Instructions
Stop handling your squirrel when it reaches around 12 weeks old. This is around the same time that the squirrel will stop requiring milk from you. Before this, you should gently handle the squirrel and provide soft toys for play fighting, to provide the same stimulation the squirrel would have gotten from its siblings. It is essential that this stops at 12 weeks or the squirrel will become too tamed to be released.
Allow your squirrel out for regular exercise. This is necessary for developing the squirrel's muscles, which will be used for running and climbing in the wild. Provide a very large aviary or cage if possible or allow your squirrel out to run around a secure room.
Provide a small bowl of shallow water in the squirrel's cage. It should always be available once the squirrel starts eating solid food.
Provide as much of a 'wild' diet as you can. Collect twigs, leaves and small branches from your garden and provide these regularly. Some pet stores sell mixes of wild squirrel food, which includes soil and funghi that the squirrel would eat in the wild.
Teach your squirrel how to break nuts. Nuts should be given still in their shells, so that the squirrel learns how to open them himself. You can give a range of nuts, including walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts. When you first begin offering the nuts, you may need to crack the nut slightly, so the squirrel learns what it needs to do.
Assess your squirrel when it reaches around 14-16 weeks old. It needs to be strong enough to break nuts open with its teeth, fully weaned, healthy, large and strong. If your squirrel meets these objectives, you can begin to consider release.
Find somewhere to release the squirrel. You should not release a squirrel in an area where there are busy roads, a lack of trees or cats and dogs. You should look for an area which is like woodland, with plenty of trees and food sources. If you are releasing a gray squirrel, you should not release it into an area where there are red squirrels.
Take the squirrel to the location you have chosen and release it onto the bottom of a tree. It may take some time for the squirrel to leave its cage.
How to Return Squirrels to the Wild
There are many reasons for returning squirrels to the wild, most commonly if you have found an orphaned squirrel and raised it back to health. Squirrels can be released into the wild successfully, although this can be difficult if it is not approached in the correct way. A squirrel which is not prepared to be returned is unlikely to be able to survive on its own.