The world's pickiest squirrel - help!

[christym113]

My squirrel, Gustav, ONLY wants nuts. He is not interested in the homemade squirrel blocks I slaved over. He will nibble a little at a few things; berries, avocado, leafy greens... but I am worried about him because he is thin! Also, he is losing hair on his haunches. I first noticed this when I had been gone for four days - I'm sure it was stress induced - but it isn't filling back in. He's not bored - I don't think - because he's in a huge cage with lots to do and see, and he has an outside cage - 4x4x8 - where he spends time on nice days.

Any help is so appreciated!

Christy

[4skwerlz]

Gustav MUST eat rodent block or squirrel blocks as 70% of his diet. It is the only way he can get the nutrition he needs. Fur loss can definitely be a sign of nutritional deficiencies, and even the beginning of MBD, which can be fatal. Some tips:

1. Clean out ALL of his food stashes. He probably has lots of nuts stashed everywhere.

2. Do not feed any more nuts or treats until he is eating a proper diet.

3. Give him a squirrel block for breakfast, and no other food. Especially if he's thin, you can put a small amount of peanut butter on the block at first.

4. Give him another squirrel block for lunch. Then healthy veggies later in the day.

5. On your next batch of squirrel blocks, try leaving out the wheat bran, which some squirrels don't like.

6. Once he is eating a proper diet, you can start giving him one nut or treat per day, but make sure you give it at the end of the day, AFTER he has eaten all his healthy foods.

I know it's hard to be so tough, especially when your squirrel is a bit thin, but he will only get sicker and thinner if you don't fix his diet.

[Ardilla]

I concur. It will be hard, but you have to stop giving ANY nuts. He won't let himself starve--once he realizes you mean business, he WILL start eating a healthy diet.

Once he is eating healthy foods, you can slowly reintroduce nuts, but they should be a small percentage of his diet and should be offered after his healthy foods are eaten.

MBD is a very serious disease which can lead to a very painfull death. Please follow the adice above.

[merman]

Well, my girl Mia is picky as well, and i face the same problem even at every batch of fresh block i cook for them.
All i have to do is, i put new blocks in her cage from the midnight so she might eat in the morning when she is hungry. If she didn't eat in the morning, she will surely eat during the day as they don't like staying hungry:)
and once she has a bite, she will continue eating the rest without any problem..

good luck.. :thumbsup

[ShesASquirrelyGirl]

I have to agree, she isn't picky just spoiled =P
I don't make the squirrel blocks ( only because its just to time consuming for me and store bought do the job for us)
Fresh water and blocks are what you leave in. Nothing else. Your squirrel won't starve itself. I've learned once you start with only blocks and nothing else, they then see veggies as a treat and look forward to them.

Nuts should only be given once in a while as a treat after the healthy stuff is consumed.