10 Week Old foxer Stand Offish

[Salsa]

Hi, my wife and I found a baby foxer out side our front door last week and now she is about 10 weeks old.

We have been feeding her Esbalic, walnuts, cashews, apples and other veggies, and spend about 2-3 hours with her every day.

The thing is, she is still a little stand offish when we approach her, but once we pick her up she is find and enjoys snuggling up in our hands and will be calm and fine with us then.
However, once she sees her nest and cage, she would rather go back and not be bothered. She does not grumble, chirp or make any sounds of annoyance when she sees her cage and wants back, nor does she make any noises when she sees us or we pluck her out of her nest or pick her up. She is very kind and will not bite; however, she just does not care if we are there or not. My guess is she does not realize and associate us with food yet. If she did, I would think that if she heard her name and smelled the food she would come running.

Any thoughts on this? Will she come around and think of us as friends, or will she stay distant?

We will keep her over winter her and see how it goes. If she stays distant and gets an attitude, we will have to keep her caged and would rather not have to do that, but if she proves to enjoy our company and comes to us willingly, we may consider keeping her around.

Any thoughts about this behavior and do any of you think we could do anything different, or will she in time, take to us?

Here are some pictures of her relaxing on my arm and leg.

[cava]

Hi and welcome to TSB!!

I think she will fall in love with you, you've only had her one week.

I would suggest that if she feels safe in her cage then hold her and give her loving near her cage where she feels safe. She may like you but be scared when you carry her away from it and rush to get back in when she can.

How much and how often are you feeding her?

Before she gets nuts and fruit (which are only treats) and veggies she should be eating a block. The board recommends Henry Healthy Blocks, which can be ordered online here. http://www.henryspets.com/hi-protein-blocks/ or if you have an amazon account you can find them there, make sure they are high protein for babies and flying squirrel.

You can feed one twice a day and then offer veggies and a piece of fruit/nut for treat. Here's a great guide to help you along.

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/s...-Pet-Squirrels

Can you post a photo? We'd love to meet her!

[DarkLies212]

I second the Henry's Blocks cava mentioned.

If she's naturally wary, don't try to break her of that - she'll need that when she's released in spring. Having that extra caution won't hurt a singleton at all.

She's a cutie!

[Salsa]

Thanks for suggestion on the blocks. I'll look into getting some. My wife was thinking of baking the biscuit recipe she found on here - I think it was in these forums?

As for feeding, I am feeding her what she will eat of the formula in the morning before I leave for work (she sometimes will not eat much then). I leave a small assortment of food for when we are gone, and feed her again around the time I get home. As for the formula, she is only taking about 5cc at a time since she snacks here and there. I feel she should be wanting more, but she does snack like I said. There was one time she did gulp down about 14cc of formula and I believe it's because she didn't snack before.

In my original post I did upload 3 pictures, but it sounds like they didn't load for you. I will have to post more pictures of Ember soon.

To go into more of the reason why I was asking about her being stand offish is because I am just a bit unsure due to the age we found her. Seeing that most of the babies you see in the videos will follow people around and most likely were bottle fed and or found at 6-7 weeks of age, and will get excited when they see their human. I was just not sure how much time it will take for her to warm up to us, if she will ever git excited to see us, or if the she is past the "you're my new mom" stage and could care less from this point on.

Just didn't want to see a total loaner who will only in time just get aggressive over her nest due to the lack of interest in care takers, make it difficult to feed and clean her cage, and have to keep her in a cage the whole time till release.

I have had rats in the past and they warm up within a few weeks and are some of the best pets. Just didn't know due to the fact squirrels are not domestic, and how they respond to human interaction at a later stage of 10+ weeks of age?

And like I said, if she turns out to be sweet and a loving gentile creature by spring, we just might keep her.

Also, thanks for your help on the suggestions.

[cava]

You can put a bit of milk in a shallow dish, just cover the bottom. She may drink it while you are at work.

Every animal is different and each has his/her own personality. Like DL said, keeping her manageable and not aggressive but shy will benefit her in the spring when she will WANT to be free. (And she WILL want to be free to mingle with the fellas and sow her wild oats.)

I read somewhere that they don't "imprint" like other species do, that they're solitary but will hang in a group to stay warm and that's about it.

Also, my little fella who is about 13 weeks is a little sh*t one day, and all over me, licking my face and purring at me the next, so add in normal adolescent behavior and you never know what to expect!

[Salsa]

The solitary mentality is what I figured. Just wasn't sure if some or most babies will be that way, or if her behavior will lead her to become a problem with feading and cage cleaning in the future. We just want to be prepared.

As for her feeding, she had a full 10cc this morning, so all is good I feel.

Thanks for the thoughts!

[cava]

I read on here someone said they gave them lots of loving all winter long to keep the bond strong and them nice so they didn't wild up on her while they were stuck inside. That's my plan. And I also read they wild up fast one outside in their RC after a winter indoors.

[Rhapsody]

Beautiful baby you got there.......

Please look over the diet for squirrel and start with feeding him a few good
vegetables at a time until you find some he likes then alternate a few veggies
every feedings. With your baby 10 weeks wild you may find that he is not as
interested in formula as others and that's fine, give him what he will take then
concentrate on the hhb and a balance diet of vegetables, limited fruits and
nuts as a treat at the end of the day.

Squirrel Diet
http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/s...-Pet-Squirrels

Squirrel Block
http://www.henryspets.com/hi-protein-blocks/