PLEASE help with tips on care for a small (note, not pinky baby) squirrel?

Okay, I found a little baby squirrel in the yard who is likely seperated from it's home/mother due to the massive landscaping project going on across the street in what used to be a very dense forest area. The little fellow (I am assuming it's male?? really no clue) is fully furred, ears open, eyes open, tail beginning to curl and he is very active. I am doing the best I can since no rehabilitators are in my direct area. I bought Enbilac, but he was not interested...seems way more interested in dry plain cheerios and bananas. So that's what he has been eating these last few days. So far so good...he seems active, alert and happy. He just sleeps an awful lot, usually most the day until I come and wake him 3x a day to take meals and play, which he does pretty well.








I'm worried about the constant sleeping, the site I visited about baby squirrel care says he is probably between 6-8 weeks of age. So I am well aware he is weaned and can poop himself, and I've been finding his poop all over anyways. I offer him clean water in a small dish and he seems more interested in play with the water than drinking it. That I am concerned about. I called local animal shelters and all they did was say they couldn't take him in, and that I should be wary of touching him due to rabies...yet declined to offer much else by way of signs and only served to make me paranoid!! I can't release this little thing because he's way too small and has no nest to survive the winter, and he has become too attached to me.





So, I need to know what I need to look for in a (potrntially) rabid squrriel since they done med me paranoid, how much they should be drinking now, and what is the best food for this age range? He seems very alert and happy since his first day here, now on day 4. Any help will be greatly appreciated.PLEASE help with tips on care for a small (note, not pinky baby) squirrel?
O.K. Now the voice of experience speaking,My wife and I have raised many baby squirrels successfully. You might feed him a little condensed goat milk cut fifty/fifty with water from a pet bottle. cut down the cheese rations, don,t worry about him sleeping so much that's natural for baby squirrels. when he is a sub adult move the cage to a rural location and feed less and less as time goes by scatter a little e food further away from the cage so it has to search for it. This is about all you can do for it. A captive raised squirrel's chances of being ';rehabilitated'; are astronomically low.It would be Much better to keep it in a large cage permanently.PLEASE help with tips on care for a small (note, not pinky baby) squirrel?
Sounds like goofy knows what he is talking about. I would be afraid of the rabies though, my Uncle got rabies from a squirrel and had to have several rabies shots. My point...please be careful!
the only way an animal can get rabies is if they were bitten by a rabid animal or ate an infected animal carcass. That should ease your mind about the rabies. The number of rabid animals is a lot lower than people make it seem. (btw... the virus would show in the animal and kill it. If he has no signs of rabies, he probably doesn't have it)