Hey everyone! Today, August 30th, is my birthday! I share my birthday with my mom. When she first brought me home it was hard to tell how old I was, as a baby I didn’t come with a born on date. Fortunately scientists can estimate how old baby squirrels are from the ways we develop. Our teeth and fur start coming during the weeks after we are born and we are born with our eyes and ears closed.

We know that baby squirrels get their bottom teeth when they are about 3 1/2 weeks old and their top teeth at 4 1/2 weeks. The fur on our bodies starts coming in during our 2nd to 3rd week. It takes more time to get all the fur on our distinctive tails, with fur not coming in on the underside of my tail until I was fully 6 weeks old. Even once I had grown my fur, as a baby I was always cold! My parents had heating pads, t-shirts, and rice pillows to keep me warm while I was sleeping. I preferred to snuggle with my mom every chance I could get.

We open our eyes somewhere between 3 1/2 and 5 weeks old.  Our ears open up between 4 and 6 weeks old. When my mom found me I had my fur, but my eyes and ears were still closed, and I didn’t have my teeth yet.

Once my teeth came in, we were able to count back the weeks and estimate my birthday. Now we obviously couldn’t be completely positive, but with my possible birthday being a day or two before or after my mom’s birthday we decided we must have the same birthday! Yay!

Here is a photo of me this morning. I came home to visit my mom and wish her happy birthday. I hung out in my habitat for awhile and enjoyed a birthday piece of oreo! The cream filling is one of my favorite things ever!