He Rescued This Bizarre Creature From a Sidewalk, But He Had No Idea What It Would Grow Into

Jeff discovered the poor wretch lying on the sizzling streets of Tampa. And Jeff, a Florida native, knew that this didn’t bode well for the little one. The kind-hearted man later said the helpless creature was “half-dead” when he first saw it. So he decided to act fast.

The unrelenting sunshine had to be taking its toll, so Jeff made the decision to take the creature back to his home. Yes, even while he had no clue what the animal was, he still felt the need to help. After all, it didn’t seem like the poor gal would be dangerous.

Jeff christened the critter Biscuits and began to hand-rear her himself. The first order of the day? Give the adorable animal some major TLC. At that time, she was just over an inch in length — but Jeff had no idea whether she’d grow any bigger.

Jeff didn’t even know which species Biscuits belonged to! How could he help, then, if he didn’t know the best way to care for her? Well, he had an answer. This being the 21st century and all, he began to research his newfound friend online.

First stop? Reddit. But the folks on the website weren’t exactly a lot of help. Most of the responses were just from people telling him there was no way he’d raise Biscuits on his own. Jeff was undeterred, though. He continued his research — and finally discovered the answer he was looking for. Yep, now he knew what Biscuits really was!

What had Jeff brought home? Well, as it turns out, he was looking after a southern flying squirrel. Normally, these rodents live in forests and woods — not on Florida sidewalks. They also survive on a diet of nuts, seeds, fruit, and insects as well as eggs and birds. Quite a shopping list for Jeff to pick up!

But since Biscuits had somehow become separated from her family, it was down to Jeff to fill her mother’s shoes. Would she survive? Young squirrels tend to stay with their moms until they are at least two months old. This put Biscuits at a real disadvantage.

Well, Jeff did his best. For two months, he took Biscuits everywhere with him — even to work. He bottle-fed her, too, with a mix of puppy formula and heavy cream. And this method produced real results.

As each day passed, Biscuits grew bigger and stronger. Thankfully, she blossomed from a sickly baby to a healthy adult squirrel. And in addition to getting the gift of life, Biscuits had gained a new family. Because Jeff wasn’t the only one in the house — no siree.

Alongside her surrogate mom, Biscuits made some four-legged family friends in the shape of Jeff’s dogs! But given how tiny Biscuits still was, Jeff admitted that he had to keep an eye on his canines. There was the apparent risk that they might “accidentally squish her.” Perhaps, then, she would be better off in the wild?

Probably not, actually. As Biscuits was hand-reared from such an early age, she’s unlikely to have the necessary survival skills. At least she’s found plenty of things to amuse her in her new home. “She runs around me like I’m a big tree… then jumps on things and then jumps back… gets excited… starts chirping… rinse and repeat,” Jeff revealed.

And although things have run smoothly on the whole, Jeff admitted that he once thought he’d lost little Biscuits. “When she first started becoming mobile, she escaped… I found her in the bathtub in the morning,” he revealed. Yikes!

Despite the animal’s naughty nature, Jeff is still smitten with what he describes as his “little fluffball.” He explained, “She has a big cage and semi-free reign of the house when I’m available to supervise. She wouldn’t last five minutes in the wild now. She is super friendly to people and not afraid of animals.” And it looks like Biscuits has certainly made herself at home!

The adorable critter can usually be spotted hanging from her comfy hammock or chilling in her favorite spot: Jeff’s top pocket. The pair can expect to have a long and happy life together, too, as flying squirrels can live for up to a decade in captivity. But after Biscuits settled in, Jeff had a score to settle.

Yep, when Biscuits was back to full health, Jeff returned to Reddit to prove his doubters wrong. He posted a series of photographs charting the squirrel’s recovery and showing off his parenting skills.

Jeff also reminded Reddit users of the day he met Biscuits. He wrote, “I posted pictures on Reddit that day and had a bunch of know-it-alls tell me she would die, because I am not an animal rehabber.” He sure set them straight!

“Biscuits is about three months old now and is super awesome… and healthy,” Jeff continued, sticking it to the haters. “Her favorite food is pecans, and she enjoys jumping on everything and terrorizing the dogs.”

That triumphant post had some Reddit users eating their words. Others just gave Jeff a pat on the back for his amazing achievement. And a whole lot of folks couldn’t help but get excited about Biscuits’ sheer cuteness.

“From now on it is my life’s ambition to have an adorable animal living in my shirt pocket,” one Redditor wrote. Another suggested, “Everyone should have a pocket squirrel sidekick.” Who knows? It might catch on. And you don’t actually need to travel as far as Jeff to find an animal that’s looking for some TLC.

After all, loads of critters get inside people’s homes, don’t they? And, much like Jeff’s squirrel, another particular visitor was very special. There, on the bed, sat the most precious surprise hidden under a pillow: two animal babies nestled on the duvet. But what was their discoverer to do with them?

One of the babies is now known as Little Thumbelina, and she doesn’t just have a name right out of a fairy tale. She has an origin that sounds just like one, too. But her story is true, and it begins on a chilly morning in March 2016 in New York City.

It was a fight for survival right from the start. The nest belonging to Thumbelina’s mother was destroyed by a construction crew, and that left the pregnant squirrel and her babies homeless. But the expecting mommy had good survival instincts. And she finally found a surprising birthing spot.

To be more precise, the mom-to-be climbed inside a 10th-story apartment through an open window. And in the warmth and comfort of that room, she had two little pink daughters. Then she set about remaking her nest to keep the newborns safe.

The apartment’s resident was out when the mom visited, of course, but he saw her handiwork when he returned. Twigs, leaves and pine needles covered his bed, after all. Yet the biggest surprise was hiding under his pillow in the form of two baby eastern gray squirrels.

And although the anonymous man had no idea how to help the squirrels himself, he knows someone who does. So he subsequently called Christina and Michael Reyes, two animal rehabilitators working in NYC. You could say the wife-husband team have just a little past experience in squirrel care.

In fact, Christina has cared for orphan squirrels for ten years. Michael – a high school teacher by day – also assists his wife in her duties. So the pair went out to try and help the squirrel babies reunite with their mother.

But just two hours after their birth, the babies’ mother was already hesitant to reclaim them. It would seem that the rescuers’ presence – and their actions to save her offspring – frightened her. Christina explained as much to the Daily Mail on November 6, 2018.

“She kept bringing in nest building materials, but she wasn’t taking her babies back,” Christina said of the momma squirrel. This was despite the rehabilitators’ best efforts to convince her otherwise. And just hours later, the adult squirrel stopped visiting completely, and a tragedy followed.

Yes, one of the little babies unfortunately passed away in her mommy’s absence. But the Reyes couple took on the remaining sister, naming her Thumbelina after the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. The rescuers intended to raise Thumb until they could reintroduce her to nature.

“Almost all squirrels we take in are rescued and released into the wild,” Thumbelina’s official blog explains. “But Thumbelina was a special case.” It seems that the unique circumstances of the baby squirrel’s birth and the subsequent chain of events had had an effect on Thumbelina.

The blog continued, “Due to an abnormal birthing season and the passing of her sister, little Thumb grew up all by herself and did not learn to interact with other squirrels. By the time the normal birthing season had arrived, Thumbelina was already passed the point of bonding with her kind.”

Because of this, the Reyes pair took little Thumbelina to a veterinarian specializing in wild animals. The vets then determined that the squirrel’s natural habitat was too dangerous for her. Instead of opting to euthanize the baby, though, Thumbelina’s rescuers wanted to give her a chance at life.

And so the Reyes family decided to adopt Thumb as a house squirrel, and it’s probably fortunate that they did. It sounds like she would have had a potentially short life outside the safety of a human home, after all. And Thumbelina isn’t what you’d call a squirrel’s squirrel.

“When we tried to introduce her to other squirrel babies, she isolated herself,” Christina told the Daily Mail. “She curled up into a ball, and she wanted nothing to do with them.” Thumb doesn’t move like the other squirrels, either.

“She walked on the ground,” Christina continued. “She didn’t like to climb or jump.” In addition, Thumb’s blog recounts how her development was always slow compared to other squirrel babies. Instead of opening her eyes after four or five weeks, for example, it took Thumbelina closer to nine.

“She’s afraid of everything,” Christina added. “We brought her to the park, and she acted like it was a haunted house. She doesn’t like the cold. She just huddles herself into a ball. She’s not outside squirrel material.” Regardless, her human mommy and daddy think she’s perfect.

So instead of looking after Thumb doing squirrely things, her parents spend their time simply showering her with affection. And Thumb certainly enjoys cuddles with Mommy and Daddy. She even watches their TV and has a rich (if expensive-sounding) diet of arugula, sweet peas, kale and avocado.

“I love Thumbelina so much,” Christina admitted. “My husband and I knew that we never wanted children, [but] Thumbelina is our baby. She’s my little best friend; every day I look forward to spending time with her. When I’m feeling low, she comes over and snuggles with me.”

But while Thumbelina isn’t interested in the company of other squirrels, she’s still doing her part for them. “Thumbelina is now our little ambassador squirrel,” her blog explains. “She helps us to teach people how important it is to respect and be kind to all wildlife and spread the message, ‘Each little life is big to the one living it.’”