Ella Gotham ‘26 and her family rescued an abandoned baby squirrel after the storm in September of 2023, and tells about her experiences of raising the squirrel.
Gotham’s family is known for rescuing animals, and so their house has a wide variety of pets. “I have a dog, two cats, a bunch of chickens, fish, and shrimp, and seven guinea pigs,” Gotham says. The baby squirrel and the other animals do not interact much, with the exception of one of her cats. “He likes to sit at the bottom of the cage and just stare at it. I don’t know what he’s thinking, because he’s not getting into the cage.”
The reason Gotham and her family decided to personally take care of the squirrel is their love for all animals. “It’s just a thing that my family does,” Gotham says. “We were thinking ‘who else has a squirrel? We should just keep it.’”
The squirrel’s name, Rumpcas, has a funny backstory. “My friend Arlee and I were scrolling through our TikTok and we kept getting edits of Rumpelstiltskin from Shrek. So, we gave it the nickname Rumpcas,” Gotham says.
Rumpcas is now two months old, as the Gotham family believes that he was born sometime in the beginning of September, a few weeks before they rescued him. Because Rumpcas was so young when he was abandoned, Gotham and her family had to take special care of the squirrel to ensure he was healthy as possible and recieved all the nutrition he needed.
Against all odds, Rumpcas is healthier than ever. Gotham feeds the baby squirrel “a variety of foods like nuts and pumpkin seeds.” Funnily enough, he also loves grapes and watermelon, and will go crazy when he eats them.
The baby squirrel stays inside the house and lives in a three tiered cage with ample room to run around. In it, he has places and room to sleep, climb, hang, and eat.
When Rumpcas is not eating or sleeping in his cage, he enjoys sitting on the shoulders of the Gotham family. He especially likes running up and down their arms as they walk around.
Another trick the squirrel loves is hanging upside down around the house. Gotham says that he especially loves the top of his cage and the wall of the fireplace. “He will jump on our fireplace and will sit hanging onto the wall,” Gotham says.
Raising Rumcas is evidently very different from raising any ordinary pet. “He’s wild. It’s like raising a kitten that continually stays in a kitten phase,” Gotham says.
The Gotham family finds much joy in taking care of all animals, especially if they are in need or trouble. They intend to care for Rumpcas for as long as he lives so that they can continue to care for it his whole life.
