gross; disease? water dish contamination?

[gs1]

warning

hi: this is really gross.

from 40 feet today one of my squirrels looked what was either some kind of string or a huge piece of mucus/snot coming from around her face to her front paws - it was just hanging and flexible - so not an icicle - although if they were flexible then it could have been.

she was by the water dish. I went outside and called her and didn't see it anymore- she'd jumped through a lot of snow to get to me and though i looked i couldn't see anything in the snow either.

by the time she was about 6 feet away she wouldn't come closer and wanted her hazel nut and i threw it to her, she went away and was happy.

she looked fine - bright eyes, bushy tailed etc... i couldn't really tell which one she was - they so look similar sometimes, i know who she wasn't - gs1 or bruni but could have been mitzi - anyway i've about 3 who she could have been.

I took out the water dish and replaced it and hoped for the best. The dish is heated to 1C - just above freezing. I'm hoping that it is cold enough to not encourage germ/bacteria breeding. It is about 10 liters of water and is plastic. I've replaced it with pyrex dish which holds 4 liters of water and is easier to sterilize. how often should i clean the dish - i guess that once per day is good but i'm not too sure if i can - and i'll need to get another pyrex dish pretty soon.

so my question is any idea if that was snot?

what could cause it?

how contagious is it?

at least 10 squirrels use the water dish all day long - at least 2 per hour and sometimes the chickadees use it too - just to drink from - no bathing/no poops.

all the best... thanks.

[JLM27]

My guys seem to be eating snow when they want a drink.

[gs1]

hi JLM ... are you saying no water dishes because they can encourage cross contamination????

I see the point, but what about summer and the birds?, i can't avoid the bird dishes then and the squirrels enjoy them just as much.

Or; what about the winter days with no snow on the ground? what then?

all the best ...:dono

[TinyPaws]

I have 4 water bowls for them...I use 2 per day and rotate them every other day....I wash them out every morning and fill it with at the moment hot water...This way by the time they want a drink, it will be only warm...

In summer, spring, fall I use my hose to clean and fill the bowls...With weather like this, I rinse and fill them before I go to bed,at around 6:30am..I also fill up the feeders...so there is fresh water and food out for them.....

I use 12" high bird baths.....2 large dog water/food bowls are good too...I don't like plastic because it gets slimy.....Hope this helps...

[gs1]

hi tinypaws:::

yes the plastic does get slimy in the summer, i scrub with baking soda and soap.... the bird baths are made of plastic too - resin i think it's called.

I've searched forever to get a large pyrex dish that would hold 10 liters of water but that's so far impossible, although i could always try commercial baking supplies store ...as for metal??? i couldn't try that .... i'd hate for them to get their paws stuck.

anyway, in the winter it doesn't get dirty at all - that i can see !!! -

but i am worried about what the squirrel could have had and what could be contaminating the water, if anything.

I use the heater in the water because here the water freezes over in about 1-2 hours... :osnap

i do have to get more dishes though - i had the 2 large plastics but i really should get another pyrex one - at least it's easier to bring inside to clean.



thanks... all the best

[TinyPaws]

My feeders are resin too...but I don't mind washing them in the warm weather...I do it twice, once in the morning and then again at 4 or 5pm...

As for the freezing part....I fill the bowls with almost boiling water first thing in the morning so by the time it gets light and they are up, ..they can have a nice drink...I also put out warm water just before dusk...I keep water by each area my feeders are at...

My squirrels are very spoiled....every morning like in about 1/2 an hour and again at 4pm,I put out the nuts...10-15 hickory nuts, 6-8 pecans, some black walnuts, hazelnuts and sometimes walnuts....I also crack all of them open and split them in half....actually, it gives them a reason to eat them rather than bury them....

I started with 2 squirrels and now I have 9...One more this morning, my albino, Winter

I don't know if you have any thrift stores or good will, but you may find what you are looking for there......Good hunting :D

[Jackie in Tampa]

snow sounds like work...besides cold:soapbox

[JLM27]

hi JLM ... are you saying no water dishes because they can encourage cross contamination????

I see the point, but what about summer and the birds?, i can't avoid the bird dishes then and the squirrels enjoy them just as much.

Or; what about the winter days with no snow on the ground? what then?

all the best ...:dono

I have a special circumstance. My garden is at ground level and I live on the fourth floor, so carrying water up and down is not something I have time for when I am getting off to work.

I have a bird bath for them that they, and not the birds, use when it is not frozen over. This I change every other day or more often if it needs it, as part of tending my garden, and I can do this when I get home from work in spring, summer, and fall.

Before I had this birdbath, however, the squirrels were finding water just fine on their own, and continue to do so when I am away (which is more often than I like.) My squirrels are wild, and I do not want them to be dependent on me. What they get from me is for their pleasure and convenience and my entertainment. I just try not to set up anything that could be bad for them.
However, water purifier pills and the neutralizer pills are plenty cheap enough. They sell them for campers and they make the sweetest water imaginable. I used them in India, too.

Lately it has frequently been in the twenties and tomorrow it is supposed to go down to zero, so even warm water wouldn't last long out there. Squirrels have a body temp of 102 degrees, so maybe they tolerate melting the snow easier, just like they walk around for a long time on ice in their bare feet without a problem, it seems. Unless maybe you think they should have "squirrel-luks" just like they now have "mutt-luks". : ]

[gs1]

tinypaws: yes, yours are very spoiled!! it's no wonder - shelling their nuts - you start with one or two and they tell their friends, bring over their families etc...:shakehead

I like pyrex because it could be sterilized really well, just pop them into the oven with some water. But on the other hand if it was 10 liters? (what is that 2 gallons??? anyway, really large then maybe it couldn't go into the oven) we'll see.

Jackie: winter is hard work!!! but summer is hard work too!!! (I think we'll all become saints eventually - or we'll go mad...):D

jlm!!! water purification tablets in their dishes - would be great for bacteria and germs!!! wow. still have to clean them and change them but then at least one getting sick doesn't mean that they all get sick.

i agree with you about not letting them get dependant - it's something i still struggle with but i'll be here for them until May and then we'll see, at least the water will be permanent for as long as we are in this house but the nuts maybe not so much ... it's like we're running a soup kitchen and i don't want to cause a population explosion because then we'll get cranky neighbours/and hawks. :osnap

Maybe if i could make them truffles with birth control medication it might be a good idea.:D

all the best ... and thanks about the water purification idea....:thankyou


oh... squirrel-luks??? absolutely, little squirrel snowsuits - they'd be so cute, especially a little hole for them to stick their tails out of and a little backpack for their nuts, all in different colours - wonderful.:jump

[JLM27]

Good point about population explosion. I'd better cut down on the nuts I'm putting out there. Thing is, there wasn't a very good crop of acorns this year.

In the summer I like to sit outside with a little plastic bag of nuts that they come over and wrestle with to get a nut out of and then sometimes I reach down and "help" them or have them take a nut from my hand, so I don't want to stop giving them tresats just when I can really play with them.

[TinyPaws]

gs1....Do you know if the purification tablets are ok for squirrels...I have thought about that this past summer but wasn't sure if they were safe for our fuzzers.....

[gs1]

jlm: far be if from me to limit your enjoyment of your squirrels ... plus, all the cursing they'd be sending my way. On top of that - you're sporadic, you're a traveller ...

me, i'm here all the time and if i'm not my husband makes sure that he does the feedings, and often we've got one or two hanging on the screens begging us to save them from starvation or looking at us pitifully from the maple ....

and we live very close to other houses full of gardeners - flowers - fruit trees and vegetable gardens as well as flower pots .... so we can't have an explosion of squirrels here ... as well as the hawk i saw a few weeks ago.

but we do limit how many nuts ... and how many squirrels - the regulars: gs1, mitzi, bruni, mace, chipmunk and billy all have to perform a little song and dance to get a nut ... or at least act really cute ... and then they get about 3-6 per day, with shell on so they bury about half of them.

but i also put out vegetable/fruit and bread platter and the 4s blocks every so often - so that could be the problem - that's for everyone, mice included!!!

tinypaws: i don't know 100% about the water purification tablets but i'd have to check the dilution ...1 tablet per ? 1 liter of water ... as for safety... if we can drink it ... i'd guess they can, and it's better than bacteria ..... ask jlm or post a question i guess.... ... i can see we both belong to the worriers anon. group .... great!!! i thought i was the only one.:Welcome

Good to know though ... there must be rehabbers out there with more experience than us.