male out of the nest box before she's ready to deliver babies. Move mom and babies to a different cage so the male can't hurt them. 

Running wheel or no running wheel? 

We've placed safe running wheels in our cages and have not seen any running in them. Granted they are nocturnal and we don't sit up all night watching. We do have some that are flippers. No matter what safe toys or items we place in the cages, the flippers flip. If you have a flipper, you know what we mean.

Southern flying squirrels are omnivores. They eat a diet of plant and animal based foods. You can do a search online for a flying squirrel diet and you'll find so many variations. Be sure to not confuse a flying squirrel diet with a sugar glider diet. They have different dietary requirements. 

We did A LOT of diet research when we first started raising flying squirrels. Our flyers get a bowl of fresh items each night and they always have a second bowl with "mix" available. The fresh is replaced each night, the mix being dry items, gets replaced once or twice a week. The fresh bowl usually has a fresh veggie, a fruit, a protein, and a nut or some sort of seed. We try to change things up each night so they get a variety and don't get bored from the same items over and over.