Baby squirrels are almost ready to be released

We moved the squirrels to our shed a few weeks ago. Each day we would take them out and put them in the tree in our backyard and watch over them until they were ready to come home for the night. They would always wait right until the last minute before the sun went down to come home but every night they came down and let us bring them back to the shed.
This worked well for about a week and then we started leaving the shed a crack open so they could come and go when they wanted and they have been doing that for the last week.
However, one thing we did not anticipate when raising two squirrels together is that they would bond far less with us and become wild much younger. With Jerry and JJ they were easy to handle and would let us hold them right up until they became independent. With these two it's a lot different. They are still friendly and will let us touch them but when it comes to food they are very territorial and can get aggressive.
This is what you see at the end of the video. They have not quite figured out how to get enough food on their own so when I showed up to give them some this morning they got very aggressive with each other over it. This signals to us that it's probably time for them to move on. It will be sad but we plan on releasing them in a nearby forest in the next week. We hope we've given them enough time to survive and thrive out there but we don't have much choice at this point. There are already multiple squirrels who live in our yard and there just is no practical way for them to stay with us. They are losing interest in living in the shed and I think they will be much happier in a forest.

[@JerrySquirrel]

We moved the squirrels to our shed a few weeks ago. Each day we would take them out and put them in the tree in our backyard and watch over them until they were ready to come home for the night. They would always wait right until the last minute before the sun went down to come home but every night they came down and let us bring them back to the shed. This worked well for about a week and then we started leaving the shed a crack open so they could come and go when they wanted and they have been doing that for the last week. However, one thing we did not anticipate when raising two squirrels together is that they would bond far less with us and become wild much younger. With Jerry and JJ they were easy to handle and would let us hold them right up until they became independent. With these two it's a lot different. They are still friendly and will let us touch them but when it comes to food they are very territorial and can get aggressive. This is what you see at the end of the video. They have not quite figured out how to get enough food on their own so when I showed up to give them some this morning they got very aggressive with each other over it. This signals to us that it's probably time for them to move on. It will be sad but we plan on releasing them in a nearby forest in the next week. We hope we've given them enough time to survive and thrive out there but we don't have much choice at this point. There are already multiple squirrels who live in our yard and there just is no practical way for them to stay with us. They are losing interest in living in the shed and I think they will be much happier in a forest.

[@auspiciouscloud8786]

Just make sure that after they leave that they can come back. ❤❤❤

[@tarmon768]

You guys are so thoughtful. Until you release them, while they are becoming defensive around food, you can spread out the food so one of them doesn't hog it.

[@JerrySquirrel]

Thanks that's a good idea!

[@critterallywithjohnernest.]

They are so cute. Hopefully they can find food where you release them so they don't starve. I have heard that 80% of squirrels that are relocated to an unfamiliar territory will die. I have no idea if it is true and not sure how they came up with that number. Best wishes for them.🙏💗

[@JerrySquirrel]

Ugh, that's a little scary. I built them a nest box hoping I could bring it to where we release them so they at least have shelter right away but I haven't been successful in getting them to go in and get used to it. It's a decent sized forest so I'm hoping they will be able to find food all over the place. I'm not sure if we have any other options though, even getting them into a carrier to bring them to the forest is going to be hard with how wild they are now.

[@critterallywithjohnernest.]

@@JerrySquirrel Hopefully they will be okay. You did a good job raising them as they would have definitely died without your help. At least you gave them a great start at life. I can't believe how wild they are at such a young age. That will help them out being on their own as they need to have fear of things as a basic instinct to survive. All i can say is good job to the both of you and i admire you for helping out these precious animals. 👍👍👍👍👍🥰🥰🥰