How to Breed Gray Squirrels in Minnesota

Gray squirrels are often the choice squirrel to keep as a pet. They are more docile and instead of being strongly defensive they allow people to interact with them and their environments without resorting to biting. The typical mating season for gray squirrels happens twice a year; between January and February and between June and July. A pet squirrel goes through the same mating process as a wild one, except that the male squirrel won't have to fight off others to get the girl.

Things You'll Need

  • 2 separate cages
  • High-fat food mix
  • Leaves
  • Other fibrous materials
  • Cage platform
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Instructions

    • 1

      Listen for the female gray squirrel to climb to the highest point in her enclosure and let out the duck-like mating call. This will be a distinctive sound that you haven't heard her make before. This is her announcing her readiness to mate.

    • 2

      Introduce the male into her enclosure (unless they already share the same space).

    • 3

      Watch the two squirrels. The female will dart around the enclosure in a sort of mating ritual, which in the wild would cause the less physically fit males to fall behind leaving only the strongest to mate with her. In the enclosure there will only be one male, so this act will be of no consequence.

    • 4

      Remove the male from the enclosure once copulation has ended. In the wild the male will have nothing more to do with the rearing of the children. The same applies here.

    • 5

      Install a platform near the top of the cage (if there isn't one there already). This is where the female will make her nest.

    • 6

      Give the female squirrel plenty of leaves to build a nest. If you have access to a hollow log, introduce this to the cage as well. There are special resin and plastic logs made just for this purpose, but they are only available from select retailers (none of which are in Minnesota) so the best bet is to locate one online. In addition to the leaves add in some other fibrous materials (paper or grass) for the female to weave into her nest.

    • 7

      Feed your squirrel regularly, but do not change her diet (continue using the small rodent mix she is used to). The gestation period lasts 40 to 44 days and once the babies are born, then you may introduce higher-fat foods. Add small amounts of white bread dipped in vitamin D milk for the best results, as there are no specific high-fat foods made for this purpose, into the diet to support the mother's breast milk production. The litter may be anywhere from three to nine babies. The more babies the higher the mother's caloric intake.

    • 8

      Continue feeding the high-fat diet until the babies reach weaning age, around 8 weeks.