You may remember Tiki from a few months back. Quite suddenly, after a text message, I found out that I was the proud mom of a baby squirrel who was very, very sick. Read the full story here.

After Tiki made it and began to get stronger, we weren’t sure he would bond with Chubs but I held out hope. Usually, squirrels are pretty territorial and after doing some reading, we knew the prospects weren’t great.

Chubs is our pet squirrel (yeah, my family is weird) who literally fell down our chimney 3 years ago. The funny part is, our dog Rocky and Tiki bonded right away and spent many afternoons cuddling. There’s nothing cuter than coming home to see a little white dog and a baby squirrel waiting for you at the top of the stairs!

Anyway, as Tiki grew, bonding with Chubs seemed less and less likely but I didn’t want to deal with the thought of parting with him. After you have a baby animal nearly die in your hands and then miraculously pull through, giving them up is not something to take lightly and I was already super attached.

Then, while I was in Italy a few weeks ago, Joey called and said the situation was getting much worse — Chubs was being territorial and super mean to little Tiki, who is only about a third of his size. I knew it wasn’t going to get better (we’d been fighting the situation for a few weeks by this point) so Joey found a new home for Tiki with some friends of friends who agreed that we could squirrel-sit on holidays (haha).

It’s been a hard adjustment not having Tiki around but then, this week he came for a visit and looked so happy and healthy. Tiki is absolutely thriving with his new mom and dad so that makes everything much easier.

BUT! As these things often go, there’s a serious plot twist I wasn’t expecting AT ALL. HE is actually a SHE! We just found out that Tiki is actually a girl! Luckily, Tiki is a pretty cute girl’s name, too. At least we think so. 😉

Giving up Tiki was so hard but knowing she is so happy and thriving with her new family is what matters most. Even though Tiki doesn’t live with us anymore, I will always love her. And hey, is that a semi-smile I’m seeing?!