Some ??'s

[happybooker1]

It has been a looonnnngggg time since I raised squirrels. Here is the background on Twitchy.

My sister's dog 'found' him in the backyard after Ike. No wounds -- just a lot of dog slobber (ugh). By looking on the web I figured his age around 6-7 weeks. Formula has been 2/3 Esbilac & 1/3 heavy cream. He took to a pet nurser right away. No problems adjusting whatsoever & he peed/pooped by himself.

I had an old 2-story rat cage I put him in, with some branches and a plastic box w/fleece in it. I've had him about a month or so now. He is now taking 'some' milk morning & evening -- some days more, some days less. Twitchy eats frozen veggies (thawed of course!) -- carrots, snow peas, garbanzo beans, chickpeas, green beans, corn, broccoli, and squash. Also fresh grapes, apples, one cracker a day or small piece of 15-grain bread with a smear of all-natural almond butter on it. About 4 sunflower seeds, 1 peanut, and a couple of walnut halves.

So far he's growing, active, bright-eyed, and playful. His cage sits right in front of a window where I leave the curtain partially open for sunlight. He gets to run around the bedroom several times a day, hand-wrestle, and interact with us.

Any dietary changes I should make as he continues to take less & less formula?

Also, after I'd had him about 10 days, he developed what looked like a blister on his tail. It looked like a fluid-filled something but it was still furry and very pink. I pushed around on it & Twitchy exhibited no painfulness. After 3 days it burst and scabbed over. Now it's completely gone.

Any idea what it could've been? There was nothing in the cage that could have caused him to have a wound/blister at all.

Thanks for any suggestions or ideas on what I could do better.

[Jackie in Tampa]

:Welcome ...glad you found TSB!
We love pics, and will be needing some of Twitchy.
We have a forum called ABCs of Baby sqs, it is loaded with great info!

http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255

A good diet is the most important thing you can do for your sq!, Along with FSL and natural sunlight. Gammas posted a couple very important links.
Good luck:thumbsup

[Buddy'sMom]

You're doing great!

The diet link that Gammas posted is our most recommended list of food they should be eating. Probably you want to add more greens, and save fruits and corn for treats. It's true that sunflower seeds are actually bad for them, but if she truly is only getting 4 seeds, as a treat, that is not too bad -- but preferably should be stopped or saved for an occasional treat instead of every day. Instead of the peanut and walnut halves, try her with an in-shell almond (you may need to crack one or two first so she understands there's something yummy inside :) ). Or pecan or walnut.

If your squirrel is 10-11 weeks old, she definitely will be weaning off formula and eating solids, although it is good to keep the formula up if she will still take it (in the wild she would be nursing for another month or so, but human raised babies often self-wean sooner). Rodent block is the best solid food then for captive squirrels, but if she didn't get them early on she probably will refuse to touch them :shakehead . One of our members has created a homemade recipe for "Squirrel Blocks" which give them most of the nutrition they need, AND the squirrels actually LIKE them! http://thesquirrelboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13722

Are you planning to release her back to the wild? There is a wealth of information on TSB on how to do a "soft release" so they get used to the outdoor sounds and smells first. You will also see threads on squirrels that are permanent family members, but as a rule squirrels don't make good pets and it is the exceptional squirrel that is suited to living with humans.

Oh! And ... :Welcome

:grouphug :Love_Icon :grouphug

[happybooker1]

Thanks for all the suggestions/advice. I just moved Twitchy into a spare parrot cage I had. About 2' x 2' x 5'. I went out to the forest today to gather some greens for him to gnaw on.

Here are a couple of pics:

[digiandchipper]

Cute, cute, cute and looks very healthy!:thumbsup