Henry’s Squirrel Weaning Guide

Found a baby squirrel? Don’t panic. This guide will help you navigate caring for older baby squirrels and transitioning them from milk formula onto a healthy, well-rounded diet. We also have Weaning Kits for Squirrels with everything you need, including Fox Valley or Wombaroo formula, feeding accessories, and Henry’s Blocks.

If you need immediate assistance from an experienced wildlife rehabilitator, please call Henry’s Emergency Help Line at (540) 745-3334, Ext. 1.

Step 1: A Note on Weaning Squirrels

The most important thing to remember is that you should always let the squirrel lead the weaning process. You should never force a baby to wean on your schedule. Squirrels will naturally begin losing interest in formula when they are ready — never try to cut back or cut off formula while they are still accepting it!

At a bare minimum, you should expect your squirrel to be drinking milk formula until they are around 16 weeks old. Ultimately, each baby squirrel is a unique situation: some babies will lose interest more quickly, others will want to continue longer.

See the Baby Squirrel Care Guide for guidelines on how much and how often a squirrel should be drinking formula.

Step 2: What and When to Feed a Young Squirrel

At around 6 weeks of age, you can start gradually introducing solid foods. A squirrel’s first food should be Henry's Blocks, which are all-natural and contain 100% of a squirrel’s daily vitamin and mineral requirements. Available in a range of delicious flavors, Henry’s Blocks not only ensure squirrels receive the essential nutrition and supplements they need to grow and thrive, they’re also the only commercial rodent or squirrel blocks that are preservative-free and made using only human grade ingredients.


You may want to cut blocks into smaller pieces for younger squirrels. Offer them a fresh piece of the block each day until they start nibbling. Remember to remove old blocks at the end of each day.


Note: This is also the time to add a water bottle or bowl to their cage, ensuring they always have clean, fresh water.

Tips for Success

  • Henry’s Blocks should be the baby squirrel’s first solid food.
  • Be careful to remove any seeds, pits, skin, or strings from natural foods, as these are choking hazards for baby squirrels.
  • Never try to wean a baby squirrel off formula; let them wean themselves.

Once the baby squirrel is able to chew well, you can introduce vegetables from the Healthy Diet for Squirrels. For the first couple of weeks, carefully remove any seeds, pits, skin, or strings from the veggies, as these are choking hazards. You can also introduce small sticks or branches for them to gnaw on. Oak and maple trees are good options; see the Healthy Diet for a list of safe trees and plants.


When introducing solid foods, do not give the baby any nuts, fruits, or treats of any kind. Concentrate on formula, Henry’s Blocks, healthy veggies, and wild foods. It is very important that squirrels learn to love these healthy foods instead of getting spoiled on treats and refusing to eat veggies. Once the squirrel is eating this assortment of healthy foods well, you can add limited nuts/fruit/treats, according to the guidelines in the Healthy Diet. Follow this diet until the young squirrel is released.

Step 3: Caring for an Older Baby Squirrel

By 10 weeks old, most babies are ready to move into a full-size cage. Make sure the bar spacing is no larger than 3/8 of an inch wide, or they will wiggle their way out. If you have a tall cage, place a quilt on the bottom level until they can climb well. If you have a two-level cage, you can block off the upper level.

You’ll need to hang a nest box or nesting cube in the cage so the growing squirrel will have a warm, safe place to sleep. They need to learn to sleep up and off the ground—just like they will in the wild. Do not use wood chips or shavings as bedding. For cages with a wire grid base, use pieces of fleece or some other cloth, which you can easily wash when soiled. In a flat-bottomed cage, you can use brown paper, paper towels, or paper hamster bedding. Everything placed in a squirrel’s cage should be unscented and should always be washed with free and clear unscented detergent.


A young squirrel will need out-of-cage time at least twice a day to run and climb. This is extremely important for their muscle development and general health. If you caring for a squirrel that may be non-releasable for some reason, please speak with a wildlife rehabber or visit the SquirrelForum.com for more information. Caring for a non-releasable squirrel long-term is a huge commitment, and there are legal considerations, depending on where you live, as many states require you to be a licensed wildlife rehabilitator to possess squirrels and other wildlife legally. Possession of wildlife without a license may lead to the animals being confiscated and put down.

Common Mistakes with Weaning-Age Baby Squirrels

• Giving nuts, seeds, and fruits as the first solid food. Introduce Blocks first, then veggies. Hold off on treats and sweets until they are reliably eating healthy foods.

• Weaning off of formula too soon. Keep the baby on formula until they are at least 14-16 weeks old. Squirrels depend on formula for essential nutrition during key developmental stages.

• Allowing household pets near the baby. Your dog or cat will kill a baby squirrel in an instant. Even otherwise docile and friendly household pets are a risk that should be avoided.

• Taking the baby outside to play. In the wild, mother squirrels keep their babies in the nest until they are 12-14 weeks old. Keep them safe inside until they are ready to begin the soft-release process.

• Releasing too soon. Baby squirrels do best if not released until 6 months of age.

• Releasing too late in the fall. In cooler climates, babies that cannot be released by September must be kept over the winter.

The Number One Killers of Baby Squirrels

• Quick-shutoff heating pads. Most heating pads you buy in a local store have an automatic timer that turns the heating pad off after 2-3 hours. The baby will chill and die without a heating pad — or one that shuts off in the middle of the night. You can purchase heating pads to get you through the night on our website.

• Wrong formula. The baby will fail to grow or gain weight, develop diarrhea, constipation, and bloating. Local pet store formulas for dogs and cats are not digestible for baby squirrels.

• Cheap syringes that stick. You can accidentally force too much formula into the baby’s lungs, leading to aspiration pneumonia, which is often fatal.

• Overfeeding. The baby will develop diarrhea and/or bloating.

• Underfeeding. The baby will fail to thrive and slowly starve to death.

• Formula not warm enough. The baby won’t eat the full amount and slowly starves to death.

Should you still need assistance, please call our Emergency Help Line at (540) 745-3334 Ext. 1 or (203) 214-7427.

Step 4: Preparing for Release

Starting when the squirrel is around 18 weeks old, let them spend time in an outdoor pre-release box. It is vital for orphaned squirrels raised inside by humans to have time to adjust to the sights, sounds, and smells of the outdoors. Because orphaned squirrels are not able to learn how to be safe squirrels by watching their mother, they need a bit more time to grow and mature and let their instincts begin to develop.

When the squirrel starts spending time in the pre-release box, go check on them a couple of times a day to bring them new water and food. After spending a couple of weeks in the box, cut a small, 3-inch opening up high on the side facing the tree for them to climb out of.


You can take a small branch on the outside of the hole so that they can identify how to get in and out. Give them time and space to figure out the entrance themselves - eventually, they will make their way out to the trees.

Step 5: Post Release Care

Continue to monitor the pre-release box and keep an eye out for the squirrel for a while after they have made their wait out of the box. If you have been offering new food and water at the same time every day, they may continue to return to the box for a while afterwards for a reliable source of food. Squirrels that have been successfully released into the wild still benefit massively from the vitamin and mineral supplements in Henry’s Blocks, so we recommend offering the Blocks as long as they will continue to take them.

If you have been attempting to release a squirrel for a while and they are slow to move on or are trying to make their way back inside your home, we are happy to put you in touch with an experienced wildlife rehabilitator who can help talk you through the situation and make informed decisions about how to move forward. Call us at (540) 745-3334 or email us at Contact@HenrysPets.com