Hello! According to muffinsquirrel I believe, Icarus should be about 9 or 10 weeks now. How much longer do we need to keep him on formula? He's starting to try gliding a little bit. He's even drinking water!!
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Hello! According to muffinsquirrel I believe, Icarus should be about 9 or 10 weeks now. How much longer do we need to keep him on formula? He's starting to try gliding a little bit. He's even drinking water!!
I would keep in on the formulas until he is eating a variety of other foods.
Have you tried feeding him FS food?
Once they start to sample and eat vegies, fruit, seeds and nuts, they will begin to wean themselves...Timothy started by not eating as much formula, then he was refusing lunch, then dinner and within a week he wouldn't touch the formula anymore...so be patient, your little one will let you know....
My two were on formula for what seemed forever! I don't think they weaned until they were 10-11 weeks old. The mammal babies book says you can wean them at 8 weeks, but my two were still on 4 feedings a day at that age and when I tried to cut them back, they lost weight. Do you have a gram scale to weigh your little tyke on? I would weigh him everyday and try cutting his milk back slowly (like give him maybe .5 ccs less for the first day and see how he does over a couple days then give 1 cc less and see how he does and keep going until he is weaned) and see how he does.
Well I think he may be a special case since we haven't been able to get him to take straight forumula. We've had to mix it with yogurt which he then eats off the plate. He's eating all sorts of other foods: grapes, pecans, sunflower seeds, broccoli, etc. I feel like he'd keep eating the formula forever if we keep giving it like we are now. I saw some parrot type bird food mix that had nuts a dried fruits and such mixed in it. I read somewhere that would be good for flying squirrels. Is that true? Also, what is FS food? And I'm afraid I have nothing to weigh him on. =/
Start giving him a little less yogurt and formula and more veggies. Give him in-shell nuts to start learning to open (crack a few a little first so he'll realize that there is really good stuff inside!). There really isn't a 'flying squirrel' food that you can use. I mostly use veggies and fruit, along with things I bring in from the wild. I also use 'Nut 'N Berries' as a staple food, but not too much of it. I keep mine on yogurt even after they are grown - they get it a couple or three times a week. Also, I make sure they have branches to chew, toys to play with, and a Stealth Wheel to run on.
muffinsquirrel
What are good toys for a flying squirrel?
Anything they can climb and/or hide in! I find a lot of things in thrift stores and at garage sales....toddler toys are usually good. I also have some bird toys that are metal wire shapes (circles, triangles, stc.) covered with rope. they love to chew and climb on them. One of their favorite things is a cotton mop head. They shred it and use it for bedding. Or throw it on the ground - just whatever sounds fun to them at the time.
muffinsquirrel
Muffinsquirrel: What kinds of nuts can a flyer crack? I didn't think they were big enough to crack open a walnut or strong enough to crack open the chestnuts. I thought maybe almonds? Are there any others? I have been cracking open my flyers nuts for them, should I leave them in the shell and make them work for it?
They can open just about anything you give them! I've never given them a coconut :D , but pecans, hazel nuts, walnuts, even hickory nuts and brazil nuts. All opened with that adorable little circle and the rest of the shell intact! It still amazes me to see it, and that they can get the meat out through that little hole! (Also, by the way, they can get a walnut and fly with it.....VERY weird to see.) I only crack the nuts when they are babies, so that they will know that all that work of chewing will be worth it in the end!
muffinsquirrel